Once I even converted a deep shelf in a linen closet into an alter. It called to me as a "place of silence" and I spent hours in that closet with candles lit as I struggled with life and its issues and the natural process of spiritual and emotional maturation.
For me the everyday objects of my life carry profound meaning that speak to me and nurture me on a deeper level of knowing and being. But I have to be willing to "see" and prepare myself to "listen" by quieting the chatter in my mind. I have consciously wrestled with this Unknown Angel (my name for it) since the mid-70s.
On this altar the nest, the hand releasing the transformative life symbolized by the bird rising from the nest, the eagle on the right symbolizing the power of faith to "raise us up on eagles wings".
We each prepare ourselves for that great next adventure in life in our own powerfully personal way.
A Gaelic prayer lies on the alter:
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the shades of night to you,
Moon and stars always giving light to you.
At this time in my life my brother Dan is slowly dying of cancer as well as congestive heart failure. He entered Hospice care last Friday in Tulsa OK. We four siblings have been extremely close since we all lived together overseas twice during our teen years. Dan and I have been especially close the past 18 years since he moved us from Virginia to here on the island. Thank God for the Internet. We now Facetime 3-4 times a day for I have told him to call me anytime he needs company. I even prop up my iPad while I am cooking or doing dishes so that I can be with him and give him a sense of family and home.
Here is my brother with two of his friends during his training time in preparation to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with the Outward Bound program in East Africa in 1964.
