death
Invoking The Power And Beauty Of Freya
The goddess Freya has a special place in my spiritual self-care routine. I often turn to her when I need extra guidance and support.
Freya is the ancient Norse goddess of love, beauty, fertility, and war. She is one of the most important deities in Norse mythology, embodying the ultimate ancient archetype for ‘girl power’ and ‘boss lady’ energy.
She is traditionally revered for her deep wisdom, boundless compassion, and fierce protection. Invoking her divine feminine power has brought much transformative and empowering energy to many aspects of my life.
In Norse folklore, Freya rides a chariot drawn by two large, powerful cats and is often depicted wearing the Brísingamen necklace, a symbol of her power and beauty.
The Brísingamen was created by four dwarves known for their exceptional craftsmanship. The necklace symbolizes beauty, desire and the power of attraction. It also represents Freyja’s connection to the earth and its fertility.
Freya is the leader of the Valkyries, the warrior maidens who choose those who may die and those who may live in battle. Freyja is said to receive half of the slain warriors in her heavenly field, Fólkvangr, while the other half go to Odin’s hall, Valhalla.
This dual role highlights her authority and revered status among the gods, bridging the realms of life and death. The Valkyries, under her guidance, serve not only as fierce selectors of the fallen but also as protectors and guides for these chosen souls, ensuring their honored place in the afterlife.
The Mystical Secrets Of Flowers
Like all living things, flowers and plants carry unique energy signatures and metaphysical properties. It’s easy to overlook them as sentient entities, but these natural wonders do possess energetic auras and have even been shown to have remarkable abilities to perceive, respond to, and remember their environment.
Although they do not experience emotions or memories in the way humans do, their complex responses to their environment suggest a form of intelligence that we are only beginning to understand.
Whether you believe in the sentience of flowers and plants, or simply appreciate their sophisticated survival strategies, plants undoubtedly play a vital role in our ecosystem and our lives.
If you’re serious about esoteric practices, energy work, and a spiritual lifestyle, familiarizing yourself with various plants and flowers is essential. Including them in your spiritual practice and self-care routine can bring immense benefits, from energy cleansing and healing to protection.
Flowers and plants speak to us in ways that transcend words. It’s no wonder that they traditonally play a significant role in our lives, marking celebrations from birth to death and everything in between.
Whether used for their aromatic qualities, symbolic meanings, or energetic properties, plants and flowers have also long been cherished as essential elements in spiritual and holistic practices. Their beauty, symbolism, and perceived energetic properties make them powerful tools for enhancing spiritual experiences and rituals.
Praying For Your Departed Loved Ones
A client recently asked me if there is any benefit to praying for a loved one who has passed away? Does it make a difference in their transition to their new plane of existence? Can it somehow assist them in their continued existence in the afterlife? Can they even hear us?
We can absolutely connect with the spirits of those who have passed on, although it may sometimes feelas if they cannot hear us. Whether we are praying for them, talking to them, or simply grieving for them, we are connecting with them on a spiritual level and they are hearing us.
In fact, praying for our deceased loved ones has a very positive effect on their soul journey and they deeply appreciate it.
Some people believe that when we die, we go to some blissful realm of perfect existence where all our problems and karmic debts are instantly resolved, or left behind on the earth plane for others to deal with or pick up the pieces. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Most of us will pass away someday with some unresolved issues, negative feelings, resentments, grudges, or regrets that we will need to continue to work on in the afterlife. Of course, some of us will have much more to work on than others. Just because we leave this physical world does not mean that we are free of all our responsibilities and no longer accountable for anything or anyone.
It is therefore helpful to send our prayers to departed loved ones to help them with whatever spiritual or karmic “baggage” they may be taking along with them on their journey to the other side. Although they may leave behind symptoms of illness or financial debt, for example, their spiritual ailments will still need to be healed.
Grieving The Loss Of Loved Ones With Grace
Few of us have not experienced the loss of a loved one, a parent, a partner or even a child. Most of us have also witnessed or experienced the many ways in which people try to cope with such an insurmountable loss.
Coping with the huge gaping hole that such a loss leaves in our lives can have a negative impact on people’s behaviour. Some turn to extremes: alcohol, drug abuse, overeating, prescription drugs, or any of the other things people use to numb their pain and deflect the overwhelming feelings associated with loss and grief.
What we ultimately learn is that there is no set time frame in which such profound pain can be dealt with. It can take weeks, months, years or even decades for some. But even when the worst is over, we never really get over the sense of loss. We simply learn to cope and get on with our lives, forever changed, as best we can.
However, the greatest tribute we can pay the loved ones we have lost is to grieve with grace and dignity. Abusing substances or indulging in other distractions may temporarily numb our pain, but how does that honour the memory of the one we professed to care so much about? It also does not allow us to confront and process our emotions in a healthy and constructive manner. Grieving is natural and necessary. When we try to avoid our grief, we miss out on opportunities for personal growth, self-reflection, and ultimately finding peace with the loss.
Why Some Souls Depart This Life Early
In over 15 years of doing spiritual readings, I’ve had to deal with some very difficult questions from clients who have suffered extreme loss or trauma.
One of the most heartbreaking, however, is making sense of the death of an infant, child, or young adult, sometimes after a cruel and very unpredictable death.
Grieving the death of a young person can bring up some of the most profound and challenging emotions. While it is never easy to address this kind of loss with grieving parents and relatives, Spirit has been consistent in its guidance over the years.
Although I have been spared the loss of someone so young in my own life, I am no stranger to it. I have supported many families in this regard over the years, both professionally and in my personal life.
The first time I realized how fragile life really is, was when I was only 12 years old. I was looking forward to the summer vacation from school. One of my classmates who lived down the street and her family had relatives visiting for the summer. Two of the visiting cousins were more or less our age, so I had a nice group of girl playmates for the season!
There was also the younger brother of the visiting cousins, who was only six years old. He was an adorable child with blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a freckled face full of mischief. He followed his two sisters, my girlfriend, and me wherever we went during those carefree days. I did not mind having him around and even encouraged the others to let him play hide-and-seek and many other childhood games with us.