Lita Dreaming

This is a time of year for magic, a magic that brings us a deeper, stronger connection to all that dies, yet endures, somehow changed, but the same.  In our modern American culture, Halloween is full of "ghosts" and everything nightmares are made of.  I can't help but wonder how many of the displays we adults love so much give little, little ones nightmares!

What I love about Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, is that it celebrates a sacred duty to honor and thank our ancestors who came before us, preparing the way, best they could. This is the ancient Thanksgiving; a time to honor the land for the harvest and our ancestors for their efforts.  Gratitude is awareness that your particular ego shares the stage with others, some like you, some very different. Gratitude is acknowledging the benefit others have afforded us and also realizing the responsibility we have now as future ancestors to our children and their children.  Gratitude makes me stronger and more expansive; self-pity makes me feel weak and vulnerable.  I feel gratitude this time of the year, so full of ancient lore and ceremonies to honor the dying time of year,  the end of the harvest, the beginning of winter, and all who came before us.

Twenty first century medical research into NDEs, the phenomena that the great and lovely Dr. Raymond Moody first introduced in his 1975 best seller, Life After Life, has reached a tipping point for science and for medicine.  In the Netherlands, Dr. Pim van Lommel, a cardiologist now famous for his extensive research and ground-breaking book, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near Death Experience,  sums it up in a patient's words; "it turns out dead isn't dead, after all."  This is the time of year to take such knowledge to heart and maybe expand the way we view and celebrate this lovely season.

Dreams are the bridge to that which isn't material and to the places where we can meet our beloved dead, now whole and on their own new path.  In one visitation dream, my shy, reclusive mom was young, dark hair flowing, riding a beautiful black stallion, like a free wild woman.  What a gift to see her that way after all her suffering at the end.  

This is the time to strenghten the bonds we have with those we love on both sides of the veil.  As in dreams, time, past, present and future, is all the same. We can gather our best dreams of those we love as a way to honor both them and the dreaming that keeps them so close to us.