When does your child come of Age?
For a girl it is obvious- at menses.
For a boy the transition from boy to manhood is slower and subtler and so the date is usually fixed at the time he has completed twelve solar cycles. (eg: twelve being a solar number and associated with the God and the male aspect). So a boy is thought of coming of age on his thirteenth birthday.
Among some Native American people, a boy came of age before he went into his first battle or before participating in his first dangerous hunt. Both activities involve the drawing of blood. So coming of age for both boys and girls, involved, since ages past, the shedding of blood.
Even today there are ordeals of pain associated with the coming of age. Perhaps having a piercing, a first alcoholic drink or first sexual contact.
Puberty can be a difficult time. Deeply significant for both boys and girls, it is an important time of transition. Unlike our ancestors, however, we rarely mark or celebrate the arrival of puberty. A special ritual for your teenager will help to east the confusion that often accompanies this time, and signal their new place in your family.
Celebrating Life!
At Samhain, in Egypt candles were lit to guide the spirits of the deceased back from the City of Osiris. In Japan, candlelit paper lanterns are hung on garden gates to welcome the spirits of the ancestors. In Tahiti, on the feast of the dead, graves are covered with fresh white sand.
One of the fundamental beliefs of the Old religion is the eternal cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The spirit never dies, but when physical death occurs the spirit is reborn into another world where it continues to exist, a world much like this one, until it is reborn again into the physical world.
Death is the great fear of modern society. We fear death so much it has become something we time to deny or forget; we tend to push it to the back of our minds and try to forget that it will, one day, come to all of us.
A funeral, though, should be life-centred, celebrating the life of the deceased. It should recognise and pay tribute to the life of the departed.
A personal funeral service, properly prepared, developed in close conjunction with the family, and delivered with sensitivity and compassion, helps people live through their feelings, recognise the reality of death and assist the grieving process.
