How old is the habit of denial? We keep secrets from ourselves that all along we know…. For perhaps we are like stones; our own history and the history of the world embedded in us, we hold a sorrow deep within and cannot weep until that history is sung. — Susan Griffin
The desire to forget prolongs exile; the secret of redemption is memory. – The Baal Shem Tov
I am convinced that we would solve many things if we all went out into the streets and uncovered our griefs, which perhaps would prove to be but one sole common grief…The chiefest sanctity of a temple is that it is a place to which men go to weep in common. A miserere sung in common by a multitude tormented by destiny…It is not enough to cure the plague; we must learn to weep for it. Yes, we must learn to weep! Perhaps that is the supreme wisdom. – Miguel De Unamuno
For over twenty years we facilitated an annual Day of the Dead Grief Ritual. In both West Africa and Central America they say that we are required to offer two things to help a recently deceased person complete his or her journey to the other side and become an ancestor: our tears and our beauty.
LINKS
AUDIO / VIDEO / TEXT
Martin Prechtel Speaks on Grief
Martin Prechtel on Grief and Praise
Michael Meade on the Funeral of George Floyd
Francis Weller on “The Geography of Sorrow”
Francis Weller Speaks on Grief
Francis Weller on the Five Gates of Grief
Francis is interviewed by Anderson Cooper
Barry on the Sixth Gate of Grief
Barry on Popularity of The Day of the Dead
Barry on Grief and Remembrance in Greece
Barry’s article, “A Day of the Dead Ritual”
Grief and Our Ancestors: Robert Bly and Malidoma Some´
Sobonfu Some´on Grief and Recovery
Carolyn Baker interviews Barry and Maya
Carolyn Baker: If We Have No Future, Why Grieve?
Rafael Jesús González on Día de Muertos
Dia De Los Muertos in Los Angeles
Joseph Campbell on the roots of Halloween
Arthur George on Halloween and Samhain
Barry on Cultural Appropriation
The Art of Grief: Poetry and Music
Malidoma on Grief, Ritual and Sacrifice
