{"id":148,"date":"2016-08-23T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/?p=148"},"modified":"2016-08-23T20:55:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T04:55:36","slug":"a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html","title":{"rendered":"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It\u2019s been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I\u2019ve spent much of that time processing. But I expect it\u2019s going to be quite a while\u00a0before I write a piece for her like I did for my Grandfather<\/a>. \u00a0Instead, my mind has been working on weaving connections in my own life, brought on by her passing.<\/p>\n

\"Within The Circle\" - original painting by Laura Tempest Zakroff
\u201cWithin The Circle\u201d \u2013 original painting by Laura Tempest Zakroff<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She lived to 97, and was a profound presence throughout my entire life, and especially my childhood. \u00a0The memories and nostalgia are wrapped around food (fried dough, Italian wedding soup with tiny meatballs, proper gravy, pitzels, a house filled with the smell of roasted peppers), sewing, playing Scrabble, and her well of formidable inner strength.<\/p>\n

I saw her last a little over a month ago, when I visited my family on the East Coast in early July. \u00a0In retrospect, I\u2019m a little in awe of the respect I had for my own sense of urgency about the trip. \u00a0The original plan to visit family was between two events that got canceled and postponed. \u00a0I suddenly had the free time, but not really the means to make it happen, so I figured logically, I\u2019d just move the trip to the Fall to coincide travel with the next event. Yet I was overcome with a seemingly sudden and displaced urge that I needed to make the trip happen. Talking with my partner and my parents, we managed to find a solution to make it possible.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, if I had ignored that feeling and waited, I wouldn\u2019t have seen her in time. Despite the dementia, there were glimmers of recognition when she looked into my eyes, followed by her beautiful smile, and I shared with her a message from my Grandfather. \u00a0As I left to head home, I knew in my heart that it was the last time I would see her alive.<\/p>\n

In order to remember and mourn Grandmom, I found I had to look back on my own life. \u00a0To make a shrine for her, I dug through my drawer of photographs. \u00a0Even though I\u2019ve been through that packed drawer regularly, I found myself slowing down not only for the family photos, but also as I encountered a wealth of photos from the Cauldron of Annwyn Pagan Society events and of Modern Tradition gatherings: the first Rhode Island Pagan Pride Day, rituals held in art studios, RISD\u2019s Tap Room, Beltane on the Bay, lighted labyrinths, altars and feasts, maypoles and magick. \u00a0Community. Shared Experiences. \u00a0Rituals on a very regular basis.<\/p>\n

I also spent most of last week in my studio making art, when I wasn\u2019t battling mysterious nausea and fatigue \u2013 both of which were strongest on the day she died (Monday) and the day of the funeral (Thursday). \u00a0One of my tendencies is to pick up certain physical experiences (usually a brief and very temporary thing that happens when doing readings for people), and I think I was \u00a0feeling much of what the rest of my family was feeling 3000 miles away. \u00a0Despite those physical issues (and a strong desire not to leave the house or interact with people), I made some pretty profound paintings, tapping into something old and familiar.<\/p>\n

What was it? \u00a0There was a point in college where my art was flowing as I explored visually the mysteries I was experiencing in ritual. It was probably the most free, connected, and empowered that I had ever been, despite the difficulties present in my personal life. \u00a0I was engaged as a priestess and honing my craft as an artist.<\/p>\n

Coming up on the 5 year anniversary of my life changing, I wondered about then and now. The last few years have been about finding different kinds of power, freeing my heart, understanding love, trusting myself, and bringing back the art. \u00a0That\u2019s nothing new.<\/p>\n

BUT, I had also recently brought something else back that I hadn\u2019t had in my life for at least a decade: group ritual. \u00a0I\u2019m the kind of person who has been generally very wary\u00a0of or perhaps reluctant to\u00a0participating in other folks\u2019 rituals. \u00a0Yet at Many Gods West<\/a>, I attended two rituals and co-lead a third. \u00a0The priestess<\/a> came fully back online and everything\u2019s a shade different. \u00a0I became keenly aware of community and ritual in a new way, even though it was familiar territory. Like a snake that has shed its skin, or the ouroboros coming back to the point in which it both begins and ends.<\/p>\n

But Grandmom didn\u2019t like snakes (or any other sort of reptile, though she was patient of my turtle\/tortoise adoration phase). \u00a0So my apologies to Grandmom for the snek mention, and let\u2019s think about it in sewing terms, which she would like better. \u00a0 It\u2019s like\u00a0hemming a long skirt, that maybe was too long for you in the first place, but you wore tall boots to try and make it work because you really liked it. \u00a0Still, the hem would drag, get caught on things, come undone and get dirty. \u00a0So you stop wearing the skirt\u2026but then one day, you pull it out and realized how much you loved that skirt. \u00a0And with a little tender care and attention to detail, mending or trimming out the damaged parts, and adjusting it so it fits better, the skirt is back in your wardrobe.<\/p>\n

We never really quite repeat the same cycle \u2013 as the world, ourselves, and everyone around us is also ever-changing, but we do expand upon it. \u00a0We can pick up threads and repeat patterns, or we can choose to make new ones. \u00a0In mourning Grandmom, I have uncovered another piece of myself \u2013 it\u2019s like she gave me one more\u00a0gift. \u00a0And it fits and feels better than ever.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I\u2019ve spent much of that time processing. But I expect it\u2019s going to be quite a while\u00a0before I write a piece for her like I did for my Grandfather. \u00a0Instead, my mind has been working on weaving connections in my own life, brought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2676,"featured_media":25,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,12,14],"tags":[91,24,52,92,43,7],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-modernpractice","category-tradition","tag-art","tag-community","tag-magick","tag-memory","tag-ritual","tag-witch"],"yoast_head":"\nA Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I've spent much of that time processing. But I expect it's going to be quite a while\u00a0before\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I've spent much of that time processing. But I expect it's going to be quite a while\u00a0before\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Modern Traditional Witch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LauraTempestZakroff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-23T08:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-24T04:55:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/654\/2016\/03\/web-withinthecircle.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"493\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Tempest Zakroff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTempestZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Tempest Zakroff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html\",\"name\":\"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-23T08:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-24T04:55:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#\/schema\/person\/4b27926466da8da8d2f065b017f61b72\"},\"description\":\"It's been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I've spent much of that time processing. But I expect it's going to be quite a while\u00a0before\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/\",\"name\":\"A Modern Traditional Witch\",\"description\":\"Weaving the Realms of Tradition, Folklore, and Modern Practice\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#\/schema\/person\/4b27926466da8da8d2f065b017f61b72\",\"name\":\"Laura Tempest Zakroff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acc3ea529c8d56233a639e2fc69121da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acc3ea529c8d56233a639e2fc69121da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura Tempest Zakroff\"},\"description\":\"Laura Tempest Zakroff is a professional artist, author, performer, and Modern Traditional Witch based in New England. She holds a BFA from RISD (the Rhode Island School of Design), and her artwork has received awards and honors worldwide. Her work embodies myth and the esoteric through her drawings and paintings, jewelry, talismans, and other designs. Laura is the author of the bestselling Llewellyn books Weave the Liminal, Sigil Witchery, and Anatomy of a Witch, as well as the Liminal Spirits Oracle (artist\/author), The Witch\u2019s Cauldron, and co-author of The Witch\u2019s Altar with Jason Mankey. Laura edited The New Aradia: A Witch\u2019s Handbook to Magical Resistance (Revelore Press). She is the creative force behind several community events and teaches workshops online and worldwide.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.lauratempestzakroff.com\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LauraTempestZakroff\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/owlkeyme.arts\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LTempestZ\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/author\/ltzakroff\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)","description":"It's been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I've spent much of that time processing. But I expect it's going to be quite a while\u00a0before","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)","og_description":"It's been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I've spent much of that time processing. But I expect it's going to be quite a while\u00a0before","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html","og_site_name":"A Modern Traditional Witch","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LauraTempestZakroff","article_published_time":"2016-08-23T08:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-24T04:55:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":493,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/654\/2016\/03\/web-withinthecircle.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Laura Tempest Zakroff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LTempestZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura Tempest Zakroff","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html","name":"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-08-23T08:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-24T04:55:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#\/schema\/person\/4b27926466da8da8d2f065b017f61b72"},"description":"It's been just over a week since my Grandmom passed away, and I've spent much of that time processing. But I expect it's going to be quite a while\u00a0before","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/08\/a-personal-ouroboros-but-no-snakes-for-grandmom.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Personal Ouroboros (But No Snakes for Grandmom)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/","name":"A Modern Traditional Witch","description":"Weaving the Realms of Tradition, Folklore, and Modern Practice","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#\/schema\/person\/4b27926466da8da8d2f065b017f61b72","name":"Laura Tempest Zakroff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acc3ea529c8d56233a639e2fc69121da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/acc3ea529c8d56233a639e2fc69121da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Laura Tempest Zakroff"},"description":"Laura Tempest Zakroff is a professional artist, author, performer, and Modern Traditional Witch based in New England. She holds a BFA from RISD (the Rhode Island School of Design), and her artwork has received awards and honors worldwide. Her work embodies myth and the esoteric through her drawings and paintings, jewelry, talismans, and other designs. Laura is the author of the bestselling Llewellyn books Weave the Liminal, Sigil Witchery, and Anatomy of a Witch, as well as the Liminal Spirits Oracle (artist\/author), The Witch\u2019s Cauldron, and co-author of The Witch\u2019s Altar with Jason Mankey. Laura edited The New Aradia: A Witch\u2019s Handbook to Magical Resistance (Revelore Press). She is the creative force behind several community events and teaches workshops online and worldwide.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.lauratempestzakroff.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LauraTempestZakroff","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/owlkeyme.arts\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/LTempestZ"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/author\/ltzakroff"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}