I spent the last three days with women who came from all over the USA with one mission in mind: To assist in healing the Great Mother Earth. We met on a beautiful and sacred ground in Fremont, CA where the burial ground for the Ohlone Indians had been disturbed once again. In fact, the area had been disturbed so many times that as early as the 1700's various groups of people were seeing angry spirits as they walked the land where we were planning to eat, dance, ceremony, and sleep.
It wasn't just women from all over the Nation but specifically, healers from all over the world who were invited to the Ohlone site. Pretty amazing still that so many women showed up and put such long hours in nourishing the earth, the participants, and the spirits. We were protected by approximately one dozen men who surrounded the ceremonial and sleep sites. I want to say again "Thank you" as I spoke to each personally while there but as a group we also thanked them and blessed their work for us.
How is it that so many people could devote a week or 3 days to such "unrecoginized" "unpaid" "universal" work? I believe I have a few of the answers.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Celebration & Loss
It was my 91 year old friend's birthday the other day. He's now living at the Veteran's Hospital Palliative Care Center so I made him a cake to share with lots of people. I thought of people's allergies, I thought of his multiple brain tumors and the recent strokes he'd had. I thought of the swirl of people now around his life--he'd lived alone for 30 years until now. So I decided to bake a
'sad cake'. I figured he'd get a kick out of my telling him the story of how the cake got its name and sure enough he and all the folks I invited in to join us giggled and laughed out loud. As we sang to him it was so clear that this ritual of eating on special days (birthday, anniversary, etc.) brings such comfort to people. In its own way celebratory cake makes it possible for us to fully participate in the joy of life as we face death. The 'sad cake' name? Came about because it's a cake that looks absolutely full and beautiful as it comes out of the oven and then as it cools falls flat and isn't so beautiful any more. Sprinkled coconut all over the frosted cake softens the blow.
'sad cake'. I figured he'd get a kick out of my telling him the story of how the cake got its name and sure enough he and all the folks I invited in to join us giggled and laughed out loud. As we sang to him it was so clear that this ritual of eating on special days (birthday, anniversary, etc.) brings such comfort to people. In its own way celebratory cake makes it possible for us to fully participate in the joy of life as we face death. The 'sad cake' name? Came about because it's a cake that looks absolutely full and beautiful as it comes out of the oven and then as it cools falls flat and isn't so beautiful any more. Sprinkled coconut all over the frosted cake softens the blow.
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