2023: August 16th: Swedish Death Cleansing

August 16th, 2023

The generous recycling and trash maintenance crew has just left, and there we have it, my first recylce bin and trash can contributions to the landfill, along with a little prayer of thanks to all of the trees.  I woke up at 1:00 am, and came into my personal room in our cottage, to hold the some 40 sheets of paper next on the list to cleanse. I observe, how some filled me with joy, and I set the intending to hold on to those a bit longer. I observe, that the two stacks I am going through, one are sheets of paper from a larger notebook that was shed a year or two ago. So many beautiful stories, so many beautiful, but also painful memories. 

The image above is unlike any image Iʻve ever drawn, and as I gaze on it, I can only think of the love story between my beloved Stephen and I. In life, if one has been dealt in life, many challenges, it is the power of love and devotion that becomes oneʻs life raft in the midst of a turbulent sea with dark skies as one plunges to the depths of the collective unconscious to have at the shadow work that presents itself. 

In this moment, I set this in the stack to shed, with an observation, that yes, I definitely have a prince charming in my life, but he, like me, also has a lot of warts, and ultimately, I had to rescue myself.

Okay, not all of these I am keeping, but I kept some. So far, 80 sheets of paper out, and 12 I am keeping.