P.M.H. Atwater's Near-Death Experience Expert Page

P.M.H. Atwater, L.H.D., Ph.D. (Hon.) (pmhatwater.hypermart.net and www.amazon.com) is a near-death experiencer and one of the original researchers in the field of near-death studies, having begun her work in 1978. Sign up for her free online newsletter. Visit Atwater's Q & A Blog and her NDE News Blog. Atwater is a pioneer in subjects like near-death experiences (NDEs), the aftereffects of spiritual experiences, transformations of consciousness, reality shifts, future memory, and modern generations of children and how they differ from previous generations. Atwater wrote the column "Coming Back" for the IANDS magazine Vital Signs from 1981 to 1985. She earned her Letters of the Humanities (L.H.D.) doctorate from the International College of Spiritual and Psychic Studies in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 19, 1992; and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. in Therapeutic Counseling in March 2005, from Medicina Alternativa Institute, The Open International University for Complementary Medicines, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Also in 2005, the International Association for Near-death Studies (IANDS) presented her with an Outstanding Service Award and the National Association of Transpersonal Hypnotherapists awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been a Prayer Chaplain since 2004.

Atwater retired as an active fieldworker in near-death studies in 2010, calling for the entire field to recognize near-death states as part of the larger genre of transformations of consciousness and how they change people. Atwater is the author of many other wonderful NDE books including: The Forever Angels (2019), The Animal Lights Series of Children's Books (2019), A Manual for Developing Humans (2017), Dying to Know You (2014), The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences (2014), Future Memory (2013), Children of the Fifth World (2012), NDEs, The Rest of the Story (2011), I Died Three Times in 1977 (2011), Coming Back to Life (2008), Beyond the Indigo Children (2005), We Live Forever (2004), The New Children and NDEs (2003), Beyond the Light (2009), Children of the New Millennium (1999), and Goddess Runes (1996). The following are some details concerning P.M.H. Atwater and her major works on NDEs.

The Forever Angels: NDEs in Childhood and Their Lifelong Impact is the product of P.M.H. Atwater's major study of near-death experiences with the newly born, babies, toddlers, and children up to age five. Atwater reveals how those who experience a near-death state or other worlds at a very young age are profoundly affected for the rest of heir lives. Drawing on interviews with nearly 400 childhood experiencers, both the young and fully matured, Atwater shows how in contrast to adult experiencers, child and infant experiencers cannot compare "before" with "after" because they do not have a "before." Examining their memories of the womb, birth, a "mature" childhood, she reveals how the memory of the life-continuum never fades, nor does the desire to go back. Special chapters cover PTSD vs. NDES, Markers, and Historical Cases. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition and Audiobook Edition.

There is praise for P.M.H. Atwater's book by leading NDE researchers:

According to Bruce Greyson, M.D., the Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, at the University of Virginia Health System, "In this novel approach, Atwater interviewed hundreds of people before and near the end of life who recalled having had an NDE in their first years of life. This strategy gives us an unprecedented 'long view' of how NDEs influence these children over the entire course of their lives. There is no other book like this, nor is there likely to be one."

According to Pim van Lommel, M.D., NDE researcher and author of Consciousness Beyond Life, "P.M.H. Atwater establishes that the full pattern of NDE aftereffects has a far greater impact on children than anyone thought before ... a very important and valuable contribution."

The Animal Lights Series of children's books is an outgrowth of The Forever Angels, a book of new findings about the very young that will affect the entire field of near-death studies. So many children remember their birth, some being in the womb, that it is now time for this type of book to help both parents and children. Animal Lights are six children’s books about animal babies who remember being in the light, being conceived, living in their mommy’s "pocket place" (womb), and being born. Available only through Amazon.com, either as a paperback or Kindle ebook; all six as single books/ebooks or all together as a single volume. Their stories are about problems and having fun, about nearly dying, and about handicaps. They’re all about "coming into this world from the spirit world." The purpose of the six children’s books is to enable parents to have something fun to do with their children, to help kids remember their own time in their mother’s womb, remember birth, and discover the words to talk about this, words to talk about anything they might want to talk about. For instance, parents might ask their child, "Do you have any memories like Busy Betty Wiggles?" 

Volume 1: Busy Betty Wiggles (book / ebook) is about a monkey baby who loves to wiggle and see light.

Volume 2: Winnie Rolls Around (book, ebook) is about a horse baby who learns how to handle a handicap.

Volume 3: Oops A Baby (book, ebook) is about a skunk baby who has a big tail and learns how to accept it.

Volume 4: Tommy Two Toes (book, ebook) is about a fawn baby taught to walk by his miscarried twin.

Volume 5: Wee Willy Kins (book, ebook) is about a very small hedgehog baby who learns self-acceptance.

Volume 6: Sally Suzy Q (book, ebook) is about a kitten who almost suffocates but is saved by angels.

Volume 7: The Animal Lights Series (book, ebook) containing all Volumes, 1 through 6.

Illustrated by award-winning artist Eva Marie Sakmar-Sullivan (stardolphin.com). Graphic Design by Kevin Williams (near-death.com). Project coordination by S. A. Wiltse.

A Guide to Living for This Life and Beyond, this is the third book P.M.H. Atwater was told to write during her third near-death experience. Based entirely on threes, there are no chapters -- only the development of conscious, subconscious, and superconscious aspects to each topic -- every topic – for the A Manual For Developing Humans contains the basics on every level of life -- from how to use your mind, develop and use intuition, understand color, sex, relationships, children, how to take out-of-body trips, interact with spirit beings, meditate, bend time, and rethink money. Aliveness jumps from every page -- of soil, rocks, mountains, vegetation, the air we breathe, our planet, our solar system, our universe -- even electricity and energy itself, along with The Void (the ultimate cradle of creation). Each of six main parts is separated by thoughtform drawings done by the author. Filled with what she has learned from 80 years of living. Many surprises. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

According to Barry Eaton, broadcaster and author of Afterlife and No Goodbyes: "I have read many thousands of books in my lifetime, and interviewed hundreds of authors. However, A Manual for Developing Humans is one of the most absorbing and important books I have ever read. I was informed, fascinated, and uplifted by its huge range of topics. When I finished reading this wonderful book I just wanted to go back and read it again. Brilliant!”

According to Michael Peter Langevin, author of The Secrets of the Amazon Shamans and Spiritual Business: "Who else would be bold enough to write a book titled A Manual for Developing Humans, but P.M.H. Atwater? This book inspired me big time! She of course deals with near-death but also how to eat and breathe and live, with common sense reminders for how to bring meaning and joy to everyone’s life. Her next to last chapter title sums up her many books so well: We are all 'Gods in the Making.' I have known PMH Atwater for many years and her books just keep getting better."

P.M.H. Atwater calls Dying To Know You: Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience "The People’s Book," as it contains a summary of over 4,000 adult and child near-death experiencers -- their wisdom, their words, their story. There is no other book like it in the world. The people's book: a collective of what thousands saw, heard, felt, and suddenly, absolutely, knew. It is nothing less than proof that everyone on planet Earth, in their own heart, seeks to have: that God exists. They describe a God that in ways is beyond description, a Source, an all-encompassing Oneness. Perhaps it makes sense that so many who share the same experience are getting to the core of the world’s longing for the truth about God. Dying To Know You will shake your beliefs about humanity’s relationship to the nature of God and the universe in which we live. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

"This book is a treasure. It rank among the loftiest expressions in modern survival literature." -- Larry Dossey, M.D.

"I’m stunned! I can only digest a little bit at a time. You have put into words the impossible. Everything I 'know' in the deepest sense of my heart, that I cannot adequately describe, you’ve written as if it’s ethereal and words don’t translate. You've done a great, wonderful job!" -- Greg Smith, organizer of Hollywood Grave Line Tours, Proof Reader, Waiter

"Atwater makes a compelling case for the existence of God, going where few researchers have gone before: meeting God while in the midst of a near-death experience. Her many insights into the realm beyond, and those of others whom she has interviewed, provide what may well be a picture window into a soul’s journey back to its maker. Her writing is clear, her reporting thorough, her arguments crisp, her message compelling. Life has value, life has reason, life has meaning." -- Sidney Kirkpatrick, award-winning documentary filmmaker and best-selling author.

Future Memory is about people who "live" the future before it physically manifests, and remember having done so. This pre-living is so totally real and utterly involved that there is no way to tell the difference between present time and future time while the phenomenon is in progress. Sensory rich, Future Memory suggests that the future can somehow overlay the present, enabling an individual to "rehearse" or prepare in advance for what is about to happen in life. Mistakenly termed "flash forwards" by some researchers, Atwater shows how future memory differs from other modes of futuristic awareness such as clairvoyance, precognition, and deja vu. Future Memory stretches the boundaries of what is real and what is not. The innerworkings of creation and consciousness are explored in a spirit of high adventure, along with the big ones: fate and free will, time and space, reality shifts, the higher mind, soul, existence itself, plus revelations about God from Atwater's near-death experiences. Appendices address: differences between altered and transformed consciousness, a conceptual model of space-time relationships, the inner-workings of creation and consciousness via charts, horizontal planes and the number twelve versus "the vertical" and the number thirteen, and the amazing case of Edward de Vere, the seventeenth Earl of Oxford (who probably had several near-death episodes as a child and may indeed be the real Shakespeare). Extensive Resource Section. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

Nobel Prize in Physics nominee Peter Rothschild declares, "Atwater offers us a ... crash course in discovering ... our real identity." -- Magical Blend Magazine

"This is a book whose time is appropriate for the close of the century and for the type of consciousness exploration we are involved in today. As we continue to be receptive to and involved in the unfoldment of quantum physics we see more clearly that consciousness is the foundation of what we know and perceive." -- International Association for Near-Death Studies, Vital Signs Magazine

The past 30 years have seen a quantum leap in the intuitive, creative, and abstract thinking abilities of children as well as unprecedented increases with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism spectrum disorders. As Dr. Atwater explains, we are witnessing evolution at work. The changes in consciousness and brain function evident in our “new kids” signal the widespread emergence of the Fifth Root Race that, fortuitously, coincides with our transition into the Fifth World. Providing a resource for parents and new kids themselves, she explains what is happening to our species and our world -- from neurological changes and climate upheavals to the drive to be constantly "connected" through screen-based technology and the unnecessary widespread use of drug therapies. Sharing individual case histories underscoring traits of new-child personalities, she reveals how these children, born with universal consciousness encoded in their DNA, act as agents for world change. Explores the "Rule of Thirds" and future timelines. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

"If you believe that major changes are coming and the children coming into the world are harbingers of those changes -- and this has antecedents reaching back thousands of years -- then once you pick up this book you won’t put it down. I suggest you be careful when you pick it up, because your thinking, and your world, will never be the same." -- Ervin Laszlo, founder of The Club of Budapest Think Tank, author of more than 80 books, and two-time nominee for The Nobel Peace Prize.

"Packed with mind-boggling insights, this book is a must-read for parents, educators, and all humans as we ponder how to navigate our fast-changing world." -- Virginia Collier, Ph.D., Professor Emerita - George Mason University.

Raymond E. Moody, Jr., M.D. started it. In 1975 his book Life After Life took off like a rocket ship. And it has yet to stop turning heads worldwide. Scientists in other countries objected strenuously. They couldn’t match Moody’s claims. Kenneth Ring changed that when he published Life At Death. I entered the scene in 1978, quietly researching near-death states and amassing a great deal of data. Quite by accident, Ring discovered the self-published book I wrote entitled I Died Three Times In 1977 in Hartford, Connecticut. How it got there nobody knows. He called me and arranged a meeting. That was 1981. My peers turned out to be physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and scientists who spoke a language I did not know. Experience had long taught me that transformational shifts in consciousness were outside the "scientific method." As a trained observer/analyst, I felt my work was just as valid, plus I had a long history of working with thousands who had experienced altered states and the transformational process. With that background plus my own NDEs, I tackled all aspects of near-death states, daring to go where others had not. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition and Audiobook Edition.

"This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in how NDEs relate to the transformation of consciousness, spiritual awakening, and our true potential and that of the world ... Destined to become a classic in near-death studies and consciousness research, it has my highest recommendation." -- Scott A. Olsen, Ph.D., author of award-winning The Golden Section.

"Covers much more that near-death. It is a compendium of wisdom about the nature of consciousness that is well worth reading." -- Stephan Schwartz, author of Opening to the Infinite, Senior Samueli Fellow for Brain/Mind.

I Died Three Times in 1977 is also available in Kindle eBook Edition. Some comments from the Forward to this book made by Pim van Lommel, M.D., head of the prospective study of near-death experiences in Holland:

"By doing all the research about near-death experiences that she did, and by writing about it, she was a great help for breaking the taboo about the subject, not only for those who were confronted with someone who was trying to describe his/her experience, like physicians, nurses, but also family members and friends. She especially helped those men and women who had an NDE and did not know what to think of it, or how to accept it, or what to do about the associated transformational changes in life-insights and the loss of the fear of death.

"In writing this very important book about her own three near-death experiences, she not only enables people to understand and accept their NDE; but, perhaps even more important, she is able to describe so impressively her experiences and the impact they had on her life. 'You don’t always know you are dead when you die ... My body was not me. I was me ... I was a sprinkle of pure consciousness ... Everything that ever was, is or will be was there, yet there was nothing at all ... My life review was not a review, it was a reliving of every thought, of every word, of every deed, plus the effect of each thought, word and deed on everyone ... Thoughts really are things. They are powerful. Thoughts are prematter itself for they have substance and mass and thus can be shaped into form at will. It can be done and I did it ... I saw the role of consciousness in the process of Creation.' Dear PMH, thank you for writing this book." -- Pim van Lommel, M.D., author of Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience

Coming Back To Life is the first book about the near-death phenomenon to look at all aspects of both the experience and its aftereffects -- including the hellish experience, suicides, possible changes in brain structure and chemistry because of what happened, plus how the phenomenon really affects those who experience it -- and compares all of this to what a person goes through after a transformation of consciousness, no matter how caused. The tone is up front and personal. The story of the author's three near-death experiences is covered in Chapter Two, as a way of setting the stage for this controversial investigation. Extensive Resource Section. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

Author Note: Most of my research of near-death states began in 1978, one year after my own episodes, and continues today. I learned police investigative techniques as a child, spending a lot of time in the Twin Falls Police Station, waiting on my father to take me home during "coffee breaks." This was allowed then (the 1940s). I geared my own investigations accordingly, cross-checking my findings at least three times before I published anything. Most of my material is based on on-the-spot interviews, observation and analysis -- all of it original. My preliminary findings were published in a column I wrote for Vital Signs Magazine, then a publication of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, beginning in 1981. Coming Back To Life is an outgrowth of those early columns.

"Anyone interested in the personality changes which affect persons with an NDE, and this includes relatives and friends of such persons, will find this very interesting reading ... compelling." -- Raymond E. Moody, Jr., M.D.

"An extraordinary piece of work ... There is nothing to equal it anywhere in the literature for sheer abundance of information, sensitivity, and readability. Atwater is one of the foremost authorities on the aftereffects of a near-death experience." -- Kenneth Ring, Ph.D.

Ancient traditions have foretold that our successful passage through the "gateway" of planetary development depends on the "Fifth Root Race" -- new stock in the human gene pool designed to help us through the exciting and massive changes ahead. P.M.H. Atwater illuminates the characteristics of the "extraordinary new children" of the Fifth Root Race, those brilliant and irreverent kids born since 1982. She explores the relationship of the new children to ancient prophecies, providing extensive background information about the seven root races (the sixth and seventh have yet to appear), and the great shifting of consciousness already underway. She reveals the connection of the seven root races to the seven chakras, and how the fifth chakra -- the chakra of willpower -- will be opened for humankind as the new children grow to maturity. Beyond The Indigo Children explains the grand sweep of human evolution and the worldwide ascension of energy now occurring. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

"Takes the new children -- those often termed 'Indigos' and places them in a context whose scope boggles the mind. Weaving together metaphysics, legends, new physics, sociology, child development, gifted education, near-death experiences and transformations, Beyond The Indigo Children explains why such children are making waves on the planet and why this is happening now." -- Betty Maxwell, Associate Editor, Advanced Development Journal.

"A fascinating and instructive book that provides a wonderful, grounded 'voice of reason' among all the misinformation that’s being bandied around about today’s children." -- Sandie Sedgbeer, Managing Editor, Children of the New Earth magazine.

About We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death: The unthinkable happened. Her son’s two-year-old daughter Myriam came down with bacterial meningitis. Seizing one day. Dead the next. How both sides of the family responded to her death, gathered in a circle to share intuitive prompts -- even those from a year previous. Myriam’s visits with her brother and sights of her walking around the house for several weeks afterward were proof that only her body left, not Myriam. Dr. Atwater wrote this book, both as a tribute to Myriam, and as a continuation of her decades of research in the field of near-death and transformative states of consciousness. She explores deeply such mysteries as heaven and hell, the soul’s existence after death, the power of prayer, and the truths and myths about death itself. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

"P.M.H. Atwater - the renowned researcher of near-death experiences, future memory, and children of the new millennium -- has written her most personal book. This true story is rich in both philosophical insight and in emotional subtlety. It shows us the glorious beauty that lies hidden within even the most terrible tragedies. Perhaps the greatest recommendation I can offer is that this is a book written with care and tenderness by a loving heart." -- Jeffrey Mishlove, Ph.D., host of the "Thinking Allowed" television series, and author of many books

"We Live Forever: The Real Truth About Death is conceptually earth shattering in its discoveries about the meaning of life. Dr. Atwater has broken new ground in her quest to understand death and the eternal journey of the soul. Her knowledge of death as well as her advice for the dying and their loved ones is a quantum leap beyond the brilliant pioneer on the subject of death, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross." -- Patrick C. Wells, movie producer of "I Love You To Death" and "Youngblood"

"The composition of the book is brilliant. The content extremely meaningful. The form in which the story of your life is the thread as the motive and crystallization point, is simple and convincing. It touches deeply because of the truths being revealed, the form being authentic and not lecturing from a level of 'I am right.' ... It is a must for all members of the Society of Transpersonal Psychiatry." - S. G. Lange, M.D., President, Holland's Society of Transpersonal Psychiatry

The New Children and Near-Death Experiences is an expansion of the first book ever written that provides -- from the view of the child -- an in-depth study of children who have experienced the near-death phenomenon and the pattern of physiological and psychological aftereffects which follow. Atwater notes that the child who returns from a near-death experience is not the same child as before, but is a "remodeled, rewired, reconfigured, refined version of the original." Presenting data to support her contention that these children have experienced structural, chemical, and functional changes in the brain, she also shows how their greater empathic abilities as well as dramatically higher intelligence are qualities that are also present in children born since 1982 enhanced abilities that cannot be tied to simple genetics. Atwater shows that understanding the near-death experiences of children can help us prepare for a quantum leap in the evolution of humanity. Extensive resource suggestions and ideas are included, along with an explanation of the protocol used in arriving at the research in this book. Also available in Kindle eBook Edition.

Authors Note:  "The New Children and Near-Death Experiences" is a remake of the original book, Children of the New Millennium. It is much larger, same basic format but with new cases and new research never before published. Additional sections cover such material as information about our tiniest near-death experiencers (newborns, infants, and toddlers), evidential memories of past lives, the youngest hellish case yet recorded, and some amazing facts about Albert Einstein. I am very happy about this revised and much larger version of the original book. I know you will be, too."

"This book is the richest, most probing, and most comprehensive available on NDEs in children, and a major contribution to the field of near-death studies. It is also a truly seminal exploration of the possible evolutionary significance of NDEs." -- Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., co-author of Lessons from the Light

"Atwater gives us a provocative new perspective on child development and humanity's future." -- Bruce Greyson, M.D., editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies

Beyond The Light enlarges and expands the entire field of near-death studies, introducing the most in-depth investigation yet of the far-reaching impact and surprising dynamics of near-death states. Comprehensive, it is based on over 3,000 interviews with near-death survivors over a sixteen-year period. Adults and children are covered, 20% from the black race, many foreign countries represented. Revealed are the four types of near-death experiences along with a basic profile of who tends to have which type, investigations of near-death-like episodes and other anomalies, the full range of psychological and physiological aftereffects, "the light" of enlightenment, revelations that near-death survivors bring back from the other side of death's curtain, plus a host of startling new material on topics like electrical sensitivity, black angels, and brain shift. Protocol for nurses, emergency crews, and health-care providers who suspect their patient might be having a near-death experience. Section on Spiritual Emergence / Emergencies, Research Methodologies, and extensive Resource Section.

Author Note: I advance here what I have noticed since beginning my investigations of near-death states in 1978 ... that the near-death experience, along with other types of consciousness transformations, are really a "brain shift." I identify brain shift as a structural, chemical, and functionary change that appears to occur in experiencer brains afterward (whether partial or more complete). Implications explored.

"Atwater's insights and predictions about the nature of the near-death experience came years before the hard medical research that backed them up. She is among this field's best researchers. She skillfully combines science, religion, metaphysics, and her own observations; synthesizing the entire field." -- Melvin Morse, M.D., author of Closer to the Light: Learning from the Near-Death Experiences of Children

"In addition to a number of provocative case histories gleaned from her extensive research into the near-death experience, in her current work, Beyond The Light, P.M.H. Atwater has also provided us with the most complete resource book currently available for those who have become NDE experiencers." -- Brad Steiger, author of One With Light

About Goddess Runes: This ancient set of casting runes (not to be confused with Scandinavian divinatory sets and histories) were introduced to Dr. Atwater after she recovered from her near-death experiences, and just before she left her home state of Idaho to do her research. All of her writings and teachings about these ancient runes (traced to the Black Sea and around the Volga, Ukraine, and Crimea) are no longer available. Here’s what once existed:

The Magical Language of Runes: Originally self-published, it later became a publication of Bear & Co., then in Santa Fe. NM, with the ISBN number of 093968070X. Said Wabun Wind of this book, The Magical Language of Runes, brings a practical, down-to-earth approach to an ancient practice, using our brothers and sisters of the mineral kingdom. P.M.H. Atwater brings her own experience and her lyrical use of the English language to a subject often made too complicated for a true and deep understanding. I whole-heartedly recommend the book to anyone interested in increasing their understanding of life."

Goddess Runes: A Comprehensive Guide to Casting and Divination with One of the Oldest Known Runes Sets. Avon Books published this with an ISBN number of 0-380-78292-8. All books currently written on runes are about oracle or yang runes and the masculine approach to rune use. Atwater is the first to write about the elder runes, which are used only for casting and are yin or of the feminine. These "group" runes are cast as a single unit, freely, without the need for either layout or format. Illustrative, they create picture patterns that stir the deepest recesses of our heart.