Death is simply a change of worlds 

Here are some stories where direct physical evidence of this is shown, by feathers, phone calls, footprints, and books falling off shelves.  The first was seen by me, the others told by trusted friends.

A little feather appeared out of nowhere during a prayer meeting.  It was a feather from the bird for whom a friend was named.  She had recently passed over, and the prayer meeting was for a dear friend of hers.  The feather was her way of telling us that she was there to help.  Later, our prayers were answered.

At a rest stop in the middle of the night, a friend felt to talk with a homeless person sitting there in the cold and rain.  For some reason she felt to tell him that she was on her way to honor her father after his passing, but did not know what to do.  In response, he told her that the Tibetan Book of the Dead really did not have all of the best advice: her father should be dressed in white, all pictures turned to the wall etc.  The next day, her son called and told her that a book had fallen off the shelf in the middle of the night.  It opened to a picture of the Tibetan Rinpoche who she had studied with 20 years ago.

Many Native American tribes believe that people stay around this realm in spirit form for one year before they leave here permanently.  On the day exactly one year after a Native American healer had passed, my friend felt strongly that he was gone.  And then she received a phone call from someone who said, “I don’t know who you are or why I’m calling you, but this number just came up in my mind for me to call.”  When she asked where he was calling from, and he told her the town where the healer had lived.  Then they knew that this was true, and that the healer wanted to be sure that they both knew it.

Memorial services for the departed are a common place for these kind of signs to be given.  After one memorial service, on the bare dirt of the tepee that had been swept clean before, people saw the clear fresh tracks of a deer, the spirit animal of the departed.

On the 1-year anniversary of a loved one’s death, a Red Tail Hawk hovered over the memorial service, waving its wings and squawking loudly to the crowd.

Sometimes, as with the Rinpoche, it appears that people may stick around for longer. Before a Native American ceremony, someone remarked that the person who used to live here (who had crossed over into the spirit world many years ago) would be very pleased.  “Oh yes, he still comes around,” was the reply.  Just then, a yellowjacket flew up and dropped a little white feather in front of everyone.