“At the moment of death, our soul rises out of its host body. […] As they move further away from earth, souls experience an increasingly briljant light around them. Some will briefly see a grayish darkness and will sense passing through a tunnel or portal. The differences between these two phenomena depend upon the exit speed of the soul, which in turn relates to their experience. The pulling sensation from our guides may be gentle or forceful depending upon the soul’s maturity and capacity for rapid change. In the early stages of their exit all souls encounter a “wispy cloudiness” around them that soon becomes clear, enabling them to look off into a vast distance. This is the moment when the average soul sees a ghostly form of energy coming toward them. The figure may be a loving soulmate or two, but more often than not it is our guide. In circumstances where we are met by a spouse or friend who passed over on before us, our guide is also close by so they can take over the transition process. In all my years of research, I have never had a single subject who was met by a major religious figure such as Jesus or Buddha. Still, the loving essence of the great teachers from Earth is within the personal guides who are assigned to us.”
– Michael Newton, Destiny of Souls. New Case Studies of Life between Lives, 2019, pp.1-2.