I want to reflect here on two deaths that happened at the beginning of the year–within four days of each other–of two people whom I have never met. 
One is the great Irish poet and contemporary mystical writer John O’Donohue who died peacefully in his sleep on January 3, 2008.  He was only 53 years old and […]

Posted in Poetry, Grief | 10 Comments »

Today in the Christian church is the Feast of All Souls, the day when we remember our loved ones who have died.  I did not write a post about this today, perhaps because I have been talking a lot about grief and darkness lately and that felt like enough.
But then I read Rachelle’s achingly beautiful post […]

Posted in Grief | 2 Comments »

Last Saturday I attended a concert of the Seattle Choral Company called “Celtic Nights” which marked the upcoming feast of Samhain on November 1st.  Samhain is the beginning of a new year in Celtic tradition and is primarily a celebration of ancestors and harvest.  It is considered one of the great doorways of the Celtic year […]

Posted in Grief, Nature and Creativity | 5 Comments »

The week before last was the fourth anniversary of my mother’s death and I shared here before that I have been feeling called to walk willingly into some dark places.   It turns out that the anniversary was also the day I had to end a friendship.  Friendship to me has always been sacramental and so not […]

Posted in Spirituality, Grief | 8 Comments »

“We seldom go freely into the belly of the beast. Unless we face a major disaster like the death of a friend or spouse or loss of a marriage or job, we usually will not go there. As a culture, we have to be taught the language of descent. That is the great language of […]

Posted in Photos, Grief | 12 Comments »

This is from Barbara Cawthorne Crafton’s Geranium Farm daily email, originally discovered at Possible Water:
Well, when would be the best time to commit a crime? Wouldn’t it be right after another one had been committed in another place nearby, when everyone’s attention was focussed on the first one? Such a plan makes enough terrible sense […]

Posted in Grief | 6 Comments »

Today we leave ordinary time to enter into the journey of Lent through the desert. The desert is that uncharted terrain beyond the edges of our seemingly secure and structured world, where things begin to crack.
We begin this desert journey marked with ashes, the sign of our mortality. There is wisdom in these ashes. If […]

Posted in Grief, Lent | 15 Comments »

 
Dharma
The way the dog trots out the front door
every morning
without a hat or an umbrella,
without any money
or the keys to her doghouse
never fails to fill the saucer of my heart
with milky admiration.
Who provides a finer example
of a life without encumbrance -
Thoreau in his curtainless hut
with a single plate, a single spoon?
Gandhi with his staff and […]

Posted in Grief, Mystics and Saints | 17 Comments »

As I shared before I left, this retreat was a time of remembrance for me and honoring of my grief and loss.  Last Thursday was the third anniversary of my mother’s death and two months since we lost our beloved dog Duke.  
I drive out to the Hood River Valley in the morning, listening for how […]

Posted in Grief, Retreat | 11 Comments »

I am heading off for a few days of retreat this week.  The idea began with an art class I wanted to take down in Portland over the weekend, knowing it meant I could also have a chance to see an old and dear friend from my doctoral program who teaches down there now.  Then I […]

Posted in Grief, Nature and Creativity | 5 Comments »