Grief is a heartbreak like no other, so partner that with an unsettling spiritual presence, and the experience could be quite overwhelming. This is true regardless of the loss suffered. Still, the distinct spiritual discomfort that can occur when young spirits enter the picture is the experience we’d like to shed some light on in this particular article.

Coming to terms with the loss of a child is a process of healing that one would never wish to find oneself in, and yet a significant number of adults experience the death of a child each year. First and foremost, if you find yourself reading this article and resonate with some of the themes discussed, please remember that there is hope in the seemingly hopeless, and there is help out there for you should you need support: practically, emotionally, or spiritually. The conversation surrounding life after death should always be handled with sensitivity, particularly when discussing the spirits of children. Thankfully, in one of his latest YouTube interviews, Robert Harvey (an experienced medium and spiritual expert) unpacks what it looks like to enable a young spirit to move on.

When a young person’s spirit remains resident in the present world despite passing away, this can be unsettling for their parents (or anybody who had contact with them in life). Given the specific pain experienced when one is bereft of a child, this is an area of discussion that many may benefit from.

The Young Spirit and Moving On

Mediums use the term ‘Moving on’ to define the transfer of spiritual energy from one world to another. This generally happens when a person passes away, but sometimes, a medium finds that the person’s spiritual energy has remained resident in the place where they died. Mediums will often use the terminology of ‘moving on’ to establish the residence of the spirit – offering the distinction between a spirit who continues to exist among the living and those who have moved to the other side.

In one of his latest interviews (available on YouTube under the subtitle, ‘Helping a child spirit/ghost move on’), Robert summarises that where a child has been in a certain situation for a period of time, they may have already been organised in spirit. As a result of this, they experience a higher level of caution when their time comes to move on. While Robert strongly believes that a child’s spirit has the same free will as an adult’s, sometimes a child’s spirit lacks understanding of how to move on, leaving them ‘in a confused state’. An adult spirit may be more hesitant to move on due to unresolved issues or relationships, whereas it is more likely that a child spirit will have a sense of unease about how to move into a life that is apart from the comfort of their pre-death circumstances.

Child Loss and Young Spirits | A Case Study

Although there are some similarities when it comes to child spirits, each spirit that Robert works with is different. On the most recent occasion when Robert was brought on to move on a child spirit, they had been there for a significant period of time – somewhere between fifty and sixty years. Once the child’s spirit had become aware that Robert was working on the house, they’d sense him. In order to prevent a snowball effect of natural human enquiry and interference, Robert asked the client to send him pictures of the space so that he stood the best chance of being able to work with the child’s spirit.
Robert goes on to say in the interview, ‘Now, the interesting thing with all spirits is that you could have three hundred to four hundred people coming through the house in a fifty-year period, but the child spirit does not take any notice of them. However, as soon as a medium comes into the house (or concentrates on your house), they know who you are, and they know you can see them. Straight away, they can sense it’. He goes on to explain that this particular house he was working on using photographs brought a clear image of the child near a fireplace in the living room. Generally, once the spirit has been found and connected with, things can move quickly. However, there was something different about this beautiful young spirit.

Due to the prejudice surrounding disability at the time that this particular child was born, her life was fairly limited to the confines of their family home – in particular, her bedroom (where she sadly and unexpectedly passed away between the ages of six and seven). Understandably, this increased the caution of the child’s spirit. All she’d ever known was this safe space; it had been her sanctuary. Inevitably, this limited her knowledge of how to move on – so she stayed. There was no easy way of moving her on because she’d never known any different.

So, when Robert was contacted by this client, there was a very real sense of human interaction with the child’s spirit. For example, every time the client experienced something negative in the house (for example, losing her keys), she blamed the ghost. This raised the spirit’s awareness of discontentedness – meaning the spirit may also have been aware that a medium would arrive in the house.

When Robert came into contact with this particular young spirit, the spirit was evidently aware that she could be seen. Given her lack of contact with adults, Robert invited other young spirits to surround her and share in this experience with her. Around twenty other child spirits were well-positioned to be with her, enabling her to smile and find a sense of peace in what had been a very trying set of circumstances for her. She clearly trusted her fellow young spirits to guide her to the other side.

As she left, she was greeted by three ladies – all of whom were emotional at her arrival. Using her free will and new knowledge of the other side, the young spirit of this child could choose to stay there, as opposed to remaining confined in her childhood room where she passed due to never knowing anything else; a far happier outcome for her and for Robert’s client.

The Role Of Free Will
Free will is a significant part of Robert’s work as a medium; it’s the free will of a medium to involve themselves in the moving on of a spirit and it’s their free will to call spirits back from the other side if it is believed to be for the greater good. Free will is involved in every stage, and on both sides of mediumship, which, in part, is the strength of the practice. Hope and autonomy are given a seat at the table because free will enables them to be present (but perhaps more on this another time).

Robert Harvey | Life After Death
If you’re familiar with our previous articles, you may know that Robert is endeavouring to demystify the common misconceptions surrounding mediumship. He is doing this through a series of articles, online interviews (conducted by Alison Hawkins Keogh), and the sharing of his testimony in order to broaden the current understanding of life after death. If you’re keen to find out more about Robert’s work or would like to demystify some of your own beliefs surrounding mediumship, don’t hesitate to engage with Robert – he’d be delighted to discuss this with you.