As I sit and always try to gather my thoughts a strange thing always happens to me or maybe it happens to everyone who tries to put into words and on a piece of paper the experience when you have a realization of spirit and who we really are.
This past weekend we laid the ashes to rest of my sister-in-law in the mountains of North Carolina. To begin to say that it was the most beautiful experience in such a magnificent place does not even begin to describe it.
My niece rented a 5-bedroom house overlooking the mountains and my husband's side of the family all gathered for the weekend. From the moment we arrived we began to be gifted with the beauty of the messages that I knew were the embodiment of my sister-in-law. Grandmother Parisha always teaches that we are not the body, we are spirit and energy in the altar called a body. Most recently I have been having moments of awareness of this truth and it has been really amazing. It is also in the form of receiving communication with loved ones who have passed.
As we arrived and were at sunset and settling in, we were visited by a butterfly that danced around each one of us and seemed to just hover in the middle of our circle as if visiting. It was not your normal butterfly, it was a Monarch, really big and beautiful. I knew it was her communicating. I told everyone it was her and all could feel her energy. As we sat down to dinner later that evening and began to pray and bless the food. The lights in the house began to flicker. We all knew! Many of us could feel her presence.
The next day of the spreading of her ashes as we hiked up into the area that my niece had designated there was an amazing bubble of love that I felt that surrounded us. We were together as Family and to me this has always been an important part of my life. To spend time with my grown children and see their interactions throughout the whole weekend with their cousins and the rest of the family was a very proud moment for me as their mother. I am in love! My children have grown up to be amazing individuals. As we prepared the smoke bowl for the ceremony as Grandmother Parisha has taught me, each one of us said a prayer into the herb that we placed into the bowl. We honored Sage the feminine aspect, Cedar the masculine aspect and Sweet grass the balance of the two, Lavender to represent the beauty that my sister-in-law always carried herself as. The smoke beautifully took our prayers into the wind.
As each one of us took turns taking a handful of ashes to the wind. I watched how the wind seemed to come and caress the ashes. It was such an amazing thing to observe. These things as I write I realize I really did see this. Because what the mind tends to do as Grandmother Parisha has taught me is it tends
to deny what you really saw. We are programmed to believe very differently that death is something totally different. She has always said " Death is just the changing of the garment." Our loved ones who have passed continue to be but in different form. Yes, we miss their physical presence but they continue to be with us in energy and spirit. I really felt and understood that this weekend. After we finished the ceremony at exactly 12:12, once again I felt a synchronicity that the number 12 was signifying a year in a cycle of life as we measure time in the 12-month calendar. Her cycle had been complete her body altar ashes had been laid to rest.
It was time for lunch as we wrapped things up at the site that we were at, so everyone was hungry. My niece googled restaurants near us and the first restaurant that came up was “Bellas" ten minutes away! As she told us we all burst out into tears because you see my niece's name for my sister-in-law was "Bella". Of course, we knew it was her communicating. So, we had lunch at Bellas an Italian restaurant and it was delicious!
That night as we sat at sunset on the deck overlooking the mountain. We were visited by cardinal. It came on deck and landed close to us and seemed to be looking right at us and cocked its head. Grandmother Parisha has taught me that Cardinal is woman's medicines. My sister-in-law was a very elegant and feminine woman. We finished an absolutely beautiful day and traditional Colombian meal that my kids and I made and dessert by the fire pit. The icing on the cake to a spectacular day that my words don't even do it justice.
The rest of the weekend was amazing being with family laughing and cooking and bonding together on hikes and around the camp fire. So much appreciation for all that occurred this weekend and for the communication from the other side.
Yes they are there!
By MAJ
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