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Messages of the Mums: Reflections on Grief, Samhain, and Honoring the Departed
Hello friends, I hope you’re all doing well and staying warm during these last few days of spooky season. It’s cold where I live, as November’s soggy and cold climate approaches. I originally had an entirely different idea for a Samhain/Halloween piece, but life has a way of showing you what’s most important, and what you should share. I unexpectedly lost my oldest cat, Maxwell, who was only 5 years old, two and a half weeks ago, and my home and family has been reeling from that since. He was the heart and center of our family and household. Life has been difficult without him, to say the least. Grief…
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Jazz’s Gems
Apache Tears Apache tears I find to be an underrated stone. Personally, I have relied on it to get me through some tough times, and it is certainly one of my favourite and most useful in my collection. I suffer from trauma issues, and if you do too- get yourself some Apache tears! If you suffer from depression, anxiety or are going through grief or loss, this is also very helpful as it brings supportive energies that can provide relief. Apache tears are a form of Obsidian but are more lightweight and porous. They are volcanic glass and are classed as a mineraloid. It consists mainly of silicon dioxide, and…
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Book Review – Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration, and Change by Day Schildkret
Book Review Hello, Goodbye 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration, and Change by Day Schildkret Publisher: Simon & Schuster 208 Pages Publication Date: March 1, 2022 Events shape our lives, stirring up emotions, bringing transitions, and forcing changes. These moments — a birth, health crisis, marriage, job transfer, the loss of a pet, leaving for college — tend to get lost amid routinely busy days with their unending demands. Day Schildkret, artist and author behind the Morning Altars movement, believes we need ritual to observe, sanctify, and make sense of these transitions. Being mindful of them, being willing to honor these times with purpose and meaning, provides…
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‘The Grief Ritual’ A Ritual and Interview with Bernadette Pleasant, Somatic Healer and Creator of the Emotional Institute
‘The Grief Ritual’ A Ritual and Interview with Bernadette Pleasant, Somatic Healer and Creator of the Emotional Institute It’s almost two o’clock on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and I’m lying on my back on the floor of my stepson’s empty room, sobbing uncontrollably. My feet rest on the carpet and as I feel the fibers between my toes, I remind myself to let it all go: tension, pain, sorrow — everything I don’t want to burden others with, and everything I shouldn’t carry myself. I feel it melt away from my body and into the earth, flowing off of my body like water, lightening me with every shaking…
