Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
Rites of Mourning
Today is the third (and final) day of my official mourning for my heart-friend and partner-in-arts Sparky T. Rabbit. For three days now I have neither bathed, washed my hair, nor shaved. I've worn the same dirty clothes every day. (Fortunately, the nature of my work permits this.) I look (and probably smell) terrible. It's a kind of shared death, a time In Between.
I learn something new every time I encounter these old, ancestral customs, usually by way of seeing the deep wisdom embedded in them. In this case, the sheer physical and psychological discomfort of this disruption to normal life is strong incentive to move through deep mourning and into what comes next.
Sparky, I know that guys with beards always made your heart beat faster.
But come Sundown tonight, I'm shaving.
Comments
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Saturday, 07 June 2014
Thanks, Ted. Reborn to the people.
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A guru once observed that we cry when we come into this world, while everyone around us laughs - but that we laugh with joy and relief when we are released from it, while everyone around us cries. The wheel turns. I wish you peace.