''Our destiny is found on the path we take to avoid it.''--none other than that ancestral mentor to many, Carl Jung Hallowed E'en, All Saints Day and All Souls Day, October 31 - November 2, are Christian holy days devoted to our relationship with ancestors.  During this time of the year the veil between worlds is thin and we can seek to ...

First, the definition of psychopomp, from wikipedia: Many religious belief systems have a particular spirit, angel or deity whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. These creatures are called psychopomps, from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός (psychopompos), literally meaning the ''guide of souls''. Their role is not to ...

Days with my Father http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/ Someone just sent me this link--it's an amazing photo-journal of the on-going journey of Phillip Toledano with his 98 year old father through the end of his days.   There is some remarkable vulnerability from the author--about himself, as well as his father's life. The ...

About 13 years ago I had a dream that I will live-into for the rest of my life. In the dream, I'm part of the life of a retreat center or monastery of some sort.  The center is on an island and on top of a large plateau or mountain with ocean surrounding.  I can remember walking to the edge and looking downward and outward and feeling ...

This is my 4th posting in the 'Hi Honey I'm Home' series for the 'Where's Home?' contest here on the VTH.   Just found a wonderful site--because Kudzu Fire commented on On a wing and the Whatever Prayer!  The site is ''Written on the Wind''.   Thanks, ''Kudzu Fire'' for stopping by--and thanks for bringing ...

This post is in response to Steve Pavlina's post: ''How to be a Man''.  He put out the challenge for someone to balance his strong post by writing about how to be a woman.  In the interest of not living in the shadow of being either an untouchable goddess, a long-suffering mother, or a bitchy, edgy vixen, I  offer the few points ...

My niece Dione, who I was fortunate to help raise, and who of course, helped raise me at the same time...with her son beautiful son Edan. Mom died 3 years before Dione was born. Dione was very close to my Father for the first 6 years of her life before he died.  My Mother lives on in both Dione and Edan, as does my ...

 After Apple Picking by Robert Frost My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still. And there's a barrel that I didn't fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn't pick upon some bough. But I am done with apple-picking now. Essence of winter sleep is on the night, The scent of apples; I am ...

''We don't have to be each other's cup of tea, but tolerance lets a variety of kettles peacefully share the stove.'' NPR This I Believe essay: True Tolerance by Joel Engardio This week I had an email dialogue with my oldest 'surviving' friend--the one that has never let my lapses in communication phase her.  T. is an evangelical Christian, ...

About Al: Al spent the first part of his career as an attorney for the Colorado Public School system. Through life events and wishing for a different perspective, Al became the Executive Director of the Colorado Hospice Organization and served that organization well for 7  years.  Al has returned to the field of ...