Heaven Connect curates here articles, experience reports and background knowledge on mediumship, trance mediums, afterlife contact and grief support. All content is from external sources – the links lead directly there.
In this episode of BR's Stationen series, the question is explored whether contact with the deceased is real or rooted in human wishful thinking. The programme features people with near-death experiences, mediums – including the well-known medium Anna Stetskamp – and critical voices from science and the church.
ardmediathek.deProf. Dr. Oliver Lazar presents his EREAMS study, in which he scientifically documents the authenticity and effectiveness of mediumistic messages from the spirit world. The findings are published in his book "Jenseits von Materie" (2021). In the interview, Lazar recounts personal experiences that brought him as a scientist closer to the spiritual world and explains the design and key findings of the study.
youtube.comAstrophysicists Prof. Harald Lesch and Prof. Josef M. Gaßner explain why elementary particles such as quarks and electrons actually have a rest mass of zero – and how it is their interaction with the Higgs field that produces what we measure as "mass". At its most fundamental level, matter is thus more a property of the interplay of fields than "stuff". Background to Prof. Dr. Oliver Lazar's statement in the EREAMS interview that, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as matter.
youtube.comPresentation of the research findings of Italian consciousness researcher Dr. Patrizio Tressoldi (University of Padua) on the accuracy of mediumistic messages. In controlled studies, Tressoldi examines whether mediums can convey information about the deceased that they could not have known by normal means.
youtube.comProf. Dr. Oliver Lazar in conversation with the well-known Swiss medium Pascal Voggenhuber about the aura, its perception and significance in mediumistic work. Voggenhuber is one of the most prominent mediums in the German-speaking world and shares practical insights into his perceptions.
youtube.comLive documentation of a mediumship reading: the well-known medium Bettina Suvi Rode delivers messages from the deceased to family members present. The recording provides an authentic impression of the flow of a session and the reactions of the participants.
youtube.comPortrait and tribute to the well-known Swiss medium Sam Hess, produced by the specialized channel Thanatos TV. Hess talks about his work as a medium, the nature of the spirit world and the process of mediumistic conversations with the deceased.
youtube.comShort portrait of Swiss medium Sam Hess, who passed away in 2025, produced by Thanatos TV. In just a few minutes, Hess sums up his central conviction: there is no death – consciousness continues to exist after the body passes away.
youtube.comIn-depth interview with Swiss medium Pascal Voggenhuber. He talks about how he discovered his gift, how a typical mediumship reading unfolds and which experiences shape his work with grieving relatives. Produced by MYSTICA Magazin.
youtube.comPortrait documentary about the spiritual medium Ira Wolff. She gives personal insights into her life between everyday reality and the spirit world, talks about formative encounters with the deceased and describes how her mediumistic perception has developed.
youtube.comExtended interview with Pascal Voggenhuber on the channel Welt im Wandel.TV. Voggenhuber explains how mediumship readings work in practice, answers typical questions and talks about consciousness after death from the perspective of an experienced medium.
youtube.comExcerpt from the Welt im Wandel.TV interview (starting at 20:47): Pascal Voggenhuber explains that he has been working with Swiss police since 2002. In his first murder case he provided – via a reading with the victim – details that he could not have known by normal means. About 90 % of his police work is recorded on video to convince sceptical officers. He outlines typical use cases: aura reading during interrogations to detect lies, reconstructing witness blackouts, energetic readings of crime scenes (course of events, DNA traces, number of perpetrators) and offender profiles – comparable to a profiler, but in hours rather than months.
youtube.comHistoric interview from 1981 with death researcher Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, one of the pioneers of modern thanatology. She reports on her conversations with dying people and the recurring patterns in their near-death experiences.
youtube.comInterview with the Aachen-based physician and scientist Professor Walter van Laack, who has researched near-death experiences for decades. Van Laack says he personally no longer fears death and is convinced that consciousness continues after death "without pause or comma". Core points: standard explanations (oxygen deprivation, drugs, hallucinations) "fall short across the board". There are documented cases of NDEs during flat-line EEG – i.e. without measurable brain activity. More than 95 % of experiences are positive, people lose their fear of death and often become more spiritual and less materialistic. The "common thread" across all eras and cultures clearly distinguishes NDEs from dreams or drug hallucinations.
youtube.comFirst part of a three-part documentary on near-death experiences and journeys beyond. Those affected report on their experiences at the border of death: the tunnel, the light, encounters with the deceased and the return to life.
youtube.comIn-depth conversation with neurologist Wilfried Kuhn on Thanatos TV. Kuhn examines near-death experiences, consciousness and the question of life after death from a neuroscientific perspective and discusses what can be medically explained and what goes beyond that.
youtube.comPhilosopher Godehard Brüntrup (Munich School of Philosophy) analyzes near-death experiences from a philosophical perspective. He discusses what NDEs mean for the mind-body problem and the question of the persistence of consciousness, and weighs materialist and dualist explanatory approaches against each other.
youtube.comInterview with Swiss medium Sam Hess on the channel Empirische Jenseitsforschung. Drawing on his many years of practice, Hess describes what encounters with spirits of the deceased feel like, how he distinguishes between his own thoughts and mediumistic impressions, and which stories have particularly shaped him.
youtube.comSwiss medium Sam Hess speaks in this interview, with great care, about the consequences of suicide from the perspective of the spirit world, and about how those left behind can deal with this difficult experience. English and French subtitles available.
youtube.comAppearance of German medium Paul Meek on the RTL show Mysteries, hosted by Jörg Draeger. Meek demonstrates his work as a medium in front of an audience and talks about the process of delivering mediumistic messages to relatives of the deceased.
youtube.comAn episode of the renowned SRF series Sternstunde Religion explores what mediums do when they deliver messages from the deceased. The well-known Swiss medium Dolly Röschli speaks in dialogue with a skeptical pastor.
youtube.comThe channel Geist & Quantenphysik examines the unresolved death of German politician Uwe Barschel from the perspective of an afterlife contact conducted by the well-known medium Kim-Anne Jannes. The piece combines the historical facts of the case with statements that came through mediumistic communication – an insight into how afterlife contacts are linked to major real-world events.
youtube.comOpening volume of the Lucy trilogy by the Heidelberg physicist and professor of medical technology Markolf H. Niemz. Niemz connects near-death experiences with Einstein's relativity theory and argues, in vivid terms, that the physics of the speed of light offers a plausible picture of what dying people experience. A science-minded approach to the question of life after death, carried by a fictional narrator named Lucy.
lovelybooks.deThe second volume of the Lucy trilogy (Droemer, 2007) became a German-language bestseller. Niemz describes the "soul" as an immaterial storage medium that absorbs everything a living being feels and learns, and explains – with numerous self-drawn illustrations – what relativity theory and near-death experiences have in common. A hallmark of his approach is the bridge he tries to build between natural science and religion.
de.wikipedia.orgThe third and final volume of the Lucy trilogy (Kreuz/Herder, 2011), also a bestseller. Niemz here condenses his reflections on life after death, the soul and the question of God from a physicist's perspective, inviting readers to a holistic way of thinking that links natural science, spirituality and religion. With the proceeds from the trilogy Niemz founded the charitable foundation Stiftung Lucys Kinder.
buecher.deRecording of a public mediumship evening with Annette Meng (pink spirit) in Heidelberg, Germany. The video captures afterlife contacts demonstrated live in front of an audience – an authentic glimpse into how a medium works and how participants react when personal messages from the deceased are conveyed.
youtube.comIn the podcast {ungeskriptet}, host Ben talks with the medium Birgit Fischer – currently one of the best-known mediums in the German-speaking world – about her work, her self-perception and her outlook for 2026. A personal, conversational interview that presents the perspective of a practicing seer – her methods and her experiences.
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The panel "Ascent of the Blessed to Heavenly Paradise" by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1500, today at the Doge's Palace in Venice) depicts departed souls ascending – accompanied by angels – through a bright tunnel into the beyond. The tunnel-and-light motif is still cited in connection with near-death experiences and counts as one of the earliest pictorial representations of what would centuries later be described as a core NDE motif.
Andersen's 1845 Christmas tale ends with a classic transition motif: the already-deceased grandmother appears to the dying child "clear and shining, yet mild and loving", takes her in her arms, and the two "fly upwards in brightness and joy" – as cold, hunger and pain fall away. The same pattern – being received by a loved one who has already died – appears in contemporary near-death reports and in the practice of professional mediums.
Selected key scenes from the Hollywood classic Ghost (1990) starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. More than almost any other film, Ghost has shaped the popular cultural image of afterlife contact and spirit communication through a medium – worth watching as an entry point into the mainstream portrayal of the topic.
youtube.comThe legendary séance scene from Ghost (1990) featuring Whoopi Goldberg as the medium Oda Mae Brown. The scene is a powerful example of how Hollywood portrays mediumistic contact with the deceased – both comedic and moving, and to this day one of the most iconic depictions of afterlife contact on film.
youtube.comThe moment from Ghost (1990) when Sam realises he has died and now exists as a spirit between worlds. Cinematically, this scene is one of the most striking depictions of the transition into the afterlife state and illustrates how coming to terms with one's own death can be portrayed on screen.
youtube.comAn English-language film recap of the classic Ghost (1990). The summary retells the story of Sam, who remains as a spirit after his murder and refuses to cross over into the afterlife until his death is solved – a compact overview of how the motif of the unredeemed spirit and communication through a medium is dealt with in pop culture.
youtube.comEnglish-language film recap of "The House of the Spirits" (1993), the adaptation of Isabel Allende's 1982 novel starring Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder and Antonio Banderas. At its centre is the clairvoyant Clara, a natural medium: she has premonitions, moves objects by telekinesis and communicates with the dead. The film follows three generations of a Chilean family and portrays mediumship as a self-evident, inherited gift – one of the best-known literary depictions of female clairvoyance in the 20th century.
youtube.com2014 Swiss episode of the Tatort crime series: Lucerne detectives Flückiger and Ritschart receive help from the medium "Pablo Guggisberg" during their investigation. According to the Luzerner Zeitung, the character is modelled on Swiss medium Pascal Voggenhuber. Voggenhuber has confirmed in interviews that he worked for the Swiss police for years, helping to solve – among other things – murder cases. The episode is a telling example of how mediumship and afterlife contact are handled in German-language pop culture.
youtube.comExcerpt from the ZDF talk show "Johannes B. Kerner" (2004), featuring author Alexa Kriele among the guests. Kriele describes herself as an angel interpreter and talks about how she receives and translates messages from the spiritual realm. She is one of the best-known German-speaking voices on angel and mediumistic work and has published numerous books on these topics.
youtube.comIn this interview with MYSTICA.TV, the medium Anouk Claes talks about clairvoyance, the role of the ego in mediumistic work, and how to deal with one's own emotions. A deep insight into the inner attitude required to distinguish clear mediumistic perceptions from personal projections.
youtube.comIn this MYSTICA.TV interview, the medium Anouk Claes explores whether clairvoyance is an innate gift or a skill that can be learned. She describes the path towards developing one's own mediumistic perception, the exercises required and common pitfalls – a helpful orientation for anyone wondering whether mediumistic work is open to them.
youtube.comA portrait documentary in the renowned SRF DOK series about the medium Anouk Claes. The film follows her in everyday life and shows how she interprets her clairvoyant perceptions and uses them professionally in her work – a rare, in-depth glimpse into the life of a medium, produced by Swiss public television.
srf.chDutch cardiologist Dr. Pim van Lommel presents his highly regarded research into near-death experiences (NDE) in resuscitated cardiac patients. His studies, published among others in The Lancet, are considered a milestone in consciousness research and provide evidence that consciousness may persist during clinical death states – a scientifically grounded starting point for the discussion about continued existence after death.
youtube.comEnglish-language interview with Dutch cardiologist Dr. Pim van Lommel on Conor Ryan's Eyes Wide Open podcast. Van Lommel speaks at length about his decades of research into near-death experiences in cardiac patients and the implications for our understanding of consciousness and life after death.
youtube.comIn this MYSTICA.TV interview, Varda Hasselmann – one of the best-known German-speaking trance mediums – talks about her work as a conscious deep-trance medium. She describes how she enters the trance state, what distinguishes conscious deep-trance from classical trance, and the experiences she has gathered over decades of working with the spirit world.
youtube.comProf. Dr. Oliver Lazar presents the research of US parapsychologist Dr. Julie Beischel of the Windbridge Research Center. The focus is on her controlled studies of the so-called survival hypothesis – the question of whether consciousness survives bodily death – and the methodology she uses to test the accuracy of mediumistic messages under scientific conditions.
youtube.comEpisode of Sky Magazin on the theme "Healing beyond conventional medicine". The studio guest is the German spiritual healer and angel medium Friederike Rath, who talks about her work with the angels. The programme also includes a portrait of the Brazilian healer João de Deus (Casa de Dom Inácio) and covers phenomena of spiritual healing from a TV-magazine perspective.
youtube.comIn-depth MYSTICA.TV interview with Paul Meek, one of the best-known mediums in the German-speaking world. In conversation with Thomas Schmelzer he speaks about his home in Wales, his mediumistic training in London, his 25 years in Munich and the British tradition of mediumship. Meek describes how he contacts the deceased in one-on-one sessions – with the central aim of bringing comfort to the bereaved.
youtube.comMYSTICA.TV "Classic" in the series "The most popular classics from 17 years of MYSTICA history": a recut of two 2015 conversations with Paul Meek (re-released 2025). Meek talks with Thomas Schmelzer about his conviction that there is no such thing as death, about the British tradition of mediumship, his path from opera singer at the Bayreuth Festival to full-time medium, and how mediumistic messages can bring comfort to the bereaved.
youtube.comRadio feature by Burkhard Reinartz in Deutschlandfunk's "Lange Nacht" (Long Night) series. One focus: the unusual collaboration between the Swiss psychiatrist and long-time head physician of the Psychiatric Clinic Basel Land, Dr. Jakob Bösch, and the medium and healer Anouk Claes. On the fourth floor of the clinic the door signs "Head physician Dr. Jakob Bösch" and "Healer" sit side by side – Claes works inside the clinic and accompanies Bösch during many initial patient consultations. Bösch says: "Working with a healer brings advantages in professional terms." In Germany and Switzerland such close cooperation is the exception; in Britain, by contrast, the NHS has covered the cost of energetic healing on a doctor's prescription since 1985 – there, 14,000 registered healers stand alongside 22,000 GPs. The feature asks more broadly whether body and soul are more finely interwoven than mainstream medicine assumes, and brings together further voices from medicine, psychology and healing traditions.
deutschlandfunk.deMYSTICA.TV interview with Bahar Yilmaz, one of the best-known spiritual teachers in the German-speaking world. She speaks about her path from classical medium and coach to the "Empower Yourself" approach she developed with her partner Jeffrey Kastenmüller. Central themes: fear of rejection as the biggest obstacle to a vibrant life, the gentle recognition and transformation of self-imposed limits – and how it is easier today than before to take this path.
youtube.comSecond part of the MYSTICA.TV conversation with Bahar Yilmaz. It goes deeper into sensitivity and mediumship, into channeling, and into the role of yoga on the spiritual path. Yilmaz is trained in English Spiritualism, works as a trance healer, channeling medium and medium for afterlife contact, and is considered one of the youngest and best-known deep-trance mediums in the German-speaking world. In the conversation she frames the present time as a period of transition and describes how her capacity for deep trance developed.
youtube.comFirst part of the MYSTICA.TV conversation with Bahar Yilmaz. Her core thesis: we are all potentially mediumistic – these senses are merely dormant in most people. Yilmaz speaks about her grandmother, who encouraged her talent early, and about her path, which began with being true to herself. Further topics: why negative energies cannot be channelled, and the thesis that we are in a period of transition.
youtube.comClip from the documentary "After Death" (Angel Studios, 2023) about the Pam Reynolds case – one of the best medically documented near-death experiences in history. During a rare and risky brain surgery (deep-hypothermic cardiac arrest, "standstill") Reynolds was clinically dead – flat-line EEG, stopped heart and cooled body. After the procedure she reported in detail on conversations, instruments and procedures in the operating theatre that she could not possibly have perceived under these conditions. The case is a central argument in NDE research and is discussed in depth by van Lommel and van Laack, among others.
youtube.comUS hospice nurse Julie ("Hospice Nurse Julie") recounts the medically documented Pam Reynolds case (1990s): during surgery for a rare brain aneurysm, Reynolds was placed in hypothermic cardiac arrest – heart stopped, blood drained, EEG flat, eyes and ears blocked. After recovery she accurately described details from the operating room (instruments, conversations) that by every medical standard she could not have perceived. Julie frames the case from a palliative-care perspective – carefully, without jumping to conclusions.
youtube.comPortrait video by the Portuguese Fundação BIAL about Prof. Bruce Greyson, one of the world's leading near-death experience researchers. Greyson is the Chester Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and directed its Division of Perceptual Studies from 2002 to 2014. He developed the Greyson NDE Scale, today's principal standardized instrument for measuring near-death experiences, served for 27 years as Editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies, co-founded the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), and wrote the book "After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond" (2021).
youtube.comMYSTICA.TV interview with Scottish medium Gordon Smith, hosted by Katrin Seibold – German-language dub. Smith talks about his Scottish roots, his path from barber to "Psychic Barber", his efforts to stay grounded, and his current work with bereaved fathers. He paints the Scottish Highlands "more colourful than they are" – Smith understands perception as a creative act.
youtube.comOriginal English-language MYSTICA.TV interview with Scottish medium Gordon Smith. The "Psychic Barber" speaks in his native Scottish English about his life, his work as a medium and what happiness really means. A German-dubbed version is also available on MYSTICA.TV.
youtube.comLong-form Welt im Wandel.TV interview with Gordon Smith, hosted by Wulfing von Rohr. Smith looks back on more than 30 years as a medium and teacher, describes formative moments of his career in Glasgow and his current work training sensitives, mediums and trance healers. English with German translation.
youtube.comDocumentary portrait of English medium and teacher Mavis Pittilla (1933–2023), considered one of the most influential mediumistic educators of recent decades. Pittilla worked for more than 60 years as a medium and teacher and helped train many of today's active mediums – including Tony Stockwell and Gordon Smith. The film follows her in daily life, in sittings and in teaching.
youtube.comFirst part of a two-part recording of public readings given by Mavis Pittilla in a British Spiritualist church. Pittilla (1933–2023) is regarded as one of the most influential teachers of English mediumship. The recording shows her in the classical form of spiritualist demonstration: short, highly specific messages to congregation members in the hall.
youtube.comSecond part of the two-part recording of public readings given by Mavis Pittilla in a British Spiritualist church. Pittilla (1933–2023) is regarded as one of the most influential teachers of English mediumship. The recording shows her in the classical form of spiritualist demonstration: short, highly specific messages to congregation members in the hall.
youtube.comConversation with Mavis Pittilla (1933-2023) on "Wednesdays with Willa" by American medium and teacher Willa White (December 2020). Pittilla, one of the most influential teachers at Arthur Findlay College, talks at length about mediumship as a vocation, about teaching culture, responsibility towards the bereaved and her own view of what happens between the medium and the spirit world.
youtube.comExcerpt from the US television series "Ghost Whisperer" (CBS, 2005-2010), Season 2 Episode 3 (originally aired 2006). The series follows Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt), a young woman who can communicate with the deceased and helps them resolve unfinished business and "cross over into the light". This scene shows a family finding forgiveness and peace through mediumistic mediation - emblematic of one of the most influential mediumistic narrative motifs in recent US pop culture.
youtube.comExcerpt from the podcast „{ungeskriptet} by Ben“ with Austrian clairvoyant Birgit Fischer (from 1:21:20). Fischer distinguishes three areas of work: personal readings, afterlife contact and remote viewing – the latter as a location-independent „sensing into“ situations or persons. She refers to the historical use of the method by the CIA and US police agencies (Stargate program) and describes her own access via the „Find Me Group“, an organisation led by a former US police officer. According to Fischer, this organisation still works for the CIA today – the assignments effectively outsourced. Anyone who wants to work for the Find Me Group is vetted in advance. She herself worked unpaid, while the organisation charges clients substantial fees. Several viewers work the same case independently of each other; only converging perceptions are passed on to clients. In one particularly distressing case she perceived abused children on a ship – so vividly that she felt as if she had been there herself. Her account, she says, was not passed on by the organisation; from her perspective the lead simply met with no interest. This experience – combined with the emotional toll – led Fischer to end her work with the organisation.
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