Ritual

Mortem: an Online Residency for Thanatocurious Artists

Mortem is a two-week long, daily online artist residency arranged by Ayatana’s Biophilium: The virtual residency will involve daily live video lectures with international death care and funeral industry workers, historians, biologists and artists on a range of death related topics, one tethered international field trip in a graveyard near you and several short one … Read moreMortem: an Online Residency for Thanatocurious Artists

Alter/Altar (Lower Manhattan, 2019)

Alter/Altar was an experiment in ephemeral public memorial art: It’s said that you’re a New Yorker when that which is gone becomes more real than that which took its place. This event is an homage to hyper-local elements of the city, including but not limited to communication, transportation, personal memory and happenstance. In the wee … Read moreAlter/Altar (Lower Manhattan, 2019)

The Art of Ritual: Changing Ways of Life and Death (April/May 2022)

The next rendition of my Art of Ritual course for the Morbid Academy (the online teaching branch of the popular Morbid Anatomy enterprise) begins on April 20th: The intangible culture of death ceremony became increasingly bureaucratized throughout the Industrial Age, as hospitals, businesses, religious institutions and civic authorities overtook what had previously been intimate, participatory … Read moreThe Art of Ritual: Changing Ways of Life and Death (April/May 2022)

“How do I grieve if there’s no afterlife?”

Rick Snedeker’s article for OpenSky – a newly-launched media platform for secular folk – offers words of wisdom for confirmed atheists in mourning: For us, life is what it finitely is; we’re convinced there’s zero chance for a potentially better sequel in a great beyond. So, carpe diem (“seize the day,” in Latin) is an appropriate motto … Read more“How do I grieve if there’s no afterlife?”

The Monk, the Disciple and the Temple Gates at Midnight

I read this story sometime in the 1980s and I haven’t been able to recall, nor trace its provenance. I’m retelling it here as best as I remember it, because I think that it contains a seed of wisdom regarding the Way of Life and Death. There was once a wise and aged monk who … Read moreThe Monk, the Disciple and the Temple Gates at Midnight

Shadow Dancing: an Exercise in Shifting Perspectives

The Shadow Dance is an elaboration of the memento mori ergo carpe diem mudra into a whole-body exercise. The original dance was a spontaneous creation of mine during a visit to the Rotokawau/Virginia Lake Reserve in Whanganui, New Zealand, sometime in the early 1990s. My then-girlfriend was a dancer much inspired by nature and although … Read moreShadow Dancing: an Exercise in Shifting Perspectives

The Making of a Sacred Cemetery | John “Crow” Constable Interviewed by Daniel Lev Shkolnik

I’m delighted to be able to share this interview with Crossbones Graveyard shaman John Constable by my friend Daniel Lev Shkolnik, who hosts the very worthy Re-Enchantment podcast series. John and Daniel met as participants in the Memoria Symposium, which took place during the Halloween/Day of the Dead period of 2021. This is exactly the … Read moreThe Making of a Sacred Cemetery | John “Crow” Constable Interviewed by Daniel Lev Shkolnik

Rest in Peace, Robert Bly: Poet, Anti-War Activist, Author and Founder of the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement Dies at Age 94

Yesterday, petals fell in tribute to Robert Bly, whose life’s work came to an end on Sunday, November the 21st, 2021. During the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s I dipped in and out of the oft-misunderstood “Mythopoetic Men’s Movement”, which drew much inspiration from Bly’s teachings; first via word of mouth emerging from his countercultural … Read moreRest in Peace, Robert Bly: Poet, Anti-War Activist, Author and Founder of the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement Dies at Age 94