Last Rites are traditionally given to someone who is preparing to die.  It’s symbolizes the sick person’s acceptance of leaving behind the possessions of his or her life, both physical and emotional.  Extreme Unction is traditionally administered just once, but from a symbolic perspective, in the realm of our own thoughts and feelings, it can be administered once a day, because it signifies our desire to release the unnecessary baggage we carry with us.  It represents the release of all that is dead in our lives, and our conscious choice not to use our life-force to keep alive that which has passed from us.  This sacrament offers us a discipline through which we can live in the present moment.

While you may not have thought as the past as “dead”, this is actually an apt description of the place we call “yesterday”.  Breathing our life-force into keeping the past alive is like choosing to live in a mausoleum.  It is cold and dark, and the dead do not speak to us.

We are not meant to carry the past within us as if it were still alive.  What is over is over, and using our energy to fuel events or relationships long gone is like breathing life into a corpse in hopes of a resurrection. The cost of such actions to both the body and spirit is enormous.

According to Caroline Myss, the sacrament of Extreme Unction is related to the seventh chakra, which represents our connection to eternity and the divine.  The divine truth of the seventh chakra is to “Live in the Present Moment”.  To live in the present moment, we need to surrender and let go.

This was brought home very powerfully for me this week as two major changes were unfolding in my life.  One event was the closing of the old Cornerstone, New Hope location and with it the beautiful yoga space at The Treehouse.  Change is always difficult, even if it is just your yoga studio changing locations.  While I was excited about the change, I could see that a lot of the students were not.  You could hear sadness and reluctance in their voices.  The new space is beautiful in its own way, but it’s different.  There will be some things we love about the new space and some things we are not too happy about.  But, regardless, on Monday morning, April 10th, we will be in the new location.  We need to let go of the old space and move on with enthusiasm for that which lies in front of us.

The other event was the fact that my mother was moved into Hospice care last week.  I have to contemplate her passing in a much more concrete way.  I actually had to have a conversation with a priest about administering last rites.  While my mother left her home and her possessions long ago, it is now my turn to learn to let go. I need to perform my own ceremony of last rites, of letting go of who I was and that part of my routine which revolved around her.

The inherent energy of Extreme Unction combined with the energy of the seventh chakra, celebrates that all that was good about our past remains alive within us and around us, and that which is dead needs to be dead.  We cannot feel the grace that assures us of our own immortality if we continue to fear and fight the passage of years.

There is a correlation between the two homonyms weight and wait.  The more of the past we carry with us, the heavier our load and the slower our mental, emotional and spiritual evolution.  The lesson of the seventh chakra and the ritual of last rites teach us to dump the contents of our emotional suitcases on the floor as a symbolic release of everything we no longer want to carry with us. 

A healing ritual of Extreme Unction

Begin by asking yourself:  How much energy is draining from me?  How much of the dead am I carrying with me in my daily life?  On a piece of paper, write down whatever dead weight of the past you feel like you are lugging around with you.  Put the paper into a pyrex or earthenware bowl  (on your altar, if you have one) and put a match to it.  As it goes up in flames, visualize yourself dissolving the bonds that have tied you to the incident or incidents and allow your energy to return to you.  Say a prayer in which you release your energy from the event saying, “I don’t want this in my life anymore.”  As you feel your energy returning, say a brief prayer of thanksgiving.

If you have a song or some music that helps you feel the energy of releasing, play it as you perform your ritual.  The song that always comes to my mind when I feel a chapter in my life ending is the song “Closing Time” by Semisonic.  This song was written by Dan Wilson about the birth of his first child and how that event was going to change his life as a rock and roller.

Closing time
Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Closing time
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl
Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
Closing time
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here

[Chorus:]
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
Closing time
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

[Chorus:]
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from

[Chorus:]
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home

Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Letting go of the past is one way we can heal ourselves.   What do you need to let go of?