A House Blessing Ritual to Honor Ancestors and Offer Gratitude
Now that Halloween is approaching, it’s time to face the one fact of life that no one can escape. Taxes. Wait, no that’s not it. Oh, yeah – Death.
Does the mention of death make you uncomfortable? Do you have unresolved feelings of grief or loss? Our culture has an aversion to death that is really not healthy. And this year we have all felt death knocking – a little too hard.
But death is really a gift. It begs us to contemplate our existence, our purpose, and reminds us that the clock is ticking. That only makes our lives more precious. One of my favorite quotes is from Homer’s “The Iliad”, where Achilles (who was mostly immortal and had the choice of a long, happy life, or a short, glorious existence with eternal fame – he chose the latter) tells his slave girl, Briseis, about how humans actually have it better than the Gods because they are mortal.
“Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”
Achilles, Homer’s “The Iliad”
I tend to agree. Of course, when Brad Pitt said those lines in Troy they were even more poignant. But think about it. How would you use your time if you could live forever? Would you make every moment count, or let the days slip and fade away?
Besides, what is it that you want to live on forever? Your anxiety? Your bills? Your imperfections? No, of course not. But we do want the love to go on. When someone passes, we want to keep their memory alive, however, society tells us that we have to let them go. Get on with our lives. Which is true, but we actually can keep that love going while not obsessing over the pain.
It usually takes more than just any one part of a year to fully grieve. Years can pass and our wounds may be opened just as easily 5, 25 or 50 years later. It’s precious, yet painful. And so we try to stuff it down, forget about it or just move on, but it’s not that easy. We need to let the loss point the way to appreciating all the good – and the bad, and the ugly – because it’s all part of life.
A great way to do this is with an ancestor altar. After all, Halloween is really a harvest festival to honor the dead (and the Catholic Church dedicated November 1st as “All Saint’s Day” to put their mark on an ages old tradition). So this is the perfect time to summon those who have gone before us, connect with the love they passed on to us and really give thanks for all that we have.
Join me for my next Wellness Wednesday Webinar!
October 28, 2020 10am (MDT)
