“Mother’s Day Pipe Ceremony” by Laura Garrard

“Mother’s Day Pipe Ceremony” by Laura Garrard 11×14” multimedia collage with original poem. Every Mother’s Day, a group of my close friends go to Yellowstone National Park to hold a Native American spiritual pipe ceremony. They place prayers in the tobacco and pass pipes to those present sitting in a circle. One may smoke the pipe, releasing the prayers to God, or hold the pipe and pray. This collage presents my poem about this springtime ritual and annual renewal within nature. Here is an excerpt: “…With release of smoke, layers surrounding our hearts are removed/Truth and connection only remain, our mist joining with the moment/And peace arises, becoming spring, becoming reality…” The two corresponding abstracts, “Prayers Rising” and “Peace Arising Becoming Spring,” are also available.