Autumn Fades …
Life is an enormous power to be understood and used as energy. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Ancient Rituals – October, 2011)
This week, as mild autumn weather begins to give way to winter’s cold, I’m shifting my morning quiet/reflection/reading/writing time to the living room where I build and enjoy the warmth of a fire in the woodstove. Such will be my ritual each morning for months, beyond the calendar’s turn to a new year and until winter finally breaks to bring forth spring.
This first musing by the fire finds me thinking about rituals, particularly ancient ones. I’ve caught my falling leaf for luck (more about that ritual here - http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/catch-a-falling-leaf). After a day of blessed, gentle rain and with the energy of yesterday’s full moon in Taurus, my attention turns to rituals celebrating the connection between the incarnate and discarnate sides of life on our planet and those who have made the transition from their earthly incarnate form.
All Hallows’ Eve (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/all-hallows-eve) was celebrated long before churches existed, and despite religious institutions’ objections, Day of the Dead continues to be celebrated in many forms worldwide. Last year’s award winning animated film Coco beautifully depicts the celebration and family conflicts about it in Mexico. The song ‘Remember Me’ is one of my favorites (you can hear it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iDxU9eNQ_0)
Coco and ‘Remember Me’ are reminders of Gregge Tiffen’s teaching that “Each of us is a living spirit. … When you’re dead, you’re not dead. You are very much alive.”
In his informative, fun booklet Ancient Rituals Tiffen encourages us to take time to remember those who are no longer with us in their incarnate form and to know that “they are attached to the planet in a discarnate format.” In a world so fearful of death, the knowledge that I’m simply using this form temporarily reminds me that each of us - you, me, and EVERY-one - is but a tiny drop in an infinite universe. And, each drop lives forever.
I find it helpful to remember and honor the connection of close family and friends who have made their transition to the discarnate. Next week on Halloween evening I plan to do just that. Gregge suggests candles, fresh flowers, perhaps something symbolic of your connection, along with quiet time to reflect. He continues, “You’re meant to feel very comfortable about participating with the use of things that are special to you as a way to be in touch with life as you know it and death as you conjure it up to be in your mind, or as you know it from your own experience. Don’t be reluctant to participate.”
Perhaps I’ll pour a shot of bourbon for Marge, my beloved mom who left this life 39 years ago.
What about you? Will you take time remember and connect at this sacred time when the veil between this plane and the discarnate invites us to explore and discover the journey that continues?
… and Snow Falls on the Sacred Sangres