I want to tell the story of my recent feeling interactions with my Aunt Josephine.

A month or so ago, when I first heard she was in the hospital and was refusing to get dialysis, I was sad, and tried to connect to her soul. I didn’t know what I could do, but I wanted to help the best I could and the only way I could. When I tried it, I could feel Jesus embracing and encasing her soul. He was taking care of her. He had it covered. I was so happy and humbled by sensing that.

Then last Sunday, I got a message that she was in the hospital again, that she was in hospice, and had/was in sepsis/septic shock. I’ve had another aunt and an uncle die from that, so I feared the worst, and I was very sad. I was more deeply sad than I could handle at once, so I only let the sadness seep out little by little after the initial shock.

I didn’t want to lose Aunt Josephine, even though I hadn’t seen her or talked to her for years. I also didn’t want to hold her back or go against her wishes. So my thoughts and energies were swirling around inside. I moved my body and cleaned the house a bit. As I did, I had this feeling of Aunt Josephine being trapped inside her body and pushing against her situation, trying to get out. She didn’t want to be there. So I prayed that Aunt Josephine’s soul got whatever it wanted.

A couple of days later, I received a text that she had passed away. I was sad again, especially that I hadn’t had a chance to see her alive again. The feelers of my heart and soul went out to her soul once again. . . . She was so happy! She seemed so bright and strong and free. I felt so blessed to be in her spiritual presence.

And then my mom appeared. My mother died thirteen years ago. I felt their togetherness and their blessing toward me. Instead of feeling like my aunt and my mom, they felt like my sisters, as if we had been sisters for a long time.

At that moment, I felt utter clarity that I absolutely had to go to New York for the wake and the funeral. Energy needed to move in that direction, and things I didn’t understand (and still don’t) needed to happen.

Today I attended Aunt Josephines wake; I saw her body. Dead bodies really look dead. That body did not look or feel like Aunt Josephine. If Aunt Josephine was that body, she would be really and truly gone. But that’s not Aunt Josephine at all. She still exists; she’s in all of our hearts. Especially since I haven’t physically seen or spoken to her in a long time, and have only been able to communicate soul to soul, she still seems real to me, even though I keep going through bouts of sadness, particularly when other people are sad.

Congratulations Aunt Josephine for beginning a new chapter of your eternal life.

I love you.