Celebrating Spiritual Transformation
I lost my dearly loved uncle last week to lung cancer. After the long battle, he quietly slipped up into the ethers, trailing love and peace in his departure. Though, I expected to hear the news of his death at any point, there is little on earth that can prepare a surviving loved one for the moment of passing. The nanosecond I heard the news, my breath was swiped away and my hands instinctively cupped my face as I watered them in tears.
Why did I weep? Yes, he will be deeply missed. Yes, he played a significant role in the lives of many. But, what was the true source of my tears? Isn’t it a blessing that his suffering finally ended? Isn’t he now in a happier more blissful place?
Society molds us into the people we are, influencing us to think and behave the way we do. Society teaches us that death is bad, scary, unknown and final, but is it any of those things? Since I was raised to believe this, of course I would immediately be shocked into tears of loss and pain. I question- is this necessary? And, I ask a more provoking question- is this even the truth or reality?
The moment my uncle died, I learned that others felt ecstatic energy in the room with him. Visiting family interpreted that his spirit was filled with this very energy; or rather that he WAS this very energy after dying. I italicize the word dying here, because this process doesn’t feel to me like a death at all. It feels more like a birth but on the other end of life. The body dies but our essence, our soul, our Being (whatever you feel comfortable naming it) continues, shifting into another state of consciousness and energetic form. That evening after he shifted, I was told, “He is ecstatic!” It is now clear to me that he has done anything but die. Instead, he has spiritually transformed.
The night I heard the news Stephen sat down and did with me what he does best. He lovingly coached and nurtured me through the process of death, the emotional attachment to life, the bigger picture of it all, and together we explored the spiritual possibilities of my uncle’s transformation. (I should mention that Stephen is a deeply spiritual and compassionate Being with lots of coaching experience and natural psychic gifts.) He is such a blessing to me.
I learned that I needed to cry it all out and grieve. I should not hold on to any of it. I should allow my emotions to flow through, and allow them to do just that- flow THROUGH. Don’t hang on to any of it. Death should be celebrated. (In some cultures it actually is celebrated.) After all, my uncle himself is now totally ecstatic and free of pain and limits. How could I not celebrate this? I must cry for my and the family’s loss, but then I should celebrate his spiritual progression.
I also wanted to connect with my uncle one last time after his death. I wanted to see him, feel his presence or dream about him. A selfish desire maybe, but I wanted this all the same. I learned that this would be difficult to experience until I released some of my grief. I am not saying that one cannot experience a visitation while still in the throes of grief, because I know this has happened for many, but for me it was far easier after my intense emotions had dissolved.
The next day after he died, I felt much lighter. I was still in a faint daze of loss, but my thinking had shifted. (Much thanks to Stephen) I knew that my uncle was in an ecstatic state. I knew that this alone sincerely and lovingly deserved celebrating. This knowing guided me through my grief. I also intuitively knew that with my spiritual-emotional shift, I would connect with him. Or rather, I would make a portal, a spiritual window in divine multidimensional space, available for him to connect with me. And, that is exactly what happened.
I did not see his vision, dream of an encounter nor did I hear his voice in my head. It was nothing quite as grand or obvious. I simply felt different, VERY different. I was straightening up the house that afternoon, a routine activity, when he entered my thoughts. I suddenly felt intense celebratory energy emanating from my heart. At that moment, I truly undoubtedly knew exactly what it meant to CELEBRATE his death, his spiritual evolution. This felt like pure divine love streaming through my heart and into my entire Being. It seemed to fill the whole room I was in. I felt deeply happy, pure bliss and a peaceful joy. I felt my uncle’s ecstatic energy. He was there with me then. These feelings lasted for some time. Any remaining grief I had was completely dissolved and replaced by this experience.
I no longer agree that death is bad, scary, or final. Nothing about his transformation feels negative in any way or final in the least. If anything, he is now divine, ever expansive and continuous.
♥ ♥ ♥
I share this story not to broadcast my family’s personal loss, but to shed some light on my own experience. I lovingly intend that this may offer a shift in thinking, solace, hope, insight and ecstatic peace and joy to anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one. Peace and Love to ALL.
♥ ♥ ♥
I wrote the following poem for my uncle the evening I heard he passed away from lung cancer. Each word flowed from me alongside tears mixed with loss and joy. Surprisingly, I created this short piece in a matter of seconds. I am either deeply inspired by intense emotion or I simply cracked opened during my emotional release and streamed his divine energy. Perhaps a little of both are the truth.
♥ I dedicate this to you, Bruce. You are dearly loved and I celebrate you…
As the sun spills across the horizon, you shed your physical form. You run along the sun kissed oceans, laughing in delight.
Expand deeply and lovingly into ecstatic peace. You are now the very breath of life.
Fly free, my spirit brother. Fill your light body with divine energy and ecstatic joy. Fill your lungs deeply with BLISS, my spirit brother. Dance. Play. Rejoice. Love with divine freedom and joyful abandon.
You are now purely LOVE itself. ♥
Body of Divine Light
♥ I dedicate this poem from The Prophet to all Beings who are transitioning into spiritual, ethereal bodies of light, peace and pure love…
“If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dreams for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then you shall truly dance.”
~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Shana Dean Reiki & Lightbody Awakening 