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Welcome to the SevenPonds.com blog – a community-driven extension of SevenPonds.com! I hope you find comfort and community in the resources and stories featured here. I’m always happy to hear from readers and can be reached at suzette@sevenponds.com.
FEATURED
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Poetree: The Innovative Urn: Margaux Ruyant's urn honors the life of the deceased while cultivating the new life of a tree -
Putting It Back Together: Exploring Grief through a near-death experience: A 21-year-old woman's near-fatal accident alters her relationship with life. -
Buddhism and the Eastern Middle Ground: In Buddhist tradition, our death falls into a plane of existence that continues even after our final breath
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Categories
Category Archives: Soulful Expressions
Poetree: The Innovative Urn
Margaux Ruyant's urn honors the life of the deceased while cultivating the new life of a tree
The “eco-funeral” or “green burial” has been a rising trend in the past few years. And Poetree, the latest invention by the French industrial designer Margaux Ruyant, is a welcome addition to the many planet-conscious end-of-life options we’ve covered here … Continue reading
Crazy Coffins: An Innovative Approach to End-Of-Life Receptacles
A British coffin company exhibits their unique creations
In the Western hemisphere, the funereal aesthetic is somber, heavy — even a bit austere. Death is often a taboo subject, where people are loath to discuss end-of-life arrangements prior to the fact. Levity and celebration are not considered a … Continue reading
The Neptune Society Memorial Reef
An Underwater Cremation Site for the Environmentally Conscious
The Neptune Memorial Reef is a culmination of two intersecting trends in America’s funeral industry: the increasing statistic of cremation in America, as well as a growing interest in environmentally conscious burials. Located several miles from the Key Biscayne in … Continue reading
The Historical Widow’s Walk, Where A Wife Waited for Her Husband’s Safe Return From Sea
The sentimental mythology of America’s coastal architecture
Any trip through Cape Cod, Nantucket and other local coastal towns is a tour through the 19th century cultural landscape of New England — an architectural intersection between its British inheritance and the stylistic dictates of a New World.
The Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation
A modern architectural testament to the lives lost during the holocaust
There is an extensive roster of famous holocaust memorials throughout the world. Many of them share innovative modernist architecture and are as aesthetically elegant as they are haunting. The Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation is an exemplary model; erected … Continue reading
New Eco-Friendly Coffin for Cremation
The Innovative Soul Ash Solace Coffin from Maximal Design of Belgium
Soul Ash Solace has an innovative design for a funereal vessel- it is made of light-weight materials that are completely biodegradable, (and much less harmful for our planet than showy, lacquered coffins and the like) such as papier-mache and corrugated … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Belgium, Biodegradable, Burial, Coffin, Cost of Dying, Cremation, Death, Death Care, Dying, Eco-Burial, environmental impact, Funeral, Noxious Fumes, Relic, Rememberance, SevenPonds, Soul, Soul Ash Coffin, United States
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Cloth as an Expression of Memory
Cherishing the clothes of loved ones lost
Cloth holds the memory of the person who wore it; it’s the reason why the clothing of someone who has died is often so cherished by their loved ones. Even if these clothes no longer serve a functional purpose to … Continue reading
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Etruscan Sarcophagi and the Marriage Bed (Part 2 of 2)
Etruscan burials and the marriage bed.
As time progressed, there was a cross-cultural pollination between the Etruscans and Greeks, where the former’s art evolved to bear the characteristics of their Hellenic neighbor’s. The highly stylized plasticity of the Etruscan figures yielded to an increasing realism, while … Continue reading
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Etruscan Sarcophagi and the Marriage Bed (Part 1 of 2)
An Ancient Civilization Views Death as a Banquet in the Afterlife
Despite their extensive historical legacy, the Romans were not the only ancient civilization to populate Italy. The Etruscans were a tribe located in what is currently known as Tuscany, though the famous historian Herodotus traces their origins to Asia Minor. … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Etruscan, Etruscan civilization, Greek, Italy, Rome, Sarcophagus of the Spouses
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Richard Carter’s Post-Mortem Cast “Troy Simon Burdine II”
The History of Death Masks
Troy Simon Burdine II was a casualty of the AIDS epidemic, so rife in the Bay Area during the nineties. Moribund after years of fighting the virus, he petitioned his friend Richard Carter to cast his full body after death. … Continue reading
Le Suicidé by Manet
How the depiction of a suicide reflects loss and the unknown
Among Manet’s many famous paintings, Le Suicidé has received much less attention, most likely due to the fact that critics and scholars have a difficult time placing it among his other works. At its most basic level, the painting portrays … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Death and Dying, Édouard Manet, End-of-life Art, Grief, Le Suicidé, Loss of a Loved One, Manet, Suicide, Suicide in Art
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The Ephemeral Art of Tracey Kessler: Grieving and the Painting Process
Exploring the meditative, therapeutic process behind painting during the grieving process
Tracey Kessler always had an artistic spirit; she worked in the design industry and painted recreationally throughout her life. When her mother, Sara Lou, suddenly passed away from pulmonary fibrosis in October 2010, Tracey took up her brush and created … Continue reading
A Collaborative Effort to Remember
How the Washington Monument came to be and the people it took to get there
While you might already be neck deep in BBQs, beer, or family get togethers this long holiday weekend, I thought it’d be fitting to take a moment and reflect on the history of the Washington Monument – the structure built … Continue reading
Tammy Bears Memorialize Loved Ones and Comfort You While You Grieve
These custom-made teddy bears use the clothing of loved ones you've lost to create a unique memento.
Shortly after my grandpa passed away, my grandma, always the glue that holds our extended family together, presented my cousins, siblings, and me with hand-crafted teddy bears built from Grandpa’s most notable outfits: his “old man jeans” and his flannel … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Crafts, Grief, Loss, Memorial Bears, Tammy Bears, Teddy bear
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The Temple of Cremation in Parma Italy
This modern crematory draws on local traditional designs to honor the memories of a culture and the people who have died
Erected last year north of the Valera Cemetery in Parma, Italy, The Temple of Cremation designed by Paolo Zermani draws inspiration from Greco-Roman design and local traditions to create a space as solemn as the ceremonies that take place inside … Continue reading
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Tagged Architecture, Crematory, Design, Italy, Parma, Temple of Cremation
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The “Unity” of Life and Death
Jay DeFoe's masterpiece, "The Rose," brings two opposite concepts together
Photo Credit: abstract-art.com “Death has kind of a negative connotation,” artist Jay DeFeo once said when speaking of her life’s major work, The Rose. She wanted the piece to represent the “unity” of life and death, not merely death. Completed … Continue reading
A Blog to Honor Barbara
This journalist created a blog to remember and honor his late wife
Eighty-one days after his wife lost a battle with cancer at 65, Houston journalist Mike Snyder wrote his first reflection on his experience of the loss at sagamorebridge, a blog that exists, the tagline states, for “honoring Barbara”. Barbara Karkabi … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Barbara Karkabi, Blogging, Houston, Late Wife, Memorial, Mike Snyder, Sagamorebridge, Texas
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Pablove Shutterbugs Shows Children with Cancer the Healing Power of Creativity
Developing their creative voice through the art of photography
The mission of The Pablove Foundation is to fund pediatric cancer research and advances in treatment, educate and empower families, and improve the quality of life for children living with cancer through play, music and arts programs with hospitals. Annually, the … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Cancer, Children with Cancer, Los Angeles, Pablove Foundation, photography
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Art on Death by Edvard Munch
The famous painter pondered life's end through his signature evocative paintings
In addition to his most well-known image, The Scream, the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch created a great deal of art pondering life and death. Through the paintings below, he expressed his own grief and experiences with death and the end-of-life, … Continue reading
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Tagged Art on death, Death, Edvard Munch, Painting, Scream, The Sick Child
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Art and the Death Penalty
Artist Julie Green's "The Last Supper" exhibit makes a major statement about the death penalty
Photo Credit: Joan Mitchell Foundation In an effort to illuminate the gravity of the death penalty issue, Julie Green, an associate professor of art at Oregon State University, has painted a series of 500 plates depicting the final meal requests … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Death Penalty, Julie Green, The Last Supper, The Last Supper Exhibit
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