“The Path of Life is formed by the hoof prints of the Horse of Death.” ~ Samael Aun Weor

The traditions of various observances, ceremonies, and celebrations that happen between 31^st of October and 2^nd of November are today quite widespread. I have always found this time of the year, the point between autumn equinox and winter solstice, to be mystical in some ways.  The above mentioned observances are related to Samhain (and the subsequent Halloween), All souls night and day, and The Day of the Dead.

These observances today in most of Western and colonized countries is a mixture between ancient pre-Christian religion and Christianity, but all of them are related to something mystical – the non-physical aspect of reality. It is the time when spirits, elementals, and creatures from the other side are said to be more active, and when it is easier for them to come here, but also for us here to go and visit their world. It has been said that this is because the veil between this dimension and the higher one is thinner, and so this can help us connect with people that passed away or even have an esoteric experience of a profound kind.

In Europe, Catholic custom observes the All Saint Day, or All Souls Day (also known as the Day of the Dead) as the day when we remember people from our family or friends that passed away – it is a large tradition that involves going to cemeteries, lighting candles on graves, and praying for the souls that passed away. It is believed in Catholicism that souls could have easier passage from purgatory to heaven if someone is praying for them. But this day also has its social aspect, because visiting a cemetery at this time of the year would involve meeting people that we haven’t seen for some time.

Such observance is probably very ancient, and goes back to many thousands of years. It is explained that some ancient culture were much more sensitive and spiritually more advance than people of today, which means that they would not only sense when is that time of the year when the separation between the dimensions is lessened, but that they would also communicate with spirits through some psychic senses such as polyvision and telepathy.

It is known that even some 100-200 years ago, there were cultures that had a very different views on death than we have today, and their funeral rites were more of a celebration than a time of mourning, because they had some understanding about the nature of this reality and the reality where the consciousness of the deceased is going, enabling them to feel or believe that the latter is actually liberated and will go back to where it came from – a place that is much nicer and spiritual than this physical Earth. Even today, such cultures and tribes still exist.

The death in our present civilization is a mystery that we know very little about. In sacred texts there are descriptions and clues what happens after we die, and since the science of hypnosis and psychology started to thrive more, there were many who endeavoured to find out about this subject, which helped contribute a great deal more so that we can form some basic picture not only from religious point of view, but also scientific. Despite of this, we are still in the dark when it comes to our own personal experience of death.

If we are only aware of the things we read or hear from others, then in most cases it comes down to believing or rejecting what we heard or read, and this will be heavily influenced by someone’s belief system. For example, an atheist will reject any possibility of there being life after death because it has structured his or her belief system in such a way that material reality is all there is (even though new research shows something else). On another side a religious person will accept the teachings of their religion about what happens when we die, ignoring (or unaware) that such description may be misinterpreted, corrupted, or changed. What’s missing in both cases is knowledge – a direct experience of what awaits everyone after death.

Despite of our beliefs, there will always be suffering when someone we loved or care about dies. It will occur again and again, because the knowledge about the journey of consciousness is absent. If there would be understanding about it, things would be much different – at that point we would know through direct experience where the soul goes, what is that place, how the soul spends its time there, what is relation between the two dimensions (physical and spiritual), and what is the process of life and death. All these aspects can be read and believed or rejected, but having a direct experience and understanding of it is something else.

Having said that, the knowledge about the mysteries of death is not easy to acquire. Still, when we aspire to self-realization, and when we are taking steps of inner transformation, we then fulfil the requirements to be given knowledge of it, even when we are still here in this physical life. We can also develop psychic senses that can give us enormous understanding about genuine sacred texts, where those who know have conveyed their knowledge about this subject, and as we then read such texts, we can feel inside of us what they are saying.

Overall, life and death are two aspects of the same thing – part of the duality of this Cosmos. By being given life, we are also given death. The latter awaits us at some point in the future. This is the nature of this Universe. Everything is subject to life, growth and death. Everything goes through the process of change and transformation. With death, what we have been is destroyed, but the experience and memory remains – it is stored in a part of our higher self. This experience has transformational affect on the soul, through learning that is embedded in this Universe.

In many ways this coming back to our true non-physical home is similar to coming back from a long travel. If you imagine yourself going on a one year travel to some incredible cultures of the world where you learn many new things, and then when the travel is over you come back to your hometown and again sit comfortably in your armchair. It will seem to you that this one year has flew by, and yet you will feel the transformational affect it had on you. You would feel you are not the same anymore – the new you sitting on that armchair one year later has gone through experience that changed you.

In the words of Samael Aun Weor:

“Death in itself has nothing scary: it is something beautiful, sublime, ineffable, but the Mind bottled in the known moves only inside the vicious circle that goes from trust to scepticism.

“When we really become fully aware of the deep and profound meaning of death, we discover through ourselves, through direct experience that Life and Death are a whole.

Death is Life’s warehouse. The Path of Life is formed of the traces of hooves of the Horse of Death.”

However it may be, I wish that you have a quiet and mystical time during this coming days; to have inspiration that will awaken inside of you a yearning to do a little bit more on the journey of the Spirit, and to listen a little bit more the voice of your Being.

HDP, October 2019.