I was somewhat psychic without my intention; I just could see or hear things other people normally couldn’t; it’s like having a different set of radio and camera inside my brain. As I was busy with all the household tasks, I kept seeing spirits darting about the house. At first I thought it was my imagination so I just ignored the whole thing. But these uninvited visitors kept appearing inside the house which shouldn’t have happened. Usually the land guardian or spirit wouldn’t allow strange spirits into our boundary. So, I wondered what had happened to our land spirit who was supposed to guard our territory. As I was quite accustomed to seeing spirits throughout my life, I just noted the incidence and wanted to find out the reasons later.
As the day went on, I had a shock as I almost step on the spirit of my dead cat; Snow came to see me. I could hardly believe my eyes, he was trying to attract my attention as I dismissed it as my imagination. So, I saw him a few times. Later I thought I saw my orange cats in side the kitchen. But when I went to look for them, the cats weren’t there. I noticed they looked much smaller and thinner. It took me some time to realise that my dead orange cats came to visit me; Rosie and Pickle came to be with me for a while.
Some spirit wasn’t very timid, a they would normally be when facing a live person, a tall man actually stood in front of me to make sure I did realise that all these things were happening to me for a reason. I told my gardener, who used to be one of the village’s mediums, that I had been seeing several spirits inside the house. I asked her whether there was something special happening in the area this week. She told me that it’s Hor-Kao ceremony when the door of the underworld was opened for one day to let all the spirits going back to visit their loved ones. The gate keeper only allow this ‘holiday’ once a year. So, all the villagers would be busy making sweets, sticky rice in banana leaves, special local delicacies for offering to the dead people’ spirits after midnight.
She told me that along all the roads in the village were lit with candle lights after midnight while packages of sweets and food wrapped in banana leaves would be placed along the road side. People would pray for their dead families’ members and asked them to receive these offerings. Wandering spirits would have to wait their turns after those who were invited had their fills of all the goodies. I told her I saw wandering spirits inside the house which was very unusual. My gardener told me that I was the only one nit joining in the ceremony. So, I asked her to buy some sweets and prepare two sets of offerings for me.
After realising that my dead cats had not been reincarnated, I did a meditative walk along the river in the evening and did my prayers to send out compassion to all those who were waiting for my offerings. I did apologise for being late and too occupied to perceive their needs as soon as possible. The atmosphere by the river was very peaceful and calm. I talked to my cats’ spirits and thanked them for their kind visit. I told them that I missed them a lot too. My thought jumped to my father though I couldn’t feel him a few years ago; so I was quite convinced he was already reincarnated somewhere in the country.
My gardener organised two trays of offerings in banana leaves with a few sweets, snacks with incense and candles. I quickly finished all the house chores and had a good rest. I just hoped it wasn’t too late for me to make my offerings; I sent a message to let them know that I would be making my ceremony before midnight. The sky was pitched black when I ventured on to the dirt road with two trays of offerings. I found a nice spot on the side for placing banana leaves containers. Luckily the atmosphere was very still without any breezes, so I could lit the candles quite easily.
With incense in my hands, it took me a while to focus on the departed spirits of my families, friends and acquaintances including my dead cats. I could feel very light spark in the air, it wasn’t strong enough to surprise me. I guessed some spirits might have been summoned by the gatekeepers to be on time. I lit two more candles to make it possible to take some photos and to attract the attention of wandering spirits. Surprisingly I slept very deeply without any dreams. My gardener was expecting me to have some kind of journey. I could have traveled but I was not meant to remember anything that’s probably why I slept like a log. I became much calmer after the ceremony, the land spirits were quite relieved that I did my part in traditional custom as local spirits also had to follow the local tradition. So, all the surroundings and local creatures could live in harmony and peaceful cycle of infinite changes under the stars at night.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
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