11/08/2022
Recently, I was invited to integrate into the last weeks of a dying elder’s life. To create a sacred space & permission for her soul to let go, and her body to transition.
I encouraged her daughter to share in this experience and after our second session, this is what the daughter wrote…
🍁💗🙌🏽💗🍂👵🏼🥀💗🙌🏽💗🍂🕊💗🍁
“Life and Death
Jaw clenched, brow furrowed, frown upon her face
This is how I find my dying mother alone in her room
Soon two women begin to work together in holy harmony
Our hands upon the woman who birthed me into this world
Holding feet as they begin to move to music and relax
Breath deepening
Mouth slowly opening and relaxing
We touch, caress, and love her body together
This is sacred work
I know this is how we are meant to die
Being touched, revered, held
My mom’s body unfurls like a fern
Leaves uncurling and extending
Stillness, presence, trust
She begins to surrender to the place where we begin and end
I leave in an altered state
Arriving home to find my teenage daughter on the couch
I hold her young, strong body in my arms
Feeling the strength and vitality of a young life
In stark contrast to the frail woman, I just touched.
Feeling the cycle of life tingling in my hands
And I stand in the middle not beginning and not ending
Existing in between the two
September 2022”
