Signs of Saturn

Original sketch by Aliya Smith "Now, I’m not saying that kids should be exposed to the realities of death, not fully. There is always a need for age-appropriate discernment. But to hide the truth, hoping that it makes them gentle – man, that is a huge dis-service. And demanding that others lie about their own reality in order to keep your own fantasy-land intact? Wow. And of course, those of us here know that refusing to acknowledge that death exists does not in any way protect you from it. Refusing to allow discussions about illness and death just means that when it does happen, the child will have absolutely no skills to deal with their grief. He’ll just know that it’s not okay to talk about. This whole avoidance of death thing creates generations of people ill-equipped to respect the reality of grief. It creates legions of people feeling grief, without any capacity to speak to it, or handle it, or treat it with respect and understanding." - Megan, Refuge in G...

photo taken by Kelli Lynn from a hill in the cemetery behind Queens' Chapel in Kingston, GA, USA I took a dare tonight, the eve before Halloween, and walked alone to a local cemetery after dark. I had been there about 12 years ago in the light. It was just before I decided to marry my husband. I had watched the movie The Hours for an upper level English class, and for some reason that film left me wanting to release a lot of energy surrounding the relationship I'd just behind left in Athens. I laid down among the graves and wept. My palms pressed into the ground beside me, I gave the Earth all it would take. I wanted to bury a part of me. Tonight, I took that back--transmuted, transformed. Lying down among the unknown confederate dead, beside a memorial to other soldiers native to my town, I asked the Earth to give me back the medicine distilled from my pain. I laid down holding a lit stick of Palo Santo and slipped into the deeply comforting dark. I took several breaths...

Me & Nini Ritual comes in the form of what we repeat with intention. I recently planned a memorial service for my grandmother Laura. In my parents' sun room, we hung a portrait of a hummingbird. I stood beneath it and read this eulogy: Laura Alice Allen Yarbrough, affectionately known as Nini, spent 81 years alive on this earth. The time I remember her best was here in Rome, Georgia, taking me on after school adventures, falling asleep (against my orders) during movies, giving tours of the plants in her yard and making sure that everyone had enough to eat. She had a bold sense of humor and a level of social and academic intelligence which surpassed the norms of her time, especially for women.  Her final years of life centered on the challenge to take ownership of her own healthcare. In many ways, she succeeded in this. Nonetheless, her body still had its final say, and she gracefully released her soul to become part of whatever exists outside our human perception ...