Passage

In this part of the world, the agricultural year is ending and Death, a necessary element of Life, predominates as growing things roll into fallow time before life returns in the spring. The other night, I described to C how my pagan practice has changed over the years, and now I don't engage in much ritual or pageantry, but rather I simply feel the seasons, the cycles, the shifts as energy mutates and transforms. I honor it quietly, feel it deeply.

Last night my grandfather took passage from what we know of this life. I am profoundly relieved. Yesterday was quite awful, as I felt him dying all day, and felt his children's pain in watching their father die. Although I am nearly 800 miles away from where it took place, the energy of the events surrounded me.

Today I have a sense of peace and am glad that he has taken passage into the Mystery. Grandpa frequently referred to death as graduation, that one completes this life and moves ahead to the next thing. Though much of my family and I may differ in how we conceive of what happens after death, I am comfortable with the graduation analogy. He completed his time in the form in which I was blessed to know and experience his spirit.

My love for him is intense and honoring his life and celebrating his passage feels highly appropriate during this liminal time in the solar year, as light fades and solstice begins its approach.