November Half Moon Wander: Burial

It’s been a minute friends.

The heater is clicking off and the leaves outside are being sent earthward with forceful encouragement by the wind.

I am ready for a rest. Somehow, I bet you are too.

I don’t know if we’ll get it or not. I am sure if we want it we have to do it consciously. And I am quite certain it won’t come if we don’t ask for it. If I don’t do the work for the rest, I know it will pass me by.

We are in that in-between space—the time in the Wheel of the Year's turning of endings. I know endings to be simultaneous beginnings: The departure of one career for the possibility of new authenticity, new skills. The saying goodbye to a friendship so that both might find fresher ways of being in relationship.  The death of an uncle during the labor of my child. Something is ending and needs to rest. 

What is it that wants to rest? What am I carrying that is done, or dying—that has decayed to the point where it necessitates being held by the Mother—where I do it and myself a disservice by hanging on. The ones who know how to hold death and restore life. So what can we unburden ourselves with so that we might rest. What can we bury that we might restore ourselves, and restore the energy to our Mother.

This time is ripe with festivals celebrating the thin veil between the dead and the living: Day of the Dead, All Saints Day, Halloween, Samhain. This is an invitation to create a ritual of surrender—a burial—during this time when the veil is thin.

Please find a place on the land where you may have a burial. Maybe it will be a place you will want to return to, as one might with certain buried loved ones, maybe it will be a place you will not likely encounter again.

Bring an object with you that represents that which you wish to put to rest, to return to the Earth. It could be a piece of paper with something you have written. It could be an object you infuse the energy of an idea into. It could be something that is a memento of what it is you are choosing to bury. It could be all of these, or several items. Put the item(s) into a little bundle using a natural fiber cloth.  This is what you will bury. This is what you are surrendering to the Earth—the energy you are returning and asking to carry no more—the door you are willing to close.

When we wander on the land, we encounter a threshold for whatever our intention is that we carry onto it. A place on the land that invites us to connect with our purpose for our specific wander more deeply, a place of committing to the idea we carry. When you are ready to wander to this burial place—let the land guide you to a natural threshold. Here touch into the reverence you hold everywhere in your body. Touch into this reverence for your body and for all the bodies of those around you—for your Spirit and for the Spirits of all those around you. Feel your feet as the roll over the Earth. Remember how your Ancestors walked on the Earth. Invite the Spirit Helpers you wish to accompany you on this walk—whether they are the Directions, Mary, the Moon, Allah, your Grandmother, your Cat.

When you come to the site, dig a hole to inter your offering (or you may choose to do this in advance) What you are surrendering has been beloved to you. Even our fear is beloved of us. You may be guided to be in silence. You may be guided to create a song or movement. You may want a candle or an herb bundle to burn. You may want to read, or to speak a prayer. Let your imagination which is part of  imagination of the Land now, guide you. Remember you are holy. What you are burying is holy. Your non-human and human witnesses are holy. The Earth taking this for you is holy. The space it will make for conception is holy.

When you are ready, you will close your burial ritual through a threshold—perhaps the same one you entered or different. You will know. Trust the guidance you receive and that whatever you do is holy, loved, and accepted.

The Land will be with you on the other side.