Life After Death

Whether there is life after death, or not, has been a significant debate for eons. Although many that follow Paganism do not believe in Heaven or Hell, we do believe in reincarnation and a spiritual realm.

This post isn’t to provide detail of our belief or necessarily to debate the argument, however it is a true story to support existence of the spirit realm and souls within it.

As part of our Witchcraft 1 class, through the Temple of Witchcraft, we had established an altar in our home that we use for spell-work, meditations and also for leaving offerings to our house spirit and other spirits visiting and protecting our home.

One evening my mother called to talk to me. We talked about a few different things, including her current health diagnosis. I was amused by the inclusion of tobacco abuse in the report. At one point in the conversation, Mom said she was tired of hurting. She has said this before; I made some encouraging comments and changed the subject. Mom told me about a crystal point on her necklace that had come out of its mount. The plan was to have Kaliyah look at it and decide if it could be re-wrapped or if it should be replaced.

Unknown Visitor

The next morning, I was doing a past-life meditation as part of my Witchcraft 1 class. After seeing two past lives, I returned to my inner temple and met with my spirit guides. I sensed three spirits present; when I inquired about the third spirit, I was told I wasn’t ready to know who it was. I left the meditation and thought nothing more of it, besides writing down my experience in my journal and class homework.

About an hour after that meditation, my father called to tell me that my mother had died. ¹Meditation a few days later confirmed the third spirit was my mother.

Memorial Shrine

For an entire moon cycle, new moon to new moon, we had a shrine in our home for my mother. It contained an epitaph and photograph, one of mom’s keepsakes, a battery operated candle and the crystal point that came off her necklace. We would leave an offering of water and food each day on the shrine. Overnight, the water would reduce in volume about 25%, for a couple of weeks. The reduction was significantly more that the water offering on the house altar.

After the full moon, the water didn’t go down as much and by the new moon it stopped going down. That’s when the picture of my mother was moved from the shrine and put on the wall with family pictures. The keepsake is on my desk at home and Mom’s crystal has been put on our ancestral altar.

Lingering Spirit

Since my mother’s death, I had difficulties sleeping. I attributed it to stress. I had tried numerous changes to my sleep environment, in hopes of remedying the situation, but with no success.

One day during this period of poor sleep, we stopped by one of our local favorite new age stores, Merry Meet. It had been several months since we last visited, but Tammy (the owner) recognized us right away. She did stumble over names for a moment. She at first called Kaliyah by our daughter’s name. In Tammy’s defense, they do have very similar facial features and height. The next name got our attention. Tammy called out my mother’s name. Tammy has never met my mother. This told us that Mom was at the store with us.

We browsed the store as Tammy worked with other customers. i found a display of herb pouches, including for sleep aromatherapy. I considered getting one of the sleep pouches to see if it would help with my difficulties. Kaliyah and I discussed it and decided that since my mother’s spirit was with us at the store, maybe Tammy can make a custom pouch for me instead.

Spiritual Guidance

We sat at the shop’s herb table, a beautiful custom compartment table with glass top allowing the viewing of the dried herbs it contains. Sitting across from us, Tammy looks at me and says, “You’re depressed.” She also indicated that she is sensing faceless anger. I am mad about something, but I don’t know what it is or what to do about it. Keep in mind that at this point, Tammy did not know about my mother’s passing.

We discussed Mom’s passing and my relationship with her. Then she started pulling herbs off the shelf for me. Instead of being for an herb pouch, which usually someone keeps with them, this is to be used as incense. Graveyard dirt, Angelica, Solomon’s seal and Borage were put into the pouch. In a separate pouch, she put some Chaparral.

The instructions were to meditate on the new moon while burning the first four herbs. When I am done with the meditation, complete the experience with burning the Chaparral.

Incense Properties

The dried and crushed herbs when burned were used with these magickal properties.

• Graveyard Dirt – protection and love.
• Angelica – Assists with meditation and gaining insight with visions.
• Solomon’s Seal – An offering to spirits.
• Borage – Promotes psychic strength and spiritual connection.
• Chaparral – cleansing and calming.

New Moon Meditation

The actual moment of new moon occurred in the middle of the night. Late the evening before, maybe three hours before the moment of new moon, I began my meditation. Being Yule was in a couple of days, I had our tree lights turned on. I knew Mom would like to see the tree.

I lit a charcoal block and put it in the little cauldron that we use for burning herbs as incense. After a couple of minutes, I used a match to light my Temple Fire candle and used that candle to light our altar candle and my protection candle.

I sprinkled some of the four blended herbs onto the charcoal and let it smoke. Using an antlered feather fan, I wafted the smoke around me and requested any spirits that needed to communicate with me to visit, in perfect love and perfect trust, harming none.

I applied more of the herb blend to the charcoal, then sat down with my witches ladder. Resting, I used a meditation technique, similar to what I learned in TOW Witch 1.

As I passed through the veil of meditation, I looked towards the world tree. As I approached, it was flashing between a willow, an oak and perhaps a maple tree. When I reached the base of the tree, I put my hand on the trunk and greeted it. I requested access to the path leading to my Inner Temple. Nothing happened.

After I requested again and nothing happened, I surmised that I wasn’t intended to be in my Inner Temple for this. I turned around and sat on the ground at the base of the tree. I leaned back against the trunk and rested.

I’d like to give a great story with the glorious details of my meditation, but there were no spirits visiting to communicate. Not even an owl or butterfly in passing. After about 20 minutes resting at the base of the tree, I gave up. I thanked the tree for providing me shelter, then walked away and left the meditation.

I stood in front of the altar and sprinkled the last herb (Chaparral) onto the charcoal. Wafting the smoke around, I thanked my mother for being the loving, wonderful person she was and I said my goodbyes to her. I wept gently for a few moments, continuing to burn some of the herb. I put the lid on the cauldron and snuffed the candles.

Is There Life After Death?

Whether or not there is life after death depends on what is considered “Life” and that is what is considered as “Death”. Although the physical body dies, that doesn’t mean the spirit has died.

Consider this – it is evident that my mother’s spirit was with us at the store. From the first night after her death, through the night of performing the meditation to make peace with her death, I had difficulty sleeping. As you consider the contents of this true story, add the information to your own knowledge base and come to your own conclusion about life after death.

Blessed Be!