Death, life and death again: Introducing the eternal return...

So, 10 beautiful, if not restful days in Virginia, in the middle of nowhere, at the edge of the Shenandoah national park. Once I had got over my aspirations to hike for 4 hours everyday, and realized that the kids could handle exactly 1.4 miles without melting down, we had an easy, calm and blissfully quiet time.

And between watching dancing firefliesand examining the many species of bugs, I became acutely aware of the fact that when in nature, death is a constant fact of life. Almost everyday S would ask me about animals insects of plant life he would find in varying states of decay. Now, explanations of death to a 3 year old are cause for pause... I was keenly aware that the way in which I handled this could give too little or too much prominence to the emotional aspect of death and dying. Not wanting to lie or to mythologize this significant aspect of life (and for me one of the most profound teachings of paganism in all its colours) I chose not to describe it, but simply to explain, death is when we 'return to the earth'. It is not illness, it is not darkness, and neither is it moving on (I figured he is still too young for this concept) but instead it is when our breath returns to the earth - like a really really loooong sleep....and then we wake up as something new - maybe another cricket/bee/baby chick, or maybe as something new. No descriptions of the Summerland, or the Isle of Apples, or Asgard, but in a pinch I think it got through,I think its a place to start. It is this element of cyclical eternal return that drew me to pagan philosophy in the first place, and in its simplicity strikes me again and again as profoundly moving, and it is from this place I feel we as parents can start to show, as much as tell our faith practices and philosophies to our little'uns

And something must be working, as back in Boston, we found a chick dead on the ground fallen from an egg. S bent down - to blow it kisses " dont worry little chicky, you are just going back to the earth..."