CHARISMA’S SACRED GOODBYE
Many of you have had the pleasure of meeting my horse Charisma or have felt her presence through the stories I have shared with you. Charisma and I have been a lifelong friends and teachers to each other. The 28 years together has gifted me with a personal truth, animals have souls and deep wisdom to share with us if we allow the human superiority complex to soften and free our spirit. There is so much magic when we experience life through the eyes and heart of an animal.
Charisma was my soul horse. She was teaching me right up to her last breath. If a goodbye could be beautiful, we achieved it. When you have a horse for 28 years you develop heart to heart communication, no words need to be spoken you just know what each one is feeling and thinking.
Over the past few years as Charisma’s physical body started to decline, we have had many silent conversations around the subject of her transition. I always told her she didn’t need to suffer that she should go quickly. She had given me so much in our years together and I did not want to see her suffer. She didn’t want me to suffer either, so she played it out in a sacred goodbye.
When the day arrived, I found Charisma lying down in the pasture, which is unusual for her. I walked into the barn and mentioned it to a friend who was grooming her horse. She said Charisma had been up when she arrived about 30 minutes ago.
Walking out to check on her and I found her unable to get up. Her backend had given out. I could see from the ground that she had struggled some trying to get up. I tried to assist her, and we gave it a few tries to get her on her feet. A few failed attempts and I stopped, I recognized this moment with deep clarity, today is the day. The trust allowed me to be so fully present in the moment. Every cell in my body confirmed what she was offering. The opportunity for her to leave and without struggling, just as we had agreed upon.
My vet was an hour and a half out. There was no panic in either of us. We shared this time reminiscing of our life together and in appreciation of everything we learned along the way.
My younger mare was present and quiet, my daughter and husband arrived to say their goodbyes. The animals on the property offered homage. The two hogs from the farm next door came to the fence line, the rooster, the horses all held vigil and I could hear their silent goodbyes. I could feel the magic around us. When the vet arrived, she was freed with dignity and grace surrounded by all who loved her.
I was gifted with time to loosening my energetic hold on my horse because of her aging process. Much like losing an elderly parent where over the final years we experience little moments of letting go and grieving as you see their physical and mental bodies decline. It is not always this gentle with trauma or losing someone before their time. The emotions and lack of time to process grief is exaggerated. Although the process of coming through to the other side is the same. Making peace with death is part of life.
Animals have so much to teach us around this subject. They have a deep knowing that they are connected to the web of life, they follow love and are always connected to love whether in physical or in spirit. There is no separation.
Message from Charisma in her passing
The challenge for humanity is to refuse to engage in the old issues of separation. Guilt is a wasted emotion, and it will exhaust you. There is the weight of it or the desire to escape it. The realization that you can let it go the moment it starts by dropping into the body, connect with the tension in your soul center. Release it with awareness and breath. Feel it release inside yourself. Face forward without carrying the burdens. You don’t deserve to be punished and know you gave your best to the situation. If you focus on what you don’t have you will draw in emptiness. Your lower self focuses on limit, loss, and emptiness. Spirit is always full or fulfilling. Seek to fill the space with something new and inspiring.
SO PEACE.