Episode Overview

Podcast: The Drop the Needle Podcast
Episode: 37 – Insights from Hospice Care and Mediumship w/ Martha Merry & Irene Doreste: Part 2
Date: May 29, 2025
Host: Jim Alstott
Guests: Martha Merry (Hospice Nurse), Irene Doreste (Medium)

This thought-provoking episode continues an exploration of the mysteries surrounding the end of life, featuring candid, compassionate insights from hospice nurse Martha Merry and psychic medium Irene Doreste. The conversation delves into the emotional, biological, and spiritual aspects of death—demystifying the transition, sharing personal experiences, and investigating what’s beyond through both scientific and metaphysical lenses. Throughout, the panel discusses how music, openness, and love shape our journeys in life and beyond.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Hospice Experience: What Happens at the End of Life

• Martha reveals her transformation from fearing death to finding profound meaning working in hospice. She explains the unique energy and deep care required in hospice, especially during moments of high emotion and vulnerability.

  • Quote:
    “I was so afraid of death, but then as a nurse, I was drawn to hospice...I love the high communication, high emotion, high feeling...that's where it goes. That's where it's almost spiritual to me.” (01:45)

• Physical Signs and Spiritual Essence:
  Martha describes witnessing many deaths and notes that in her experience, no one appears truly afraid at the final moment.

  • “By the time the body is in the active dying process, the consciousness changes and there’s just a natural way that the body shuts down… I’ve never seen a person terrified and afraid of dying.” (02:07)
  • The instant of death is marked by a striking absence:
    “As soon as the body dies, there's something missing. It's so clear. It's just like an inanimate object…The ‘it’ of a human being.” (03:04)

• Sacredness of Passing:
  Both guests reflect on the parallel between birth and death as sacred passages.

  • “Every time I’m with a family and their member is dying, I just think, who was a witness when this being came into the world? This is just as sacred of a passing.” – Martha (04:09)

2. Mystical Experiences Near Death

• Visual and Auditory Phenomena:
  The guests and Jim share stories of dying individuals interacting with unseen presences—such as conversing with invisible people, referencing pets, or making comments about unseen visitors.

  • Jim tells a story about his father seeing “the magician” and a dog in his hospital room, illustrating how altered consciousness/nearing death can involve vivid visions. (07:45)

• Possible Explanations:
  Discussion of physiological versus spiritual causes of “hallucinations,” such as delirium due to medical causes (e.g., UTI) versus genuine spiritual transition.

  • “That was something I learned that day…public service announcement: If you have a urinary tract infection, don’t let it get too bad.” – Jim (08:41)

• Profound Final Moments:
  Martha’s “biggest” story centers on a conscious ALS patient who seemed to see something in the final moments before passing:

  • “His eyes opened and he looked up to the corner of the room... We all looked up there too… and then his head gradually came back and he was gone.” (09:39)

• Near-Death Experiences (NDEs):
  Jim invokes scientific cases where people, despite flatlining (no brain activity), report clear experiences while “outside” their bodies.

  • “She was flatlined... and her recollection was so clear... If you have no electricity going on in the brain, no brainwaves, and you’re able to recall that. What is that?” (13:59)

3. Irene’s Mediumship and the Nature of Consciousness

• How Mediumship Works:
  Irene explains her approach as rooted in intention, energetic openness, and heart-focused meditation. She likens intuitive development to working out at a "mind gym," emphasizing practice and the heart's intuitive “brain.”

  • “Same thing with intuition, right? You have to take your brain to the mind gym… through meditation and repetition and practice of shutting down the mental mind, going within, connecting from our heart space…” (17:03)

• Safety and Boundaries in Mediumship:
  Irene offers practical advice for sensitive individuals, suggesting the use of “light bubbles” and energetic zippers to manage spiritual connections and maintain personal boundaries.

  • “You put yourself in a bubble of light and you take a zipper and you close yourself off... when I sit down to do my mediumship, I open the zipper, I light a candle, I declare sacred space that I am open and ready to receive.” (18:56)

• Spiritual Purpose and the Afterlife:
  Discussion includes the concept that our souls return for multiple lives, learning and ascending with each incarnation. Irene references the Akashic records as a repository of spiritual history, life lessons, and progression.

  • “When you transition and you go and your loved ones are there, they don’t really stay with you because you have work to do... you go to the book of the Akashic records and you have your life review.” (26:11)

4. The Science–Spirit Bridge: Where is Consciousness?

• Martha and Irene discuss emerging views on consciousness, challenging the assumption that it resides solely in the brain.
  • “There are a lot of debates over is consciousness really in the mind? Where is consciousness? It may not be in our brain, you know?” – Martha (20:58)
  • The group ponders the miracle of the body and the astronomical odds of being born, highlighting awe and gratitude for human existence. (22:51–23:05)

5. Personal Spiritual Experiences

• Martha recounts a childhood moment of asking for a sign from her guardian angel and witnessing her curtain move—striking fear, then later, disbelief.

  • “If I have a guardian angel, make this curtain move. And the curtain moved and I went downstairs so fucking fast, terrified…” (24:31)

• Openness as a Path to Overcoming Fear:
  Martha describes how embracing openness is helping her release her fear of death and seek meaning in life.

  • “I feel like I’m opening myself to possibilities... it’s taking the fear away that I have about what’s after I get out of this human sack… That’s kind of fading away now with this opening that I’m having.” (25:09)

• Irene adds:

  • “We’re not taught these things as children... But it gets thinner. We start to realize our purpose.” (25:49)

6. The Role of Music in Healing and Living

• Music as a Vibrational Uplifter:
  Irene underscores the importance of music that raises one’s vibration. She curates motivational playlists for her classes to help others sustain high energy and mood.
  • “You put your earphones on, you’re doing your laundry… you’re motivated to get things done… Listen to music that’s going to be motivational and uplifting.” (28:59)
  • She advises against music that brings you down, e.g., certain country songs:
    “They always lose the girl, they lose the truck, money, they lose it... I never felt uplifted and motivated.” (29:12)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Seeing the Essence Leave at Death:
  “As soon as the body dies, there’s something missing. It’s so clear. It’s just like an inanimate object... The 'it' of a human being.”
  – Martha (03:04)

• On the Sacredness of Dying:
  “This is just as sacred of a passing [as birth]. It really is.”
  – Martha (04:09)

• On Near-Death Experiences:
  “If you have no electricity going on in the brain, no brainwaves, and you’re able to recall that. What is that? ...That’s a great example...where there is something that happens potentially.”
  – Jim (13:59)

• On Mediumship as an Ability:
  “We are all souls living a human experience. We all have our intuition and the ability to connect...”
  – Irene (17:07)

• On Overcoming the Fear of Death:
  “It’s taking the fear away that I have about what’s after I get out of this human sack...That’s kind of fading away now with this opening that I’m having.”
  – Martha (25:09)

• On Music’s Emotional Power:
  “Listen to music that's going to be motivational and uplifting…you want to just stay as high, as high-vibe as you can.”
  – Irene (28:59)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:45 – Martha’s path from fearing death to hospice care and what she’s witnessed at the bedside
• 04:09 – The parallels between witnessing birth and death; both as sacred events
• 07:45 – Jim’s story of his dad’s final days and visions, and clinical discussion of delirium
• 09:39 – Martha’s powerful story of an ALS patient’s lucid final moments
• 13:59 – Jim brings up near-death experiences and clinical flatlining
• 17:03 – Irene describes developing intuition/mediumship and “the mind gym”
• 18:56 – How mediums create spiritual boundaries and “zip” themselves up energetically
• 20:58 – The group explores the question: Where is consciousness?
• 22:51–23:05 – Probability of being born and the miracle of life
• 24:31 – Martha’s childhood encounter with a guardian angel sign
• 25:09 – Martha on opening to spiritual possibilities and releasing fear of death
• 28:59 – The role of uplifting music in maintaining a positive mindset

Closing Thoughts

This episode skillfully weaves together heartfelt stories, spiritual insights, and scientific questions around death and the beyond. The openness between Jim, Martha, and Irene creates a safe space for listeners to reflect on mortality, the possibility of life after death, and the transformative power of compassion, curiosity, and music.

For More: The episode playlist and ways to connect with the guests are available via the podcast’s show notes.