Tashi’s Journey Beyond

Capstone Project - Global Mystics 2021-22

by Cara Gardner

A Memorial story of Sir Tashilot the Brave and Noble Heart

Inspirations from Aug/Sept class teachings that guided his journey Beyond the Beyond

I had a vision for a different capstone project. I intended to film a video of me opening the directions of the Celtic shamanic medicine wheel in the majestic beauty of Marin Co where I live. I wanted to share my sacred shamanic practice from Ireland, but life got in the way and death came knocking at the end of our course year. All I could do was be present to caring for my dying beloved and the unraveling of my world in grief. So I’ve done my best here to share a few of the inspirational teachings from our course that helped guide me through this unbearably difficult time. It’s been a healing process for me to weave together this story and the frayed threads of my life. It will be the beginning of my attempt to put into writing the magical love story of our lives together.

My 14 year old precious canine soul mate, furry son Tashi suddenly became paralyzed in his back legs and was diagnosed with a spinal tumor on August 9th 2022. I spent the next month caring for him day and night as his body weakened and I was ushered into facing the pain of his impending transition. I was guided by spirit to help him cross over on the full moon of 9/9/22 so we savored every moment, sweet and painful, until that fateful date. These final precious weeks with him helped me to prepare for his passing but the anticipatory grief was excruciating. Gratefully the teachings that came through Mirabai and Andrew in August and early September were soul lights that guided me through the deeply exhausting and emotional time.

Many miracles were revealed supporting me through the right of passage; apparitions in nature, songs, visions, synchronicities and these teachings here.

Sita Ram 8/11/22 - Reclaiming the True Balance of Sita Ram Unit Nine: Class Two

After our beautiful class with Mirabai about Sita Ram I was doing my yoga practice to a random playlist on Spotify. When I was done I sat with my beloved and just held his paw while I enjoyed watching his breath - how precious, he was still alive here with me! It was a beautiful moment when I realized the song playing was Sita Ram. I savored the synchronicity letting the gift of wisdom fill my heart. My eyes poured forth many tears feeling the great mystery of life and death, as I journeyed further into the darkness feeling these sparkles of light guiding my way.

“She just wants to return to the earth from which she came. She lies down on the ground, in the forest, and the earth opens up, and the Mother herself takes her child back into her arms.

Sita's born from the earth and returns to the earth, and in between, she lives in great harmony with the earth. She's the embodiment of Shakti, the animating energy of the universe, the creative energy of the universe, which is feminine in the Hindu tradition. Where Ram represents the embodiment of truth, of virtue in the soul, Sita represents embodiment and the creative life force, and those two things are needed to return to balance.”

Lao Tse 8/17/22 The Wings of Wisdom and Compassion Unit Nine: Class Three

My partner read me this poem the same week before class with Mirabai. When she read it I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and took it as a sign that this wisdom was coming through Spirit to help me integrate what was shattering my world.

“Sorrow and joy, sorrow and joy, sorrow and joy, sorrow and joy. I don't know about you, but every day of my life is this beautiful dance between sorrow and joy. Do you know that famous passage of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran? I'm going to read to you the very famous writing on sorrow and joy that totally speaks to this session today. “

On Joy and Sorrow

Kahlil Gibran - 1883-1931

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

*This was read at Tashi’s memorial ceremony.

Following in the same class Mirabai shared -

“Overflowing emptiness. The emptiness that is plenitude. The emptiness that is simply empty of all distinctions. That recognizes that reality is one. It is not two. It is vastness of being. This experience we have of particularity, of manifold forms isn't an illusion. There are many, many forms. From emptiness arises form. From form we return to emptiness. That's the Prajnaparamita in Buddhism, the end of the Heart Sutra. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Swaha. Gone, gone beyond all form. All praise to the One who goes beyond all form. Form is emptiness, it says in the Heart Sutra, and emptiness is form. It's the recognition of the interdependence of all phenomena. That there is nothing that is separate from anything else. That's insight. That's wisdom in Buddhism. “

This beautiful mantra became my exaltation for Tashi and myself. Helping me understand the expansion into everything and nothing after death. Form is Emptiness/Emptiness is Form.

We played this chant while he was transitioning in his bed with the vet’s attendance on 9/9. We called in the greatest compassionate guides and wisdom keepers in spirit to guide him over the rainbow bridge back to his noble place in the after life.

Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra

Gate Gate, Paragate

Parasamgate, Bodhi Swaha!

Gone Gone Gone to the Other Shore

Gone Gone Gone Beyond

Gone Utterly Beyond. Liberation!

Gone gone gone beyond, Gone all together beyond, Oh what an awakening, All-hail!

Continuing on in the same class, Mirabai shared about Lao Tse - Old Boy

Lao Tse wrote the Tao de Ching. 81 verses of wisdom which is the indigenous spiritual tradition of China. Looking to Nature for wisdom.

The Yin/Yang symbol is the harmony of flow with the Tao.

I was struck because Tashi’s dog tag is the Yin/Yang symbol. Also Lao Tse’s name means Old Boy and I’ve called Tashi in his older years my Elder Pup. Paradox! His black and white coat, so soft and beautiful, is a reminder as a symbolic guide to Unity.

The Wu Wei is about Flow and Water, which is harmony and going with the Flow while being rooted in earth. Learning this helped me to make the decision to have him cremated in water not fire, called Aquamation.

“The symbol of the yin-yang, one side is dark, and one side is light, but it's a swirl. They enter into each other. There's not two squares, two blocks. That's the very Western mind, but the mind of Asia is a flow. The light flows into the dark, and the dark flows into the light. Moreover, there's a round part in each. In the white, you see a black dot, and in the black, you see a white dot. There's a seed of dark in the light and there's a seed of light in the dark, and they flow into each other all the time. Heraclitus, the great pre-Socratic Greek philosopher said, you cannot step into the same river twice. You cannot step into the same river twice. It's always flowing. It's always new. It's always different. If we look to nature, especially water, we will learn how to live in harmony with the Tao. The Tao, being probably equivalent to God, is ultimate reality. It is often depicted in the Tao Te Ching as a mother. She is the mother of the 10,000 things. She is the mother of the 10,000 things. The valley spirit, sometimes she's called. She never dies. The valley spirit never dies. She is the eternal mother. “

Vs 32

The tao is forever undefined

Tao in the world is like a river flowing home to the sea

My paralyzed elder pup resting during class. Our final three weeks together.

Nobility 9/8/22 The Song of Awe: Way of Nobility, Unit 10 Class two

Our lesson today with Mirabai and Andrew was about the Nobility of Spirit of the Prophet Mohammad and his daughter Fatima. It was a beautiful lesson about these great awakened beings in history who gave everything in service of love. Andrew said his word of the year from our course was Nobility.

Tashi’s full name is Sir Tashilot of the Brave and Noble heart.

“if we can find within ourselves the sacred belief and strength and faith and experience to savor the nobility of our souls and try to live that nobility out in whatever way is most natural to us. Whatever happens then, we will live the divine life on Earth, even if life itself goes extinct. That's where I'm coming from. I'm not trying to drag people into darkness. I'm trying to help people discover the great jewel of nobility at the core of darkness. The great call to claim all one's divinity and one's humanity and rise in them tenderly to meet whatever now unfolds upon this clearly crazy Earth. “ Andrew

This so inspired and uplifted me to feel able to guide Tashi up the great mountain of his transition, knowing that he is meant to return to God, to the heavenly realms. He was such a noble and kind spirit. He took the high road, never instigating conflict or challenges but regulating others, dog and human, to his vibration of equanimity and kindness. He attended all of the healing sessions I gave, every shamanic healing, women’s circle and meditation group I held. Everyone adored him. His peaceful countenance helped others open their hearts.

When we lived in Ireland we visited many sacred sites together, walked over hill and bog communing with the ancestors, and even summited the great Croagh Patrick, sacred mountain of the snake goddess Cora and St Patrick, the syncretic meeting place of earth and sky energies.

9/9/22 Crossing Day

Today I was with my beloved as he crossed the rainbow bridge to the other shore. Letting him go home breaks and shatters me, my heart wrenching in grief. But I trust he is complete for now, this beautiful life we lived, all the love continues on. I was blessed to be his companion and protector for over 14 years. That he chose me is still mind blowing - the gratitude I have and feel for being his beloved is beyond descriptive words.

Yesterday the Queen of England passed away at age 96. Such a great and humble woman who seemed would live forever. A great force of nature, a force of good, of kindness and nobility. It was incredible to have this energy drop in the field as I’m grieving Tashi’s passing. The great Queen has opened the gates of heaven to greet Noble Tashi with her pack of Corgi’s. It is a time for noble beings to cross through the veil.

I could never have imagined she and Tashi would pass within the same 24 hours. Sir Tashilot has earned his knighthood and there is no doubt now about the lineage of light beings he descends from.

“The fact that she's gone is really much more than just an event for England and America. It's an event for the world. This is something that we will not see again. She did it as perfectly as a human being could do it. Just as the Prophet did his work as beautifully as he could do it. S/he did it with nobility. God bless Elizabeth (and Tashi).” Andrew

Thank you Universe for this vast and great blessing, for Tashi to join the legions of heaven at this special time in history. The world is mourning with us. God bless the Queen, God bless Sir Tashilot of the kind and noble heart.

MEMORIAL Journey

We took a road trip to the desert of Joshua Tree for his memorial ceremony. His aftercare was handled by a lovely pet memorialist, a death doula caring for the dead. It was healing to be in the desert where spirit is so palpable and expansive. Then we journeyed to the giant Sequoias to be held in the great mothers embrace. Earth and Sky, Desert, Fire, Tree and Rain. We Honor You. We walk in the circle of the Medicine Wheel that guides us through life and rebirth. The Golden Path of Shamanic Way.