“When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts
are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray
for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing
your death song, and die like a hero going home.” – Tecumseh

Death walks ever at your side, personified – should you let
it be. Death is the midwife who parted the legs of your mother and drug you
carefully from her womb; was there as you grew older, through every skinned-knee,
celebration, and silent moment of life – waiting for the time in which It might
take you like a captured bride, back into the Night. But do not mistake Death
to be cold or vindictive, for It is naught but patient companion: with arms
like a mother and the heart of a lover. Fear not Death – but embrace It, and it
will watch over you. Death might come in any guise, accept it – for it is
yours, and you: Its.

To Look Death in The Eye

Go to a comfortable place – you needn’t go anywhere marked
by dead energy unless it is where you are most comfortable, for Death walks
with you – and center yourself. I encourage you to find a comfortable place to
sit, be it cross-legged on the floor or in a chair, it doesn’t matter. Just
allow yourself to be comfortable. Death is not (usually) gruesome to look at,
but no less, it’s best to be in a calm and collected place, if only to connect
better. Light a candle, if you so choose, and call to your own Death to present
itself to you. Following, I’ve attached a sort of summons:

Come – Shadow!
My umbral Lord or Lady,
Who walks ever with me:
Before my blind eyes – be seen!
Let me smell the sweet perfume, familiar,
And reveal your fair face unto me,
That I might look upon,
The one who walks,
The one who waits.
O Death, my companion,
Remove the spectral veil,
And let my eyes descry:
My Beloved Shadow.

You needn’t follow word for word, but simply capture the
same spirit. Do what works best for you, as always. I would like to clarify
here, that this ritual calls to your own Death personified, not the
circumstances nor the collective embodiment, deity or metaphor of Death. In
fact, I highly encourage you not to ask – ever
– what those circumstances are. Most will deny the request, but some might
offer the option to test you. If they offer up the information, decline. 

Sit patiently and Death will appear. Usually Death presents as
human: as the opposite gender, or as one which you are attracted to, but this
isn’t always the case. I know some who have told me Death came to them as an
animal – this is also valid. Your Death is unique to you, and isn’t bound to
the same form from session to session. Death can take on the face of perfection,
or your greatest fear. Just roll with it. Get to know one another – or, get to
know Death, as it already knows you better than anyone else.

Why you should connect with your own Death?

Well, death is intrinsic to life, yet often feared in Western society. To familiarize yourself with Death and build a bond between yourself and It can be quite rewarding. Death is also a bridge to the dead, as well as to the past and the future. It can share with you both, but such actions should be done so sparingly and with great caution and skepticism. Death personifications – in mythologies the world over – often have trickster qualities. This isn’t to say they will blatantly lie, but have a predisposition to be misleading, or – rather – the human mind has a tendency to overreach when information is presented. Death is often quite literal, don’t read too far into it.

Death can also act as a sort of familiar spirit that can be tasked with things: willingness permitting. As such, they can also act as guides in both under- and astral worlds. As aforementioned, Death often has a trickster quality, and as such, can lead you into situations that might be difficult to navigate as a means of bettering oneself. In essence, they are there to prepare you for death and what comes after. Where that is, I suppose, only they know. I wouldn’t ask.

Finally, death knows you better than anyone else – including you. If introspection is what you seek, there is no better a place.

Figure I & II: woodcuts – I think they’re woodcuts, anyway – by Jose Guadalupe Posada.