Preparing the Dead

My practice is like preparing the dead.

A solitary & sacred preparation for the parts of ourselves that are long gone. Passed on or if you believe that time isn’t linear, have stayed in the time of yesterday and before. Alive there but deceased now.

I prepare the hair alone with only the information given to me as an outsider. Regardless I do my duty & tend to each and every one of the strands with care.

Some hairs don’t make it & are left on the ground.

I know I’m done when the hair lays delicately in harmony with its holder — wrapped by soft wooden curves and strands of string.

She is now ready to be worshipped.

She is ready to be mourned.

Not mourned in a sad way but in an acknowledgment of this is how life is.

She was beautiful & sacred. She is to be respected. She is now holy.