Honouring someone who's passed over

[ClareJulissa]

I posted this here because I'm looking for a more Celtic approach to this question. :)

I'll be competing in a charity special at a competition I'm going to this fall. The charity special was named for a teacher from Pennsylvania (who happens to have been my own TC's cousin), and while I never met her, my TC named this special in honour of her cousin and it benefits a charity that works to fight the disease that took her.

I don't feel right merely competing in this without acknowledging the fact that it's in honour of this woman, who was, by all accounts, gifted and brilliant. But I'm really not sure how to go about honouring her, although I would really like to. I know she wasn't Pagan, but I was considering setting up a memorial altar for her.

Thoughts?

[odubhain]

I think the best things to do would be to set up a symbol of this woman on your altar (something personal to her or like her, maybe even a framed picture); make offerings of poems and stories about her and her impact on the world as well as her influence on you; construct an Ogham rod that has a shorthand of all this (if it's not already on your altar, some other symbol will do as well); take the symbol or Ogham rod to the competition with you and place it where it can be seen while you and others perform in her honor. If asked about what it means, tell people it is a symbol of her life. If they inquire further then recite (appropriately in terms of subject, number, length and their interest) the poems and stories you've honored her with on your altar. That way she will live for them and in the world; especially in the world of the competition and those in attendance.

Celts honored people through preserving the memory of their feats and achievements as well as their eternal spirit. She can inhabit the symbol, the poems, the stories, the dance, the competition and the inspirations of the competitors. The symbol can be a focal point for your own dance. It will be a dance meditation that will take people to meet her.

Searles O'Dubhain

[ClareJulissa]

Thank you very much!

I find that very helpful. :)