Angels in the OR launches April 16th, and I have been so blessed by the early comments from advance readers.  My hope is to spread healing and light with this book, and I look forward to connecting with you. Also, Women’s World Magazine will be featuring my story in the April 11th issue. I hope you will check it out.

Early Comments from Readers

“I’m so very happy for you, Tricia! It was such an honor to write your feature for our Easter issue of Woman’s World coming out April 11th! You’re a light that inspires millions! Sending you proud hugs! This book is life changing!!!” —Diane Nichols, Author of God Gave me You:  A True Story of Love, Loss, and a Heaven-Sent Miracle

Tricia Barker’s Angels in the OR:What Dying Taught me About Healing, Survival, and Transformation, is a page-turner and the most service-oriented book I’ve ever read. After crushing her back a few weeks short of her college graduation, and the profound experience of dying during surgery, she was given a mission by the light of God, to go back and teach. With the new blissful awareness of her eternal being, she dedicated her life to teaching and sharing the beautiful, life-altering message of  unconditional, all-encompassing love. In the face of setbacks, a cruel rape, and the harsh mistreatment that students and females commonly experience, she learned to balance the broken with a fierce, spirited sense of purpose that shows an inspirational triumph, an empowerment that we can all tap into.” —Tiger Wiese Jones

“This is one book you won’t want to miss! Angels in the OR: What Dying Taught Me about Healing, Survival, and Transformation is exceptionally poignant and moving. This spiritually uplifting book is beautifully written, hard to put down, and enthusiastically recommended.” –Jeffrey Long, M.D., author of New York Times bestselling Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experience 

“I’m honored to be the narrator for this light-filled memoir. I cried through the last two chapters, for the beauty of it as my heart was overflowing with the love Tricia Barker shares with us in this book.”  Leslie Howard, Audible Narrator for Angels in the OR

“This is a story of faith, love, courage, and strength.  I can only imagine the amount of bravery it took for Tricia Barker to open herself up in a way that will motivate many people.  The message of ‘Love is all that matters’ comes across clearly.  I have friends and family going through health challenges, and after reading this book it hit me that I need to make sure that I’m loving them like a little child.  I see now how Angels in the OR will have a big impact on many people.” —Andy Parks, Seattle

“Angels in the OR abounds in rarities. It is rare for a near-death experiencer to have the command of English to make the ineffable experience clear.  Those unfamiliar with near-death experiences will find an excellent introduction to the experiencer’s perspective; those familiar will find wonders anew in Tricia’s story.” –Janice Miner Holden, EdD, is professor of counseling at the University of North Texas

“Tricia Barker’s Angels in the OR is far more than the story of a profound near-death experience. It is a book of profound spiritual wisdom, which comes from the author’s life of healing from great physical pain, emotional trauma, and most of all from her inspiring dedication to her life as a teacher. I was deeply moved by this book. The light and infinite love of God often shines through Tricia Barker’s words.” —Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., retired Professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Connecticut and a researcher within the field of near-death studies

“In Tricia’s story, I see my story, and I imagine you will see yours as well because it is a tale of how we must struggle sometimes to bring the light of our spirits into a world that can be cruel.  Tricia captivated me; her writing is so beautifully detailed and authentic as she shares not only the breath-taking moments of her near-death but also the challenges of bringing the light back to this world….” —Lisa Smartt, Author of Words at the Threshold

“Angels in the OR is about a spiritual journey of a very alive and honest woman. She hides nothing from her truthful account of living dying and living more fully. Tricia Barker is an engaging and compassionate person who has found her purpose in life. Following her beautifully written story will confirm the readers about their own journey. Share the light with her as she brings the love into our world.” —Howard Storm, author of My Descent into Death, is a minister, writer, and painter.

“I relate to so much about this book.  I cried, but I felt my heart healing as I read certain passages.  I wanted to be more of a community like the author suggests and really support one another. The near-death experience is written so clearly and seems like a movie scene.  I haven’t read a book like this one before.  Her voice is authentic, real, and polished.  Spiritual lessons are woven into lessons in reality.  There are painful scenes, beautiful scenes, heart-breaking scenes, and triumphant scenes that really moved me.” –Megan (former student)

When I try to combine the beautiful, otherworldly experiences of the afterlife to the experiences of living, I am reminded of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, especially the “Chimney Sweeper” whose dreams tell him that the great suffering of his life will be erased in the bright green hills of heaven, and he will play with the other children who have died. The innocence of his perspective brings some healing to the great tragedy of his short, brutal existence.

Part of heaven is always with us (no matter what we survive), and that perspective of great love and innocence is ours to keep.  After acts of violence, heartbreak, and loss, most people do their best move on and fit themselves into the machine of living.  It is important to remember that the amount of healing the world needs is as infinite as the love that is found on the other side.

Since my NDE in 1994, I have heard some people from on the other side speak after their deaths.  I kept these poems private, wondering if they might offend family members of the deceased.

But, hey, this is poetry we are talking about, so the chances are good that about five people besides other poets might read them, and I am not typically someone who backs down from a challenge.

Medium readings are meant to give comfort to family members, and these poems work in the same way to offer comfort and wisdom.

A year and a half after my near-death experience, I was at U.T. finishing up classes when I heard that Yitzak Rabin had been assassinated.  I went directly into meditation, and this is partially what I heard from him.

Perhaps these poems will lead to more questions than answers, but poetry is a fine medium to use to bring in the messages from the beyond.

Milk and Honey: Yitzak Rabin Speaks Minutes After His Assassination

“We should not let the land, flowing with milk and honey, become a land flowing with blood and tears. Don’t let it happen,.” –Yitzak Rabin 

Oy Gevalt, I am struggling with being dead.
We spend our lives checking our watches,
riding upwards on an eternal escalator,
and then suddenly we are not visible
and can assess our contribution to humanity.

What you read of my accomplishments
does not capture how I felt
or what and who I loved.
My immortal moment was no more
than the forcing of a little boy to shake hands with his enemy.
I became a magnet to my opposite—
life to death, and then I merged with death.

We spend our lives planning ourselves
only to wad up the notes,
the grand outlines, and the photos in a fist.
We do not control all the factors
to color in our wishes as we want them.

Sometimes, they must sit above our heads
as clouds that change and blow away.
It is how it must be.
I have tapped out my dance,
and the dark curtain now hides my face.
You will know only what they tell you.

My role is no less
no more
than another’s role.
Listen to your drama teachers
because it takes all the players to orchestrate
a moving production.

I look up, and I look down
as everything spins away from this blue world.
The joy here will render you
both heavy and light.

Walk slowly my dears
and appreciate everything.
I touch eternity now
the way a new born child reaches
toward the light
fresh with possibility.

© Tricia Barker, 1995

“Yitzhak Rabin (1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1992, Rabin was re-elected as prime minister on a platform embracing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. He signed several historic agreements with the Palestinian leadership as part of the Oslo Accords. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with long-time political rival Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. In November 1995, he was assassinated by an extremist named Yigal Amir, who opposed the terms of the Oslo Accords.”