49 pages • 1-hour read
Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe
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Themes
Interconnection Between Life and the Afterlife
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes themes of death, loss, and grief.
Jackson roots her discussion of the interconnected nature between life and the afterlife in the inherent ability of each individual to receive signs, messages, and guidance from loved ones who have passed to the Other Side. She argues that these deceased loved ones (and other various paranormal energies and entities) make up a person’s Team of Light. These Teams of Light, Jackson holds, “want so much to help guide us, and are so excited to see us happy, that they often […] choose to send us signs of their own in the hope that we will recognize them and act on them” (59). Such signs come in the form of light, color, sound, music, animals, or other natural phenomena. While Jackson acknowledges that skeptics might interpret such signs as mere coincidences (or instances of random chance), she asserts that they are evidence of the interconnection between the physical and spiritual worlds. If the individual allows herself to believe in this interconnection, Jackson claims, she can also discover connections with other humans and animals.
Using anecdotal, but not empirical, evidence, Jackson conveys the power and beauty of acknowledging the connection between life and the afterlife. She holds that when the individual shares her encounters with the Other Side (Jackson’s term for the afterlife) she can foster other levels of community, too. The more that “we honor [this interconnectedness] by sharing our stories and our energy and our light with the world, the more our existence is enriched” (159). Throughout the text, Jackson offers up the stories of subjects she’s read for to enact this notion. In Parts 1 and 2, she focuses on stories of those who lose loved ones and find solace after they receive messages from the afterlife. With Jackson as their psychic medium and guide, they discover that their loved ones aren’t in fact gone because death doesn’t end their connection or mark the death of their spirit. In Part 3, Jackson shares stories of those who find answers to life’s questions when they attune themselves to the Other Side. These individuals receive encouragement to start families or motivation to pursue a new career path. In some instances, Jackson’s subjects will discover uncanny connections between their deceased loved ones and living friends they didn’t previously know existed. In turn, these overlaps between life and the afterlife transform Jackson’s subjects’ outlooks on life.
In Part 4, Jackson reiterates the interconnection between life and the afterlife by giving her reader tools for attuning herself to the Other Side. Such tools include meditation, sleeping, exercising, and writing a gratitude journal. Jackson argues that these simple practices can open the individual to a world beyond the corporeal, expand her understanding of herself, and letting her contribute to the collective consciousness.
Personal and Universal Meaning of Signs
Throughout the text, Jackson argues that signs have personal and universal meanings that can comfort, guide, and renew the individual. She establishes this notion in the text’s introduction, defining signs as “a method of communication from the Other Side. Signs can come from different sources—our departed loved ones, our spirit guides, and God energy” (xviii). In each of the anecdotes she presents, Jackson describes signs that she and her subjects have encountered—narrative sequences that employ vivid imagery and detailed description. She also incorporates quotes from her clients to validate her claim about the personal and universal nature of signs. For example, in Chapter 5, Jackson quotes her subject Carla reflecting on her encounter with a deer she believes was a sign sent from her late son Calder:
It convinced me that Calder really is always with us. Losing a young child so suddenly, I can’t even explain how hard that is. And I really feel like getting that message from Calder helped me get through it. It was such a blessing. The Four C’s are still together, and we always will be (32).
Via Carla’s experience, Jackson illustrates how signs have the power to heal the individual after losing a loved one. A sign like the one Calder sent Carla eased her sorrow. In other such anecdotes, Jackson includes more of her subjects’ reflections on their encounters with signs—many of which clarify their questions in an era of confusion, alleviate their stress, or reveal new truths about themselves. Using these anecdotes, Jackson suggests that it is the very expansiveness of signs that makes them some powerful.
Jackson incorporates sweeping descriptions of archetypal symbology throughout the text to expand her argument on the power of signs. This is particularly true in the case of hummingbirds and rainbows. In Chapter 8, for example, she explains that Indigenous Americans “see hummingbirds as healers and helpers who bring luck and love to those they visit” (44). She goes on to describe hummingbirds’ significance in ancient Aztec culture. She then follows these passages with Priya’s story of encountering a hummingbird sent by her late father during her wedding ceremony. Jackson’s pairing of the archetypal and the anecdotal enacts the notion that signs can grant both whole cultures and specific individuals a sense of meaning. She employs a similar formal technique in her discussion of rainbows—describing them on a historical and literary level before offering specific human encounters with rainbows.
Jackson’s title itself—Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe—positions signs as critically important to her personal belief system. The text sets out to prove that signs (no matter how they appear) are indeed transmissions from the Other Side and can enrich the individual’s life and personal growth.
Transformative Power of Engaging With the Unseen
Throughout the text, Jackson pairs vivid descriptions of corporeal experience with detailed depictions of her and her subjects’ encounters with the Other Side to convey the transformative possibilities of communicating with the unseen world. She positions images of rainbows, balloons, flowers, trees, music, bows, oranges, deer, and groundhogs—images she argues even the skeptical individual might encounter in everyday life—as evidence of the unseen world, particularly when they appear in unexpected or uncanny ways. In Chapter 11, she reflects on the power of signs to change the individual:
One of the most beautiful ways that signs can transform us has to do with the grief we feel when we lose someone we love. It’s very easy for us to get stuck in our grief—to feel overwhelmingly sad and empty and lonely. But our loved ones on the Other Side do not want us to feel that way, so they send us signs that can transform our grief into something quite profound—the feeling that we continue to be, and will always be, connected to those we love, even after they cross to the Other Side (81-82).
When the individual opens herself to receiving messages from the Other Side, Jackson believes she can find healing from grief and, in turn, a new perspective on life. She notes the distinct reactions of her subjects in the wake of encounters with the unseen world, suggesting the varied and individualized nature of each person’s journey. For some, the experiences allow them to gain a sense of acceptance. Others achieve peace of mind. For others still, engaging with the unseen world offers clarity, excitement, and even joy.
In Jackson’s concluding statements in Part 4, she holds that engaging with the unseen is a simple way to have a richer human experience. She insists that no individual is barred from this spiritual world and that to be welcomed into it we must only stay open. In Chapter 30, she offers accessible techniques to grow emotionally and spiritually. Meditation, for example, is one “way of tuning in to and listening to the Other Side” (268). While prayer is a way for one to address the universe (or the God energy), in meditation one can “listen for messages from the universe and our Teams of Light” (268). Assuming this listening posture, Jackson holds, is the best way to form a connection with the unseen. In turn, the universe will open itself to the individual, offering guidance, solace, and renewal.
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