Dia De Los Muertos, Halloween, and All Saint's Day 2013

by Robert Wilkinson

During late October every year, the Sun in Scorpio blesses us with a time to honor our Eternal connection with those who have died before us. This period, known many places as "Dia de los Muertos," or "Day of the Dead," is dedicated to celebrating life and "all our relations."

This year I've done my remembrance, celebration, and memorializing of my dead cat Teachers. Three years ago I was away from home with a Spiritual Scorpio Brother at one of the bloodiest battlefields in American history. It was a remarkable experience which I wrote about after I got back. As I've posted quite a bit in past years about this profound period where we honor the dead, rather than compose something new this year, today we'll revisit some of what I've written in years past about this very special day.

This is about "sacred mythology." Here we are offered a chance to reconnect with all that is sacred in Nature and ourselves. This time of Scorpio, showing the light of ever deeper feeling connections with others and our deepest Self, vitalizes our ability to commune with both the dead and living, and can remember our Eternal nature and connectedness with "All-That-Is." This time is consecrated to honoring those who have passed before us and a true celebration of life.

It is an awe-inspiring and deeply transformative experience to enter into, and helps our inner nature remember that it's okay to celebrate the dead as well as those of us in a body. I was first exposed to it in the years I lived in Texas, where it is one of the most powerful celebrations of the year. As it's already started many places, take a moment to honor and thank your dead for being there for you to love.

This is one of the more profound times of the year. The ancient Chinese thought this was the season of "cutting and destroying," where the leaves fall, the fruits are available, and the life force begins to go dormant for its Winter rest in the Northern Hemisphere. (Perhaps the "Day of the Dead" in the Southern Hemisphere should be observed at the end of April and beginning of May?)

So however you are moved to do so, please open to how you can honor the dead. This "Day of the Dead" is not just one more commercial holiday. It is a period of depth communion with those who have passed away before us. It is a time to honor our connectedness with our departed but not forgotten loved ones.

The original intent of this sacred time had absolutely nothing to do with giving the candy industry a boost between Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. As an aside, I've always felt these last two were very peculiar "holidays," since the former celebrates the beginning of enslavement and disease of the original inhabitants of this continent, the latter a distorted excess complete with Aggie and Longhorn football.

This time also has zero to do with fear of ghosts, real or imagined. We inherited Halloween, All Saints Day, and all Soul's Day (often forgotten) from our ancestors, but their true meaning has been ignored by our market-driven culture. In the year cycle of light and dark, manifestation and rest, this is a time of love and celebration WITH the Spirits of those no longer in a body, our loved ones across space and time.

When I first learned of this profound time in Texas many years ago, I was taught that it is a celebration of community, a time of the year to light candles, create altars and shrines to honor the dead, and celebrate the omnipresent power of the Eternal Life.

I learned to feel the universal reality that we all do eventually drop the body and re-join our loved ones, and as we honor the dead we enter a timeless stream of being remembered and honored in future "Dias de los Muertos" by those we leave behind. It is a time to celebrate continuity and connectedness of life.

Though many feel sorrow, it is not a morbid time. It certainly should not be a time to create fear in children through "scary" horror stories or the bizarre associations with deviltry and ghosts and haunted places. The deeper meaning of this time of year we enter a collective zone where we can honor our timeless bond of love with those who have departed this Earth. It is a time to grieve AND celebrate.

We can open to experiencing more fully our eternal nature in a profound on-going moment of connectedness with where we came from and where we're going, and the life and love we all are together. It's a great time to re-experience that we are Eternals, having human experiences. We have a body, we have feelings, we have a mind, but we ARE Souls, and our nature is Light-Love-Life.

So over the next few days, while others are eating candy, shopping, or talking about the white noise of life in this 4 dimensional reality, take a moment (or three) to light a candle, remember your loved ones, and celebrate the eternity of life, light, and love. It'll help you feel that you're very, very alive, and always will be!

Many blessings on all our loved ones and all our relations. May those who have passed over never be forgotten, and may they rest easy in the frequencies of Devachan and the Heaven world, secure in the lap of Divine Mother. Aum Namah Shivaya!

© Copyright 2013 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Sara]

Oh Robert, thank you for putting all this into perspective, for the reminders, and for the blessings!
Light and love to all, embodied and beyond. Amen!!

[shaghig]

Robert, Thank you very much for a very inspiring reading!

[Diane S]

Thank you Robert for this inspiring and thoughtful article. It's a wonderful way to honor those who have gone before us..to reflect on the ways they impacted our lives...to honor their Souls. From here on forth each year I'lll adopt this wonderfully loving way to slow down and make it a time of remberance.