October 31st is Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, and known to many pagans as Samhain (pronounced Sow-en).
On November 2nd is Dia De Los Meurtos, translated Day of the Dead and also called All Souls Day.
Halloween has been known as a day of setting out jack o' lanterns, dressing up in costume and collecting candy from door to door and other fun traditions.
Dia De Los Muertos is a day when the living honor the dead with alters and offerings.
Very different traditions but both a bit spooky in their own way.
What is interesting is that these days hover around a time when the veil between the living and the dead, the Otherworld, is very thin.
This is when those who reside on the other side are more likely to be seen in our dimension. We become more sensitive and receptive to those in the spirit world.
For those that celebrate Dia De Los Muerots, they communicate and 'touch' their past loved ones with their offerings and alters.
For those that run around in costume saying 'Trick or Treat', are doing so from an older tradition that served a different purpose than a bag full of candy.
People dress up to hide their true identity so that those spirit that walked among them when the veil is thin will not recognize that they are of the living.
Halloween is not the only time that spirits and loved ones who have passed on can be communicated with or will communicate with the living themselves.
There is a phenomena known as After Death Communication or ADC for short.
Many people from all walk of life will have stories about butterflies and coins, token symbols that seem to be present at times when one has died.
I had a ADC with a deck of tarot cards.
A Bit of History~
It was Spring in the late 1990's and I met a man who was one of my soulmates.
I am one who believes that through living past lives, we have several soulmates that we encounter in a single lifetime.
I had been through some rough relationships and what a bit jaded.
As a matter of self preservation, I came up with a question that I would ask all my suitors.
"What are your intentions?"
I had asked this of my soulmate several times when we first met, his reply always was,
"All Honorable". All the other guys just fumbled over their words.
Shortly after we met and after asking him that question numerous times, I pulled out my tarot cards, the Native American deck.
If some one wants to be with me, they need to know everything about me and if someone is not comfortable with my use of cards and my intuitive ability, then it is not a good match.
I fanned out my tarot cards the way I normally do when I want to feel for a single card by waving my hand over them. When I told him to pick a card he waved his hand back and forth over the cards in the same manner. In my mind I thought, 'wow'. Then he picked a card and turned it over, and big "WOW".
The card's title was "HONOR". He just looked at it and then looked at me with that delightful goofy smile.
The Universe had spoken!
I knew for sure that he was my soulmate. I was also able to relax and enjoy and not be so fearful with a big armored box around my heart.
The ADC~
Fall, same year.
The relationship was short lived for my soulmate was taken away from me by the hands of another.
At that time he was officially just a missing person but I knew that he was dead for I had felt it the moment it happened. It was the saddest, deepest sorrow and emptiness I had ever felt and it came out of nowhere.
One night I was home alone and lonely, missing his company and the sound of his voice. I was wanting to have some sort of a connection with him. Being a sensitive, able to feel ghosts and sometimes connect with the dead, I was a little disappointed with the fact that I was not feeling anything from him. He was my soulmate after all and it puzzled me. So I thought I would break out my tarot deck and use it to make that connection.
I spoke out loud and said, "I have no question for the cards. Just want (name) to talk to me, tell me something for I miss listening to you."
I decided on 5 cards for this pull for we had been born almost exactly 5 days apart. I was born at just before 11pm and he was born just after 11pm 5 days later.
The first card I pulled, "HONOR" all I could do was cry. Cry because he was gone and I missed him, cry because I had made that connection that I so needed. I whispered 'I love you' and continued to pull the cards.
The 2nd card was VII Strength. Pictured on the card is a mountain lion. Both of us have mountain lion as one of our animal totems. The constellation lynx is also depicted on the card.
As a totem, the Mountain Lion protects my sacred space, the place where the heart is kept. The answer to my 'intentions' question was the key to my sacred space- give the wrong answer and you are not invited in. Here he was telling me to be strong, stay connected and listen to my totem animal.
Lynx had meaning as well. Lynx made an appearance out of my Medicine Card deck when I pulled cards just after he disappeared. I asked "What happened to him?" and Lynx showed up and represents secrets. Being a missing person at that time, there was a lot of secrets surrounding his 'situation'.
I felt that here, he was telling me that his death and location was to be a secret for a while and this is why I needed to be strong. It was also telling me that what I felt about his death was indeed very real, that I 'knew' the secret.
The 3rd card I pulled was the 5 of Vessels, which is known as Cups in traditional tarot. The title to this card is Warrior Woman. I would get this card a lot in my personal readings, so much that I called it MY card. This continued the message of being strong and to keep my 'fighting' spirit. That I would be challenged emotionally but possess the strength and will to continue on.
The 4th card was the Maiden of Shields, Pentacles in traditional tarot, and the maiden is equal to a Page. This card is a card that I related to much like the Warrior Woman and also made me aware of one of my past lives. With this card he was telling me that even though the relationship was short, that it was meant to be. We where soulmates in a past life, in this life and will be again in a life to come.
The last card I pulled was XVII The Star. The image upon the card was of Grandmother Spider and her web of fate. This continued the message of the card before, of past lives of soulmates and of fate and what is and meant to be. It is also a card that speaks of dreams and hope. After my bad relationships, he was the one who brought me back to that place of hopes and dreams and he wanted me to know that even though he was gone, that I was not to ever give up hope in finding a love like ours in the future.
The two Major Arcana cards that showed up here are connected through their numbers. Strength is number 8 and the Star, 17, when reduced is also 8.
The shape of the number 8 is used in tarot by turning it on it's side to see it as the well known symbol for Infinity.
Again, this ties to the life cycles that go on after we have left this life-time. I also see it as his way of telling me that he would always be with me even if I could not feel his presence and energy.
More on ADCs
