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Honouring the Past & Welcoming the Future

2 May 2012

April 3, 2012

Nearly two years ago my daughter, Maya and I created a ceremony to “let go” of our home and the land we cherish, and to embrace our new life in town. We had relinquished all hope of getting a Conservation Sale through the Nature Conservancy of Canada and BC Parks, after working diligently for 4 years. Now we were placing Bold Bluff on the open market.

Maya and I found a beautiful huge moon snail shell on our low tide mud flat and brought it reverently up to our home. Here we dug a hole near the bank overlooking the cove and buried it wrapped in my Mother’s flowered napkin to protect it, and we put a glittering white quarts stone we found on our land inside it. We talked about how much we loved Bold Bluff and all it has given us, and cried buckets of tears. We asked that the land be passed onto people who will grow to cherish and protect it. We promised that when the land was sold we would dig up the moon snail and place it in a prominent place of honour in my new home.

A year later I accepted an offer to buy Bold Bluff from two young Canadian families, and fortunately they gave me over a year to bid goodbye to this sacred place. Now the time is closing and we will be moved by June 30, 2012.

Digging up the Moon Snail Shell

This lovely spring afternoon in sunshine with the daffodils in bloom Maya and I dug up that moon snail. We had forgotten where we had buried it, but I thought it was nestled between two bleached maple branches of an old maple that fell in 1992. Into the black, rich earth my shovel went in a tiny careful circle. The earth was squirming with fat spring earth worms! And there was the shell! Ever so carefully we brought it to the light. Its opening was filled with dirt and when we shook it, it rattled with the quartz inside.

Moon Snail we Dug Up

Maya washed it with a tooth brush and we held its beauty in our hands, contemplating it will be a reminder of our past life at Bold Bluff and a messenger of the future – an entirely new life opening up for me without the challenges of boat access and maintaining a large estate. This time we shed no tears. We are ready to move on.

Moon Snail Cleaned and Exquisite!

 

 

 

If you are moving and selling a cherished home, creating ceremonies to let go and move on can help heal your spirit. Letting go of stuff and places is challenging. Ceremony creates a pathway to acknowledge the present and welcome the future. Shedding tears and laughter are part of the journey!

 

 

Biology of Moon Snail (Euspira lewisii)

The Moon Snail is a slow moving gastropod that lives between the high tide and the low tide on sandy and muddy beaches. It has a gigantic fleshy foot that it inflates with sea water when it moves, and squirts out when it wants to withdraw into its shell (which is its skeleton). Moon snails eat snails, clams and oysters by drilling tidy holes in the shells and pouring an acid which dissolves the weak tissue of the bivalves. Then they suck up the juicy meal!

Some of you will have seen sand collars on the mud flats – the egg cases of these lovely snails. They are made from a layer of sand, a layer of eggs, and another layer of sand. About 100,000 tiny moon snails hatch out of one egg case!

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 Responses to “Honouring the Past & Welcoming the Future”

  1. Phyllis H says:

    What a beautiful story about the moon snail shell – very moving. Leaving a place that is so ingrained in our being, requires, I believe, a great deal of hope and trust in the future. There has to be a promise of safety, serenity and comfort; a new beginning with lots of laughter and fun !!
    My wish for you and Maya is that you find all of this at your new home.

    I love change – find it quite intoxicating !! All the Best

  2. Jamie says:

    What a wonderful journey for you, Tamar! Congratulations on turning this event into such a positive experience ~ and sharing that experience with others! Very powerful!!! I have found in my experience that if people hear, read or see that another has a similar challenge (or sometimes an even bigger challenge), then it is ok and they are more likely to move forward ~ as you are. You are such an inspiration, Tamar ~ both to me as well as to others!

    LOVE your motto too! So true!

    Wishing you all the best in the final stages of your move and the beginning stages of creating your new home and new life!

    Keep celebrating!!!

  3. Debby Wetmore says:

    Your modelling of “Letting Go” … and in such a sacred way using ritual and the bounty of nature is an inspiration Tamar. I’ve had the opportunity to visit you in your new home and can see how your commitment to working with life’s transitions is serving you. I do hope you’ll continue to share your stories and photos. http://www.deborahwetmore.com

    • Tamar says:

      Hi Debby,

      It is a huge transition to move from isolation and Nature into the Village, but I am embracing it better than I ever could have imagined. Instead of concentrating on the loss of home and special place, I am forever grateful for the decades my family and I had at Bold Bluff. Now is the time to move and de-clutter, celebrating my long, creative journey, and embracing Village life which I find fun – bumping into fellow islanders and sharing our stories. Thank you for your comments. Tamar

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