Day of the Dead photo by Barney Moss flickr creative commons
The focus of the annual cycle in the upcoming days centres on Death. We may celebrate Halloween, Samhain, All Hallows Eve, (October 31) and All Saints Day in the Christian Religion, Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead in Mexico, Latin America, Brazil and Spain. Have you heard of Hanal Pixán, the local variant celebrated in the Yucatan?…. (I’ll write more about this further in this blog)
This raises the questions: Are you comfortable with the concept of your own death, and the death of those close to you? I am definitely at ease with the former. I’m fairly certain I’m good with the latter, although the physical loss of someone dear can be heartbreaking and grief can feel as if your being torn apart as something reminds you of your dear one as the years pass
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Are your feelings about death related to what you believe about the afterlife?
In my opinion, while its very important to enjoy life and live in the present moment its also important to have no fear about death. In fact living in higher consciousness as the Divine U might engender being a bit excited about the limitless possibilities to come. I’m probably ‘preaching to the choir’ here, but just in case……
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In my work with the Visionary Network Consciousness Creators, we have come to a new understanding about our relationship with those who are “on the other side” and have even discovered that “the other side” is evolving and co-creating in partnership with still incarnate highly conscious people.
I hope to stimulate your reflections about your own mortality and the afterlife in this blog, and perhaps kindle a desire to connect with and celebrate significant others in your life who have passed. I want to share some thoughts that may offer alternate perceptions to inspire your reflection about this, but first I hope you’ll indulge me as I share some personal experiences that have shaped my beliefs. I’ve used coloured fonts and italics to highlight key points and offer questions to stimulate your reflection, if you want to skip thru this next part.
Observations of My Own Experience with Death and Dying
My first experiences of death (apart from the heartbreak of losing a dog and many goldfish as a child- if I believed in labels, highly sensitive would fit me) occurred professionally as a public health nurse. I comforted and supported dying patients and their grieving families in the months after their passing and was familiar with models of death and dying and came to understood more than this as people shared their experiences.
Personally I had perhaps been fortunate that I had no close regular personal connection with any other people who made their transition, since I lived on the other side of the country from where I had grown up. I grew up believing that death was not the end of our existence and my metaphysical and spiritual experiences around higher consciousness have served as a great reassurance.
The only person close to me who has died is my father who passed at age 95 on October 27 in 2014. I am writing this on the anniversary of his death. 11 days before he died, he was hospitalized with an abscess in his hand that needed surgery. They discovered he also had septicemia, pneumonia, an eye infection and a possible bladder infection). He was also experiencing a lot of generalized pain especially phantom pain in his two amputated legs and on his tailbone, but as usual he was alert and coping in an awemaZing manner. As I look back I don’t remember how frail and ill he was at the end.
I was surprised when I recently read a facebook memory which detailed all that he was dealing with. I don’t think it was denial, as much as the fact that I choose to focus on the positive higher vibeing aspects of every situation.
I think that is an important aspect to keep in mind as you reflect on your own perceptions of death and dying.
As my father drifted in and out of conscious awareness, I wondered why he kept hanging on to life. He told me a few days before he made his transition that he still had some work to complete before he left. Soleira Green synchronistically happened to be with the Australian MegaEvent crew and they connected with Dad and I and together we did some big work. After that he was able to relax and go peacefully. It was a relief to know that he would be free of his pain and a body which had to some extent had given up the ghost although he fought it and rallied time and again. He had a good long life and was well loved and admired.
So perhaps the anniversary of his death at this time of year when it is traditionally thought the veil to the other side is very thin, is more meaningful to me than to others.
As mentioned, although I hadn’t experienced the loss of significant people, I knew the intense heartbreak of losing beloved pets, one dog as a child - three dogs and two cats as an adult by 2014. My mother, fortunately is still with us, relatively healthy in body, although she needs assistance with all her activities of daily living including getting in and out of her wheelchair and eating. Her mind has gone with Altzheimers, but she still recognizes me and we have a laugh or two every day that I go to feed her lunch and visit with her. I think from her odd comments that she is in touch with the other side and is seeing the world and people she encounters in their highest aspects, telling me often that I am like god coming to her.
As I reflect on how I took dads various problems in stride, It strikes me that I may be doing the same with Mom. I focus on what she can do and look for indicators of her spiritual experiences, not on her limitations.
I have come to terms with my own death, because of my knowing that consciousness is not limited to this life. What are your beliefs about Consciousness and what happens to you when you die?
You may, (as someone who has experienced some AhHa’s as you travel your spiritual or metaphysical path and come to cherish your Divine Self), have experienced the feeling that you are different, that you didn’t belong on this earth. Maybe we share this feeling that home is somewhere else. If so perhaps it affects your views of leaving your body and this planet. I invite you to take this into consideration as you contemplate your answer to the questions I posed.
My last personal observation is that perhaps my comfort with my death has also been impacted by my experience of suicidal depression, when I welcomed death as a relief from alternately craving freedom from the anguish and struggle of wanting to believe I was worthy of living and pretending I was ok, with the robotic numbness of existing with no feelings.
Spiders Message of Infinite Life
I was sitting in my parked car outside the local library today as I was considering what might be interesting to share to spark your thoughts and feelings, when spider appeared, dangling from an invisible thread against a backdrop of yellowed autumn ornamental grass. I was mesmerized as I watched grandmother spider magically move up and down and creep across on nothing I could see, weaving and spinning. I wondered what the web would look like if the sun came out to reflect and reveal her masterpiece.
I also had the thought that she would be creating a silky sack to lay eggs in, perhaps attaching it to a nearby plant and thereby continuing the circle of life on earth when she died as some spiders do in the autumn.
She was there to remind me that we weave our own life, creating a multidimensional reality whether we are in form or not. Spider’s body is shaped like an infinity symbol and she has 8 legs, the number of infinity. Imagine her showing up with the message that we are infinite beings. We are weaving our life with our choices in the present moment, joining strands of our life with sacred geometry into an integrated whole. We can consciously create and travel thru the infinite now and the eternal creation.
Going Going Gone?
As I drove to the library, I was trying to remember a favorite song by Kirtana a spiritual singer and composer that speaks to her experience of death.
Here are some of the lyrics of Going Going Gone from her album This Embrace. You can listen to a clip by clicking here
“When she died I tried, but I could not find
A trace of her in the body left behind
She danced awhile, and then the life
That lived her was withdrawn
Going, going, gone
Can you bear, can you bear
the beauty with the pain? -
And face the truth, (bittersweet),
that nothing will remain
Nothing but pure consciousness
Before, beneath, beyond
The going, going, gone
Like a kaleidoscope
The colors shift and rearrange
We can cling to the shape of things
Or finally ask, what does not change
So I must serve the eternal flame that burns
From which we came, to which all of this returns
On the altar of the infinite
I lay my life, my song
Going, going, gone
Going, going, gone”
Does Kirtana’s message resonate with you? Can you visualize yourself dancing, withdrawing the life you lived from your body? Standing in front of the altar of the infinite continuing to offer your song, your gifts eternally?
Exploring the Moreness - What’s Beyond an Earthly Life?
I invite you to consider the questions Kirtana poses so beautifully on the same album in her song Who You Really Are
"Could there be more to this life we call "mine"
than a journey through space or a story line? -
More to life than the body can sense
than the mind can conclude from experience
Does who we are begin with breath,
depend on form or end with death? -
Strip away these roles, these names and tell me what remains
And who you really are, …
We measure success by the things we accrue
or the bonds that we form, or the deeds we do.
But these too shall pass, as hard as we try
to hold on to form; form will die
But inherent in this dance of form
Is the chance to see what's yet unborn
And the choice to throw this chance away
And be caught up in the play
of who we think we are,
This is your lifetime; it could end at anytime.
Where is your attention? Where is your prayer?
Where is your song?
In a fortunate life, comes a call to be free
From the cycle of bondage and misidentity,
to wake from the dream and finally realize
the truth of one's being before the body dies
So before the final scene is past, see the screen on which it's cast.
See what's seeing this me and you.
And then you will see who...
who you really are, - who we really are"
And finally, consider her perspective on our existence before during and after death….. I AM I’ve cut some of the lyrics, but encourage you to click on the link in the title listen to the sample and contemplate the whole song.
Before the body, before the story,
before the name
Beyond the mind's attempt to find
or explain
Before the breath, beyond the sense
of pleasure or of pain
And after death, and after death, I am….
Many differences separate us
on the surface, yes.
But I cannot find a boundary in consciousness
And when you ask me,
where does awareness begin
and does it end
I have to say, I have to say
I've always been…..
At the silent core,
and yet before phenomena began
And after it, and after it, I am
I find Kirtanas lyrics and music so inspiring, I listen to them while driving to help sustain my higher consciousness frequency, I hope you will check her website out and if you are moved purchase her offerings. (I have no affiliation with this)
Will You Celebrate Death as part of the Annual Cycle?
How are you going to observe these celebrations in our Annual Cycle? The Day of the Dead, is the observance and celebration which most resonates with me. Do you have anyone special whose soul you wish to connect with on the Dia de los Muertos? You may want to take the ideas I describe for this special day and make your own ceremony.
Many people enjoy celebrating Spring, Summer Fall and Winter at the equinox and solstices. They not only represent the changes of the seasons, but also the cycle of life: birth, new beginnings and planting; growth and youth nurturing our projects; harvest and maturity, and celebrating endings, rest, planning and wisdom.
Different cultures remember their dead in different ways. In the US and Canada, we remember our fallen soldiers in November, some religions celebrate their saints, we have Halloween as a spooky holiday. Yet I was unaware of celebrations for the dead, with the exception of personal remembrances at anniversaries and birthdays of the deceased.
Then, on one of my trips to Merida, Mexico to visit sacred sites and study with a shaman, I had an opportunity to participate in a private day of the dead celebration. The Day of the Dead, is the observance and celebration which most resonates with me. In Mexico and Latin America, there is actually more than one day for this celebration.
In the Yucantan “Hanal Pixán or ‘food for the souls,’ homes are adorned with an altar covered in offerings to welcome the souls of their dead relatives who come to see the living. It is believed that the dead come back to their home to be with their loved ones, to eat their favorite foods and to rest from the long journey, and eventually go back to their mythical resting place again.
Oct. 31 is dedicated to the children’s souls, Nov. 1 is dedicated to the adults’ souls and Nov. 2. is “Faithful Death Day” (for both children and adults)."
Altars are decorated with traditional Day of the Dead symbols and objects that were meaningful to your loved ones who have made their transition from human to infinite form.
"On the final day of this celebration, a prayers in honor of the dead wishes them a safe trip back to their resting place.” Feasts offering traditional food and sweets are prepared. The xpelón, masa and chicken is a Mayan traditional dish. This Yucatecan tamal pie is filled with a highly seasoned mixture of chicken and pork and cooked underground, wrapped in a banana leaf. I watched as the women prepared the food and the men prepared the pit and cooked the pie. The food was put on the alter as an offering. After a mass was said to honour the dead, the living got to feast as well. It was delicious!
The celebration I attended was actually held at the end of November to commemorate a month of remembrance.
“The Mayan and Aztec view of death — as merely a transitional stage in the universe — started long before the Spanish brought Christianity to Mesoamerica. Both cultures have developed rituals to help their dearly departed on their journey to the underworld.
Although the Spanish tried to force the Catholic observance of the All Souls’ Day, natives found a way to continue their ancient traditions by transforming it into what is now the Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos. Meanwhile, on the Yucatán Peninsula, the Mayan variation was, and remains, Hanal Pixán.
In Mayan tradition people die three deaths: when the body ceases to function, when the body is lowered into the ground, and finally, when there is no one left alive to remember us.”
I get source-bumps feeling the poignancy of this last part every time I read this. Click here if you’d like to read more about the public celebration of Hanal Pixán
What Now?
If you resonate with any of the questions or ideas, you may want to set aside some time to relax, get quiet, tune into your bliss channel, and listen to your Divine inner wisdom.
Visualize and Celebrate your life. Don’t wait for others to do so when you aren’t in form.
Connect with the consciousness of those who have passed and ask question you may have.
Chill…
I'd live to hear from you. Be sure and comment on your insights and experience on the Divine U Facebook page.
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