As so many times the same way before, Rabbi Yochanan ben Sasquatch had feared premature burial, and ancient wisdom cautioned prudence. The traditional rites of burial were really only so many precautions that included not only the conclamatio (calling three times in a loud voice the name of the person presumed to be dead) but the customs regarding toilet, exhibition of the body, lamentation (the noise of which could also awaken the living corpse) speaks of a woman he never met, "Sophie was a good and loving mother...," scratching his scruffy red beard, while she complains:

Here I am, but no one says, the taboo against pronouncing the name of the dead is strictly observed because it is believed that the vibratory pattern of the person's name can act as a hook or anchor to which the spiritual energy of the deceased can attach itself and thereby the play of form of being, is the dreaming of substance. Rocks have their dreams, and the earth changes...But when the mind becomes conscious when the rate of evolution speeds up, then you have to be careful. Careful of the world. You must learn the way. You must learn the skills, the art, the limits. A conscious mind must remain on earth. The name of the animal, plant, or land feature from which the person's name is derived must also be changed. Often words that rhyme or sound like the deceased's name are changed as "Sophie, it's so good to see you again." But what is there left to see?

On the shoulders of four Black men her remains are solemnly carried to, winched down into the waiting earth. I think of alchemy as a warm spring flowing through the veins of the dead.