Saturday, October 30, 2021

Remembrance for Samhain

My mother and my brother used to sit together to watch the sun set here. 
  They are gone, but I remain.

So on this time of the "thinning of the veils" I create this very personal  post, in which I remember some of my own Beloved Dead.  I will join a few others on the night of November 1st to eat, drink and remember the Beloved Dead around a little fire pit this year, and I have my "list" of those I wish to remember on the Feast of Samhain altar I made.  As I get older the list gets longer, and the need to praise them becomes more important, more poignant.

“Grief expressed out loud for someone we have lost, or a country or home we have lost, is in itself the greatest praise we could ever give them. Grief is praise, because it is the natural way love honors what it misses.”

                     ― Martin Prechtel, The Smell of Rain on Dust



Amy Sefton - who created "Madam Ovary", brilliant performer and artist,  one of the kindest  and most generous souls to walk the earth, kind to me in my often fiery chaos.  I wish, Amy, I had had a chance to say goodbye.  May we meet again in green summer, when the pipes are playing and the banners flying, wearing our best bodices.  


Jeaneen Vogal Ph.D.   - you turned up in my life, a psychologist and a friend, when I needed someone desperately  to talk to and work with to unravel my family history.  You  turned up like an angel and offered me talk, tea, appreciation for my art, therapy I never could have afforded in exchange for what I could offer, my art.  You gave insight into so many things.  Even a couch to sleep on when I had no where else to go, and no one to tell my stories to.  Thank you so much, Jeaneen, for a healing hand in the dark.  



Charles Spillar.  Friend to so many, community organizer, supporter of the arts, helper of artists and of veterans,  preserver of the Valley of the Moon - my friend too.



Joanna Brouk,  my  oldest friend from the halcyon days of our youth in Berkeley.  One of the first, and finest, synthesizer composers, lost and then found again when we were
 much older, always missed.



Abby Willowroot, founder of the Goddess 2000 Project, an artist who brought images of the Goddess to thousands, and organized a community Arts Project that did, indeed, as she said:  "Make a Goddess on every block".  We travelled to Bali  together.   She inspired so many, although she was not always an easy woman to know.


My brother, Glenn.  So intelligent and sensitive, 
so overwhelmed by the harshness of the world.



Carol Christ,  a truly Great voice for the arising of the Goddess in our time. 
 Missed by so very many, although her work will remain to speak eloquently that which must be spoken of.


Frank Barney,  Creator and Co-Creator of Brushwood Folklore Center - a beautiful piece of land and forest that houses a Center that has brought together thousands of people over the years in Celebration of nature, ritual, music, Magic, and Fellowship.  A true Home for me over the years and the many blessed summers I spent there.  I can't praise Frank enough for his kindness, vision, and love of people and the land.



Ursula Kroeber Leguin,  mentor and muse, her words and her worlds
will linger with me and inform me until the day I die. 


Jeff Rosenbaum,  Creator and Co-Creator of Starwood Festival, the biggest
Pagan festival  on the East Coast.  He believed in me, when I didn't, a great gift.  May the
 Starwood Bonfire burn bright for you,  every year, continuing your legacy, Jeff!

 

"Mr. Grey", the noble and ever mysterious "Guard Kitty".  He was killed in the spring,  and I always miss him.    May you run free, old friend, catching many mice in that great Hunting Ground where noble and brave cats go.

______________________________________________________________
and, of course,  I thought of this song by Jackson Browne.  We are all Dancers...........


4 comments:

Shari said...

Lauren,

Loved your Samhain tribute and out-pouring love to all who’ve guided you, protected you and breathed life and love all around you.
Thank you! XOXO Shari J.

Mana Youngbear said...

This was such a healing experience to read about such great souls now dancing behind the veil. I think of you every day, my friend, lately, like friends who have passed I have experienced a loss of words. so I am going with trust. Trusting you know how close I keep you to my heart. Samhain Blessings...M

Mana Youngbear said...

This is a healing tribute. Thank you for all your work you do. I think of you everyday as I look up and see She who cries for the world. I love you... Samhain Blessings, M

Barb said...

Beautiful beautiful. Having lost my own brother recently, and so many other dear ones I have loved over the years, this is a wonderful way to see and hear about those you have mourned and remember with love, Lauren. I have heard you speak about them, but the photos make them so vivid.

XXOO