Our Lady of Ashes

In the past two years, I have been creating dolls that carry meaning and hold a stories outside their bodies.

Our Lady of Ashes is an emotional healing doll. She offers support for grief, distress, sorrow, suffering, heartbreak, and all the emotions that arise when we face loss.
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She holds the Wailing Story—a process of diving deep into the pain of an ancient wound. She reminds us to honor the time it takes to fully be with our experience, to mourn what was and what could not be, and to create a space for closure.
Near the bottom of her story, you’ll find an intuitive collection of words that came to me as I contemplated her meaning—fragments that speak to the essence of grief, healing, and release.

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Our Lady of Ashes
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She wails--
the sound rising from the raw stop,
from the hollow of disappointment,
from the ache of loss.

She mourns
what was,
what could not be.

She puts closure where it’s due,
then wails again--
for the ancient wound,
for the vital, essential energy of life
coursing through grief.

She stays--
mourning,
grieving,
reconciling,
letting the losses surface.

She rests.
She regroups.
She listens for the quiet
beneath the wailing.

She asks--
what must I say goodbye to?
what is mine to carry forward?
what do I long to do over?

She allows it to take time.
She stays with herself,
lets the while serve her.

She knows there’s not much time
for putting away the hard things--
they will follow,
they will echo,
they will become part of the song.
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She wails.
She mourns.
She waits.
She lives.

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