Altar Creation for Loved Ones Passed or for Visioning

As Dia de los Muertos approaches I wanted to share a little about the transformational power of altar creation. For those celebrating and honoring their dead, altars are created and on them placed items the loved one enjoyed (foods/drinks), pictures and anything that would be a special reminder of that person's life. Altars can serve many purposes-they can be a celebratory space, a meditative space, a spiritual space, a remembrance space or a visioning space. Below are some examples. 

I created this altar with all things that bring me joy...spirituality, symbolism, creativity, celebration...

I made a "mini-altar" in a shadowbox with some photos of my late husband Mike and me and some of the things he loved-Chewbacca and Antarctica figurines!

These are altars at the Dia de los Muertos celebration from last year at the Denver Botanic Gardens

Altars can transform grief and sadness into hope and encouragement by reminding us of the joy that person brought while he/she was alive. Altars can also transform the future-by creating a "visioning altar" for example you can put things that you hope to happen in the future and meditate on them to be manifested. People often do this with "vision boards" as well for the same outcome.

What kind of altar would you create? Is there a loved one who has passed you want to celebrate and remember? Are there loved ones struggling-or are you struggling-and you want to create an altar for hope and healing? Or do you want to create a new vision for your life?

Altars can be created in five very accessible steps:

1) Locate a place in your home where you would like the altar. Maybe it is in a quiet, reflective space or maybe you want it front in center to be reminded every time you walk by. Clear that space of what is currently on there.
2) Find a cloth, scarf or other fabric you enjoy looking at and lay it on the surface.
3) Layer the surface with your altar items. Put larger items in the back and smaller items in the front. Include anything that is meaningful, positive, uplifting and joyful about the person/situation/or vision on which you plan to focus. Include candles (those LED candles are nice so you don't forget to blow them out) and burn incense/use an essential oil diffuser at the altar.
4) When the altar is created, make it a space where you can reflect on what is there several times a day. If you want, share with friends and family your altar so they can appreciate it and find hope in it, too.
5) Observe what's in your heart and happening in your life…do you feel more uplifted? At peace? Are some things you are hoping for in the future coming true?

Celebrating Life by Honoring Death

"To the inhabitant of New York, Paris, or London, death is a word that is never uttered because it burns the lips. The Mexican on the other hand, frequents it, mocks it, caresses it, sleeps with it, entertains it; it is one of his favorite playthings and his most enduring love." - Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude


I spent Friday evening at my favorite gallery-Chac Gallery and Cultural Center-and participated in their widely anticipated and highly celebrated Dia de los Muertos party. Traditional Aztec dancers, face painting, sugar skull decorating, a piñata and a "Tree of Life" all commemorated this event. The festivities continue through the months end, where between October 30th and early November Day of the Dead festivities will ramp up in communities across the United States and in other countries such as Mexico.

I remember learning about Dia de los Muertos intimately after my husband had died. I found solace in reading about any topic on grief and death as those were texts I could relate to. I picked up a book, Day of the Dead by Kitty Williams and Stevie Mack, and became intrigued that death could be a celebratory event, not just a sad one. The concept shook me to the core, as grief's painful grip had been clutching my heart. Slowly, thanks to the introduction to the celebration death could bring, I began to embrace the idea. I threw a Dia de los Muertos party, creating an altar where people brought pictures of loved ones passed and their favorite food items; the kids made paper flowers and decorated skull and skeleton coloring pages; we ate Pan de Muerto (Mexican bread of the dead) and lit candles. We drank, ate, and celebrated our loved ones with stories and a few tears. It was magical. To this day, I attend Dia de los Muertos celebrations at some point during the month of October into early November. I go to Mike's grave a little more often to just be reminded of having been touched by his life here on earth.

"We come only to sleep, only to dream. It is not true, it is not true that we come to live on this earth. We become as spring weeds, we grow green and open the petals of our hearts. Our body is a plant in flower, it gives flowers and it dies away." - Netzahual Coyotl, Poet and Ruler of Texcoco

If you are interested in learning more about Dia de los Muertos-the history, the imagery, the use of skulls, the creation of altars, the types of food, and other details-this article from National Geographic is very good. The Denver Botanic Gardens will be hosting their Dia de los Muertos celebration on November 5th, another opportunity for the whole family to learn about this tradition and celebration. Or, stop by the Chac Gallery off 7th and Santa Fe to get a true, authentic taste and education on this celebration.

From last year's Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Denver Botanic Gardens, enjoy some imagery I took of this celebration of life!

A Vision for Your Life: Empowering Vs. Disempowering Thoughts

Recently, Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, the founder and spiritual leader of the Agape International Spiritual Center in California, was interviewed by Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program:

Rev. Michael Beckwith on OWN Super Soul Sunday

Something that he talks about, and I am just beginning to fully comprehend, is the concept of creating a vision for your life and manifesting it to happen. A part of this visioning process is daily asking yourself empowering questions versus dis-empowering questions when it comes to your life. Beckwith preaches and lives the lesson of manifestation; that we are all unique aspects of the divine able to show our own unique selves as a reflection of the infinite possibilities of the universe. He was instrumental as an interviewee in the movie "The Secret" in which Rhonda Byrne presents how the law of attraction and positive thinking can attract health, happiness and abundance.

Beckwith emphasizes living with intention and asking ourselves: "What am I setting forth for myself?" I was struck by his discussion in the episode about changing from dis-empowering questions and self-talk to empowering questions and self-talk. He provides an example of what that means. Dis-empowering questions are those that surround the idea of "something happened to me." "If only my husband didn't die things would be so much better..." "Why am I stuck in a job I hate?" or "What should I be doing with my life?" Rather, Beckwith encourages us to ask questions that empower ourselves each day: "What is unfolding in my life?" "What is the gift I want to bring to the world?" "Why is this challenge presenting itself in my life?" and "What is unique about me that I can bring forth and manifest?" These questions, rather than questions that keep us in the "victim" stage, can help us begin on a path of unfolding our dreams, abundance and unique purpose in this world by holding ourselves accountable to our own lives.

I found a website as well that provides more concrete examples of dis-empowering vs. empowering words (From this article on powering up your language):

Dis-empowering	Empowering
should	choose, desire, want, could
need to	want to, choose to, desire to
have to	desire to
can't	am not willing to, choose not to
always, never	sometimes, often, seldom
must	choose, desire
but	and
try	intend, aim, will, can, commit to
nah, nope, huh-uh	No
yeah, uh-huh	Yes
just, only	I AM
maybe
you make me	I feel, I am
you - used when talking about yourself	I
if only	next time
problem	opportunity, challenge

Two keys to asking empowering questions are 1) Being open to the answer and 2) Ask with sincerity and transcend religiosity (meaning, ask from the heart and not in a prayer you feel like you "should" be doing)

How might you be able to incorporate empowering thoughts into your day? How might you keep yourself open to the answers that may come to you intuitively? What about empowering thoughts may seem to be out of reach or scary to think about? What about empowering thoughts get you energized?

For myself, I made some "reminder cards" from various phrases Beckwith used in the OWN episode. I keep them by my bed and read them each morning when I wake up. And I have noticed that when I face challenges throughout my day, I take them more in stride and try to find the gift these challenges are presenting to me and with the gratitude that I am alive and able to face opportunities that come my way.

A Favorite Poem

This time of year, I always dig out a poem that reminds me of the harvest bounty fall brings. I find fall to be my most favorite season of representation…while winter represents dormancy and quiet, and spring represents new life, and summer represents activity and play...fall represents that time we can appreciate what we have, while thinking about how we can enhance our lives and continue to grow.

The Seven Of Pentacles By Marge Piercy

Under a sky the color of pea soup

she is looking at her work growing away there

actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans

as things grow in the real world, slowly enough.

If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water,

if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food,

if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars,

if the praying mantis comes and the ladybugs and the bees,

then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.

Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.

You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.

More than half the tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.

Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.

Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.

Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.

Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.

Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.

Live a life you can endure: Make love that is loving.

Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in,

a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us

interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.

Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:

reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.

This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,

for every gardener knows that after the digging, after

the planting,after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.

Questions for you to ponder, write about in a journal, or draw/collage around this poem are:

• What feelings does this poem evoke for you? 
• What does your harvest look like?
• Where might you get stuck in the tangling and interweaving? Where might you let go?
• What underground connections do you have in your life? Where can these enhance your life?
• What does "living as if you liked yourself" look like to you?