Dark Passages

Ok, so 've heard the news, I've unofficially been offered a poition as Funeral Counselor. I of course am accepting the offer.

I have been contemplating my role in people's lives as they stand before the portal of temporal passage, sending their loved ones off and it's symbology; the contemporary mythology of death and dying and beyond.

A few tarot cards come to mind, the High Priestess, the Empress and the Queen of Pentacles.

The High Priestess is a guide into the depths of the soul, but she is kind of stern, no nonsense. The Empress is like the Goddess, fertile and nurturing. She is Summer. I like the combination of the High Priestess and the Empress, a midewife into dying, into the inner reality of counsciousness. The Queen of Pentacles reminds me of a combination of the two. She is a woman comfortable with herself, her knowledge, existence in all realms. When I see this card, I think of Dionne Somers, my mentor and friend. The Queen of Pentacles is the earth personification, to me, of the priestess and empress combo.

I have a few more days at liberty. I sign the permission to have a background check today, it probably won't get processed for a day or two, and so I bet I start Monday.

I have already special ordered a load of books from my favorite book shop, Fields Books, on Polk street. All these books are about grief, dying, death rituals. I'm very excitied about studying this aspect of our existence.

I am revisiting thoughts of training as a chaplain. Why? I've been thinking, how do I want to be involved with the dying? I'd like to be someone who sits with them in silence or in conversation, perhaps about things that their family cannot bear to discuss. I want to be actively collecting information on this side of death, about the passage of transition. I can do this by having such access to the dying. A unique situation and a primary way is to be a "spiritual counselor."

The bodywork, the acupressure is all good, it has its place in the work, but I think that in order to get in close, in the foxhole, in the trenches, is to be a chaplain. I can still be an entrepreneur and be a funeral planner too, but I think this is a step to getting there. We'll see.