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Diana Boles's avatar

Fabulous journey for the retreat days - the Doll is meaningful. It is something i think i could do here in Michigan Surrounded by so much water and near the shores of Lake Huron, i think i will take a day during the summer. With a created icon such as you show, and do the like ritual.

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Kris Fawcett's avatar

I don't know if this has been covered in your local news or not, but there's a pair of bald eagles here in Southern California that produced

three eggs back in March. The park crew set up cameras so they've had a livestream going since the eggs were laid.

They all hatched, but there was a snowstorm and one of the babies didn't make it ... it froze to death. The other two eaglets are doing fine, but I wanted to share with you that something profound happened after the one baby died.

The parents went through what was clearly a mourning ritual: the mother carried the little body of her chick away from the nest. Then both parents sang what can only be described as keening, their calls echoing through the valley.

Afterwards they went back to raising the other two chicks; life goes on, after all. But it was moving to watch and hear their lament. - If anyone's interested, I can provide a link to their closure ritual.

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Nicola Didsbury's avatar

A beauty full ritual. I too love these ancient goddess totems. I have a replica on my own sacred altar. The little Westray figurine is so simply evocative. You’ve woken my imagination, goddesses, grief, beaches and moonlight.

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Jude Lally's avatar

Thanks Nicola. Although personally I think of her as an ancestral figure rather than Goddess. Wouldn't it be amazing to peer into the past and see the hands that made her and see what she was intended for, or to represent.

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Judy E. Brady's avatar

Thank you, Jude. Inspiring.

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Nancy's avatar

I really like this account. I am a maker of poppets, but I am drawn to the primitive, particularly stone and bone. I've been to Skara Brae. Such ancientness...

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