THE RIGHTS OF THE DEAD
The last three rights of the dead may not be rights we consider much. Often we view the dead as immortally fixed, as if they cannot continue to learn and evolve, but in my work, I have witnessed spirits discovering information they did not know while alive, experiencing closure, and having a more macro view of existence. These often help them evolve, and can give them a deeper purpose as a spirit.
DOES THE I CHING MENTION TEA?
The I Ching (The Book of Changes), the oldest Chinese oracle, divination text and philosophical system is said to be birthed and used from ~1150 BCE, around the same time Tea was discovered as a plant medicine. The I Ching uses a system of hexagrams, or six-line figures, to represent and directly speak to different patterns of change within the Seen and Unseen Worlds.
WHEN GRIEVING
When grieving, it was the comfort of the familiar that anchored and lulled me.
The scrubbing of eggs stuck to the bottom of a pan, the wiping down of crusted sauce on a shelf in the fridge, the low hum of the washing machine.
Màn màn zǒu (Slowly, slowly walk)
慢慢走 Màn màn zǒu, they say.
Slowly, slowly, walk, they say.
Walk slowly, unhurried, easefully.
An expression commonly uttered by the living and by ancestors, the Unseen living.
Slowly, as our feet touches the ground tenderly,
Unhurried, as a blessing to be carefree,
Easefully, as each step is protected and guided.
As even walking is a devotional act of heart-mind-body, an act so ordinary and mundane for me, yet holy for my ancestors to care about.
