A Norwegian Maple

I decided, after a long period of deliberation and emotional exploration and sitting with it…to end my marriage. The man who I am married to is wonderful in so many ways and some of the ways in which he is wonderful also show me that moving forward in partnership will not be possible for me. My intention is to move through this period with grace and wisdom, to make it an unusual parting.

One of the projects that I am working on in partnership with a local Shaman is the Sacred Family Series—Cocreating Your Family Altar. Now, after reading the above paragraph, you might have some wonderings about what that is going to look like with a foundational relationship of the family in question…I am also wondering. After having sat with it for a few days, I have come to the idea that regardless of what is happening in the 3D/society world, at the end of the day, we all share an interconnectedness that can be celebrated, honored and cultivated. Building an altar as a family may be a beautiful healing medicine that transforms how we approach each other in this difficult time of transition.

Something we are still dealing with is the aftermath of the wind storm in May. During that storm, we were all cuddled up in the basement playing games when we heard a very loud noise that was a large limb of the massive maple in the back yard falling on the corner of our roof; a most elegant nudge for us to cut down the tree entirely. It could have done some really serious damage. It did probably the least amount of damage possible, the limb falling between ours and our neighbor’s house with almost no damage to their property, thank goodness. Months later, we are still trying to get a contractor to meet in the middle with our insurance company so that we aren’t paying too much out of pocket. The difficult decision to get the tree cut down was made. The tree that made the idea of living in this house an incredible opportunity with shade covering during the summer months, the tree that had a beautiful rotting crevice that grew giant edible mushrooms…the tree that was ultimately meeting with its time of transformation before our eyes. Now, we don’t have that glorious tree’s spirit gracing our back yard space. It’s an open sky to the stars, it’s a fruitful garden, it’s a play place in the not-so-hot times of the day. Our yard is now covered in wood chips and logs surrounding a sacred fire pit. A four foot tall trunk remains.

This place where we were married, where we celebrated the imminent birth of our second baby and had many other celebrations and ways of honoring our family will also be the place where we create and share time and space creating an intentional representation of honoring our family and the families who attend. To me it is somewhat symbolic that the back yard space is in transition for this. Change is constant. How can we thrive in our spiritual interconnectedness moving through change with openness, grace, honoring and our own bold humanity?

By creating a space to bring focus to some of the aspects we hold sacred as a family, navigating change could be something that unfolds with less separation with less judgment with less anger and with less tumult. I had a powerful vision recently wherein I was reminded that I am him and he is me and whatever I do or say to my husband is something I am doing or saying to myself. It is all one.