My Rosary

Greetings!

One Christmas during the restaurant years, my younger son bought me a beautiful rosary.  I treasured it because I knew my son always put lots of heart into his gifts.  I saw an inscription on the back of the crucifix.  I thought it was a female name.  In my ignorance, I assumed rosaries were like other personal items such as Bob could buy a rosary with the name Bob on it.  I thought my son might not have seen the name on the back of the crucifix.  I said to myself: "It is alright.  I love it anyway."  (I have a good laugh about my ignorance as I write, and hope you do too.  Laughing is good for the body, mind, and spirit.)

Since I was not into any religious practice, I simply carried the rosary in my pocket. Sometimes I held it in one of my hands when I prayed.  I usually put it on the headboard before I went to sleep.  If I forgot, I would find it on the bed or still in my pocket when I woke up.

One morning, I woke up and could not find the rosary.  I looked under the bed and searched everywhere.  It was nowhere to be found.  At that time, our sons lived on campuses.  Believing that it must still be in the house, I did not tell my sons about it. Three days later, I found the rosary tucked to the side of the bed.  It looked a little bit different.  I remembered the color of the chains were silver toned which matched the silvery iron crucifix, but now the chains were brass or gold toned.  I must have remembered it incorrectly.  Anyway, I was very glad to see the rosary again.

During those years, the rosary was a symbol of peace to me.  I was very grateful for the gift.

In recent years, I wanted to buy a rosary with the same design but different color beads for my son.  I asked my son where he bought it.  He said it was history.  During his college years, he did not have a car.  His friends drove him around.  They had visited many different malls and stores.  He could not remember where he bought the rosary. Assuming that I wanted to buy another one for myself, he suggested for me to go to any religious store.

I had gone to a few stores.  I learned what I had was a Celtic rosary.  In my limited knowledge, all I knew about the word "Celtic" was the wonderful "Celtic Woman", the all-women musical ensemble from Ireland on public television.  I had visited a couple of stores where Celtic rosaries were sold, but I could not find one similar to mine.  My son was not into any religion. I observed he did not seem to be interested in having a rosary.  So I set the idea of buying one for him aside.

A few years ago, I began subscribing for Internet service so that I could video chat with my loved ones.  By then, we lived in different states.  (We now lived in the same state.) I seldom looked up anything online because I did not know much about the computer. One day in 2013, it suddenly came to me I could look for rosaries online.  It was a joy to see so many beautiful rosaries on different websites.  I still wanted to find one that matched mine.  After some time, my older son said he wanted to use the computer.

Hours later, I asked my son if he had finished using the computer.  He said 'yes' and left to use the bathroom.  On the computer screen were a man, the word "Erin", and a whole lot of text below.  For a second, I wondered why my son visited this web page. Then I continued to look for rosaries.

After quite some time, I still did not find anything similar to mine.  I took out my rosary and put it in front of the computer.  I saw the inscription "Erin" on the back of the crucifix (which I assumed was a female name when I received it).  I keyed in the word and found that "Erin" meant Ireland!  I visited different websites.  Some pages were too long, and I stopped reading.  At one point, I clicked on a web page.  There on the computer screen was the same page that my son had left on when I asked to use the computer!  If only I had spent a minute to read the page my son had inadvertently left on the screen, I would have found the answer right there.  It was another example that

                                       Sometimes what we are looking for
                                                   is right in front of us,
                                                    yet we cannot see.

On that page, it mentioned something about Erin or Ireland was symbolic to healing or green healing water.  When my son bought me the rosary, both my son and I did not know years later my spirit guide would ask me to learn a healing art.  The rosary my son gave me was with green (a healing color) heart-shaped beads.

Coincidentally, I had quite a few dreams as a healer or a spiritual practitioner in an old English setting while we were in the restaurant business.  In those dreams, I visited the sick and was invited into many homes.  I also had a dream living in Tibet.  About a year and a half after the restaurant was sold, I was guided to join a circle which met every Thursday morning.  Months later, the facilitator related that she had been urged by my spirit guide to tell me to learn a healing art.  I did not follow because I looked at myself as a Chinese woman who could not speak English fluently.  I did not tell anybody including my younger son about those past life dreams.

One day during the Christmas and New year holidays, my younger son decided to go to the circle with me.  (It was the only time he came to the Thursday circle).  It so happened the facilitator wanted to do a group past life regression on that day.  While others easily got into that state, I could not.  I thought of my dreams as a healer in England (or Ireland?), but I saw and felt nothing.  When the facilitator told us to come out of the regression, I was the first one to open the eyes.  I saw others were reluctant to pull themselves out of their regressions.    

Two immediately turned to me and said they saw me in their past lives in Tibet.  They related vivid images of Tibet.  They said the same thing as to who I was, but each went into a different period of that lifetime.  One saw us as a special group of children growing up together, and my younger son was my younger brother in that life.  The other one saw the scenes when we were grown-ups.  Both expressed much regret that the facilitator had pulled them out of the regression too soon as they really wanted to see more.

Another friend said she went back to a lifetime in England.  She was a male and the captain of a ship.  She saw my younger son working on the ship.  The captain went into a house to visit a medium (who in the present was a psychic/medium and a channel). The friend described the clothes and the house in details.  Then they saw through the window a group of a spiritual order walking on the street in a line.  They wore robes with hoods over their heads.  As they walked past the window, the leader of the group levitated about a foot above the ground to greet them at the eye level.  The friend recognized it was me.  She added I levitated to acknowledge them, and it was not a show-off.  

Since I saw or felt nothing during the regression, I could only listen with an open heart. The friend who saw us as children in Tibet said even though my son was my younger brother in that lifetime and I might seem to be more regarded, however, she felt he could be more advance than me spiritually.  It brought a smile to my face because I had always looked at my son as wise.

All of us have lived many lifetimes.  It is not a coincidence people come across one another or are born closely related in this lifetime.  I hope I will visit England, Ireland, and Tibet someday.

Spring is here!  Soon we will see beautiful flowers everywhere.  How wonderful!

Love,
Q of D