Honoring Death & Transformation Dear Friends of OYW, Death is a difficult subject for many people. This time of year can be challenging for those who have lost someone close to them and do not like the constant reminder as skeletal Halloween decorations surface throughout the neighborhoods, along with ghosts and ghouls. But the ancestral origins of this time of year are significantly important to understanding and honoring the cyclical patterns of life here on planet earth. For every year we get to explore life, death and rebirth through our seasons and holidays. The Mexican cultures of Mesoamerica (Aztec, Mayan, Toltec, etc.) celebrate the Day of the Dead, preparing colorful sugar skulls that are placed on gravesites with "Ofrendas" of candles, pictures and more. Here the legacy that our departed spirits left us is honored. Instead of grieving their loss, we celebrate them. While the Day of the Dead is honored around Nov 1st, the celebrations at All Hallow's Eve
September 2022 Newsletter The Labyrinth Dear Friends of OYW, September brings in another changing of energy. The expansiveness of summertime, its heat and energy are waning, and we are growing ever so slowly closer to winter, and that inevitable inward pull. I found myself missing sweatshirts and hot baths, realizing that I am much looking forward to autumn and the changes it brings. Personally we are all moving through aspects of our lives that are in change. The labyrinth symbolizes this current journey. Many may find that they have just entered the labyrinth, and are trying to figure out which way to go, sometimes finding ourselves back where we began or at a closed-off path indicating old, outdated energy who's time has come to end, and needing to reroute in a different direction to find our way again. Others will find that they are at the Core of the Labyrinth, a major intersection in life where they are in the right time and right place, with a new doorway in front of the