Live Life & Embrace Death

We offer a wish for healing and love this Christmas eve to those who are spending their last Christmas together and those who are grieving someone they miss. May you seek comfort and peace in fond memories and all the goodness and love that surrounds you.

I love reading about old traditions from other countries 🎄 ❤️🌲❤️🌲

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE

THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS EVE

In folk belief there is a sense of the nearness of the supernatural on Christmas Eve. Throughout Northern Europe there were traditions that the family ghosts returned at Christmas time to share the festival with their living relatives.

In Scandinavia Christmas was the time when the dead revisited their old homes and had to be made welcome. Before people went to bed, they made sure the house was left tidy with a fire burning in the hearth. Food and ale were left out on the table. If earth was found on the chairs in the morning, it was known that a kinsman, fresh from the grave, had sat there. Sometimes a warm bath was left for the dead visitors so that they might wash before their meal.

In Poland, the dead were invited inside to warm themselves and funeral foods were eaten. In Portugal the souls of the dead are welcomed at Christmas with crumbs are scattered for them on the hearth. In ancient times, seeds were left out for the dead so they could return with fruits and grains from the Otherworld at harvest time.
In Portugal the souls of the dead, the alminhas a penar, are welcomed on Christmas. Crumbs are scattered for them on the hearth. In ancient times, seeds were left out for the dead so they could return with fruits and grains from the Otherworld at harvest time. At the consoada in the early morning of Christmas Day people set out extra plates for the dead among them to celebrate as well.

In Lithuania a special dish called kûèia was prepared for the souls of dead ancestors. It was made of stewed wheat, peas and beans, and sweetened with honey. Oat puddings were also considered to be suitable food for the dead, and a spell was chanted while they were being made. In the region of Merkinë, kûèia was a special loaf of bread which was carried three times around the house by the master of the household. He would knock on the door saying "God together with kûèia asks to be in your house". In other regions, baskets of kûèia foods or Christmas wafers were carried around in the same manner. Supper was eaten by the living when the stars rose in the sky, and if a family member had died during the year, a place was laid for them. The eldest family member went outside to invite the souls of the ancestors, the cold, the wind and bees to eat together. Food would be left on the table as it was believed that once the family was asleep, the dead would come in and feast. The tradition of feeding the souls of the dead continued into the twentieth century in Lithuania.

In Guernsey the powers of darkness are supposed to be especially active between St. Thomas's Day (21st December) and New Year's Eve, and it is dangerous to be out after nightfall. People may be led astray then by Will o' the Wisp, ominous black dogs appear to them, or folk find mysterious white rabbits hopping along just under their feet.

In England people prepared for supernatural visitors during the Twelve Days. The house and its contents were cleaned with extra care. In Shropshire, the pewter and bronze vessels had to be polished to the point that that the maids could see to put their caps on in them, otherwise the fairies would pinch them. If the fairies were satisfied, the maid would find a coin in her shoe. In Shropshire special care was taken to put away any washing suds. Anne Boleyn is alleged to have been seen haunting her old homes, her headless ghost reported at Rochford Hall in Essex and Hever Castle in Kent.

For this reason, it was a tradition to tell ghost stories at Christmas time. Charles Dickens penned several such tales for his readers, and until recently, the BBC still televise a dramatized supernatural tale every Christmas Eve.

Christmas Carol is still my absolute favorite Christmas Movie

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

Mystic Mana🎄🌟

Beautiful!!❤️❤️

✨Expected Death ~ When someone dies, the first thing to do is nothing. Don't run out and call the nurse. Don't pick up the phone. Take a deep breath and be present to the magnitude of the moment.

There's a grace to being at the bedside of someone you love as they make their transition out of this world. At the moment they take their last breath, there's an incredible sacredness in the space. The veil between the worlds opens.

We're so unprepared and untrained in how to deal with death that sometimes a kind of panic response kicks in. "They're dead!"

We knew they were going to die, so their being dead is not a surprise. It's not a problem to be solved. It's very sad, but it's not cause to panic.

If anything, their death is cause to take a deep breath, to stop, and be really present to what's happening. If you're at home, maybe put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.

Sit at the bedside and just be present to the experience in the room. What's happening for you? What might be happening for them? What other presences are here that might be supporting them on their way? Tune into all the beauty and magic.

Pausing gives your soul a chance to adjust, because no matter how prepared we are, a death is still a shock. If we kick right into "do" mode, and call 911, or call the hospice, we never get a chance to absorb the enormity of the event.

Give yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, or 15 minutes just to be. You'll never get that time back again if you don't take it now.

After that, do the smallest thing you can. Call the one person who needs to be called. Engage whatever systems need to be engaged, but engage them at the very most minimal level. Move really, really, really, slowly, because this is a period where it's easy for body and soul to get separated.

Our bodies can gallop forwards, but sometimes our souls haven't caught up. If you have an opportunity to be quiet and be present, take it. Accept and acclimatize and adjust to what's happening. Then, as the train starts rolling, and all the things that happen after a death kick in, you'll be better prepared.

You won't get a chance to catch your breath later on. You need to do it now.

Being present in the moments after death is an incredible gift to yourself, it's a gift to the people you're with, and it's a gift to the person who's just died. They're just a hair's breadth away. They're just starting their new journey in the world without a body. If you keep a calm space around their body, and in the room, they're launched in a more beautiful way. It's a service to both sides of the veil.

Credit for the beautiful words ~ Sarah Kerr, Ritual Healing Practitioner and Death Doula , Death doula
Her original video link is here ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7mG0ZAym0w

Beautiful art by Columbus Community Deathcare
Always With Love

Be alive in all the ways that make you feel alive❤️

How would you answer these questions:

*are you truly living?

*are you living authentically?

*are you addressing and facing your fears so they don’t hold you back?

*are you enjoying the moments with family and friends when you can?

*are you treating yourself and others with grace, compassion and respect?

*do you understand that there is an end to this precious life we have been given?

*are you aware that the only thing you can control in life is yourself?

Some small questions to ponder this Monday morning❤️