Mum’s Final Messages To You All
Posted by Christy on January 29th, 2009 filed in rise1 Comment »
As I have mentioned in previous posts, mum did leave a final message, life review and service wishes. She did this in September, prompted by her Funeral Celebrancy training. Enjoy.
Coroner’s Report
Posted by ChristyandDavid on January 29th, 2009 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
A few of you have been keen to hear about the ’cause’ of mum’s death. I have received the preliminary report from the Coroner and it confirms that mum died of natural causes, with a quick leaving. The technical terms are:
1a Acute subarachnoid haemorrhage
1b Ruptured aneursym arising from the circle of willis (rupture of the main artery from the heart to the brain)
She died (almost) exactly as she intuited she would. Unlike TV shows like C.S.I., the Coroner cannot (or does not) back-date the time of death. They lodge time of death according the time announced by a doctor. The time of death is officially logged on Thursday 18th of December, but we know (from sleuthing) that she passed over on Tuesday 16th December between 12noon and 4pm. Many believe it was about 12noon.
I’ll be back shortly with mum’s last letter…
The Ashes Ceremony
Posted by ChristyandDavid on January 29th, 2009 filed in riseComment now »
Hello everyone,
We had the ashes ceremony on Wednesday 7th January in the morning (around 9am). It was a very joyous event. David, Jewelz, Pam D, David’s wife Traci and myself trekked to Cape Schank to cast mum’s ashes at one of her favourite places. A place where she has run many workshops, shared many social events…and even run naked with fellow ladies of the light.
We turned up early in the morning (since mornings were my mum’s favourite time…followed by a late morning snooze!). The day began with mist. Lovely. [click on the photos to see a larger version]
I wore two of mum’s necklaces to the ceremony (I’ve been wearing mum’s clothes and jewellery recently for reasons I’m sure you can imagine). As soon as I stepped on that pebbled womb beach one of mum’s necklaces collapsed. All of the beads scattered over the pebbled beach. Mum was scattering. She was releasing. Time to let go.
We waited a while because there were a group of young men around. Interestingly, there were many men that turned up on the day. As many of you know, the area was previously a sacred male area, but mum was part of reawakening the female there. Keith also later confirmed that mum has always had male guardians that encircle her at particular times.
But back to the ceremony. Pam brought petals to cast with the ashes. Fantastic!!
We took turns casting mum’s ashes to the ocean and wind. I went first, then David, Pam, Jewelz, Traci (with David clenching her windcheater), and then David and I cast the last of her ashes together.
And now, the future awaits…
The day was very joyous. We all felt very cheerful. Mum was definitely around and loving it, as well as the Shavvies. I’ll add too that the Garage Sale that was held on Saturday 24th January felt like another ashes ceremony. Jenni (Church), Pam, Jewelz and myself ran the event which was full of lots of joy (like the ashes ceremony at Cape Schank) and involved many lovely stories with purchasers.
“Along the Way”
Posted by Christy on January 11th, 2009 filed in riseComment now »
Last night I found a poem of mum’s that stood out from the rest. I decided to share it with you here and then today found mum’s preplanning for her funeral. In it she highlighted this poem in her list of things she was the most proud of. It is the only poem she listed. I’ll share the details of the rest of that document in the next post, but will share the poem with you here now:
Along the Way
Emerging from the darkness of the night
I felt the wisp of dawn upon my brow;
Like a child with a sparkler for a light
I watched the past and future become now.
The door upon my mind did stand ajar,
the psychic pen drew on beyond so still.
I stepped along the Path that seemed so far
And found a river running through a mill.
Nay, not for me the promis of the ghosts
that fed upon my sad and sorry state;
to see and hear of past and future hosts
Did naught but glamour take me for a mate.
And moving on I found the fifth door shut,
I waited in the morning light with faith;
For yet, the Truth was still a chance of luck,
Coincidence did bid me make no haste.
So languid in the blue sky of the noon
The sun shone bright and deemed
the shadows dark.
I looked through blinded eyes like
love’s full moon
And found a trail of Light, so small, so stark.
Serene my soul did stand with timely poise
I with my Master softly tread the Way;
each new effect becomes its own seed cause
My mind – my shade as flames heat up the day.
Cool water beckons on, I carry some
And soft the air did dance ’round furrowed brow;
eyes pierce the raiment, naked so I run.
My God My Light fair shines, your Will be
Now.
‘Tis not for me to challenge right and wrong
Nor test my will against the odds of life;
Trust in Thee becomes my soaring song
As true from false I whittle with my knife.
In rainbow’s end the spectrum circles round
As shapes through nature’s clouds of doubt
do form;
Begun on Time on laws of wisdom-sound
In crystal lotus cosmic selves are born.
Om
Wake photos
Posted by ChristyandDavid on January 6th, 2009 filed in riseComment now »
After the service we had a small gathering of family at mum’s house for a wake. At the wake we had a PowerPoint presentation of some pictures from mum’s life projected. We thought we’d share the photos with you here. Click on this link to open the web-version of the photo presentation. Just click on the slide numbers to see each picture (and you may have to scroll down to center the photo). Enjoy!
Mum’s service
Posted by ChristyandDavid on January 5th, 2009 filed in riseComment now »
Hello everyone,
Thank you to those who were able to come and share mum’s celebration on Friday 2nd January. There are many who would of loved to be there in person but weren’t able to. So, I promised to share details of the day with you all.
The service was held at a place that has a lot of significance for mum: Seawinds park at Arthurs Seat. For years mum has has conducted many ceremonies there, as well as many casual picnics and events during the day…and night. We had to arrange a special permit to run the service there and had a condition that we had to run it close to the car park. I immediately did some reconnaissance and felt that an area amongst the trees, around the path on the way to the indigenous garden was the place to be. On the day the ranger said we could do the service anywhere. So we had a quick look at the area mum used to run her ceremonies…but the protected area of the trees was still gold…and you could still see the bay…
Beloved Bay
The Orders of Service were passed around. Rather than the usual square folded booklet I created scrolls bound with blue ribbon. These gave the structure of the day (colour-coded to the rays) with two pics of mum.
The ceremony started with bagpipes. Mum loved bagpipes — she watched the Royal Tattoo every year, visited Scotland last year and was always moved by bagpipe music. I knew from mum’s own music selections for funerals (from her funeral celebrancy training), that she felt Celtic music was important. The tune he finished with was Amazing Grace.
A few of us then brought mum’s coffin from the car: David (mum’s son), Jewelz, Ross and myself. Once we placed mum down under a beautiful tree (an ‘Elder’), Gwen and Carol placed a special quilt over it.
The Quilt was a created a few years ago by Karen, Gwen, Carolina, Carol and mum. Karen initiated the idea of the quilt and Carolina sewed everyone’s panels together. Each lady had a panel in which to sew whatever they wanted. Ever since the creation of the quilt, the ladies have shared access to it — passing it onto each other to do with what they will for a while. Mum had slept under it.
The celebrant then took over and introduced the proceedings. She began with a reading of ‘The Heritage’. The rest of the ceremony was structured according to the seven rays, but in a different order.
Ray 1 — Will or Power (Desire to Sacrifice) [Red]
In this part the celebrant spoke about mum’s early life up until her marriage and birth of her two children. Her then husband, Peter Knife, gave a tribute. Then David, Hilary and Peter’s son, gave a tribute. (I’ll put the text up of these later.)
Ray 5 — Concrete Knowledge (Individual transfigured by Venus to group) [Green]
Here the celebrant spoke about mum’s youth work, university study and teaching. This is the journey mum decided to take after her split with Peter. As a single mum, she decided to become a teacher so that she could share work hours and holidays along with her children’s schooling. This section ended with a significant point in mum’s life in which her father died. It was at this point that mum decided to stop working for the sake of food and shelter and wanted to build a reputation out of her own skills.
Ray 3 — Active Intelligence (Initiate) [Yellow]
Taking the cue from mum’s transition point, Pam Davidson then gave a tribute to Hilary. Pam spoke about mum’s books, her Female Initiate work, Shamballa School and general spiritual work.
Pam and Jewelz
Ray 2 — Love-Wisdom (Individual to World Consciousness) [Blue]
The celebrant then spoke about mum’s peace activism work over the years, from the Vietnam Moratorium, to Human Rights campaigning, workplace reform lobbying and Vigil of Light on the Bay.
Ray 6 — Devotion (Mass to Inclusive Consciousness) [Purple]
This part of the ceremony involved juxtaposing traditional and non-traditional prayers. It began with a group reading of the Lord’s Prayer; followed by 3 minutes of silence which ended with 3 chimes of Tibetan bells; and ending with The Great Invocation.
Ray 7 — Ceremonial Magic (Escape from Wheel & Truly Life) [Indigo]
In this section Helen Jolly took over and called for people to form a circle around mum’s coffin. She spoke of mum’s involvement in the Circle of Light and asked everyone to form mum’s last circle. I was going to give a tribute in which I spoke about mum’s recent celebrant work, creative writing and just general wonderful mum stuff…but I couldn’t do it. Instead, I played a song that resonated on a purely personal human level: Sarah McLachlan’s Angel. Helen then lead everyone in a visualisation in which we pictured a memory of Hilary and then released it. Finally, we asked everyone to take a posy off the coffin. The posies were created by a group of women (and a couple of men) the day before during a special flower bundling ceremony. Rather than have people bring flowers, we bundled together mum’s favourite flowers and herbs (eg: lillies, roses, rosemary, dune grass and so on).
Part of the circle
Incense and flowers
Ray 4 — Harmony (Harmonise Cosmos & Individual: birthpangs of 2nd birth) [Orange]
Once everyone took a posy (which shifted the energy) it was time to carry the coffin back to the car. David, Keith, Jewelz and myself carried it to the car. People were invited to pop balloons as we did this. Despite how I was feeling, I couldn’t help laughing at the pops (which was the point). Some people also blew bubbles at this point.
Watching the coffin go
Floating bubbles
As the car drove away 12 doves were released. The doves were lovingly provided by Jenni Marshall.
People then wrote in the wooden memorial book and spoke with each other. The feedback I’ve had is that it was a ceremony full of all the emotions (sadness and joy), and was a fitting tribute to mum…something she would of loved.
Thank you to everyone for sharing the day — both at Seawinds and remotely. Mum enjoyed it all.
Thank you to Graeme Robinson for the ceremony photos, and White Dove Ceremonies for the dove photo. More coming!
She Knew
Posted by Christy on December 26th, 2008 filed in rise1 Comment »
I just read over my first post here and saw my comments about mum’s passing being a surprise to her. While I don’t think she expected to leave that day (though she did leave by her own free will), it is very clear to me now that she has been working towards this for a few years now. I think I know when she started the process too.
Everything, absolutely everything, is organised.
She has been writing a young person’s book on spiritual teachings. The last entry was on the 12th of December (12:12). That entry was on how you know when you are going to die. I will finish this book for her and publish it on her behalf.
In the last few weeks, indeed days, many people commented that the last email or message she sent to them felt final for some reason. I certainly received one of those.
Her funeral celebrancy training gave me a great insight into what sort of funeral she would want, which funeral directors, celebrant, rituals, music, quotes and so on. David and I had/have intuited a lot of it, but it is very comforting to know exactly what she wanted.
Some people received notes about NDEs from mum (who as some of you may know she has experienced before).
Simple things, like having certain items prepaid, arranged, booked and so on have meant that my work as service organiser and executor is relatively smooth.
There are so many stories.
On some level, she knew.
And I’ve heard from a few people that they knew too.
I’m so glad she left exactly the way she wanted: quickly, consciously, and with joy.
Service details
Posted by Christy on December 24th, 2008 filed in rise2 Comments »
Hello everyone,
Thank you so much for your messages — here, via email and phone. There are some of you that have emailed me messages to post through Hilary’s email. For some reason (hehe), Hilary’s computer hasn’t been working the past few days. So, please resend any emails to christy@christydena.com. Mum’s body was released from the Coroner’s yesterday (still no report on what happened though) and so we were able to book the service.
Close friends and family are invited to honour and celebrate Hilary’s life on
Friday January 2nd 2009
Seawinds, Arthurs Seat
[Access is via Mornington Peninsula Freeway to Arthurs Seat Road,
Dromana. Seawinds is from Purves Road. (Melway ref: 171 D1)]
Commencing at 10am
Please bring a balloon
(You may want to blow up the balloon there so it doesn’t pop before! Choose your own colour etc.)
Please don’t bring flowers,
instead, plant a tree in mum’s name at a time and place of your choice
Wear whatever you feel like
n.b. We’ve discovered that releasing the balloons may harm marine life
and so won’t be releasing them on the day. But they will be used, and are fun. 
“The December Surprise”
Posted by Christy on December 18th, 2008 filed in rise20 Comments »
Hello everyone
As you know, we were all surprised by the sudden passing of Hilary (mum)…and judging by her life, it was a surprise to mum as well. From what I can tell from her Internet usage and unanswered calls, mum suddenly left Earth on Tuesday 16th December 2008. (She was discovered on Thursday by Jewelz, who kindly called in to check on mum after I called her up.)
It was a quick exit and we all believe she is very happy now. No-one has sensed any distress at any time. Good one mum.
Even though the event was not foreseen by anyone (including herself), there are many gems and gifts I’m finding in her house that reveal a knowledge and preparation on some level. Indeed, I’ve told and heard many stories these past couple of days that indicate many of us were guided, comforted and called before and after she left. I’ll share with you some of my stories, some of the gems she has left behind here, and I’d love to hear yours. So add your stories and pics in the comments, or email Davo (dknife@lowerdimension.com) and he will post them here on your behalf.
In the meantime, I want to share with you some pictures from a walk I took not long after finding out. I was suddenly *prompted* to go for a walk (something I had been guided to do the past few days). It had just started raining, but that didn’t matter. I had to go straight away.
I walked up my street and turned the corner. And guess what I saw? Well, you can see: a beautiful double rainbow, and then a miraculous sunset.
Thank you mum. And, as Soulay said, ‘you’ve gotto have *connections* to put on something like that’. hehe
So, I think you get the idea. Here is where we’ll share some parts of the process we’re going through together. David and I will be posting here (he is currently in the US but will be here within a few days). We’ll put info here about the service too (don’t know when yet, awaiting the coroner). The reason for the name of this site, Wakey Wakey Rise and Shine is in the About page. I’m currently at mum’s house and will be staying here for a few weeks. It is an official open-house zone: so please, anyone, feel free to drop in or call anytime. I’m sure our timing will work out perfectly.
As for the title of this post — “The December Surprise” — that is from a chart I found printed out in mum’s diary. You’ll see that the chart is for her birthday: 27th December. Yes, we are truly in a *everything is meaningful and makes sense* zone.
Love to you all, love to my bro, and love to mum (shine on),
Christy