Ask yourself: “How ready am I for death?”
Every year on the Day of the Dead, I like to reflect on significant people who have passed on from my life, as well as my own inevitable confrontation with death on a day that will remain unknown to me until it comes. A friend once said to me, “How would our lives be different if we knew both the date of our birth and the date of our death? If you could know when you will die, would you want to?” I imagine most of us would say no.
Last converation with Gina Ogden before she passed
In 2018, two of my female mentors died within months of one another—Marion Woodman and Gina Ogden. Gina died on the Day of the Dead, which always felt to me like quite a feat and a wonderful time to journey beyond. The last time we spoke on the phone, Gina said, “This is my year of completion. It is really ok. I’m ready to pass over into spirit. I have wonderful guides on all planes.”
She was ready. Many of the mystical spiritual traditions believe this world is merely a preparation for the next. Yet how do we ready ourselves for this moment that for all we know may be days, months, years, or decades away? For me, the answer is inner work. It’s important! Jung called it the second half of life, and indeed, when I am far from my dreams, it feels like I’m living only half a life.
In her book Dreams and Death, Marie-Louise von Franz discusses her work with an analysand who was complaining about everything he had done to become conscious—all the money, time, effort, and work —And let’s face it, it is work!
And now, here he was dying and thinking, “Maybe I should have done something else with my time.” That night, in a dream, a voiceover (which in dreams is often considered to be the voice of the Self) said to him, “The work you have done to become conscious in your lifetime affects countless generations, both forward and backward in time.”
Mystical levels of Dreamwork
I take this to mean that the work travels deep and far… far beyond what we can even imagine. Anyone who has delved seriously into the art of dreamwork understands this. There is always, no matter how far you go, a sense that “you know nothing of these mysteries.” And yet, the journey into the mystery is a worthy one—dare I say, a heroic one!
We are offering an online course on dreamwork.
