“Who says silence is golden?” I ask, somewhat rhetorically, while sitting in “the quiet of Nature.” As I write, the birds are in rare form shouting, “Spring! Spring! Spring!” For me, this is much more pleasant than experiencing silence. I also love to hear the calm wind blowing through blooming branches, and the sounds of the squirrels and chipmunks scurrying. All those wonderful sounds of life signaling the renewal of Spring. The cycle begins again.
As we all know, humans can make wonderful sounds too, with their voices and/or musical instruments. To name just a few of my favorite compositions: Rite of Spring, The Lark Ascending, Flight of the Bumble Bee, The Four Seasons . . . They’re all wonderful works well worth listening to, again and again. Of course, there are so many pop songs that pay tribute to Spring, and connect Spring to Life and Love, that I dare not start listing them lest I never finish this newsletter!
As we are all so well aware, Life (but not Love) ends in death. Remember though that death is merely a transition to renewed life in another form. This is a positive aspect.
Another positive aspect of death, say of a loved one, is that the experience can lift us to a new level of understanding. I am always quite amazed how death and grief often force us to look within ourselves, which opens a door to discovering what is truly important.
There is and will always be one constant in our earthly lives, and in our lives after death, and that is Love. Love does not die. Love continues on both sides when our loved ones make their transition into the Spirit World.
As I’ve said many times before, it is our DPs’ (dead persons’) responsibility to let us know that they are OK on the Other Side. Likewise, it is our responsibility here on this plane to listen and open our hearts to allow our DPs’ messages to come through.
There are so many ways through which we are able to connect to our DPs – dreams, smells, feeling a presence, electric or electronic happenings, special letters and/or numbers on license plates that grab the eye and heart, billboard messages that resonate, etc.
In many indigenous cultures, animal spirits are key to making a connection to the Other Side. Dr. Steven Farmer, whom I had as a guest on my radio show, is an expert on animal spirits and indigenous traditions. During the show, he focused on the native Hawaiian culture; an excerpt follows.
As I mentioned, every culture has a slightly different take on this idea of animal spirit guides. From ancient Hawaiian spirituality, still alive today, comes the concept of aumakua – spirit guides clothed in the language, customs, and mythos of this culture.
Aumakua (ow-ma-koo-ah) are very simply the spirits of deceased ancestors. They can be called on for protection, guidance, and spiritual support. The very first aumakua were the children of humans who had mated with the Akua, or primary gods, the main ones being Ku (Koo), Kane (Kah-nay), Lono, and Kanaloa (Kah-nah-low-ah). When someone died, they went through a period of time where they stayed with these Akua and thereby acquired a degree of mana, or power. Eventually they could make themselves known to their descendants. One of the most prevalent ways they could make their appearance – although not limited to this – was through animals and animal spirits. They could also show up in the wind, rain, or lightning, or in your dreams. . .
Very soon after her father’s death, Ellen took a walk on the beach. She noticed a dolphin jumping along the water, much closer to shore than usual. She realized that this was her father’s spirit expressing through and in cooperation with the spirit of Dolphin, embodied in the one that was tracking her as she walked along the shore. Ellen was reassured that her father was just fine in the spirit world. His spirit had elicited Dolphin’s help in getting this message to his daughter. This was her aumakua.
(Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/aumakua-familiars-and-spirit-animals-oh-my.html)
These wonderful animal spirit traditions exist to this day, but all we need to do is hang out with our doggie, kitty, bird, or whichever animal being(s) we are connected to, and listen! They will teach us much.
I will never forget the story about when the Tsunami hit Phuket, Thailand, all the elephants went to the high lands, and were saved. You can read about it here. The article discusses how we can learn much from the Nature and Animal kingdoms.
Let me close by reminding you of The Afterlife Conference I do each year, this time in May. The conference always ends with a water ceremony of one kind or another, which provides a wonderful closing to a very special weekend. Hope to see some of you there. I’ll also be appearing in Cromwell, Connecticut; at my special New York City “Mothers’ Day Event”; in Kansas City to which I’ll be returning after a few years; Chicago, and more!
Now . . . Time to get outside and play! It’s Spring! Enjoy!
