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Seeing Emptiness
Life and death in Mark Rothko’s paintingsStaring at the floating colors, I find myself weeping. As my eyes fall into the deep, red abyss, my mind fills the void with everything: love, life, grief, death. The gift of the abstract is that we infill its apparent emptiness with meaning. In this act, we face ourselves. Mark Rothko’s fields of color have this…
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Our Weekly Tip: Find Your Way With a Labyrinth
Labyrinths create a sacred container for end-of-life and memorial ceremoniesOur tip of the week: Labyrinths have been with us for thousands of years. The Reverend Lauren Artress uses labyrinths in ritual, and champions its use as a tool for emotional and spiritual healing in the grieving process. In a recent interview with her (which you can read here and here), she and I discussed…
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“1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die“
Caution this book is for the well-studied who possess a fine eyeA friend once said to me “competitions are only as good as the judges,” and so it goes that a book on 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die can only be as good as its editor. When I initially thumbed through this book, it was so odd. I immediately wondered, “Who is this…
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Healing (the Spirit) Through Plants
Ayahuasca is one of many Amazonian plants with tremendous healing potential, which is why people are talking about itWhat is the difference between a drug and a medicine? We use the terms interchangeably, though drugs are more readily labeled as illicit substances that lead people down a path of psychological addiction and abuse. Medicine is viewed as a synthetic, technological tool that helps us heal. There is a lot of money to be mined…
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Finding the Faces of Cancer
The radio show “On the Media” charts the changing conceptualizations of cancerIn a recent two part series, the NPR radio show “On the Media” explored the media constellation that comprises the multi-faceted disease, cancer. The show charts the historical framing of cancer – including the earliest recording of cancer case stories on Egyptian papyrus around 1600 B.C — then moves into contemporary notions of cancer as it is…
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Monday Hearts for Madalene
Page Hodel creates the most beautiful hearts in an ongoing celebration of loveYou’re Stamped into my Memory for Life It’s an honor for SevenPonds to share with our readers the story of the Monday Hearts for Madalene project, a true account of the power of love in the midst of death. The project’s origins take us to 2005: the moment Page Hodel encountered Madalene Rodriguez and fell “instantly, dizzyingly in love with…
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Music Is Life…And Death
Families have their loved one’s ashes pressed into vinyl recordsAuthor Kurt Vonnegut once said, “No matter how corrupt and greedy our government and our corporations and our media and Wall Street and our religious and charitable organizations may become, the music will still be perfectly wonderful. If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: ‘The only proof he needed of…
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