The Spring Equinox offers an experience of coming full-circle, of the life that is fed by death, new growth emerging from the fallow times.
I spent the first part of the first day of Spring at Portland Nursery, leading a discussion on springtime rituals and making a spray that would grace my father-in-law's grave when we buried him later in the week.
I went from the nursery to Forest Park where I led a ceremony honoring a baby who had died before her birth.
On Friday we gathered to mourn and celebrate my spouse's father Dean, a deeply decent man. That night, we gathered with our larger circle to mourn and celebrate our much-missed friend Marcy on the anniversary of her birth.
I spent the first part of the first day of Spring at Portland Nursery, leading a discussion on springtime rituals and making a spray that would grace my father-in-law's grave when we buried him later in the week.
I went from the nursery to Forest Park where I led a ceremony honoring a baby who had died before her birth.
On Friday we gathered to mourn and celebrate my spouse's father Dean, a deeply decent man. That night, we gathered with our larger circle to mourn and celebrate our much-missed friend Marcy on the anniversary of her birth.
Then, a few days of retreat in a sacred place in the Columbia River Gorge. We were sent with prayer flags sewn at a kitchen table by women whose hands followed the stitching of untold generations of women before them. We released the flags into the mists of a wind-gnarled oak grove, returning the next day to find them perfectly framing a view of a freshly snow-laden Mt Hood.
What rituals of remembrance do you employ?
This month on the Death Talk Project blog, I'm starting to share stories from my archive. You can find them all on this site, of course, but here's a sample of just three, on the theme of "ashes to ashes".
What rituals of remembrance do you employ?
This month on the Death Talk Project blog, I'm starting to share stories from my archive. You can find them all on this site, of course, but here's a sample of just three, on the theme of "ashes to ashes".
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