Is There An Afterlife? With Annette Marinaccio

This episode of Women's Dream Enlightenment Podcast features Annette Marinaccio, a CPA and healthcare executive, who shared her journey from skepticism about the afterlife to becoming an expert in metaphysics, inspired by her mother-in-law's passing. Emphasizing the integration of metaphysical knowledge into daily life, Annette discussed the significance of understanding synchronicities, spirit guides, and dreams for personal growth. She highlighted her own transformative experiences with dreams as portals to spiritual guidance, underscoring their accessibility to all.

Transcript

Welcome!

Today we have Annette Marinaccio.

She is a certified public accountant,

An accomplished health care executive,

And the author of Your Soul Focus.

Her mother-in-law led Annette on a path after she died to prove to her that there is an afterlife.

After understanding that the afterlife is existent,

Annette learned how intricate and extensive our souls and our journeys are.

The information that Annette has accumulated and conveyed has a clear and deep benefit to others during their times of need,

Grief,

Or curiosity,

And Your Soul Focus will pass that knowledge on to you.

Your Soul Focus has been endorsed by three Long Island mediums with a public presence.

It has reached number one on Amazon three times.

It has dozens of five-star reviews.

A chapter was included in a Saturday Night Live skit.

And most importantly,

It has brought comfort and inspiration to thousands of readers.

Welcome,

Annette.

Thank you so much for having me,

Megan.

Thank you.

So wonderful to have you here and hear your experience.

I love sharing stories of other women who come from all different walks of life and find out that there is an unseen world.

That is really the realm that I like to dwell in,

And I love opening up that world to other people,

And I love hearing everyone's story about how they discovered it.

So thank you for being willing to share your story.

Thank you.

So my first question that I ask everybody on the show is,

What does enlightenment mean to you?

That's a great question.

For me,

When I hear the word enlightenment,

I automatically think of waking up awake or more light.

And so I think that most people throughout their earthly life are on a trajectory to be enlightened a little bit as they go.

And so to some extent,

Some people get enlightened very early on.

Some people,

It takes a little bit more time,

And maybe some people never get there.

But it is certainly the opening of your soul to let light in.

That's what I think of when I think of enlightened.

I completely agree.

And that works so perfect because the intro to the show,

As the listeners know,

Is I say,

Let's bring in the light.

Because that's really what to me it is as well.

Light is all of the spiritual energy around us,

Right?

And the 3D versus the 4D or the 5D is that density of that frequency,

And the amount of light that we are actually aligned with,

Or not.

That's true.

And I like to sometimes if people say,

What is it like to be on the other side?

Or how can a soul be in more than one place at once,

Meaning visiting my sister at the same time that they're visiting me.

And I always say,

Just think of light.

Light can be many places at once,

It travels very far,

Very fast,

It's very vast.

And so I think that that's what we are.

Once we shed these physical bodies,

We're like a light energy.

For sure.

So tell the listeners a little bit about how you went from healthcare executive and CPA to writing a book about the afterlife.

Sure.

And I still am a CPA and a healthcare executive.

And I love that.

I really enjoy my work.

But after my mother-in-law died,

Which was 2006,

She became very intent on proving to me that she was still here,

That we go on after we die.

And I don't know that I would say I was skeptical,

I just really had never thought about it that much.

And so once I accepted the fact that she is still with us,

Even though she crossed,

I was then very obsessed.

I was like,

Wait a minute.

If we go on,

This was my one question,

If we go on,

What are we doing here?

I don't understand the connection between there and here.

And so I felt very much like an accountant.

I needed to understand that.

I mean,

That's just the way I work.

That's the way I am at work.

It's the way I am at home.

So I was like,

I need to understand this.

So I then spent four years researching everything metaphysical.

I just needed to really understand,

Okay,

I get it,

You're still here,

But why?

Then why am I here?

And you're there,

I don't get it.

And so once I really had a good handle on sort of how the universe works to a larger extent,

Which took about four years,

I then was very satisfied.

And I sort of stopped and thought,

Okay,

I'll just live my life a little bit differently.

I have this deep knowledge and it will help me in all walks of life.

And so I just sort of stopped being obsessed with the metaphysical.

And then as the universe would have it,

I was placed in the path of people throughout the next three or so years that really would benefit from a piece of what I had learned.

So whether it was a coworker going through some horrible grief situation,

Or someone scratching their head about why something was happening in the universe,

The way it was happening.

And I was like,

Oh,

I can figure that out because what I had learned,

Or I know what's happening here,

Or have you seen the signs from your mother or whatever?

And then after about three years of that and people saying to me,

Oh my goodness,

That was so eye-opening to me or life-changing,

You changed my life.

And I'm not like a doctor or a nurse,

I'm an accountant.

So I'm not used to getting that kind of feedback that I've changed somebody's life.

So that was like great feedback for me.

And then I was like,

I think I'm supposed to put this in a book because I can really synthesize everything I've learned into a really digestible,

Usable format so that an everyday person can pick it up and say,

Oh,

I didn't think of it that way.

Oh,

I didn't realize that.

And so that's what I did.

And so I put that book out and I'm glad I did.

I knew when I put it out that it would have an energy of its own and it does.

So that sort of crossed over from just the 3D world to understanding the universe more and still living in the 3D world.

Yes.

And I love how you were still able to have one foot in each world and that you've found a way to integrate what you've learned and still exist in that other world.

Partly because like you said,

You're needed in that world.

So the other people that were coming around you that were looking for the guidance and your experience could help them is it really answers that question.

But why are you there and I'm here?

Right.

Yeah,

That's absolutely true.

And the more people we help one on one,

One to many people,

But the more people we help to open their eyes or their heart or their soul to the fact that this earthly life is just really a sliver of what we're really about.

I think that it's better off for all of us.

So I also learned early on when I first put the book out that sharing,

Which is what you mentioned at the beginning,

Sharing is very important.

So I'm all happy to share at any point,

Anytime anybody wants me to talk about it.

I can talk about the afterlife for a very long time.

I can also talk about physician compensation and contracting from my job,

But those two topics I can speak about for a very long time because they really interest me and I love to share.

It's what lights you up and that's what you should share.

Yes.

It's the power of suggestion.

So many times when you start to talk about something,

When you bring a topic to the fore that people aren't used to talking about,

Sometimes there'll be resistance,

But more than often it's,

Wow,

That's so interesting.

I never thought about that,

Which is what I get a lot because a lot of people just don't think about their dreams.

Don't think they're important.

Don't understand why you would and have never heard of what I do and don't understand the benefit of it.

They might say,

Well,

Why would we do that?

Well,

What's the benefit?

And so it's really pulling them out from where they are to gain a greater appreciation of their experience here.

That's true.

And once I had that better understanding about the universe,

It did help me even in my work,

My career,

Just take a different attitude about the people that I work with every day.

And so that was very helpful too,

Just having both of those aspects of my interest and personality,

Having them be aligned.

I love talking about synchronicities because that is something that I experience daily and follow.

And the more you follow them,

The more they happen.

And I know that you've experienced that as well on your journey.

That's true.

I mean,

The entire beginning of my eyes being open was a series of synchronicities.

My mother-in-law,

She left breadcrumbs.

So she was like a little synchronicity,

A little breadcrumb,

A little breadcrumb.

And then when you put it all together,

You have a beautiful brioche loaf of bread,

But she really left those breadcrumbs,

Which was a series of synchronicities to help me open my eyes.

And because I'm an accountant,

I think the other side,

Because she enlisted my deceased relatives and my spirit guides,

Which at the beginning of this,

I didn't want to have to believe in spirit guides,

But now I understand they exist.

That seemed a little bit out there for me,

But now I understand it's part of it.

But they really fed me the information about the other side,

Like a morsel at a time,

Because they knew that my accounting brain was not going to just all of a sudden embrace the possibility that we go on.

So I needed really to be spoon fed a little bit at a time.

And then even after I accepted that we go on,

They spoon fed me information about how the universe works just a little bit at a time.

So I was able to pick up a piece and pick up a piece and pick up another piece until I felt very comfortable that I can understand the universe now.

I can understand why things happen.

It's not so foreign to me anymore.

It's a wonderful perspective to gain and to share.

And I love following them because I find that they just appear more and more and more when you do.

But for the people that are listening who say,

Spirit guide,

What is that?

And because you have come from the other side of the very structured scientific side,

Explain to the listeners how you came to accept that,

To understand that in a way that's accessible,

Like you said.

So with spirit guides,

To learn about spirit guides,

I did a lot of reading,

Just to learn about the metaphysical world.

And a lot of what I read did not resonate with me or didn't make sense,

But a lot of what I read did.

And so what I learned with spirit guides is that we have many of them and some guide us for our entire life,

But many are with us for a portion of our life.

So for instance,

If we have young children,

Maybe this spirit guide is with us when our children are young.

And then when they're not so young anymore,

That spirit guide will go and help somebody else.

And they're really souls that we did not know.

They're not the same as guardian angels.

They're souls that we did not know on earth.

But when we cross back over,

We'll know them immediately.

And the only direct,

I'll say,

Interaction that I had with one of my spirit guides happened through a dream.

And it was just so powerful.

And it was occurring during that four years when my mother-in-law and my deceased relatives were starting to show me a little bit at a time what the universe is about.

And so at this one particular time,

My daughter was,

I think,

16 at the time.

And so maybe it was like 2010 or something,

Maybe three or four years after my mother-in-law had died.

And I was still learning about everything metaphysical.

And I was falling asleep at night.

My daughter came into me and she said that her friend had been promoted on the dance team that they had been on,

The traveling dance troupe,

For maybe five years.

And now her friend had been promoted to a higher level dance troupe.

And I had very mixed feelings about that because this was her good friend and they traveled together and they roomed together and they spent their free time together.

And it was difficult for me to see now my daughter is going to have to be in a very different situation when she travels because this girl is on a different dance troupe.

And so I was struggling with that and I was falling asleep.

So,

Because I was going to sleep that night.

And so she came into and she said,

Guess what?

Michelle's been promoted,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah.

I didn't know what to say at first.

And I'm glad I didn't say anything that upset her more.

Instead,

I just said,

So what do you think about that?

And she thought for a minute and she said,

Well,

I'm very happy for Michelle.

And I'm glad that I left it open-ended like that and didn't have her be in a position where she had to deal with my feelings too.

So she just worked through them on her own.

But as I was falling asleep,

I was very upset and I was thinking,

Okay,

Tomorrow I've got to approach the dance teacher and I've got to say,

Can you promote my daughter,

Diana?

Can you promote Diana too?

I mean,

They're comparable dancers.

Are they that different?

I mean,

They've been together for five years.

They travel together.

We're like,

Why break up?

So I'm playing and playing in my head what I'm going to tell this dance teacher.

And then I fell asleep.

And the next thing I know,

It was like three in the morning,

Which is often a time that the other side will help you with dreams.

Two,

Three,

Four o'clock in the morning,

They'll come through.

So it was about a little bit after three.

And I woke up after this dream.

And usually if it's a dream,

If it's a powerful dream that you're meant by the other side to remember,

You will wake up right afterwards.

They will make sure that you remember this dream.

So I woke up and the dream was so fresh in my head that I ran to my closet and wrote down what my spirit guide had told me.

So it was very,

Very fresh.

But what had happened was this fellow came to me.

And in my book,

I sort of said he looked to me to be maybe in his 30s or 40s.

He had straight brown hair.

He had a fur tie clasp,

Fur vest on.

And I didn't write it in the book,

But he looked like Keanu Reeves.

That's what he looked like to me,

Like very pointed dark eyes.

And he just stared at me and he said,

Drop it,

Really forceful.

And I was just like,

What?

And now it was not verbal,

The discussion,

But it was telepathic.

But he said,

Definitely said,

Drop it.

And I was like,

What?

I didn't know what he meant.

And I'm looking in his eyes and I knew he was from the same place that my mother-in-law was from.

I knew that he was from the other side at the time the dream was happening.

And he said it again,

Drop it.

And I didn't know what he meant.

And so I looked at him with a big question mark on my face.

It was a big question mark.

And then he asked me to look down and between him and me,

There was vast black infinite abyss of space,

Let's say.

And I looked down into what was this fast swirling tornado.

It was like a funnel.

I was looking down into this funnel and it was spinning so fast.

So it was like looking down into the inside of a tornado.

And I've seen since then something called the Whirlpool Galaxy,

Which reminds me of it.

Although the Whirlpool Galaxy,

When you look at it,

It looks like a flat situation,

A swirl.

This was a tunnel kind of swirl.

And then he said it,

Drop it.

You cannot recreate the living spirit.

And in one split second,

I knew exactly what he meant.

It was unbelievable.

So I went from not knowing to knowing.

And what he meant was that swirl is all of the souls of the universe,

The ones on earth,

The ones not on earth,

Your spirit guides,

Any dimension.

It's every soul of the universe and it's swirling forward.

It's the living spirit,

All of us together.

And it's moving so fast.

And no matter what we,

How much we want to,

The force is so great that we can't turn it back a notch.

We can't,

Because it's not just me.

It's not just you.

It's all of us all together,

Moving forward,

Forward,

Forward.

The force is so strong.

So I knew exactly what he meant.

I can't go back.

There's nothing I can do to change what occurred.

I've got to move forward.

I have no option.

And then I thought to myself,

This is what grief is made of.

Grief is always trying to say,

I wish something else.

I wish I had what I had before.

I wish my deceased loved one was still with me.

I wish I was still able to hug this person.

I wish I was still young.

I wish I was still thin the way I was young,

Whatever.

So it's like wanting to recreate the living spirit.

And his message was,

You cannot recreate the living spirit.

Even if things haven't changed for you,

They've changed for millions of other souls.

And that force of the universe is too great for you to think that you can recreate something.

So that was his message.

Drop it.

You cannot recreate the living spirit.

And in that split second,

I knew exactly what he meant.

I couldn't go backwards.

My only option was to accept what had occurred and go forward.

That was my only option.

And so I woke up,

Ran to the closet,

Wrote it down.

The next morning,

I had no qualms,

None about my daughter's friend being promoted on the dance troupe.

I was perfectly happy.

My daughter was going to go on.

And this new set of circumstances,

And that was the end of things.

I wasn't going to talk to the teacher.

There was no purpose in that.

It was what it was.

And I was very accepting of everything.

And the interesting thing is it was life-changing for me.

Because from that point in my life on,

I can accept when things change,

Even when I don't want them to,

Which is very often,

Right?

Very easily.

Very easily,

I've learned I can't recreate the living spirit.

I can't go back and change anything.

I can't recreate it.

We're all connected and it's moving forward for all of us.

And that's our obligation to recognize,

Our responsibility to recognize that we have to move forward with new circumstances every single second of every single day.

We cannot go back.

We cannot recreate it.

So that was very powerful.

And when I woke up,

I immediately knew he was a spirit guide.

I knew it.

I just knew it.

I didn't know whether he's my spirit guide,

Like for my entire life here,

Whether he was just came to me to show me that.

I have no idea.

I don't know if I'll ever see him again or if I'll never see him again.

I've never seen him since then,

But I knew he was a spirit guide.

And I was so grateful.

So grateful.

I mean,

For all these years,

It has just changed.

It was life-changing.

I can just move on with things far easier than prior to that dream.

That's so powerful.

Dreams can be so powerful.

Yeah.

So many times I feel like people just think that dreams are happening in a vacuum and that what you're experiencing is nonsensical or non-purposeful and they really do just hold so much potential to change our entire lives.

I mean,

That's the transformational power of them.

And they really are the doorway to not just sleep time.

The dream world is not just imagination.

It's really an interdimensional portal,

In my opinion.

I agree.

And I think sometimes people discount dreams because many,

Of course,

Not all,

But many don't make sense.

They don't make sense to us.

So you can't piece it together.

But even the ones that don't make sense,

If they're not coming from the other side,

There are aspects to them that are worth dissecting.

Because even though the entire thread of the dream may not make sense,

Or there are parts of the dream that don't make sense,

There are probably little tidbits in there that do make sense.

And I learned that during the time,

During those three or four years,

Because I'm very,

Very left-brain dominant.

My brain is very analytical,

Computer-like.

I've tried meditating.

For years,

I meditated.

I was hoping to see the other side.

I wasn't able to do that.

I'm just very left-brain dominant.

So the easiest way for the other side to come through to me when I needed to learn about what I needed to learn about was really dreams and signs.

Because signs would be something outside of me.

I didn't have to process it in my brain,

Right?

So something outside of me,

And then I would just see it and understand it.

Or dreams,

Because I can get through to me in the evening,

Because your brain waves are different in the evening,

So easier for them to get through to me.

So I had several dream downloads when I had to learn.

It's interesting,

Because after I wrote the book,

My friend said to me,

Oh,

Your mother-in-law must have been such a strong person,

Because she started me on this journey.

And I said,

She was strong,

But I don't know that she was so much stronger than everybody else.

And then she said,

Well,

You must have been so close,

The two of you.

And I was like,

We were close.

I definitely loved her.

And I know sometimes people have not great relationships with their in-laws,

But we had a great relationship.

But I don't know that we were so much closer than anybody else.

Then my friend said,

Well,

Why did she pick you to come through to?

And I was like,

I don't know.

And then she thought about it,

And she came back like an hour later,

And she said,

I know why.

Because she knew you'd write a book.

She knew you'd share it.

And I was like,

That's true,

Because in that three years,

I was so entrenched in learning everything metaphysical and getting my head around it and summarizing it,

Because I felt like I wanted it in a digestible format that could be here after I'm gone.

If somebody picks up this book,

The aspects of it still pertain.

So at any rate,

I was like,

That's true.

And I think my spirit guides and my deceased loved ones knew that.

And so during that time period,

They spent time getting through to me.

But now I'm just very in tune to it.

So the other day,

I was going out to eat with some friends.

And while I was driving there,

The license plate in front of me was a very clear message,

Instead of a very clear message for somebody that I was meeting with.

So I just snapped a picture of it.

And when I got there,

I was like,

Hey,

Margaret,

Saying hello to you,

Because I knew who it was coming from.

So now I'm very in tune to it.

But I needed during that time period,

I needed the other side to communicate to me as best they could.

And it was signs,

Because those were physical,

And I could see them and dreams for the most part.

Yes.

And I think those are so accessible to everybody.

Everybody dreams every night,

Even if you think you don't.

And even if you don't remember them,

They're there for you.

And the synchronicities during the day,

I mean,

They're there too,

You just have to notice them.

And I feel the same way.

I'm the writer in the family.

I have a mother a lot of his past as well,

And my father as well.

And so I really am the one that will write about it.

And that will try to get everyone else to understand that that's not the end,

That we are just spirits having a human experience is what I always say.

And that there's spirits around us all the time.

And people just don't want to accept that it's a little bit destabilizing.

It carries a lot of stigma,

They don't really know how to integrate that the other world with this world.

It doesn't seem scientifically proven,

Which actually brings me to you said that you participate in an organization that is doing that work.

That's true,

Forever Family Foundation.

So I am very active in the Forever Family Foundation on the board,

And I help with all the events.

And I connected with them in 2007,

After my mother-in-law had died.

And the organization was started by a couple who happened,

Although it's an international organization,

They happen to live a half hour from me.

So I went to a couple of their sessions initially,

And I was just enamored because they were very practical,

And they were trying to scientifically prove that there's an afterlife after the loss of their then 14 year old daughter.

So because the daughter started coming through,

And they just spoke,

You know,

Similar to what I was going through,

Let's see if we can prove this.

And so I am really honored to just be part of that organization.

It helps a lot of people in grief.

I sort of say there are like two overall arching types of grief.

One is for people who don't believe that we go on,

Very difficult to pull out of that when you lose somebody,

If you really think that that's it.

But there is still another very valid grief process for people who understand you go on and you get messages from the other side even,

But you're not going to,

And you'll see them when you get to the other side,

But you're never going to have the same relationship that you had here.

You can't hold them,

You can't speak with them the way you used to.

So there's still grief involved with even after you know that you'll connect with them again,

And you can connect with them now,

But you're still not going to have what you had before,

Can't recreate that living spirit.

So there's still that grief also,

But this organization really is centered around helping people connect with their loved ones and understand that their loved ones still go on.

So there's a lot of great literature on the Forever Family Foundation website,

Whether we were part of the Surviving Death series,

There's a Netflix series,

Surviving Death,

There were six episodes,

The fourth episode we're featured in.

We also have information on EVP,

Electronic voice phenomenon,

Where we can really,

You leave your telephone out and ask a question same time every day,

And then play it back on your computer.

And sometimes you can get the other side actually saying things.

And we have great,

My book is a recommended read,

But there are a lot of books on there that are great recommended reads for all different types of people.

And then we hold grief retreats,

Which are quarterly,

We do them quarterly,

We limit it to about 50 people,

Which is difficult because every single time there's a waiting list of like 180 people.

But we try and limit it to get the best experience out there.

And it's a very immersive weekend,

Where you've got counselors there,

Psychiatrists,

Psychologists,

Social workers,

And mediums.

So the mediums bring through spirit.

And then we usually have like a metaphysical practitioner or something like that,

Too.

But it's a very immersive weekend.

And that's a really life changing weekend.

People walk out of that just transformed.

And so I love that.

I love helping.

And the founders,

The couple that are founders,

Fran,

P-H-R-A-N,

She died in 2020.

And so she's now on the other side.

So she actually has come through to me in my dreams a couple of times to help me think things through with the conferences and things like that.

So that's really cool.

And I actually,

I didn't want to have to publish my book,

But I ended up publishing my book.

And the name of the company is Infinite Lumen.

It's my company,

But I made P-H in honor of Fran,

Infinite Lumen,

P-H,

And then Lumen,

My mother-in-law's name was Lucille,

So Lumen.

And I will say that the physical similarities between my mother-in-law,

Who led me to Fran and Bob,

And Fran are really striking.

So even when my husband met,

And my mother-in-law also died of pancreatic cancer,

Same age,

10 years,

I know,

It's just,

But when I first met and introduced my husband to Fran years ago,

My husband said,

After we met,

He said,

Does she remind you of anyone?

And I was like,

Yes,

Your mom.

So all connected.

So I know that they're also sort of helping on the other side.

I said,

I didn't want to self-publish because I'm not really,

I'm a numbers person.

I like the whole reading,

Writing thing.

It's not really my thing.

I can't even believe I wrote a book,

And read all those books.

But after I wrote the book,

I sent it to 30 publishers and publishing companies and 30 agents.

And I was like,

I'll see where it goes.

I had three,

One agent and two publishers get back to me and say,

Oh,

We'd like your book.

We'd like to represent you.

And they gave me contracts.

And I love contracts.

I deal with contracts at work all the time,

But this was a little intimidating to me because it's like your own property,

Proprietary,

I don't know.

So I actually hired someone who I mentioned my acknowledgements along with friend Karen Garvey.

She's an intuitive person on Long Island.

And I hired her to tap into my spirit guides,

Since I'm not very adept at that.

And to ask which of the three offers I should go with.

And so she did that.

And she said,

None of them you're supposed to self-publish.

And I was like,

Really?

I got to go through that whole thing.

So then I had to learn about publishing a book,

Which was a whole other Megillah,

But the way the universe works,

The first copy was printed on my mother-in-law's birthday.

So if I hadn't done that,

It probably wouldn't have been that way.

Oh,

Perfect.

Isn't it just so perfect?

Right.

So anyway,

Yeah.

That's wonderful.

What I tell people too,

Is when you look at the people who are interviewing me like you,

Then go to their site and see the other people they've interviewed.

Because if you want to experience the metaphysical world in a big way and really learn about it,

There's not only my half hour or one hour interview,

But the host interviews people from all,

Whether it's a near death experience or an outer body experience or automatic writing,

It's infinite,

The amount of information that you can gather.

So right now,

If anybody asks me to do anything for my book,

I'm there.

I'm like,

No problem.

And so it's a great wealth of information for anybody that wants to learn about metaphysical.

It was crazy.

I always said,

Again,

I'm not a book person,

But I always said,

If I ever write another book,

Which I don't intend to,

Because I put everything I need to in that one book,

It will be on how to write a book.

And you should.

That was another unbelievable,

Fascinating journey.

Yes,

I'm sure.

Well,

Thank you so much for being here today and sharing your journey and just everything you discovered and everything that you're doing now.

I know it'll really resonate with our listeners,

And I really hope that it will encourage them to explore the unseen world further and really consider the other possibilities and what we've discussed.

Yeah,

That's absolutely great.

Thank you so much for having me.

It was a pleasure.

Awesome.

Thank you,

Annette.