Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe

“The oranges reinforced four truths for me: We are all constantly being watched over by a Team of Light; We are loved; We are all connected and invested in one another’s journeys; When you ask for signs from the Universe, the Universe speaks back.”

Jackson’s use of the first-person plural point of view enacts the Interconnection Between Life and the Afterlife. She argues that everyone is a part of a spiritual community—herself included. While she is indeed a psychic medium, she is also learning from her Team of Light and a part of an ongoing journey, just like the reader.

“‘After the reading, some of the grief and the terror went away, because I truly believed Caleb was in this beautiful place,’ Eliza says. ‘The loss was still devastating beyond words, but I now understood that we were all part of this profound karmic thing that happened—this plan for us and for Caleb. The realization that we are all connected, and that because we are, we can never really die.’”

Jackson incorporates her subject Eliza’s reflections on receiving a sign from her late son, Caleb, to authenticate Jackson’s belief in the Transformative Power of Engaging with the Unseen. When Eliza opens herself to her late son’s presence in the corporeal world she finds relief from “the grief and the terror” she was feeling. Jackson quotes Eliza as a way to show that others are having transformative experiences just like those she’s experienced. Furthermore, Eliza’s remarks validate the Interconnection of Life and the Afterlife; Caleb might have crossed to the Other Side but she still maintains a connection with him.

“For Nancy, all the hearts are part of the beautiful vocabulary her mother uses to remain connected to the family she loves so much. They are their shared secret language.”

This reflective passage underscores the Personal and Universal Meaning of Signs. While hearts may be a familiar sign, Jackson holds that for her subject Nancy, encountering hearts after her mother’s death was a clear way for her to communicate with her late loved one. The reference to “a secret language” reinforces Jackson’s notion that signs have distinct resonances for each individual.

“It’s my father letting me know he is with me and watching over me. And that gives me so much comfort. What I would say to people who aren’t so sure is to stay open to the possibility. Stay open to your loved ones. There is much more at work in the universe than we know.”

Jackson incorporates Priya’s reflections on the signs her late father Shahid as anecdotal evidence of the interconnection of life and the afterlife. Priya was a skeptic before her father sent her the beam of light and the hummingbird, but her wedding day allows her to experience what Jackson refers to as the Great Shift—undergoing a change of perspective which Jackson believes anyone can experience if they “stay open to the possibility.” Throughout the text, Jackson positions the anecdotal experiences of her clients and herself as proof of the validity of her ideas but does not supplement them with additional empirical evidence or research.

“Dream visitations are a very real thing. As I’ve said, I believe we all have the capacity to experience the nonphysical, spiritual energy of souls that have crossed. But the cacophony of our busy lives overwhelms us and makes it quite difficult for a message to break through. It’s like being stuck on a radio frequency that produces nothing but static. […] Except, that is, when we’re sleeping.”

Jackson employs figurative language and the first-person plural point of view to engage her reader. By using the first person plural, she is admitting that even as a psychic medium, she too can be distracted by “the cacophony” of life’s busyness. She likens this chaos to a staticky radio, conjuring notions of confusion and annoyance. At the same time, she is arguing that “when we’re sleeping” we might clear this metaphoric static and achieve a connection with “the nonphysical” and “spiritual energy of our souls.” This is another lesson in how the individual might attune herself to the unseen world.

“Signs can transform us. Signs can take us from one state of being to another. They can take us from despair to hope, from lost to secure, from stuck to soaring. Think about what an awesome power this is! How many things in this world can be so utterly and positively transforming in such a short time? And all without a prescription!”

Jackson’s use of anaphora and rhythm affects an excited, insistent tone. She begins her sentences with “signs can” and “they can,” which enacts the awe that Jackson feels while musing on the power of signs to create meaning in everyday life. Furthermore, her use of adjectives and adverbs like “awesome,” “utterly,” and “positively” underscores her excitement over what she’s describing; the same is true of her punctuation.

“Through signs, our loved ones can be much better communicators than they ever were on earth. My father has become the chattiest soul in the universe! In many very real ways, he is more present for me now than he was before. He is more loving. He is more attentive. He is more responsive. If I send my love for him out into the universe, he will bounce it right back to me, and more.”

Jackson relies on a personal anecdote to underscore the transformative power of engaging with the unseen. Jackson holds that her relationship with her father has improved since his death. From the Other Side, he’s able to communicate in a more effective way; because Jackson is open to engaging with the unseen world, she is open to communicating with her father in the afterlife. Jackson thus conveys her vulnerability and openness via this personal account.

“Today Suzannah always talks to her clients about the importance of staying open to nonverbal signs and messages. Signs, she believes, will help you shift your life to a higher, more fulfilling path. Scott Dinsmore named the inspirational online movement he created Live Your Legend. ‘That’s what we’re all trying to do,’ says Suzannah. ‘We feel called to something bigger in our lives. We might not know exactly what that is, but we can feel it in our bones.’”

Suzannah and Scott’s story reiterates the personal and universal meaning of signs. Jackson incorporates Suzannah’s reflections on Scott’s death and her response to losing him to nuance her authorial voice. Suzannah’s musings on “the importance of staying open to nonverbal signs and messages” echo and reinforce Jackson’s theses without her having to restate her claims in her own words.

“I’ve heard about parents who lost a child ten years ago and they’re still incapable of moving on, and I understand that, but I would want them to know that they need to find a way to create a new relationship with their child. That’s what I am doing now—I am learning how to be in a new relationship with Matt. No matter how much I stomp and scream, I cannot physically bring Matt back to me. But I can find a new way to connect with him, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

Fran’s reflections on her son Matt’s passing reiterate the transformative power of engaging with the unseen. Immediately after Matt crossed over to the Other Side, Fran felt “incapable of moving on,” like the other parents she references. However, after she learned to open herself to Matt’s messages from the beyond she discovered a new way of processing her grief and communicating with Matt. She grew spiritually and emotionally as a result of these experiences.

“I don’t believe Gio needed her session with me to understand that turtles and mermaids would be the signs she shared with her lovely daughter. I believe she would have realized that on her own. But I also believe that it was Stephanie who brought her mother into my path, so that she could speed up the process and let her mother know they were still connected in a powerful way.”

Using Gio and Steph’s story, Jackson reflects on her own role as a psychic medium. She argues that Gio didn’t necessarily need her “to understand” the signs Steph was sending her; this claim affects a humble tone. Jackson values her role as a medium, but she also doesn’t claim to be the ultimate authority on the beyond. She is leaving room for her subjects to establish their own connections with the Other Side.

“Who are these light workers? They are us. Each of us has the potential to be a light worker. We can all be used by the Other Side to make things happen for others, and we often are, even if we’re none the wiser about it.”

Jackson’s reflections on light workers (also referred to as “connectors”) validate her claim that everyone can experience the unseen, with or without a medium. She uses the first-person plural point of view (employing pronouns like “us” and “we”) to reinforce the notion that everyone is a part of a spiritual community. Furthermore, everyone can engage with this community.

“I’ve come to understand that it is part of my journey to awaken others to this possibility. What follows are a few guidelines to help you co-create your own special language with your wonderful Teams of Light. I hope the stories I’ve shared with you thus far have helped to prepare you to take the first step of opening your mind and your heart to the Other Side.”

Jackson affects a reflective tone at the end of Part 2. She is closing out the section and offering overarching meditations on “the stories she has shared thus far.” The passage also creates a shift from Jackson’s more narrative style into her more instructive style—as she is preparing to offer “guidelines” the reader can use to open her “mind and heart to the Other Side.”

“What we choose to share with the world matters. Not sharing these conversations with one another about such meaningful moments in our lives is actually a disservice to our friends and loved ones. We are all on this wild and beautiful ride together. The truest joy of all existence is this very interconnectedness.”

Jackson uses an insistent, urgent tone when discussing the interconnection of life and the afterlife. She argues for “sharing conversations and meaningful moments” with each other in order to foster community and love. She uses diction like “wild,” “beautiful,” and “joy,” which affect a celebratory mood—language emphasizing that interconnectedness should be honored and valued.

“So we must stay open to them, and really look and listen for them and allow them to guide us toward our best, happiest, and highest life path. Because time and again I’ve learned that the choices we make, and the energy we embrace, impact not only our own life path but also the collective path of love that we are all on together.”

This passage provides an example of Jackson’s instructive tone, reminding her reader to “stay open” to the signs the universe has to offer to attune herself to the spirit world. She assumes a more pedagogical stance in this passage than in the previous chapters, stepping into the role of her reader’s guide. She uses allusions to “life’s path” and the “path of love,” which evoke notions of a collective spiritual journey that everyone is on together.

“‘I feel like I’m able to share a kind of lightness with the world,’ she says. ‘We all have the ability to rebuild our entire lives. Our lives can be something so much bigger and more beautiful than we ever even realize. And it’s all up to us. We need to ask ourselves, How do I really want to build my life?’”

Jackson incorporates her subject’s first-person point of view to nuance her authorial voice and reinforce her overarching claims. In this passage, her subject, Danielle, remarks upon the transformative power of engaging with the unseen. Her first-person voice is at once reflective and insistent—authenticating Jackson’s belief that communicating with the beyond is paramount to growing as a person.

“Throughout history, many cultures have seen rainbows as powerful and positive messages of love and hope. In Norse mythology, a rainbow is even considered a supernatural bridge between humans on earth and gods on the Other Side. In my experience, rainbows are spectacular signs sent to us by our Teams of Light on the Other Side.”

Jackson affects a more removed authorial stance as she details the historical and cultural significance of rainbows. She is describing the archetypal resonance of rainbows, and thus conveying their universal meaning. In the last sentence of the passage, she shifts her tone into a more narrative, vulnerable stance, as she conveys the significance of the rainbow to her. The content and form of the passage thus reiterate the personal and universal meaning of signs.

“All signs are messages of love. And every decision that will lead us to our highest path is a decision based on love, not fear. So when we acknowledge the powerful signs we receive from the Other Side, we allow them to guide us on a path of love, instead of making decisions dictated by fear.”

Jackson employs a caring, comforting tone as she reiterates the importance of listening to messages from the Other Side. She repeats the word “love” numerous times throughout the passage, which underscores the positive nature of signs. She also uses the first-person plural point of view to reiterate her and her reader’s trusting bond.

“For inside of each of us, there is a connection to a deep and beautiful wellspring of love and knowing. Sometimes, it’s finding a way to be silent enough to hear the tiny whispers that matters most of all.”

Jackson employs poetic language to enact her deep appreciation for the Other Side. Diction like “deep,” “beautiful,” “wellspring,” “love,” “tiny,” and “whispers” evoke notions of peacefulness—something Jackson is arguing that everyone can experience if they are in tune with their spirituality.

“This is the very same concept that I’ve been returning to throughout this book—the shift in our consciousness that happens when we open our minds and our hearts to signs and messages from the Other Side. When Leslie ‘feels’ the presence of her son in her home, she is demonstrating clairsentience—the ability to feel things through means other than our five senses.”

Jackson uses a reflective tone to issue her final arguments at the end of Part 3. She acknowledges that she’s “been returning” to this same concept regarding the Great Shift “throughout this book,” but reiterates it nonetheless. Her reiteration implies that this is one of the most important lessons in the text. Furthermore, she incorporates her subject Leslie’s experience to reinforce her argument.

“To explain what I mean by this, I’d like to share a personal story about a difficult and frightening time for me and for my family. To be honest, I was reluctant at first to tell this story publicly, but I decided to include it here because it shows how I navigated the very journey of this book, how I came to that point of trusting the universe, and how that changed my path. This is a story of surrender.”

Jackson incorporates another personal anecdote from her family life to endear herself to her reader. She is using a vulnerable tone and thus equating her experience to those of her readers and subjects. She uses caveating clauses like “to explain what I mean by this” and “to be honest”—language which enacts her internal vacillations as she prepares to recount this story.

“This energy matters because we are all connected to one another in very real ways. We are hardwired to seek and crave connection. And yet we sometimes lose this feeling of interconnectedness. We allow events in our lives to diminish our energy. But we can control our energy. We can dial it up. The way we do this is by shifting our energy.”

Jackson’s reflections in the text’s closing section have an insistent, instructional tone. She uses anaphora and repetition to reiterate her overarching claims and to impress the importance of these lessons upon her reader. Her use of the clauses “we are,” “we sometimes,” “we allow,” “we can control,” “we can dial,” and “we do this” lend a rhythmic quality to the passage, which underscores Jackson’s belief in the message she’s conveying.

“Try it for yourself. Try it when you’re feeling down. Go to a museum, or a movie, or a play. Sing a song or read a poem. Open yourself up to the vitality and brilliance of the exchange. I am counting on the fact that you will feel your energy shift. We’ve all been given the great and beautiful gift of art, and we should be mindful of this gift.”

In Part 4, Jackson offers accessible exercises for her reader to practice engaging with the beyond. She uses short, declarative sentences and the imperative mood. These formal techniques grant the reader useful tools for applying Jackson’s lessons about communicating with the beyond in real and unintimidating ways.

“So how do we meditate? Do we need to sit in the lotus position? Do we need a mantra? Do we need to chant? No, no, and no. Meditating can be as simple as feeling our pulse with our finger, or focusing on our breathing. It is about achieving and appreciating a moment of true mindfulness.”

Jackson uses rhetorical questions to assume her reader’s point of view. She is affecting an understanding tone by implying that meditation can be intimidating and the reader might not feel knowledgeable enough to practice it. However, she answers her rhetorical questions with three “no’s,” and then offers simple entryways into practicing meditation. The passage is offering the reader another useful tool to engage with the unseen world.