cemetery Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Panorama of Rainbow Dog Over Cemetery – Photo: L. Weikel

Unsettled

I’m feeling kind of quiet this evening. Karl and I watched one of the movies that received a ton of Academy Award nominations the other day, “The Power of the Dog,” on Netflix. Perhaps it was the movie that left me feeling unsettled and reticent to write much of anything. Or maybe I was headed in that direction even before we watched it.

It’s movies like this that make me feel decidedly pedestrian in my discernment of artistry in film. I guess I have to be satisfied with liking what I like. While I was kept in suspense over where the characters were headed, in the end, I craved more character exposition. There just seemed to be so much more I yearned to know about these people. And perhaps – is that it? Is that what I don’t ‘get’ about some critically acclaimed films? Is engendering the feeling of wanting to know more – or just being free to allow our imaginations to build out the backstories – the mark of a profoundly Oscar-worthy film?

Perhaps.

And maybe that’s why, if I had to pit this against Dune, I’d choose Dune. Then again, there are a number of other films I’ve seen (so far) in the Best Picture category that also captivated me.

Words Unnecessary – Photo: L. Weikel

Look to the Sky

Instead of leaving you guys with a cranky personal grouse over The Power of the Dog, I’d like to offer some photos of a rainbow dog we saw this afternoon as we crested a hill near our home. We were passing by a cemetery that holds special significance to our family. Not because of who’s buried in it, but because of those who tended to its maintenance for several years.

Sadly, it is not maintained the way it used to be. The grass seems to almost be hacked instead of mowed and nothing is trimmed neatly around the gravestones. Many headstones have in fact toppled over. This makes me sad.

Yikes. Yes, I’m noticing the pattern.

There was actually a glimpse of profound beauty as we came upon the cemetery today, though.

Perhaps, as my mother used to say, “Discretion is the better part of valor.” Instead of writing anything else, I’ll just share the rainbow dog and the beauty we witnessed – and call it a day.

Ha – perhaps I just stumbled upon the true power of the dog – the rainbow dog: to transform ‘unsettled’ to ‘awe-filled.’

Rainbow Dog – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+67)

A Sense of Oneness

Today I had the opportunity to walk along well-kept trails through a remarkably quiet, delightfully fragrant New England evergreen forest.

Peering out over jagged-edged outcroppings, we looked across the Farmington River valley and could see the pale monuments of the cemetery in the distance.

A few hours later, we sat at the peak of that very same cemetery and drank in the beauty of the ridge across the valley that we’d just ascended.

View of the ridge from the cemetery – Photo: L. Weikel

A Spectacular Sense of Peace

There was a peace about today; a shared appreciation of Mother Nature’s gifts and the nurturing she is so willing to give to us – if we simply ask, and then open ourselves up to receive her generosity.

I close my eyes as I write this post and can once again instantly feel immersed in the aroma of that forest.

And while I’m not one to ordinarily frequent cemeteries, I for some reason asked if we could walk there as well. I wanted to be in the cemetery we saw from the ridge line.

Once there, I felt a sense of connection between these two experiences that I must admit surprised me. What I found most remarkable was the unmistakable sense of shared quietude each place afforded.

I felt a sense of oneness.