Grief: A Moon Teaching

When I say teaching, these are things that come from the way I have observed the world. I wish i had more special moments with elders, hearing stories directly from them, creating meaning

Embracing a Moon Teaching: Memory. Moments are fleeting, and those important ones linger in the body and grow as hair. The Sun asks us to hang on to them; they make us who we are. Our hair reminds us where we come from, not just culturally but in our personal journey. Those important moments are carried with us. There might be a time when the hair becomes a shackle when the pressure of maintaining old idles. Old ways of living are reminders of who we used to be. The pressure of being what’s expected, what family and community expect. Those things may not be who you truly are.

Moon asks us to shed the weight of that expectation, so the hair is cut ceremoniously. It's a reflections of grief.

Reflecting on this, as much as I want to embrace the ancestral teaching and grow my hair long, showing my commitment to traditional ways, I can’t bring myself to do it. I feel sick when I try. I keep my hair shaved as close to the scalp. I am unbound and unburdened by my memory. I don’t need such reminders to show my commitment to traditional ways. Instead, I keep my hair shaved, burning it ceremoniously. Ridding myself of the expectations others place on me, roles I didn’t ask for, and versions of my past I hope to shed.

Then again I realize I am always grieving. Grieving people, grieving loss, Grieving myself and for those who don't give themselves the time and space to shed their tears. I cut my hair and giving it back to the fire over sage and sweetgrass, under the new moon.

#cultural #sacredteaching #moon #greif #indigenous #yyjcounsellor