| Tuesday, 7 January 2025 - 18:56 |
Groundhog Spirit Animal
Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas Day, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal, the hedgehog, as a means of predicting weather and helping them decide when to plant the crops. Even after they stopped this belief, they continued on with this tradition.
On our recent trip to Hawaii, we wanted to honor Dylan Skye Goedeker as we always do when we go somewhere. My daughter’s family spent a lot of time and money getting the sky lanterns there as they were flammable and not able to be on the plane. On several occasions we tried to find a good location to light them and send them out to sea but the wind was not cooperating with us.
Animal lover Dylan Skye Goedeker and his dog Addie.
The last night in Oahu, we went down to the beach and once again the wind was blowing toward the dry land. We were disappointed to miss our last opportunity to send our ceremonious lights to our handsome boy. We sat in a parking lot on a ledge overlooking the ocean as the crowd left from taking sunset photos. It was very dark except for a street light which illuminated the area a bit. I saw a shadowy figure of a woman approaching people one by one and asking if they had seen a brown dog who left home collarless. As she approached my husband she asked the same question only this time she gave him a card and asked him to call her if he saw her dog. He said “Is he friendly? Will he come when he is called?”. She replied, “Yes, his name is Dylan.” Read more »
On December 7, 1941 the ship the USS Arizona was destroyed at Pearl Harbor. A memorial has been built over it in the harbor. In October 2015, Dylan Skye followed in his mother and father’s childhood footsteps and visited the state of Hawaii. He went along in spirit with his mom, dad, brother, grandmother, grandfather and aunt. As usual, we brought along our “flat Dylan” so we could have a physical record of him during our adventures.
We know that since Dylan’s passing in 2012 that he is with us but we are all camera enthusiasts and like to have it all on record. Leaving the volcano of the Big Island, we flew to Oahu where we visited Pearl Harbor. After a short boat ride to the memorial we looked down at the remains below. We could see a small dot appear on the surface of the water and then it would become multicolored and spread, then another one would appear. They were beautiful as they changed shape and colors. Unfortunately, it was oil still leaking from the submerged wreckage below. Over 70 years later it continues to spill up to 9 quarts of oil into the harbor each day. These drops were referred to as “black tears” or the “tears of the Arizona”. Read more »
In a despacho ceremony, an intention or prayer bundle is created that holds both the intentions of the ceremony participants and offerings of gratitude. It is a sacred ceremony created in joy.
One layer of the beautiful Despacho for “My Loved One Shines On!”
When I decided to have our book, “My Loved One Shines On! A Gift from Beyond” blessed, I turned to my long time kindred spirit Trina Zaragoza. I knew she would perform a touching, unique ceremony which took place on July 8th, 2015. This beautiful heart-felt celebration was held in our backyard next to a gorgeous garden that we played in with my grandsons.
