Signs From Our Loved Ones: How Spirit Communicates With Us

I want to say something right at the start that you probably won't find in most articles about signs from spirit: there is no definitive list.

No universal sign that applies to everyone. No guaranteed symbol that means your loved one is close. Because that is not how it works. That is not how they work.

The most important thing I have learned in my time as a medium is this: a sign is personal. I may not have decades of experience behind me, but what I do have is this, and I am absolutely certain of it. A sign is chosen by your loved one, not by a book or a blog post or a well-meaning friend who tells you that robins always mean something. And although robins, feathers, butterflies and white doves are genuinely and widely used by spirit, they are not the only way. Your loved one will use whatever is closest to them, closest to you, or closest to your shared history together. It can be absolutely anything.

And that is what makes it undeniable when it happens.

My Own Signs

Let me show you what I mean with my own life, because I think real examples say it better than theory ever can.

My best friend Lee. When I see a sunflower unexpectedly, somewhere I didn't expect to see one, that is him. Not because sunflowers are universally a sign from spirit. Because sunflowers meant something to us. He chose it. He uses it. I know it when it happens because I feel it, not because I read it somewhere.

My Nan communicates through butterflies and white doves. Again, not from a generic list. From her. From what she knows will stop me in my tracks.

And then there is the number thirteen.

Thirteen has been my number my entire life. My majorettes uniform number as a child was 13, not chosen, just given. I was regularly seated at table 13 in restaurants and at events. When I rolled cigarettes, I would always have counted exactly 13 without realising. A McDonald's drive-through order code came up as JC13 on one of the hardest days I had with my son Freddy. JC was the nickname my Nan gave me. Junction 13 is the motorway junction to the crematorium where my grandad's tree is.

It shows up in ordinary moments, like a tap on the shoulder. Never dramatic. Just quietly, persistently, impossibly there.

The world calls 13 unlucky. Spiritually, it means transformation, rebirth and new cycles. It combines 1 (new beginnings) with 3 (creativity and self expression). It ties to the divine feminine through the 13 lunar cycles in a solar year. And in my experience, it is a number guides use to say: you are on the right path.

That is my sign. It would mean nothing to most people. But it means everything to me. That is exactly the point.

The Moment I Will Never Forget

Shortly after my Nan passed away, my son and I were driving down a country road. Fields and mud for miles. Not a flower in sight. We had been talking about her just seconds before when suddenly, the most overwhelming scent of carnations filled the car. So powerful it felt like the flowers had been placed right under my nose. No logical explanation. No physical source.

That was her. Letting us know she was right there, listening to our conversation, surrounding us with her love.

Scent is one of the most powerful ways spirit communicates. Your sense of smell is deeply connected to memory and emotion, which is why it stops you in your tracks in a way that nothing else quite does. Suddenly smelling your father's aftershave, your grandmother's perfume, the flowers from a funeral. Brief but unmistakable, and almost always at a moment when you needed the reminder.

So What Should You Be Looking For?

The honest answer is: whatever feels significant to you.

Yes, there are signs that come up again and again in my work. Lights flickering, technology behaving strangely, songs playing at exactly the right moment, finding coins in places they shouldn't be. Dreams that feel different from ordinary dreams, more vivid, more real, where your loved one appears healthy and at peace. Birds behaving unusually. Animals staring at something you cannot see.

These happen. They are real. I have witnessed them in readings and in my own life more times than I can count.

But I would also gently push back on the idea that your loved one is only communicating when a robin appears, or when you see 11:11, or when you find a white feather. Those things can absolutely be signs. But so can a photograph that falls off the wall at a specific moment. A stranger who says exactly the words you needed to hear. A song on the radio that was never 'your song' but contains the exact sentence your person would have said to you.

So can a sunflower in November in a place there should not be one.

So can the number 13 on a McDonald's drive-through screen on the worst morning of your week.

How To Open Yourself Up To Receiving Them

You do not need to be a medium to receive signs. You just need to be paying attention.

Ask out loud. Speak to your loved one directly. Ask them to send you a sign that you will recognise. Be specific if you want to be. You are not being silly. You are opening a door.

Notice your first thought. When something unusual happens, your gut response is almost always the right one. If your first thought is 'that's Mum', it probably is. Do not let your logical mind talk you out of it before you have even sat with it.

Write them down. Keep a record, even if it's just a note on your phone. Over time you will see patterns you would otherwise have missed. You will also realise just how often they are reaching out.

Say thank you. Acknowledge it when it happens. Speak back. This is not a one-way connection, and the more you engage with it, the more you will notice.

And above all: trust what feels significant to you, not what a list on the internet tells you should be significant. Your loved one knows you better than any list does. They will find the thing that is yours.

Why This Matters

These signs are not just comforting, though they are that too. They are a reminder that the relationship has not ended. It has changed. Your loved one is still part of your life. Still watching. Still cheering you on from wherever they are now.

Every sign, however small, is them saying: I am still here. I still love you. You are not alone in this.

And that is worth paying attention to.