Story about Death

I recently had a very interesting experience with death that taught me profound lessons of present time awareness that I wanted to share with you all. I think that my experience can be of use to others also facing death and the letting go of someone they love.

It was the middle of May in Marin County where I live and the weather was hitting the high 90's and even touching 100 for a couple of days. The grasses in the hills were dry, very parched and yellowing. I have three pets, 2 cats and a dog. They all have been with me and my husband for a number of years, so we have gotten used to their sleeping and waking patterns. One night Blackie, my feral cat turned domestic cat, didn't come home one night, which was unlike him. He normally is in by dinner time and then stays in for the night.  It was 12midnight and I went to the back door to check if he was back and there was no sign of Blackie. I immediately knew that something was wrong and had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to come back. I alerted my husband to this and he said that he thought Blackie would be in the morning and that I should get some sleep. But I couldn't sleep and checked the door again a little while later. I went outside to the street in my robe and called for Blackie around the house. No sign of him. One thing about where we live is that our house backs up on to open space land where coyotes, deer and raccoon often wander. Blackie being the feral cat that he is loves to hunt and catch mice which he is very good at, in the open space land. So my fear was that he was attacked by a coyote and was somewhere in the tall grasses.

That night I connected to Blackie's spirit to ask him where he was and he said that he wasn't sure, but he thought he was dead. When I asked our dog, Bart's spirit said that he thought Blackie was dead. My heart sank even deeper. I didn't want to believe it to be true, especially if he was attacked and eaten by a coyote. Well, I didn't get much sleep that night and was up early outside again looking for him. My husband awoke and took our dog with him in the hills searching for Blackie. But there was no sign of our little hunter.

That morning we posted signs up and down our street and talked to our neighbors about our lost cat. Our neighbor across the street said that he saw Blackie that night by his house going up into the hills. He also said that he saw a raccoon in his yard as well that night. Later that day, I put on my long pants and my tall boots, so I wouldn't get bitten by the deer ticks, and I took Bart up into the hills. It was 100 degrees outside and the hills were very steep with lots of mosquitoes and such. When I got up into the hills I became extremely peaceful and felt this serenity of the tall trees around me and of being in the forest. I talked to Blackie's Spirit and he said that he was gone and not to look for him, that I wouldn't find him. I somehow felt the truth of Blackie's words even though I didn't want to. Bart and I turned around and went home. My neighbors watched from their garage as Bart and I maneuvered those precarious hills. I think they wanted to see Blackie come home too.

That night I talked to my animal communicator friend and colleague about Blackie. She is one of the best in the field and has the most powerful telepathic abilities that I have seen yet. I called her to get a second read about Blackie and she was happy to oblige. Blackie told her that he was not in his body, that his Spirit had left his body and that he wasn't sure where he was. He told her that we wouldn't find his body and that he couldn't lead Bart to it either. My friend, who has been doing this work for 30+ years, said that even though Blackie says that he is dead, something in her didn't believe him. She had seen it happen time and time again how our four-legged friends will get lost and days, and even years later, will appear at their owner's doorstep. She instructed me to continue my search and to contact the humane society, which I already had done. I thanked my friend and told her I would be in touch. I also talked to another close friend of mine in Arizona who is another intuitive. She said that she saw Blackie's body as flat without spirit, but that it didn't look like it was attacked. His spirit was just not in his body. I had that seem intuition as well.

Late that night I sat in the window looking at the hills when Blackie's Spirit came to me and asked me why I am looking at the hills. "Because," I told him, "You are somewhere out there and I can't find you and I miss you!" Blackie told me to stay present with where he is at right now and not where he used to be. He said that he is not in his body any longer and that his body is in the past and where he is now is a very beautiful place. I tuned into the place he was showing me and it was filled with prismatic light of every color. It was shimmery and completely filled with peace and love. I was so happy for him. He was onto his next journey and that was that. He told me that death is not an event it is just another moment in time. When he told me that, I got it. Everything in my body shifted and I was at peace again. I knew that he had given me a gift of the practice of being extremely present with whatever is happening, especially with death. My emotional body wanted to go to the past of all my memories with my little furry friend and yet Blackie was telling me to bring my emotional body into present time. He says that when we hold our memories and energies in the past of what was, we forget how precious the relationship still is even if he has crossed over. Who knew that Blackie was such a wise little guy?! 

I was completely at peace and knew that he was still with me in spirit. I felt his rainbow light all over the house. The next day, we went on a day long hike in Sonoma and came back. While out that day, I said a prayer that I wish Blackie well wherever he is. Then I let it go. About ½ hour after we got home, we were eating in our kitchen when I heard a meow outside. I shrieked in joy because I knew that voice. It was Blackie in the flesh out on our back deck. He looked as if he had just walked out of a cat spa without a hair out of place.

Was this Blackie's way of teaching us about life's impermanence and the importance of being in the moment? Did Blackie have a near-death experience, leave his body and then decide to come back? Or was he shacked up at the neighbor's house being fed lots of goodies and sleeping on the master bed, as my husband believes he was?

Well, as I always say, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." Blackie was my teacher that day who had given me the greatest reminder of the power of being present in the moment especially when one is facing death. Thank you Blackie!