Eventually, time in the guise of the Grim Reaper catches up with all of us. Before that happens, though, if we are fortunate, we get to enjoy at least a few decades on this side of the veil.

As I was reflecting on the passing of time a little earlier this month, I was struck by the fact that we had hit the point in the year at which my next birthday now lies less than two months away.

I was also stopped square in my tracks to realize that roughly half a year had passed since the last edition of my ongoing Cemetery Journeys blog post series that was launched in the summer of 2021.

We kicked off this series by first visiting Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Then, in the afterglow of Halloween and Samhain, with November’s piercing chill returning to our days once again, we headed a touch further north in the province and spent some very enjoyable time at Mt. Ida Cemetery in Salmon Arm, BC.

In the third installment of this exciting series, we are going to land fairly close to smack, dab in the middle of these locations. Doing so on a delightful spring day where – true to seasonal form – the light frequently shifted from vividly sunny to moodily overcast.

Throughout the previous two Cemetery Journeys entries, I discussed some important points to keep in mind when exploring the cemeteries of Western Canada (British Columbia is Canada’s westernmost province and as such has a shoreline that is lapped by the mighty Pacific Ocean).

These include the fact that while settlement by non-First Nations people has only occurred in this part of the world over the past two hundred years or so (and even then, most areas were settled more in the range of 175 – 100 years ago at this point in time), the indigenous communities that filled not only BC, but Canada as a whole, lived in these rugged lands for millennia before the first Europeans are known to have set foot on Western Canadian soil.

Dovetailing with that point is the fact that as a result, there are no truly old non-First Nations burial sites to be had in this province.

Hitting upon cemeteries with headstones that proceed the 1890s – 1910s is worth celebrating and is not something one finds at every community, town, or city here in British Columbia.

Luckily, however, for history adoring taphophiles like myself, our current region of BC has been settled (again, by non-First Nations people) from about the middle of the nineteenth century onward.

As a result, some – though not all – of the burial grounds in this general area include headstones that predate the 1900s. Albeit often only by a matter of years or a couple of decades.

Still, I will gladly take that and usually make a point of trying to find the oldest headstone I can when visiting a cemetery (at least on my first trip there).

Despite living less than half an hour’s drive away from it, quite some time had passed since I last stepped foot on the hallowed ground that is Pleasant Valley Cemetery in the nearby town of Vernon, BC.

What better time to do just that than the early to mid-days of spring, when the natural world is bursting to life again and one can navigate the great outdoors without the need for double digits worth of thermal layers.

Enter our latest visit to Pleasant Valley Cemetery (a name that untold numbers of cemeteries in the English speaking world are called, believe me, I know ), which took place on a mild, subtly breezy springtime afternoon during which the sky bellyflopped back and forth between radiant sunshine and heavy grey clouds looked as though they had a lot to get off their chests.

It was Monsieur Soleil who won out in the end, but the mix of both types of light helped to add all the more of an atmospheric quality to our cemetery outing.

I shall soon invite you all along with me as we take a leisurely stroll across the gently sloping hills and tree-flanked pathways of Pleasant Valley Cemetery. First, however, let us briefly delve into the history of the community in which this burial ground is located: Vernon, BC.

A quick overview of the history of Vernon, British Columbia

Located in the northern end of BC’s well-known Okanagan Valley, which itself is situated in the Southern Interior area of this province, Vernon is a town with a rich history and yet, it often seems to play second fiddle to the larger nearby city of Kelowna.

This makes sense in many ways, of course, given that Kelowna is the biggest city (“biggest” being a somewhat relative term here ) in the entire Okanagan Valley.

However, Vernon is a terrific community unto itself and one that I feel deserves no less time in the limelight than Kelowna.

Located about 440 kilometres (270 miles) to the northeast of Vancouver, the area that is today known as Vernon was initially discovered and settled by members of the Interior Salish Okanagan people.

The name for Vernon in Salish was Nintle Moos Chin, which roughly translates to “jumping over creek”.

This title stems from part of a local body of water (now called) BX Creek which was narrow enough in some spots to jump straight over from bank to bank.

In the 19^th century, as missionaries such as Father Pandosy who we met when chatting about the history of Kelowna, began to make their way into the interior of British Columbia, Nintle Moos Chin would be renamed Priest’s Valley by the local English speaking community.

During at least part of the 1870s, it also went by Forge Valley in reference to politician, businessman, early Okanagan settler and rancher, Price Ellison’s blacksmith shop. In 1884, Price married Sophia Christine Johnson, Vernon’s first school teacher.

Today the Ellison name lives on throughout various corners of the Okanagan Valley, including both the lovely unincorporated community of Ellison and Ellison Provincial Park.

As that same century wore on, the area’s English name would again change, this time landing on the one that it holds to this day: Vernon.

A name which was bestowed on the community in honour of Mr. Forbes George Vernon, an early member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, who along with his brother Charles Vernon, owned one of the largest early ranches in the area.

Just as you will find many people residing in these beautiful areas today, the original First Nations inhabitants of Nintle Moos Chin/Vernon often lived in close proximity to the two lakes that this city houses: Swan Lake and Okanagan Lake

The latter is the largest lake in the whole Okanagan Valley, spanning the continuous distance from Penticton in the Southern Okanagan to Vernon in the Northern Okanagan (the two are about 1.45 hours drive apart from each other).

A few decades before intrepid missionaries and other early non-First Nations inhabitants started to set up the seeds of a township in what is now present-day Vernon, the area was explored in the 1810s by fur traders.

It is believed that a few decades later, a man by the name of Luc Girouard was the first permanent white settler in Vernon. He built a cabin in the area c. 1861 and would go on to plant Vernon’s first commercial orchards as well.

Little by little, the community began to grow, getting a sizable push towards developing from a small fur trading camp to a full-fledged community thanks to the 1863 discovery of gold in some of the eastern corners of the Okanagan (such as Mission Creek, Cherry Creek, and the Monashee Mountains, respectively).

Some feel that Vernon really got its start when, in 1863/64, the land that would become that township was purchased by Mr. William Campbell, who began – but did not complete – building the community’s first store.

This business-in-the-making was bought up by a stonemason named  Mr. John Imlay, who had such illustrious projects under his belt already as working on the Parliament Building.

Much as in Kelowna to the south and Salmon Arm to the north, early Vernon was peppered with numerous ranches and, as time went on, no shortage of orchards either.

Speaking of which, in 1890, Lord and Lady Aberdeen – whose contributions to and influence in shaping the early history of the Central and Northern Okanagan areas lives on in numerous forms to this very day – purchased the Coldstream Ranch from Forbes Vernon. By 1892, they had planted at least a hundred fruit trees at the ranch in the hopes of accelerating the orchard industry in the area.

It is from the name Coldstream Ranch that the community that came to exist around it would later be named The District of Coldstream. Today, this community continues to thrive and is part of the Greater Vernon area.

In no time flat, Vernon and its surrounding communities would indeed succeed as a thriving fruit-growing (and later also viticulture) corner of Canada. Sun-kissed produce offerings grown in the hearty Okanagan soil are enjoyed by locals and shipped to food merchants around the globe to this very day.

Interestingly, throughout part of the 19^th century, what would become the downtown core of Vernon was known as Centreville, a name that is rarely mentioned anymore and certainly no longer formally used in any capacity that I am aware of.

That downtown core would go on to form the city’s first business district, which came into being in 1885. This same year Vernon got its inaugural post office and a proper townsite was laid out and established for the city.

In addition to having a post office, Vernon was starting to blossom care of other firsts including a schoolhouse, hotel, and general store. A mere two years later, a Hudson’s Bay Company Store appeared on the scene as well.

Thanks in no small part to the abundance of cattle ranches that Vernon housed at the time, the area rapidly became a popular and successful economic hub for the Okanagan Valley.

Numerous forces drew early settlers to Vernon from corners near and far of Canada, as well as America, Europe, and elsewhere in the world.

The booming cattle and fruit-growing industries were two of the largest. Though, I am sure that the balmy summer weather that this region is so well-known for only helped to sweeten the deal for some of those early newcomers.

Growth and development in the area were aided all the more when the Canadian Pacific Railway (aka, the CPR) laid track that ran through parts of the Okanagan and on into the Shuswap, which is the region immediately following the Okanagan to the north.

Things did not stop hopping there in the 1890s, however! A mere two years later, a sternwheeler by the name of the S.S. Aberdeen (named for Lord and Lady Aberdeen) began to ply the waters of Okanagan Lake.

With both the railway and water travel now a part of daily life in the Vernon area, it was possible to bring in people, supplies, and animals considerably more quickly (and sometimes, more easily as well).

Also during the bustling 1890s, Vernon was officially incorporated as a city on December 30, 1892. Nine years later the first city hall was formed. It included both a public reading space and a fire hall.

Though it would, in time, be usurped on this front by Kelowna, back in those days, Vernon was the largest municipality in the Okanagan.

It was the first in which a telephone was installed and where a bank was built, amongst other things that Vernon accomplished sooner than any other part of the region.

As one drives into or exists through present-day Vernon from the south end of the city, they are bound to catch sight of a military camp and surrounding training grounds located there (which are often used for Cadet related purposes).

A military presence has been a part of Vernon’s landscape since 1908 when the Okanagan Mounted Rifles military program was established.

Later to be known as the 30^th Regiment BC Horse – or more commonly, the Okanagan Mounted Rifles.

Throughout both World War I and World War II, Vernon’s population expanded further due to the influx of military personnel and their families who settled – be it temporarily or longer-term – in the area as a result of the army training that took place in Vernon.

Traversing the same stretch of highway that runs through the military training area in Vernon, you will quickly catch sight of the Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

It is a large, multistory medical facility that serves not only Vernon itself but also the residents of many other smaller towns and communities (ours included) in the general vicinity.

This hospital was established in the 1900s and remains the only one in Vernon to the present day.

One piece of Vernon’s history that very few people are aware of is that for a time this city was home to what we would today call something along the lines of a mental health treatment centre, but which at the time was known as a mental asylum.

Originally constructed as a jail, the building operated as a mental health facility from c. 1902 – 1912. After which point patients residing there were sent to the Provincial Insane Asylum in New Westminster. In the years to come, this same building was used as an internment site during WW1.

Its use between the end of that war and its demise due to a fire that happened circa the early 1940s is not well documented. Today, the WL Seaton Secondary School stands on a spot that – often unbeknownst to many who spend time there these days – surely saw no shortage of sorrows, suffering, and injustice during the first four decades of the previous century.

Throughout the 1910s and beyond, other elements that often help a community to grow and succeed were also set up. These included such services and amenities as a high school, sports stadium, and a bit further into the 20^th century, an official library, and a modest-sized (to say the least! ) shopping mall called Village Green Centre.

While there is a bustling downtown business core, various plazas, numerous supermarkets and other shopping locations throughout Vernon, Village Green remains the city’s only mall.

(For better or worse, the Okanagan Valley is not rife with shopping malls and most of those that do exist here are scarcely large enough, IMO, to be crowned with that title in the first place.)

As the 20^th century rolled onward and the province of British Columbia as a whole continued to expand both in terms of its population and its transportation routes, Vernon would go to connect with three different provincial highways. These are Highway 97, Highway 97A, and Highway 6, respectively.

Much as with the Okanagan Valley as a whole, Vernon experiences hot, sunshine-filled summers and cold winters that often reside in sub-zero temperatures from mid to late autumn straight onto early spring.

The gorgeous months of warm sunshine have long helped to ensure Vernon was – and still is – a popular tourist destination, attracting many visitors to its arid climate, gorgeous lakes, and a plethora of surrounding mountains (some of which morph into popular ski hills such as Silver Star Mountain come the winter months) each year.

And speaking of the snowy side of the calendar, each winter Vernon comes alive care of the Vernon Winter Carnival, which was officially established in 1961. Though its roots stretch back to February 23, 1893, as that was when the first recorded winter carnival in the area took place. They would occur periodically between then and 1961, from which point onward they have been an annual event.

Today, Vernon’s is the largest winter carnival in Western Canada and the second biggest in all of North America (behind the well-known and much adored Quebec Winter Carnival).

On the flip side of the year, one finds the Vernon Sunshine Festival, an annual event that takes place in the downtown core of the city. This lively occurrence includes artisan booths, food trucks, live music, children’s events, and various other enjoyable happenings.

As with most parts of British Columbia, Vernon’s commercial structures and homes are a mix of old and new (with plenty that currently fall in between the two).

Downtown, on 30th Avenue (which is often considered to be Vernon’s main street), as well as elsewhere in the city centre, one finds an assortment of older buildings that have stood for numerous decades running.

The arts are well fostered and celebrated in Vernon, with, at the time of writing, no less than 27 different murals depicting scenes from the area’s history appearing on the sides of various buildings throughout the downtown core.

In addition, there is an excellent performing arts centre called the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre, as well as the Powerhouse Theatre which is home to a great community theatre programme.

Located in what is arguably the city’s most beautiful public green space, Polson Park, one also finds the Vernon Community Arts Centre.

And just a few streets over locals and tourists alike can catch a film at the Vernon Towne Cinema, which was built in 1929 – 1930.

Much to the delight of early 20th-century architecture and history buffs, this movie theatre (which served in various other arts and entertainment capacities before becoming a cinema) retains much of its art deco design and charm.

And for those like myself, who swoon up a storm over all things creative and crafty, if you should happen to be in Vernon as spring sits on the cusp of summer, you can visit Chaos Crafts.

This annual event is the largest summertime craft show in Western Canada, attracting vendors and attendees alike from across BC, Alberta, and further afield.

Vernon has witnessed continued population growth for the majority of its lifetime and that has certainly rung true in recent decades.

In 2021, the population of Vernon proper came in at some 44,519 people (who are known as Vernonites). This number swells into the 60,000s, however, when surrounding communities are factored into the equation as well. Together, these areas form what is known as Greater Vernon.

Prior to moving to Armstrong (a town located about twenty minutes north of Vernon) in 2018, I had visited Vernon many times throughout my life (much of which has been spent in the Okanagan).

And once, for an ultra-brief matter of weeks in my teens, I even lived in Vernon.

In the years since we relocated to Armstrong, both Tony and I have gotten to know Vernon considerably better.

It is the nearest city to us (Salmon Arm, located north of our town, is the second closest) and as Armstrong lacks a lot of amenities (or at least any sort of variety of them), we often find ourselves spending time in Vernon – which neither of us mind at all.

Ever since I was a little girl and my family would take summertime road trips to various corners of the Okanagan and Shuswap Valleys, I have felt a connection to Vernon.

From its gorgeous heritage homes such as Campbell House and Mohr House to its equally lovely (unofficial) main street, its lakes (including the stunning Kalamalka Lake located on the southern edge of the city, which was once listed as one of the top ten most beautiful lakes in the world by National Geographic) to its arts and culture scene, Vernon has a good deal to offer both locals and visitors alike.

Kalamalka Lake takes its name from a highly revered First Nations man named Chief Kalamalka, who may have been born around 1800.

An early hotel in Vernon also shared his name and while it has not seen overnight lodgers for quite some time now, part of that building is still going strong. These days it is a popular local sports bar known as The Kal.

Should the occasion to do so arise for us one day, I would likely have no qualms about moving to Vernon. It might not be as big or have quite as much to offer as those larger BC cities that start with the letter V (aka, Vancouver and Victoria), but it is still substantially bigger than itty-bitty Armstrong.

While at the same time, in my personal opinion, it retains more of a cohesive community feel and spirit than that of ever-expanding Kelowna.

This makes all the more sense given that the Greater Kelowna Area more than doubles the population of the Greater Vernon Area.

Like most towns and cities around the world, as Vernon’s population began to grow, it was only natural that a cemetery would be required.

Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Vernon

Just as with the previous two cemeteries that we have spent time exploring so far in this post series, Pleasant Valley is the largest burial site in its respective community.

Fascinatingly, however, Vernon’s first cemetery was not the one we will be wandering through together today.

No, the first cemetery in Vernon, BC, was located in the 3700 block of 35^th Avenue on land donated for this very purpose by none other than Vernon’s first permanent white inhabitant, Luc Girouard.

This community burial ground came into being during the 1880s and had been known by a slew of different names such as “Vernon Cemetery”, “Old Cemetery”, and “Old Vernon Cemetery” before being given, on May 8, 1975, its current title of Pioneer Park Cemetery.

The first body to be buried at the Vernon Cemetery was, heartbreakingly, a one-year-old child named John William Hozier, who was laid to rest there in 1885.

As is apt to happen as communities expand, it did not take very long for Vernon’s relatively small original cemetery to become quite full (as well as, unfortunately, rather unkempt).

One or two years into the start of the 20^th century, in either 1901 or 1902 (I have seen sources that cite both of those years), the City of Vernon opted to purchase land for use as a new cemetery.

The land to do just happened to be located on Pleasant Valley Road, which naturally is where Pleasant Valley Cemetery derives its name from.

However, at the very beginning of its life, this location was known as both the Vernon Cemetery (just like its predecessor) and the Vernon Municipal Cemetery.

Once this new cemetery had been established in Vernon, Pioneer Park Cemetery was closed for burials. In the decades since, all of the burial plots have now been removed (with many being reinterred at Pleasant Valley Cemetery).

And in a lovely nod to the history of that piece of land, some of the grave markers were used to build a memorial wall at the east side of the old cemetery, which is today a small public park called Pioneer Park Cemetery.

Others – much like those laid to rest beneath them – were moved to Pleasant Valley Cemetery. And it is very cemetery that we will now be diving straight into exploring together.

Located at 4311 Pleasant Valley Road, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, Pleasant Valley Cemetery has been in continuous operation for an impressive 120 – 121 years and counting at this point (that being 2022).

Those wishing to visit this cemetery can do so year-round during the following times:

March 15th – October 15^th: 8 am to dusk

October 16^th – March 14^th: 8 am to 4 pm

One enters Pleasant Valley Road Cemetery through a wide, somewhat low wrought iron gate attached to two stonework columns. Upon doing so, you will instantly be greeted by a serene (drivable) pathway that is heavily flanked on both sides by tall, lushly verdant trees.

From the outset, one might not expect Vernon’s main burial ground to be as large as it is when you simply pass by it on your way to somewhere else.

However, one need only walk a few metres into Pleasant Valley Cemetery to begin to get a sense of the expansiveness of this immensely lovely final resting place of more than 17,000 individuals and counting.

Vernon’s Pleasant Valley Road Cemetery is divided into two sections: Evergreen and Maple, both of which are then broken down further into blocks, rows, and plots in which ones finds a wide array of different marker styles spanning some that were moved there from the original Pioneer Cemetery straight on to burials as recent as the same season you are visiting.

If you plan to walk around the cemetery, I would suggest wearing comfortable shoes in which your feet will not begin to ache quickly as you will be covering a decent amount of ground if you wish to see the whole of Pleasant Valley Cemetery on foot.

Naturally though, if one lives nearby or will be in the vicinity for multiple days, you could opt to explore various parts of the cemetery on different days.

When this cemetery was established at the start of the 20^th century, it initially covered an expanse of seventeen acres. However, it did not actually take very long for that space to be used up.

Therefore, as time went on, more of the adjacent land was purchased over the years to accommodate new burials (today it comes in at about thirty acres of land).

Prior to that point, however, in 1909, Pleasant Valley Cemetery witnessed a truly dark day when a fire at the Okanagan Hotel took the lives of eleven people.

A memorial was erected to honour a man named Archie Hickling, who perished in the blaze while helping to save others. In addition, a stone marker commemorates the victims of that tragic event which rocked the community of Vernon.

While Pleasant Valley Cemetery does not house anyone famous enough to likely be a household name the world over, it is home to a number of notable early residents and/or some of their family members. Amongst them is one of Price Ellison’s daughters.

There are some strikingly beautiful older monuments and headstones (and a few wrought iron plot fences) to be had in Pleasant Valley Cemetery.

A good number of which were the work of skilled Scottish stonecutter William Inkster, who moved to Vernon in 1903 – a mere one year after the (then) new cemetery was opened.

Mr. Inkster (I love that last name, BTW) founded the Vernon Granite and Marble Company, with some of the earliest granite coming from the properties of the Lefroy family and that of Price Ellison, whose daughter was just mentioned.

That granite can still be seen today in the antique headstones that still stand at Pleasant Valley Cemetery, quite a few of which include – as one would expect, especially for the time period – an array of Christian symbols and religious/spiritual inscriptions.

From very early on in its history, this cemetery has included a section that was/is designated for Chinese burials. Most of the markers located there are, naturally, in Mandarin or Cantonese.

While vertical headstones continue to be erected for some of the newer burials at this cemetery, the bulk of the recent cremation burials (as opposed to casket burials) are designated by small horizontal shaped markers that lay close to the ground.

Many peacefully pretty trees (including plenty of pines) coupled with an array of flowering bushes call this cemetery home as well.

Their presence offers an additional element of tranquillity and helps to create an even more beautiful setting for those buried at Pleasant Valley Cemetery and those who visit it alike.

As touched on earlier in this post, one of the standout features of this cemetery is the sweeping and rather majestic view of the city and the mountains on the opposite side of Vernon that can be viewed from some spots throughout the grounds.

I have had the joy of visiting many cemeteries throughout my lifetime and I can confidently say that few had/have views quite as breathtaking as this deeply peaceful one.

In addition to an area being designated early on for the burials of Chinese citizens, separate sections were also portioned out early on for members of civic clubs (including the Oddfellows), as well as for infants.

Following WWI, a spot was set aside to be used specifically for members of the Great War Veterans Association.

Areas were also singled for those who died while in the (devastatingly wrong and unjust) internment camps that were set up in the North Okanagan during both WW1 and WW2.

An October 2019 Vernon Morning Star article states that the first person to be buried in the city’s then newly established cemetery was a woman named Mrs. Ellen Johnson Wilding Weeks.

Originally from Shrewsbury, England, Ellen was born on January 22, 1847. She married a fellow named Thomas Weeks in 1867 and, nearly three decades later, the couple moved to Vernon with their five children.

Rather interestingly, the home that Thomas Weeks built for his family to live in is still standing to this day. It is now known as the Rice House and can be seen on 20^th Street in Vernon.

Sadly, on October 5, 1901, Ellen passed away from tuberculosis (then commonly called “consumption”) at the age of just 54 years old. Three days later she was laid to rest in Pleasant Valley Cemetery.

Less than two year on, her husband Thomas, aged 60, passed away from liver disease and was buried in the plot immediately alongside that of his beloved wife.

And while none of Ellen and Thomas’s children are interred at this cemetery, two of their grandchildren joined them at the family plot later on in the century.

(Note: If indeed that date was Ellen’s correct date of death, then it would imply that the cemetery was opened in 1901, not 1902. Though I am still trying to get some definitive answers there as both years are readily cited in various historical sources and online articles.)

However, due to the fact that some of the grave markers from Vernon’s very first cemetery were moved to Pleasant Valley, Ellen’s date of death is not the earliest to be had at this location.

These belong to some of the members of the Johnson family who passed away on various dates in the two decades preceding the creation of the original Vernon Cemetery.

I am likewise trying to determine if these individuals’ bodies are interred at Pleasant Valley Cemetery or if markers have “just” been placed there in memory of these early Vernon pioneers.

Sadly, the earliest death that appears on these markers is that of James O. Johnson, who was born on August 23, 1861, and who perished the very next day.

In the years to come, three other Johnson family members would also pass away at devastatingly young ages, their names, in turn, appearing on this same stone as well.

Another marker that will tug at the heartstrings of many who come across it is the inscribed memorial stone that was put in place as a memory of those who passed away between 1948 and 1961 in the Vernon-based BC Provincial Home for the Aged.

This marker came to be in recent times thanks to the hard work of two members (Alice Lee and Gilda Koenig) of the Vernon and District Family History Society who raised funds in order to have this stone created and placed at the cemetery.

Of the roughly 500 people who died in that government-run senior citizen’s home, it is believed that about 377 of them are buried at Vernon’s cemetery. However, only seventy or so of those people are laid to rest beneath headstones/markers, with the rest residing in unmarked graves.

Not uncommonly, little to no information whatsoever is now known about these individuals, so it is all the more important that their memory not be lost entirely in the mists of time.

As such, in addition to the monument rock, forty-one other rocks have been placed in a row to commemorate this group of people further – many of whom died and were, unfortunately, buried alone (that is to say, without any of their family present).

Today, burials (be they of bodies or cremated remains) continue to take place at Pleasant Valley Cemetery.

However, according to a 2019 article in the Vernon Morning Star newspaper, the city believes – and is making advance plans for the fact that – there is likely only about 25 to 30 years of space left for new burials at this location.

While no new (burial) ground is being broken quite yet, the city – which owns the current cemetery – will strive to get a jump on the day when Pleasant Valley is at max capacity by starting work on a new cemetery at least five to ten years in advance of that estimated point in time.

I have not heard or read, but like to assume that when that day comes, the City of Vernon will continue to maintain Pleasant Valley Cemetery.  

Time shall tell, but I for one will be keeping my fingers and toes tightly crossed when Vernon’s current cemetery reaches its limit and a new one is opened, Pleasant Valley will continue to stand as the beautiful, tranquil, and historically important spot that it is for many more generations to come.

The similarities and differences of cemeteries everywhere

Though this cemetery shares a moniker with scores of others around the world and there are additional common points to be had as well, like most burial grounds, it is not a carbon copy of any other out there.

This North Okanagan burial ground holds elements that help to set it apart and, in the process, endure it all the more to the hearts of many who spend time at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Vernon, BC.

Ultimately, even when various cemeteries and/or graveyards are rather similar to one another, it is vital to remember that they will forever be differentiated from one another by the fact that different groups of individuals were interred at each one.

Save for those very rare cases where part of a body was laid to rest (or their ashes sprinkled or housed at) at one cemetery and another/the rest at a different one, it is very uncommon for one individual to reside at two different cemeteries.

Vernon is the oldest community in the Okanagan and while its present-day cemetery is not the region’s largest or most senior, having been established roughly 121 years ago and presently clocking in at about thirty acres, it is certainly amongst them.

I feel very fortunate to live in a part of the country that is peppered with fascinating, beautiful, and diverse cemeteries up and down the region and to get the chance to visit some of them periodically.

For, after all, as I began this post by saying, the passing of time will eventually lead us all to our last breath. I have no idea if anyone will remember me after I am gone and my living relatives at the time have also crossed over.

Whether anyone will or not, while I am on this side of the soil, I make it my mission to remember and honour the lives, spirits, hopes, dreams, and accomplishments of all those who rest in eternal slumber at the cemeteries I am able to visit in person.

So long as my health permits, plans are in the works to spend time at some others around our region this year. It is a safe bet to say that future Cemetery Journey posts devoted to those equally poignant places will transpire here in due course as well. (I can hardly wait! )

What is your favourite season in which to spend time at cemeteries/graveyards? What was the last burial ground that you visited for non-funeral-related reasons?

The post Cemetery Journeys: Springtime in Bloom at Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Vernon, BC appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

The inaugural post took an in-depth look at Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery. It also delved the history of Kelowna itself, as well as that of cemeteries as a whole in Western Canada.

If you are unfamiliar with the history of non-First Nations burial grounds in this part of the world, I highly encourage you check out that post. The information it contains is applicable to many different cemeteries from around these Canadian parts and will continue to apply to most (if not all of) the various entries that this post series will house.

Despite the various challenges both of the ongoing pandemic and those that have been present in my own life throughout 2021, I am delighted to say that I’ve had a chance to visit a few different cemeteries this year (some, even, for the very first time ).

The respite, happiness, serenity, spiritual connections, education, and enjoyment alike that each visit brings my taphophilia adoring soul knows no bounds.

As Tony – bless his caring heart knows – there are few more effective ways to bolster my mood and help set my world right again (or at least temporarily suspend some of my worries and stresses) than time spent at a burial ground.

Knowing this, when I’m really struggling, worried, fighting extra hard on the physical or mental health front, or otherwise in need of a pick-me-up, he often drives me to various cemeteries throughout our region. The time that I spend at them never fails to help ground me and lift my spirits (pun mildly intended, sentiment no less sincere).

Naturally, I often visit cemeteries when things are not as rough as well. The same benefits still come my way in spades and are no less appreciated whether I’m on cloud nine, hovering above rock bottom, or anywhere in between.

It means the world to me that Tony understands how much visiting cemeteries means to me and the powerfully helpful impact that doing so can have on my health, well-being, and spirituality alike.

Awesomely, he also really enjoys spending time at and photographing burial grounds. Thus, our visits to such locations are frequently ones we savour side-by-side. Making the experience all the more enjoyable and memorable for both of us.

Our springtime jaunt to Kelowna took us an hour south of our wee town of Armstrong. In the second of our cemetery journeys, we’ll be heading about half an hour north to explore the serenely beautiful Mt. Ida Cemetery in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

But first, let’s get to know this sun-kissed, Shuswap Lake-filled corner of BC – which has been a tourist hotspot for many decades now – a bit better.

A very brief history of Salmon Arm, British Columbia

To those unfamiliar with Salmon Arm, its name may, understandably, raise an eyebrow or two.

After all, salmon, like fish in general, do not have arms.

Lest you think that some sort of Blinky-worthy salmon plies the waters of this province, let me assure you that the name Salmon Arm has nothing to do with appendages on fish.

Instead, it pertains to the fact that the large body of water called Shuswap Lake that Salmon Arm is located alongside has four “arms” (they are Shuswap Arm, Seymour Arm, Anstey Arm, and Salmon Arm, respectively). Each of which, historically, experienced large runs of salmon that used to fill the creeks that empty into Shuswap Lake.

This lake – one of the loveliest and most visited in the province – drains, via Little Shuswap River, into a smaller body of water called Little Shuswap Lake.

Fascinatingly, Little Shuswap Lake is the source of the South Thompson River, which is a branch of the Thompson River – itself a tributary of that lengthy, serpentine body of water that flows throughout a long swath of British Columbia, the majestic Fraser River.

The word “Shuswap” stems from the Shuswap or Secwepemc First Nations People, who are the most northerly of the Interior Salish Peoples. In their own language, the Shuswap call themselves ʃǝxwépmǝx.

Salmon Arm is located in the Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior region of British Columbia. Though established as a town more than a century prior, it was not until 2005 that Salmon Arm officially became a city.

Do keep in mind, my dear readers, that the term “city” is used somewhat generously here throughout Canada. With a 2016 population of just over 17,700 inhabitants, Salmon Arm won’t exactly be vying on the population front with places such as Tokyo, New York, San Paulo, Cairo, or Moscow anytime soon.

Nevertheless, a city Salmon Arm is all the same and its modest population size only helps to add to the small-town charm of this gorgeous location.

In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, British Columbia was awash with metal rushes, particularly those pertaining to silver and gold.

The importance of these events, the throngs of prospectors and other people they brought to British Columbia, and the towns that they helped to establish all contributed greatly to the present-day population and layout alike of this province.

In the mid-1860s, the Big Bend Gold Rush along the hefty Columbia River saw an influx of prospectors traversing the interior of BC, some of whom journeyed through the Shuswap region.

The general area was noted by famed explorer David Thompson a few decades prior however, when in 1815 he recorded a lake called “Shuswap” in his travel writings.

The first non-indegious peoples exploration started in earnest throughout the area in the mid-19^th century.

In 1880s, the Canadian Pacific Railway surveyed this corner of the province. In due course, track was laid and gradually settlement sprung up in the area throughout that decade and ever onward.

As one might imagine, the first corners of the Shuswap region that were settled housed the greatest potential as agricultural centres, as well as being both accessible and logical as routes in and out of the community.

The District Municipality of Salmon Arm was officially incorporated in 1905 and though it would, for a time during the mid-20^th century be classified as a village again, it did not take long for the municipality status to return in 1970.

Throughout the first years of the 20^th century, Salmon Arm established a well-deserved reputation as being an excellent producer of various types of fruit – particularly apples, pears, and plums.

This orchard industry helped the budding community to grow all the more and, in the process, made it a hub of both the immediate area and of this general region of the province as a whole.

No single individual or group was solely responsible for the creation and expansion of Salmon Arm and its smaller surrounding communities (such as Westwold, Coldstream, and Enderby).

Naturally, as with most communities, various early settlers left important marks on the area and some of their names are still familiar to many locals and those with an interest in BC’s history to this day.

Amongst this group of pioneers, settlers, prospectors, entrepreneurs and others one finds individuals such as overlander Alexander Leslie Fortune.

Mr. Fortune pre-empted some land that now sits slightly south of the present-day community of Enderby – which, at the time, was called Fortune’s Landing after Alexander himself.

Prior to coming west, Fortune married a woman named Bathia Ross and the two remained wed during the twelve – yes, you read that right, twelve – long years that he was out west and she was back east in Lancaster, Ontario.

Once reunited in person, the two lived in the North Okanagan-Shuswap area for decades, where they were well known for their kindness, hospitality, generosity, and civic-mindedness.

Their important contributions to the development of this part of the province and their surname alike continue to reverberate through various corners of the region, including in the name of Fortune Creek, which runs between Enderby and Armstrong.

In 1885, during the construction of the local railway (which was completed the following year), a brewery and gambling house called Dutch Charlie’s opened its doors. That same year, the first house in Salmon Arm was built by a German settler on what is today Beatty Street.

Dutch Charlie’s would be a relatively short-lived operation, however, with provincial police shutting it down in 1890 after an unsolved murder occurred on the premise.

In 1907, the first local newspaper – The Salmon Arm Observer – went into production. It remains in operation, including in digital form, to this day.

The Shuswap District (aka, Shuswap Region) sits immediately atop the Okanagan Region and to the East of the Thompson-Nicola District (in which one finds the city of Kamloops, which, with a population just shy of 100,000 inhabitants, is the province’s 12^th largest municipality).

Much as with Okanagan Lake to the south, Shuswap Lake experienced a good deal of travel via boat, with the S.S. Marten (a Hudson’s Bay Company-operated steamer) being the first commercial boat to set sail on the sparkling waters of this lake.

This occurred back in 1866 and while Shuswap Lake have not been used as a primary means of transportation or commerce in the area for a number of decades now, it is still enjoyed by many pleasure crafters, swimmers, kayakers, paddleboarders, and others every year.

Salmon Arm has experienced continued population and industry expansion for many years now. As the largest community in the Shuswap region (and one that is situated on the majestic 89 kilometre/55 mile long Shuswap Lake), it is no surprise that tourists and those looking to relocate to the area flock to this picturesque corner of BC.

These days, Salmon Arm’s economy is guided by numerous sources, including tourism, lumber (sawmills have operated in the area since the late Victorian era), dairy farming, orchards, and manufacturing.

Visitors and residents alike enjoy the beaches, walking paths, and other amenities offered by Shuswap Lake, as well as the city’s museums (including the wonderful RJ Haney Heritage Park & Museum, which I’ve shared photos of over the years on my Instagram account), art gallery, local theatre group, assortment of both chain and independently operated shops, and the stunning outdoor scenery that surrounds and fills the town.

Salmon Arm is flanked by numerous lofty hills and mountains, and it is from one of the latter that the city’s primary burial ground, Mt. Ida Cemetery, takes its name.

Mt. Ida Cemetery in Salmon Arm

British Columbia’s cemeteries might not be the oldest in the world, but they must surely be amongst the most picturesque and peaceful.

A good many were built in areas that remain rich with breathtaking natural scenery to this day. Abundant trees, small hills, wildflowers and other natural charms often share space with gravestones whose dates span a century or more at this point.

This is precisely the case when it comes to Salmon Arm’s oldest and largest burial ground: Mt. Ida Cemetery.

This idyllically pretty Shuswap District cemetery is located at 2290 Foothill Road SW, Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

It is open between 7 am and 8 pm daily, year-round.

Mt. Ida, the actual mountain, is believed to have been named in the 1870s (possibly by a Mr. J. Richardson) after Mount Ida on the island of Crete.

It should be noted that Mt. Ida in Salmon Arm, BC, is not related to the identically named Mt. Ida that is located in Kakwa Provincial Park, BC. The latter of which, at an impressive 3,192 metres tall and boasting a classic pyramidal shape, more than earns its nickname as the Matterhorn of the North.

In addition, it is important to remember that Mt. Ida is the name that the mountain in the Shuswap was given by white settlers. In the language of the local First Nations Peoples, this hill is known as Kela7scen, and it is considered a sacred site to indigenous communities of this area.

As a population began to be established in Salmon Arm and its smaller satellite communities, a cemetery naturally became a needed element of the township.

Once a suitable location was determined on the (then) outskirts of town, Mt. Ida Cemetery was opened and saw its first burial in 1894.

Two years after passing away from tuberculous at the age of just 26, Mr. Charles McGuire was reinterred at the Mt. Ida Cemetery. He was the son of Sarah Agnes and Alexander McGuire, two of the area’s earliest non-First Nations inhabitants.

After its closure as a public house, it was Charles McGuire who helped to turn Dutch Charlie’s into a locl trading post, all the while working to secure the burgeoning community’s mail contract.

The family’s name lives on in the area to this day via McGuire Lake and the adjacent McGuire Lake Park in Salmon Arm.

At the time of its opening, Mt. Ida Cemetery was a modest one acre of land that had been purchased by the local Methodist community with the (presumed) aim of it being a Methodist focused burial ground.

The Salmon Arm Reporter tells us that in 1909, ownership of Mt. Ida Cemetery was transferred to the municipality of Salmon Arm, under whose care it has remained ever since.  

As one might expect, a fair number of the area’s first settlers and some of their descents have been laid to rest in Mt. Ida Cemetery over the years.

The earliest sections of the cemetery are now more than 125 years old and numerous headstones exist there which date from the 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, and 1920s. With continued burials from that point onward to the present day occuring throughout the grounds of this cemetery.

While the whole of Mt. Ida Cemetery is now considerably larger than its single acre beginnings, it is not so huge or challenging to traverse that one cannot explore the whole of it in a single outing – time, weather, and other circumstances permitting, of course.

The Old Section of the cemetery, as the original section is known by locals, includes a captivating array of grave markers and headstones.

These include such styles as tabletop markers, tablet stones, set-ins, ledgers, obelisks, urns, open books, lambs and doves (typically used for those who passed away at a very young age), and numerous sizes and types of crosses, including Celtic crosses.

This portion of Mt. Ida Cemetery is located on a tranquil grass knoll that basks in the refreshing shade and beauty of numerous maple trees, all of which reside at the foothills, so to speak, of Mt. Ida itself.

In addition to those of Northern and Central European ancestry, amongst Mt. Ida’s earliest residents, one finds members of the Chinese Canadian community as well. Later interments include those from many different parts of the world and numerous grave markers appear in languages other than English.

Mt. Ida Cemetery is maintained by the city of Salmon Arm and like many Canadian burial grounds, includes a section specifically for members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

In addition, a touchingly lovely memorial cairn has been placed to the right of this section of the cemetery with small plaques bearing the names of fifty local veterans.

According to the Findagrave.com entry from Mt. Ida Cemetery, as of the time this post is being written (in November 2021), there are approximately 5,302 memorials on the premise. A space that sprawls across about 110 acres, only nine of which have been deemed suitable for internment usage.

Annually, about 75 to 80 new individuals are being housed at Mt. Ida Cemetery.

In addition to in-ground burials, the city of Salmon Arm recently put installed a new 24-unit columbarium for cremation internments.

Interestingly, as Mt. Ida Cemetery is now nearing the maximum number of burials that are permitted in the suitable ground that is available, the city has obtained a new piece of land and is developing the Shuswap Memorial Cemetery on it.

This newly constructed 25-acre cemetery is located at the southeast end of Salmon Arm at 2700 20th Avenue SE. It provides grave plots, scattering gardens, family vessels, and columbariums.

A peaceful early autumn visit to Mt. Ida Cemetery

In the first days of this fall, Tony and I decided to take a late afternoon drive up to Salmon Arm.

More than a year had passed since we had last stopped in to visit Mt. Ida Cemetery while in Salmon Arm and the start of what is both of our favourite season seemed like an ideal time to do so again.

While I have photographed parts of Mt. Ida Cemetery on previous visits, I’ve not yet shared many (if any) of those images publicly (though hope to do so as time goes on).

All of the images of Mt. Ida Cemetery housed in this blog post were taken by me with my iPhone in September 2021.

The day we were there was chillier than one might expect for the very start of autumn and rain had fallen prior to our arrival at the cemetery.

A few brief spits tumbled down while we were there, too, but not enough to send us fleeing for the car.

The sky overhead summersaulted between hues and intensity of light. One moment it was a mix of dusty periwinkle and aged sand, the next glisteningly blue, and the next still as grey as the antique headstones that dot the property itself.

All around us, the many trees, shrubs, and other greenery of Mt. Ida Cemetery were embracing the current season and glowing resplendently in their early fall colours.

Much of the earth and bark mulch at Mt. Ida has a warm, naturally reddish-brown colour to it which was brought to the fore all the more by the damp conditions and accompanying fall foliage.

I will happily visit a cemetery at any point in the year, but especially welcome the opportunity to do so during the autumn months.

Not only does the local landscape stand to be awe-inspiringly gorgeous, but the powerful connection between the departed and the weeks that span the Pagan sabbats of Mabon and Samhain provide an even greater spiritual connection, as the veil thins to its most gossamer point in the year.

On this visit, knowing that I would be blogging about the history of Mt. Ida Cemetery, I was keen to cover as much ground there as I realistically could before the day’s light gave up the ghost.

While, interestingly, I did not spy Charles McGuire’s headstone (I will be keeping an eye out for it on future visits), I did have the pleasure of documenting many other early grave markers belonging to some of the area’s first settlers.

When visiting a cemetery, my interest and focus generally lies with pre-circa 1960s inhabitents. However, I make a point of exploring as much of a given burial ground as I possibly can. And, in the process, reflecting on and paying my respects to both the more recently departed and those who have been laid to rest for a good many years now.

If you are planning a visit to Mt. Ida Cemetery in Salmon Arm, BC, and wish to explore it thoroughly, I would suggest allotting anywhere from 2 to 4+ hours to do so.

Having been there before, I had a lay of the land already (including knowing where the Old Section is located) and that helped to save time.

There are no washrooms on premise (objectively, few cemeteries I have ever been to included public washrooms), however, there are a small number of benches around the property if you wish or need to stop and get off your feet for a while.

The terraian is a mix of unpaved and paved paths, as well as ample grass and bare soil covered ground.

If you visit from about May to mid-September (or later still if it is an especially warm autumn), please note that the mosquitoes on the property can be brutally thick.

A previous summertime visit saw me inundated by more mosquitoes than at almost any other time and place in my entire life.

All that to say, if you pop by Mt. Ida during the warmer months, use bug spray and wear clothing that covers as much of your body as possible.

Much to our delight and relief, nary a single mosquito was spotted while we were there at the start of this autumn.

As well, once the snowy season returns it becomes trickier to traverse the whole of the cemetery on foot unless one is sporting suitable wintertime footwear, such as snow boots or even snowshoes.

However, that said, the paved and unpaved pathways (some of which cars are permitted to drive on) should be a bit easier to tackle even in the snow.

Given its relatively close proximity to our house, the fairly large number of interments, and the rich history that this burial ground contains, it is safe to say that will continue to visit Mt. Ida Cemetery from time to time.

Especially during the fall months, when this historic Shuswap District cemetery presents a celebration of both departed human lives and the last days of the year’s mesmerizing foliage.

Have you ever visited Salmon Arm’s Mt. Ida Cemetery? Which of the grave markers featured in this post sparked your interest the most?

Explore additional burial grounds that have been visited in the Cemetery Journeys post series:

–Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery, Kelowna, British Columbia

The post Cemetery Journeys: Enjoying Early Autumn at Mt. Ida Cemetery in Salmon Arm, BC appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Halloween and Samhain are mere days away – a point that makes this autumn adoring witch immeasurably happy.

As a season that is inherently connected to themes of harvesting, change, endings, and death, it is no surprise that autumn – and in particular, October – is inextricably linked with cemeteries and graveyards.

Plenty of these are rendered in decoration form during the spooky season and they can be a wonderfully hair-raising thrill to experience.

However, the real deal was the original deal, so to speak, and it is this type of burial ground that we’ll be focusing on in today’s post.

Whether you are a fellow taphophile (if this term is new to you, be sure to check out my in-depth post, What Is Taphophilia? Exploring the Fascinating Subject of Grave Hunting) or simply someone who enjoys visiting cemeteries and graveyards, these hallowed spots are a nearly universal element of the human experience and one that provides no shortage of interest and inspiration to many.

So much so, in fact, that numerous folks over the years have opted to create whole websites and blogs devoted to subjects such as cemeteries, graveyards, headstones, funerals, burials (including the green burials), and death positivity.  

Enmeshed as we currently are in the heart of All Hallows’ season, with that most liminal of days (Samhain/Halloween) rounding the bend again, I thought now would be an excellent time to share a selection of cemetery focused blogs with you.

These sites are chocked full of lovely photographs, fascinating history, passionate writing, and ample inspiration for taphophiles, history buffs, genealogists, and many others who enjoy visiting and/or learning about cemeteries and the souls who were laid to rest there.

It is my pleasure to bring you a list of 13 awesome cemetery focused blogs that every taphophile should be following.

As quite possibly the least pushy person or bossy person ever, please note that I use the word “should” very lightly here. Consider it a suggestion to do so if these kinds of blogs appeal to you, not an order by any means.

13 wonderful cemetery blogs for taphophiles and graveyard fans everywhere

Adventures in Cemetery Hopping

Founded at the start of 2013 by Traci Rylands, Adventures in Cemetery Hopping houses a large number of posts devoted to – as you likely guessed from its name – cemeteries.

Traci’s photo-rich posts feature an array of different US cemeteries, often with a focus on one or more particular grave(s) at a specific burial ground (including, in some instances, those of celebrities).

If you’re an armchair cemetery traveller, settle in, clear your schedule for a few hours, and get lost in the informative and highly engaging burial grounds Traci treats her readers to every month.

A Grave Announcement

The introductory slogan of A Grave Announcement is “Unearthing the Lives of the Dead”. Much to the delight of cemetery and history enthusiasts everywhere, this blog lives up to that tagline in spades.

It is a deeply engaging site that takes an in-depth, well-researched look at the lives of various deceased individuals and the final resting places they now call home.

Billion Graves

The blog Billion Graves (which is the companion blog to the well-known and very popular website, BillionGrave.com) not only discusses burial grounds, but also takes a look at other areas pertaining to death, mourning, internment, and genealogy.

From Victorian Mourning Clothes (another favourite subject of mine) to Native American Burial Rites, this website does an excellent and respectful job of detailing the past and present history of death, mourning, and remembrance.

Canadian Cemetery History (blog)

As you will have no doubt deduced from the name of this blog, Canadian Cemetery History is a site devoted to documenting the history of various Canadian burial grounds (with an emphasis on those in Ontario).

As a born and raised Canadian who just happens to be a passionate taphophile, it’s safe to say that it was love at first sight for me when I hit upon this blog.

One need not be a fellow canuck to enjoy Canadian Cemetery History, however. Its content is thoroughly interesting, richly informative, and accompanied by no shortage of photos from each cemetery featured. If the subject of burial grounds in general interests you, this blog is apt to be right up your alley.

Cemetery Club

On the Cemetery Club’s about page, blog author Sheldon K. Goodman states that “Burial Grounds are like libraries – admittedly, libraries of the dead”. I adore – and very much agree with – this insightful comparison and feel it does a terrific job of capturing the spirit and care that goes into each insightful British history and photo-filled entry housed on Cemetry Club.

Cemetery Photography by Chantal Larochelle

You know that feeling when you hit upon a blog and instantly feel like, if you had the pleasure of meeting them, you’d likely be fast friends with the soul behind that site? In my case, I got that sense the moment I discovered the site Cemetery Photography by Chantal Larochelle.

A fellow Canadian with a keen interest in photographing cemeteries (something I adore doing as well, as you may have spotted both here and on my Instagram), Chantal skillfully captures the soulful beauty of cemeteries and the headstones they house.

Her lovely images are accompanied by blog posts that span a wide array of not only cemetery locations, but also topics pertaining to various death and burial ground-related matters (for example, cemetery etiquette).

Cemetery Travel

One of the best-known and longest-standing blogs in the wee world that is the burial ground blogosphere, Cemetery Travel is a taphophile’s dream site.

The creation of author Loren Rhoads (whose excellent books Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel and 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die are must-reads for grave hunters and history buffs everywhere), this splendid site showcases and discusses dozens of different cemeteries around the world, each accompanied by photos and enjoyable insights on these locations.

Loren’s posts – just like her books – are engaging, informative, and always a great read.

Goth Gardening

For several years now, I have had the pleasure of engaging online via our respective blogs (starting my now long retired vintage fashion blog) with the sweet soul behind Goth Gardening. Her blog, while not exclusively related to cemetery topics, covers this subject extensively and she is a passionate fellow taphophile all the way!

I adore the thought and research that the Goth Gardener pours into her entries, just as I do the emphasis she places on highlighting the lives and ensuing deaths of females across the ages.

Presently, she is penning a book related to that important topic, which is provisionally titled Women Writers Buried in Virginia Cemeteries. I’m sure it will be a fantastic and highly informative read, just as her blog posts themselves are.

Graveyards of Scotland

To date, I have not had the pleasure of setting foot on Scottish soil. This country has, however, captured my heart and imagination for as far back and I can recall. Visiting its ancient soil is a travel dream I dearly hope can come to fruition one day.

In the meantime, I am clocking many an armchair traveller frequent flyer mile via the fantastic blog, Graveyards of Scotland.

On this engaging site, one is treated to a treasure trove of beautiful photographs detailing various parts of Scotland (many a gravesite included) and accompanying posts that are every bit as lovely. If you have even so much as a faint interest in Scotland, I cannot recommend this blog highly enough.

The Cemetery Traveller

Passion and research go hand-in-hand on The Cemetery Traveler blog, which is choc-a-block with posts devoted to various American cemeteries.

Run by Ed Synder, this site has been bringing the web and world at large high-quality cemetery content (some of which Ed has compiled in a self-published book, The Cemetery Traveler) for more than a decade now and is sure to appeal to taphophiles and history fans both inside and out of the States.

The Graveyard Detective

Another long-time leading light in the world of cemetery blogs, The Graveyard Detective honours the departed with compassionate explorations into the lives and final resting places of those interred at various British cemeteries. Readers with an interest in war history will appreciate the attention paid to victims of 20th-century battles, such as WWI.

The Jolly Taphophile

Being such a young province in terms of non-First Nations inhabitants, a fair number of British Columbia’s burial grounds are pioneer cemeteries, housing the remains of some of the province’s 19th and early 20th century residents.

As a result of having lived in BC for much of my life, I have a soft spot for pioneer cemeteries and adore the fact that Sharon, the Canadian blogger (and fellow death positive taphophile) behind The Jolly Taphophile, shares this interest.

Her site, which has been going strong since 2010, teems with visits to various older cemeteries and explorations into their history. Many of these entries star a video from her enjoyable YouTube channel, Amongst the Headstones.

The London Dead

In a city with some of the world’s most beautiful, historically rich, and well-known burial grounds, it’s no surprise that a fellow cemetery fan decided to start a blog devoted to London’s cemeteries. That is precisely what Mr. David Bingham has done with The London Dead.

This site explores the fascinating history of London’s cemeteries, crypts, and churchyards (with travel posts to additional destinations). If your heart beats extra fast for ornate, elegant yesteryear European cemeteries, this is the blog for you!

(Please, do note that some of the posts on The London Dead are NSFW and definitely not for young eyes either due to the adult content they contain.)

_{(The images above all hail from, and are the respective property of, the blogs that they are linked back to.)}

Additional blogs and websites about cemeteries

Honourable mention, as it is not strictly a cemetery blog, goes to The Irish Aesthete.

This instantly captivating blog shines the spotlight on the history of Ireland in an articulate, accessible manner that will have you reading for hours.

Amongst the content shared, you’ll find a slew of wonderful posts pertaining to graveyards and cemeteries around Ireland (which, as someone who lived in the Emerland Isle during my very early 20s, I can attest are, unto themselves, well worth booking a flight to Ireland to see in person).

Likewise, you may adore the sites Grave Photography (which was last updated in 2016) and Taphophile Tragics (last updated in 2012), both of which were/are cemetery-focused blogs.

The fact that neither has been updated in a few years excluded them from the list above, which focuses on active blogs. However, as their content is the bee’s knees, I definitely wanted to mention them here all the same.

As well, on top of the sites listed above, various cemeteries – for example, the Lauren Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia and Forest Lawn Cemetery in New York state, respectively – maintain fascinating and informative blogs of their own.

You may want to look up cemeteries in your area, those you visit while travelling, or which you otherwise have a keen interest in to see if they currently have a blog you could follow.

In addition, as you might imagine, there are various blogs and websites that pertain to other and/or additional elements of taphophilia. For example, areas such as the funeral industry (e.g., Funeral One), exploring historical churches (e.g., My Church Adventures), death positivity (e.g., The Order of the Good Death), and the experience of death/grieving (e.g., The Amateur’s Guide to Death and Dying).

Such websites could easily make for a blog post all their own, so if that is something you are interested in seeing here, please do not hesitate to let me know in the comments below.

Passion with multiple purposes

For many who deeply appreciate cemeteries and other taphophilia-related topics, documenting and discussing burial grounds goes far beyond elements such as the beautiful aesthetics of burial grounds.

Each of us has a unique and highly personal relationship with the subject and complexities of death.

Birth and death are set in stone for every last one of us who has ever lived. Some people are completely at ease discussing, thinking about, and focusing on topics pertaining to dying and death, others are less comfortable (understandably) with these subjects. In turn, they may not be big fans of visiting cemeteries unless required to do so for funerals or to visit deceased loved ones.

There is no right or wrong way to have a relationship with death. It is, after all, the greatest unknown.

We have theories, scientific viewpoints, religious and spiritual interpretations, and ideas of what may lay on the other side of the veil. Ultimately though (no matter how sure you may be about your beliefs, experiences, and convictions), until we breathe our last, none of us can say with absolute certainty what lies beyond.

Graveyards and cemeteries invite us to explore the subject of our mortality, as well as that of those who have gone before us.

Burial grounds remind us of both the fragility and strength of life, of the cyclical nature of existence (as we are all, to paraphrase Carl Sagan, the stuff of stardust), of loss and grief, and of celebrating the miracle of life while we’re still fortunate to be here.

Most people with a deeply seated interest in subjects pertaining to cemeteries and death have a great reverence for the departed and the sacred spaces we as a species have chosen to place many of deceased in.

Cemetery-focused blogs (as well as social media accounts on the subject) provide insight, inspiration, and information alike to those who are drawn to the subject of death for whatever reason.

I respect each of the bloggers above and really appreciate the time, effort, and passion that they pour into their captivating websites.

Much as with visiting a physical cemetery itself, these blogs are able to evoke a multitude of thoughts and feelings in their viewers, document history in the process, and remind us in a supportive way that one day we too pass on into the great beyond.

Hopefully, of course, that won’t be happening anytime soon for most of us! And while we’re still getting our mortal groove on, we can appreciate, learn from, and be inspired by cemeteries and numerous wonderful blogs devoted to burial grounds around the world.

Do you follow cemetery related blogs? What was the last cemetery or graveyard that you visited in person?

The post 13 Awesome Cemetery Focused Blogs Every Taphophile Should Be Following appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

Cemeteries and graveyards in some parts of the world have been closed to the general public during these highly challenging times, but many have remained open – frequently with Covid safety measures in place.

As a passionate taphophile, I have been visiting cemeteries since my youth. These sacred spots of eternal slumber are amongst the most serene, comforting, enjoyable, inspiring, and beautiful I have ever known.

Another irony is that cemeteries often make me feel more alive. They conjure all manner of thoughts and emotions pertaining to death, as well as to the gift of life.

Cemeteries are not amusement parks, and while there is no shame at all in feeling happy or content at a cemetery, it is important to always remember the somberness and loss they signify for many on this side of the veil who have endured the passing of a loved one.

When I spend time at a cemetery, I make a point to reflect not only on the lives of those interred there, but also on the impact their passing may have had on those who knew and cared about them.

Not everyone who dies is buried or interred in a cemetery or graveyard. Yet, no matter our final resting place, we are all connected from the very first human to the last who will ever exist by the unifying certainty that is death.

Visiting cemeteries outside of reasons such as funerals, genealogical or historical research is not everyone’s cup of tea.

I acknowledge and respect this fact. We are each different, each called to by various places and passions throughout our life.

Whether you define yourself as a taphophile or not, if you have even an inkling of an interest in graveyards, cemeteries, and the like, I hope will enjoy a new periodically occurring post series here in which I take you along with me as I explore (and sometimes reexplore) cemeteries that I have visited in person.

I am dubbing this post series “Cemetery Journeys”.

This name is both literal in the sense of that it will document trips/journeys to various cemeteries around Canada (and who knows, perhaps further afield, too ), as well as being a respectful homage to the fact that, ultimately, we are all on a journey to the grave.

Launching a series like this is something I have been keen to do since Witchcrafted Life began last year.

Now (with the first harvest sabbat of Lammas under our belts and the exciting journey towards fall, Mabon, and Samhain upon us) seemed like the ideal time to do so. And what better cemetery to begin with than one from our very own region of British Columbia: the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery.

But first…

An extremely brief history of Kelowna, British Columbia

As the largest city in this province outside of the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia, it is only natural that Kelowna serves as a hub for the valley – called the Okanagan Valley – in which it resides. Doing so, quite conveniently, in the center of this region.

Many thousands of years before the earliest Europeans set foot on the arid soil of the sun-drenched Okanagan Valley, the area was inhabited by the Sylix/Okanagan People.

This part of BC was not entirely unknown to Europeans – chiefly those involved with the fur trade in Western Canada –  in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries. However, it was not until 1859 that the first non-First Nations settlement was established in Kelowna.

This effort was led by a man whose name is now embedded in the area and who is still spoken of affectionately to this day by generations who never got the chance to met him: Father Pandosy.

Two other Oblate missionaries, Father Richard and Brother Surel, respectively, also had key roles in establishing a mission in what would one day become the city of Kelowna.

The formation of this mission helped to entice settlers from elsewhere in the province, country, and further afield to the budding community. Following that, it wasn’t too long before Kelowna’s roots as a city were firmly planted.

As the century began to tapper, Kelowna got a further boon when in 1893 the Governor-General of Canada, Lord Aberdeen, purchased a substantial amount of land in the area. Much of this land would be used for orchards, which did a great deal to bolster the area’s economy (the Okanagan Valley in general is one of North America’s largest fruit and viticulture growing centers).

As the 20^th century emerged, Kelowna’s population continued to be on the smaller side of things, sitting at about 600 inhabitants. However, that was still enough to land Kelowna status as a city in 1905.

The name Kelowna derives from an Okanagan First Nation word for grizzly bear. A majestic creature that feels like an especially fitting animal to associate with a city nestled in the heart of a wild, desert-like landscape that is famed for its breathtaking nature beauty.In the days before roads, highways, and even railways, snaked their way to the Okanagan, much of the traffic to and from Kelowna was carried out via sternwheeler boats that plied the abundant waters of Okanagan Lake.

With mining thriving in various parts of Central and Northern BC during the early 20^th century, it wasn’t long before the Canadian Pacific Railway came calling.

A touch east of Kelowna, track was laid across a beautiful chasm called Myra Canyon. From the years spanning 1916 to 1972, CPR trains traversed Myra Canyon and in doing so, helped to open up the area, bolster its economy, and put Kelowna on the map all the more.

These days, Kelowna has a population of just over 132,000 people.

Compared to many cities around the world, that might seem fairly small. However, for a province that only been inhabited by European (and other international) settlers for about two centuries now, Kelowna is quite a decent size.

Indeed, many corners of BC were not established (as the towns and cities that they are now) until the late 1800s or early 1900s.

As such, the fact that Kelowna got its start in the mid-Victorian era helps to make it one of the oldest continually settled corners of the province – especially north of the Fraser Valley/Lower Mainland area of the province. (The first white settlement in British Columbia was established in the 1790s at Fort St. John in northeastern BC.)

Naturally, as with most communities, it did not take too long for Kelowna to require, and in turn construct, a cemetery of its own.

Kelowna has had, and continues to have, various cemeteries throughout its lifetime. In this post, we are going to explore the largest of them, the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery.

Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery

Located at 1991 Bernard Avenue in Kelowna, British Columbia, the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetary spans a rolling, beautiful 50-acre space at the foot of Dilworth Mountain. It is immediately adjacent to the Kelowna Golf & Country Club, and the relative serenity of both make them well-suited neighbours.  

For those wishing to visit, the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery is open 365 days a year from 7 am – 8 pm between March 16^th and October 31^st, and from 7 am to 5 pm from November 1^st to March 15^th.

At various points in the year, Kelowna Museums offers reasonably priced guided tours that focus on a particular aspect of the cemetery’s, and by extension Kelowna as a whole’s, history.

This summer’s tour is “Kelowna’s Forgotten Chinatown”, led by local historian Bob Hayes.

Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery got its start as an Anglican Church burial ground at the turn of the last century, blossoming in the ensuing decades into a sprawling multi-cultural, historically rich cemetery with, at present, more than 25,000 memorials.

A cursory glance of the grounds that comprise the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery can be a touch deceiving. At first sight, the cemetery may not seem as large as one might expect for a city the size of Kelowna.

However, it takes but a few minutes (especially if they’re spent on foot) to quickly realize that this is anything but a small cemetery.

Fifry acres is nothing to sneeze at and while it is certainly possible for one to traverse the whole of Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery in a single (good-sized) visit, you may wish to split seeing the entire cemetery across multiple days.

That has been my approach. Done both because of the size of this burial ground and because I truly like to take my time and connect with each cemetery, and its inhabitants, that I have the joy of visiting.

Cemeteries in British Columbia, Canada

As it is safe to say that most of the cemeteries that I highlight here in this engaging new blog post series are apt to be ones located in British Columbia (where I live), we should touch on some points about cemeteries in BC in general before proceeding further.

As a collective whole, Canada is, from a non-First Nations Peoples standpoint, a very young country.

We officially became a nation in 1867, though our non-indigenous history stretches back a few hundred years earlier. Nevertheless, we’re a relative newcomer on the world stage compared to many other countries and this fact is reflected in Canada’s cemeteries.

Extremely few Canadian cemeteries proceed the mid-1700s and many are far newer still, having been established in the 19^th or 20^th centuries. (An unmarked burial site in the Maritime province of Nova Scotia is believed to house European settler graves that may date back to around the 1680s.)

Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, the vast majority of Canada’s European population was located on the Eastern side of the country – which still houses the largest portion of this nation’s inhabitants.

Gradually, western expansion and exploration unfolded. From the long treks of a small number of intrepid adventurers, hearty explorers, and fortune seekers alike, followed waves of more what might be termed more generalized migration to British Columbia.

With a shoreline nestled against the mighty Pacific Ocean, British Columbia is Canada’s most westerly province.

Before the days of planes, trains, and automobiles, it could only be reached by water travel or a lengthy overland journey which often encompassed crossing the formidable Rocky Mountains.

As a land of diverse climates, ample opportunities, and staggering natural beauty, once the western expansion ball got rolling, it didn’t take too long for BC to flourish.

New communities, towns, and cities alike sprang up rapidly through various parts of the province during the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Some – particularly when mining was involved – were relatively short-lived. Plenty though were able to not only survive, but thrive, and now account for why BC is Canada’s third most populous province.

While no shortage of fortunes were made (and plenty lost) in BC’s early days, by and large, the population that settled here was comprised of hardworking everyday folks eking out a living, building families and community ties, and helping to turn this province into the wonderful place that it is today.

What, you may be asking, does this have to do with the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery and BC’s cemeteries in general?

The answer lies in the relative humbleness and understated designs of the grave markers and other memorial elements that comprise most cemeteries in British Columbia (and to a degree, throughout much of Canada in general) – as well as the size of the cemeteries themselves.

Are there exceptions to that statement? Absolutely! One need only look, for example, to Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver or Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria to see expansive cemeteries that include an array of more ornate memorials. Many of which date to the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

However, as a whole, BC’s cemeteries are humble affairs. Few teem with the iconic colonial-era headstones of some of the graveyards in the Eastern United States or the jaw-dropping artistry and grandeur of cemeteries such as Kensal Green and Highgate in London, England.

Yet, even so, it is safe to say that each of British Columbia’s cemeteries has a heartwarmingly enduring beauty all its own.

They, like most cemeteries and graveyards the world over, also rarely lack for history – whether that past can quickly be learned about in books, museums, and online or if much of it has now been enveloped by the murky ethers of time.

A springtime visit to Kelowna Memorial Cemetery

On one of those mid-spring days when the weather has more sides to it than an octagon, my husband, Tony, and I decided to spend an enjoyable afternoon visiting the Kelowna Memorial Cemetery.

Covid rules were (and still are at the time of writing) in place and we made sure to respect them fully.

Despite the relatively mild weather that was flip-flopping from overcast to briefly sunny and back again, we saw almost no other visitors to the grounds the whole time we were there.

That isn’t to say that there weren’t potentially some there. Simply that the vastness of the 50 acres of this cemetery easily allowed us to walk for hours without encountering another living soul on that particular day.

Our visit was a general one. We didn’t come with any specific goal or research purpose in mind.

This outing was about shaking off some of the cabin fever of winter, spending time getting to know the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery (which is located just over an hour’s drive south of our small town) better, and taking photos of some of the graves and other structures on the premise.

Many a headstone and grave marker calls the Kelowna Memorial Cemetery home. In addition, cremations are housed in cremation niches, crypts, and columbaries, particularly in a part of the cemetery called the Legacy Gardens.  

Like a lot of taphophiles and graveyard adventurers (though not all, of course), I find myself – a lifelong lover and student of history – drawn to older graves.

Thankfully, Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery is happy to oblige those with a passion for the past. Various portions of the cemetery are divided into lettered sections, with the first, Section A (also known as the Pioneer Section), being dedicated to some of the oldest inhabitants.

Amongst which various founders of Kelowna are laid to rest, including a chap named Bernard Lequime who, in the 1890s, laid out the original townsite of Kelowna, and Arthur Booth Knox, after whom Kelowna’s gorgeous and highly visited Knox Mountain is named.

The Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery also houses areas specifically dedicated to both early Chinese and Japanese citizens as well.

In 2014 a granite monument was erected in the Pioneer Section on behalf of the BC Legislative Assembly to acknowledge the wrongdoings done against many early Chinese Canadians by past provincial governments.

Many more recent graves also call this cemetery home, as do an abundance of tranquilly lovely trees and many gorgeous, well-manicured flowerbeds.

As with plenty of cemeteries (of all sizes), the grave markers at the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery are in varying conditions. Quite a few are presently holding up well for their age, whereas others have succumbed to the ravages of time, moss, and weather conditions.

In general, though, I find a good percentage of the older tombstones to still be fairly legible. Some are nearly as crisp as the day they were first etched, others are clearly showing their age, but (again) remain readable.

On this visit, we did not see the whole of the cemetery – nor did we make a point to inspect every single grave in each area that we did spend time in.

Both Tony (a fellow taphophile) and I love to have more to explore and acquaint ourselves with further on future visits.

No post pertaining to the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery worth its salt would be complete without mentioning some of this burial ground’s best-known inhabitants: various members of the Bennett family, including the famously outspoken former BC Premier W.A.C Bennett and his wife, May.

Both are interred at this cemetery and in addition, the Bennett Memorial Columbaria provides above-ground monuments for the placement of private cremation remains (totalling 576 cremation niches, each of which is able to house two urns).

There is much more to see and explore at the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery beyond what appears in this post.

I hope to photograph and share additional parts of it with you in future editions of this series (as well as on my Instagram account, where I’ve been posting photos from various cemeteries for a number of years now).

This cemetery is a beautiful, well-maintained, peaceful, inspiring, and enjoyable one. I feel at ease there and love that it, like most of the cemeteries that I have the honour of visiting, resonates deeply with my spirituality as a Pagan witch.

If you should have the opportunity to visit the Kelowna Memorial Cemetery, I highly recommend doing so.

At 50 acres and more than 25,000 final resting places (be they graves, urns, scattered ashes, or memorials without actual remains), this historically rich corner of Kelowna is one that is sure to appeal to taphophiles, history buffs, genealogists, and many a goth soul alike.

Not to mention those who find solace and comfort in cemeteries.

I fall into every one of those camps myself and am excited to hopefully share many more cemeteries journeys around BC (and hopefully elsewhere as well) that I have the pleasure of undertaking. (Pun intended, sentiment no less sincere.)

Have you ever been to the Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery? What was the last cemetery or graveyard you visited?

The post Cemetery Journeys: A Visit to Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

A skilled science writer, Zimmer brings life and interest to each of the 600+ pages in this informative look at various elements of inherited and environmental genetics.

It is a stellar read and one I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in fields such as heredity, anthropology, social sciences, or genealogy.

While this post is not a book review, it was my recent reading of She Has Her Mother’s Laugh that reminded me of a topic I’ve been keen to write about for quite some time now.

Specifically, how to incorporate your generational designation into your witchcraft and magickal workings.

What is a “generational designation”?

This is a term that is often used to describe the demographic cohort to which a person belongs. Or, in other words, the societal generation that one is born into.

Societal generations encompass those living and born during a specific time period that generally spans about 15 – 30 years.

When discussing generations from a kinship perspective (that is to say, familial generations), generations are measured in similar lengths of time, typically ranging from about 20 to 30 years.

This span is considered to be one in which, especially historically speaking, an individual could go from their own birth to adulthood and the (potential) birth of their own offspring.

While one’s familial and societal generations overlap in the sense of that each of us belongs to both of these categories, for the sake of this post, we’re going to focus on your generational designation.

A brief look at the history of societal generations

Whether they applied specific names to societal generations or not, chances are humans have been viewing past, present, and future generations as being at least marginally different in some respects from one another for a very long time now.

However, the act of defining a generation and designating a specific name for it is a relatively modern concept.

Before to the 20^th century, and especially prior to the Industrial Revolution, the pace at which society and technology (not to mention areas such as science and medicine) advanced was, generally speaking, slower than it has been over the past 200 or so years.

People and their lives often experienced less pronounced change from one generation (be it kinship or societal) to the next.

The continuation of certain elements of daily life, personal and cultural beliefs, and the pace of advancement are likely contributing factors to why few societal generations prior to the 20^th century were not designated with specific names of the sort that are now part and parcel to modern sociology (e.g., The Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, or Generation Z).

Social generations are groups of people who were born in the same general time period (again, usually a range of 15 to 30 years).

These individuals are further united by certain shared cultural experiences, both at a personal level and, to a degree, those which transpired during their lifetime (though as the latter applies to everyone alive, irrespective of their societal generational, at the time when a cultural event occurs this is less of a defining factor).

Many factors contributed to the emergence of societal generational groupings. Delving deep into the intricacies of such is beyond the scoop or focus of this post.

However, it is safe to say that in addition to industrialisation, other factors included modernisation, elements of the enlightenment era, societal changes and advancements, economic growth and mobility, and (I would go so far as to argue) a more pronounced period spanning youth and adulthood (aka, one’s teenage years).

There is something very natural about viewing humanity through the lens of societal generations. Though it is important to remember that, ultimately, the creation of these groups is fundamentally a humanmade perspective and one that is, by no means, set in absolute stone.

As well, it is not uncommon for there to be varying degrees of overlap between generations, including a span of 5 to 8 eight years as one generation melds into and is ultimately surpassed by the next.

Only time itself will tell if we continue to assign names to societal generations as life proceeds on this planet in the decades and centuries to come. I suspect that we will, but – as with so much – only time will tell.

For now, the practise going strong and shows no sign of slowing down.

A list of named generations

While there is often some degree of debate as to the start and end dates of various generations, broadly speaking, the following is a general outline of the named generations of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries as they have been applied in a Western context.

-The Lost Generation: Coined from the writing of Gertrude Stein. Also known as the “1914 Generation”, “The Generation of 1914″, and “The Great War Generation”, this cohort encompassed those born from the early 1880s to the early 1900s.

These individuals reached adolescence and early adulthood during the time of WW1 and the 1920s.

A key defining feature of the Lost Generation (whose name stems Stein’s epigram to Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 book “The Sun Also Rises”, in which she stated “You are all a lost generation”) is that they experienced, and often were intimately involved with in any number of capacities, the First World War.

-The Greatest Generation (aka, the G.I. Generation): This societal generation covers those born from the early 1900s to around 1927.

Individuals born into the Greatest Generation endured the Great Depression and either both World Wars or, if born after WW1, “just” WW2.

This group is sometimes further broken down so as to distinguish between those born early on in the generation and those who came along later. Earlier members of the Greatest Generation are commonly referred to as the Interbellum Generation.

The term “The Greatest Generation” was popularized and further cemented in societal history by journalist Tom Brokaw’s eponymously named book.

-The Silent Generation: This group encompasses those born between the mid to late 1920s and 1945. Such individuals are sometimes referred to as the “Lucky Few”.

A large percentage of military personnel who were involved with the Korean War, and many (though not all) who fought in the Vietnam War were born into The Silent Generation.

Individuals born during the last few years of the Silent Generation are sometimes referred to as the “Sandwich Generation” or “Sandwich Group”.

-The Baby Boomers: Long before the term “Boomer” took on the contemporarily derogatory connotation that it now houses in various settings, the “Boomer” in “Baby Boomers” referred to the pronounced boom in birth rates that occurred in the immediate aftermath of WW2.

Baby Boomers, who are also sometimes known as the Me Generation, were born between 1946 and 1964 or so.

Many of us who are presently in our 30s or 40s – myself included – are the children of Baby Boomers.

Similar in some respects to how the Lost Generation can be further broken down into two groups, so too is the Baby Boomer generation. With those being born between the years of 1954 to 1964 sometimes being called Generation Jones.

Various factors are thought to contributed to this term, including the concept of “keeping up with the Joneses”, which was a common societal theme in much of the Western World during the relatively prosperous post-WW2 years of the 1950s and early 1960s.

-Generation X (aka, Gen X and Thirteeners): This generation followed the Baby Boomers and was quite prolific in number itself, though not to the same degree as the Boomers themselves.

Gen Xers are those born between about 1965 and either 1979 or the early 1980s (depending on your source, this could be anywhere from about 1980 to 1985). 

While this term can also be applied to some Xennials and early Millennials as well, Gen Xers are also known as the Latchkey Generation.

This is in reference to the fact that some members of this generation experienced reduced adult supervision over previous generations, at times returning home after to school to an empty house that they had to unlock themselves (as, presumably, no adults were home at the time).

The concept and cultural experiences of Gen Xers were further cemented in Canadian author Douglas Coupland’s excellent 1991 novel, Generation X. With Coupland himself being credited for coining the name Generation X.

-Xennials: A microgeneration, Xennials are those born between the late 1970s and mid-1980s. They share much in common with Generation X, but also grew up experiencing certain elements that are now seen as being characteristic of the Millennial generation.

It was with no small amount of joy that I received the news that the word Xennial had been included in the 2020 Oxford Dictionary of English, as this is the societal generation that I identify with the most (having been born in 1984 and personally identifying more, in many respects, with Gen Xers than with Millennials).

Another term for Xennials is the Oregon Trail Generation in reference to the extremely popular commuter game, The Oregon Trail, that was a common feature of some Xennials’ childhoods.

Despite this alternative name, those born into the microgeneration of Xennials often had a relatively analog childhood that shifted into a digital era during their teens or young adult years, and it is this “bridging of the generations” that helps to make those of this era their own generational demographic.

-Millennials (aka, Generation Y or Gen Y): If we encompass Xennials into the birth year range as well, those born into the Millennial generation span the period of approximately 1981 to 1996.

As some Xennials, myself included, identify with their own microgeneration, however, this range could in some contexts be shorted to (again, approximately) the years of 1985/86 to 1996.

Data released by the Pew Research Center shows that as of 2019, Millennials edged out in number over Baby Boomers (with some 71.6 million Boomers and roughly 72.1 million Millennials, respectively).

-Generation Z (aka, Gen Z, Zoomers, iGeneration, or Centennials): The second most recent generation, Gen Z encompasses people who were born between the mid to late 1990s and the early 2010s (some sources cap Gen Z at the year 2012).

Today, the eldest Zoomers are young adults, whereas those born at the tail end of generation are presently in elementary, middle, and high school.

Generation Z is sometimes further broken down to differentiate between those born earlier and later in this generation.

Later born members of Gen Z are known by various names including Zillenials, Zennials, MinionZ, and The Snapchat Generation.

-Generation Alpha (aka, Gen Alpha): A standout designation for Gen Alpha is that it is the first societal generation comprised solely of individuals born in the 21^st century.

Generation Alpha, which is named after the first letter of the Greek alphabet, is the newest generation and is projected to reach (or exceed) two billion members globally by the year 2025.

As Gen Alpha is the current generational designation for young children born from about 2010 – 2012 onward, its duration has not been officially established yet.

Following conventional generational timeframe guidelines however, it is likely that Generation Alpha will be succeeded by the next generation around the late 2020s or very early 2030s.

By the time Generation Alpha reaches adulthood in 2030s, it is estimated the world population will have reached or surpassed nine billion inhabitants.

-Cuspers: Those who have a keen interest in astrology or who were born on a date that coincides with sun’s transition from one astrological sign to the next may be familiar with the Zodiac Cusp Theory.

While some astrologers put more weight on the concept of Cusp Theory and how it may or may not influence peoples’ lives, it is an established part of astrology at this point and something that many a Cusper prides themselves on.

We also see the word Cusper used in terms of societal generations. In this context, it refers to those who were born at the end of one generational time period and the cusp of the next.

Much as in the example above of Xennials, Cuspers in general often encompass life experiences and societal designations inherent to both generations that they were born on the cusp of. They may identify more strongly with one generation than another or feel like their life and experiences reflect a fairly even-handed mixture of both generations.

Note: These generational designations are not universal to all cultures. Names, date ranges, shared experiences and other factors all combine to create various other generational designations in various parts of the world.

For example, a microgeneration called the “Born-Free Generation” exists amongst South Africans who were born between the years of approx. 1994 and 2000.

If your own respective generation was not included here, please know that the overriding concepts and suggestions outlined in this post apply every bit as much to you as well.

Identifying with your generational designation

Many of us are already familiar with what generational cohort we belong to. Some people pride themselves on using their generational designation as a defining factor of who they are, others pay little to no attention to such, and some fall in between.

There is no right or wrong here and one is not obliged to wave the flag of your generation wherever you go.

As with much in life, this is an area where doing what feels right and natural to you is usually the best path to follow.

Historians, sociologists, and genealogists (amongst others) find generational designation to be a helpful and important classification tool in various respects.

As humans, we are often drawn to defining ourselves in terms of various groupings, and generational designations are just one of many ways we’ve opted to do so over the course of our collective history.

There are exceedingly few individuals alive today who were born prior to the Silent Generation, and with each passing year, less and less members of both that generation and the Greatest Generation are still with us.

As such, it is safe to say that the majority of those reading this post belong to one of the generations that span the Greatest Generation right on up to, potentially, Generation Alpha (or at the very least, Genertion Z).

Statistically, the majority with be Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Xennials, Millennials, and Gen Zers.

This should go without saying, but (especially given the shade that is often unjustly thrown at various generations, such as Boomers and Millennials) no one generation is inherently better, superior, or “cooler” than the others.

Each generation has strengths and shortcomings, heroes and villains, triumphs and failures. We are all human and most of us do the best that we can with the knowledge, resources, and societal context available to us in the moment.

Generations are like pieces in a quilt. They are all connected to something larger than themselves and all play an important role in the fabric of society as it exists today.

What generation do you belong to? Do you feel a strong connect with it or do you feel as though your life and inner self relate more to a previous or later generation?

The topic of generational designation is a highly fascinating one and I encourage you to seek out reputable books, magazine articles, online content, TV programmes, podcasts, and so forth that explore this subject further.

How to incorporate your generational designation into your witchcraft

Now that we have briefly explored the topic of societal generations of the 20^th and early 21^st century, let’s take a look at some of the ways that we as witches and Pagans can incorporate our generational designation into our witchcraft.

Objectively – and yet, to my mind, rather surprisingly – this is not a topic I have seen other witches, Wiccans or Pagans discuss much over the years.

I have long been weaving my generational designation into my own witchy workings, however, and thought that doing so would appeal to many of my readers as well. Thus, the creation of this blog post.

For the sake of the following suggestions, it is helpful to determine which generation (or generations, if you identify as a Cusper) you belong to based both on the year you were born and the general characteristics + experiences shared amongst members of your generation.

Here are twelve ways to weave elements of your generation into your witchcraft.

1. Read, or revisit, books that were new during the generation that you were born into. While, these days, a near endless stream of new witchery, Paganism, and spiritually focused books hits the shelves each year, such was not always the case.

What was the first book you remember reading about witchcraft, Wicca or Paganism?

Was it by Scott Cunningham, Raymond Buckland, Silver RavenWolf, D.J. Conway, or someone else entirely?

Do you still own a copy today? If not, could you track one down online or off?

How has your practice evolved and changed since you first read that book?

If you didn’t grow up reading the witchery and Pagan related titles of your generation at the time, why not investigate some books from that era that would be of interest to you now and see if you can buy or borrow them.

A lot a has changed in the world of Neopaganism and witchcraft in just a few short decades, but plenty is still much the same. Connecting with books that were popular when we were growing up can give us an eye-opening look into some of the ways in which these areas continue to evolve and develop with each passing year.

If you have a book that you especially enjoy or find interesting, consider performing a working, divination ritual, guided meditation, etc that it suggests.

2. Connect with a standout cause of your generation. From the (US) civil rights happenings of the 1960s to things such as plight of the rain forest and devastating AIDS challenges of the 1980s, every generation has experienced certain standout problems and put forth efforts to tackle them that help to went on to help define that era.

What were some of the most pronounced challenges for your generation back in the day? What causes continue to be championed by those in your age group nowadays?

Looking at these areas through the lens of your spirituality, are ways you can support, bring awareness to, or otherwise assist with one or more important cause?

3. Create a magickal meal using foods of your generation. Many, if not most, of us instantly get nostalgic when we think back to some of the foods that were commonplace when we were growing up.

Whether they were homemade by mom, dad, grandma, an older cousin, or another loved one, served at our favourite local eatery, savoured at sleepovers with our childhood besties, or dishes we made ourselves as we began to cook and back, these foods hold special, meaningful places in our hearts and minds – not to mention our stomachs – alike.

Prepare a meal using kitchen witchery that focuses on some of the foods that either helped to define the culinary landscape of your generation and/or which were your personal favourites when you were growing up.

As you tuck into your meal, reflect back on the role those foods have had on your life over the years, the people who made them for you or with whom you shared those dishes in years past, and the ways that these ingredients or recipes continue to shape your culinary activities to this day.

4. Decorate an altar with items from your generation: While one could certainly create an altar to honour a time period itself, in this instance, I’m referring more to utilizing items that are characteristic to your generation or which were especially important to you when you were younger.

Our altars should always reflect our true selves, our beliefs, and our traditions. Even if you weren’t a witch yet when you were growing up, there’s no reason why you can’t include some of the things you adored back then on an altar today.

From toys to books, tarot decks to travel souvenirs, family photos to home décor pieces, there’s no shortage of possible items from your generation that you can include on an altar.

If you have, or able to source, pieces from that era itself, all the better, but if not, no sweat! Newer iterations convey the same concept and work every bit as well.

5. Do shadow or other forms of retroactive healing work pertaining to your youth. Almost everyone has experienced difficult, painful times in their life.

Whether on a personal level or in terms of some of the struggles that impacted a broader range of people at the time, if you are feeling called to do so, consider undertaking a healing journey to help further process, come to terms with, and, hopefully, move beyond some of the challenges that rocked your existence when you were younger.

Shadow work and intensive healing work is not something to be undertaken lightly. You will want to ensure that you’re presently emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually well enough to take on the myriad emotions and memories it may bring to surface and to find healthy, responsible ways to deal and move beyond these things.

Successful shadow work and retroactive healing (much as with things like ancestral and generational trauma awareness and healing) are amongst the most liberating, empowering, and eye-opening acts we can preform for ourselves, frequently proving to be life-alterteringly positive in the long run.

6. Incorporate music from your generation into some of your rituals. Or have it playing in the background while meditating, resonating through you earbuds on a nature walk, or as the auditory ambience to a delicious meal.

Many of us already listen to some of our favourite songs from when we growing up, but there’s a difference between having such tunes as part of a larger playlist and purposely selecting and mindfully connecting with them.

Consider making one or more playlists (or cue up relevant records, cassettes, or CDs if you are an analog music fan) of songs that were meaningful to you when you were younger.

Explore how they make you feel today vs when you were coming of age? What thoughts and emotions do they trigger?

In addition to listening to these types of songs, you can also sing, hum, or chant them yourself (happily, the lyrics to countless millions of songs can easily be found online these days) or perform them on a musical instrument, if that’s a skillset you possess.

You can also select lines or passages from songs to use as personal mantras, as part of the spoken portion of a spell or ritual, (printed or handwritten) displayed on your altar or elsewhere in your home, included in a spell bottle or mojo bag, broken down into a sigil, or even tattooed onto your skin, if a particular verse resonates deeply with you.

As well, you could design a piece of jewelry, garment, craft project, or home décor piece that either incorporates elements of a song that matters to you or which was inspired by a particular tune.

7. Make a tarot or oracle deck with imagery the evokes your generation: From photos to clip art, original illustrations to magazine images, there are plenty of ways to gather relevant images if you want to make your own tarot or oracle card deck.

How cool would a deck of all, say, 1950s or 1980s images be? You could seek out images that directly represented the various cards in a standard tarot deck or let your imagination soar free and create an oracle deck with images and related associations that hold meaning for you personally.

This can be a wonderfully fun, creative project and one that produces an item that then allows you to quickly connect with your generation anytime you please.

Plus, I find something highly meaningful in the act of utilizing elements of the era that gave us life to help us navigate the waters of the present day.

Note: If working with antique or vintage images, I would highly suggest photocopying or scanning and printing them, so as to preserve, and hopefully not damage, the originals.

8. Perform a working using only items that would have been available when you were in your teens or early adult years: Depending on when you came of age, that list may differ little from today or the two may be quite far removed.

For example, if the internet wasn’t around at that time, do not refer to it for any aspect of your working. Likewise, if there were no metaphysical shops around when you were growing up, try to use tools and ingredients that you could have purchased, wildcrafted, or made instead at the time.

By performing a magickal working as it would have been plausible at an earlier point in time, you are honouring the past and reminding yourself in the process that spellwork rarely needs to be fancy or elaborate to be effective.

9. Devote a part of your BOS, Grimoire, or other magickal journaling book to your generation: Reflect on your youth and on society as a whole at that time. How did those decades shape the person, and witch/Pagan, that you are today?

(If you’re not a heredity witch) Did you feel that you were a born witch? Where there any clues in your youth that you were headed on a path to becoming a witch?

Did the era that you came of age in support, hinder, or have little discernible impact on your ability, and ultimate decision, to become a witch, Wiccan, or Pagan?

Did you know any fellow witches or Pagans when you were younger? Who do you view as being amongst the most famous (or infamous!) witches/occultists of your generation? Have any of those people influenced your own spiritual path and if so, how?

These are just a few of the thoughts and questions you may wish to ponder or incorporate into your writing as you delve into exploring your generation in your magickal book.

10. Discuss how witchcraft and/or Neopaganism has changed since you were a youth with any young witches/Pagans in your life: Many of us feel fortunate that things like witchcraft and Paganism are becoming more accepted and understood by mainstream society.

Not everywhere, or by every person, of course, but thankfully we are seeing a general trend in that direction.

Yet, as little as ten or twenty years ago (and certainly further back in time still) this was not always the case by any means and many of us had to practise our witchery differently to protect ourselves and/or families.

If you have young witches or Pagans in your life, share about the experiences that you and other witches of your generation went through, how public views on witches have changed since then, how the internet and social media has impacted the craft, and any other comparison you desire.

In turn, ask these youngster how they think witchcraft/Paganism is perceived today, how they feel when practising or learning about these areas in the 21^st century, and then mutually discuss where you see witchcraft and Paganism heading in future generations.

11. If you work with a coven or other group of magickal/spiritual practitioners, devote part (or all) of a meeting to sharing memories and other tales from each person’s generation: This could be incorporated with some of the other suggestions above (such as generational kitchen magick or songs from different eras) or carried out as a standalone happening.

You could also ask each group member to bring a meaningful item from, or which represents, their youth and have the group cleanse and bless each item with the energy of the group itself.

12. Incorporate generational witchery into your ancestor work: Honour and celebrate the generations of your loved ones who have crossed over or who are of a generation other than your own.

For example, at Samhain you could prepare a dumb supper (aka, a silent supper) using only foods and recipes that would have been available to some of your ancestors at a given point in their lives.

Likewise, you can leave offerings of foods, beverages, or other items that would have been commonplace during your ancestor’s lifetime, play music from their generation when contacting or otherwise working with your ancestors, or make a point to actively learn more about what life was like for some of the family members that came before you.

And, while on the subject of ancestry and witchcraft, be sure to check out my post on 5 Ways that Ancestral DNA Testing Can Benefit Your Witchy Life.

Generational designation witchcraft is for everyone!

Like many witches and magickal practitioners, I have plenty of tried and true traditions, techniques, and methods that I turn to in my workings.

However, by the same token, I love to continually expand my practise by trying new things or approaching established ones from fresh perspectives.

There is a seemingly limitless number of ways to do this, both in general and when it comes to working with one’s generational designation.

While incorporating generational groupings into witchcraft may never become as popular, say, as things like herbology, candle magick, or doing tarot spreads, I hope that reading this post has inspired you to give generation related witchcraft a try.

This is a fun, personalized, creative, and engaging form of witchery that is open to every human on the planet, as, rather beautifully, we are each born into at least one generation.

The post How to Incorporate Your Generational Designation into Your Witchcraft appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

These serene and sacred final resting places of the dearly departed are interwoven with the rich cultural tapestry that is October 31^st – be it in the form of Halloween, Samhain, or events such as Día de Muertos that transpire at the beginning of November.

Connections between the end of the harvest season and death are inextricably linked. The kinship these two share stretches back countless thousands of years.

There is something wholly natural in the thinking and belief that the visual death of the landscape and end of many readily available food sources gathered or grown from the land and the realm of human death would go hand-in-hand.

Not every culture around the world links the end of October with death, but a good many have certainly long associated autumn with concepts of dying, death, and the afterlife.

Often, even when solemn, these events were seen as times of merriment, mirth, feasting, presenting offerings, and communing with those on the other side of the veil.

In the 21^st century, the connection between the season of Halloween and the realm of the dead, especially as it exists in the earthy plots of land we call cemeteries and graveyards, has become primarily symbolic for a lot of folks.

For others, however, a continuation of the connections that generations before us held fast to is still going strong in our lives and spiritual practices.

The subject of death and graveyards is not relegated to October though, of course. Yet the natural connection between the two makes the early days of fall and the coming autumnal months ahead an especially well-suited time to delve into a topic that is near and dear to my heart: taphophilia.

What is taphophilia?

An English term born of two ancient Greek words, “taphos”, which applies to matters such as funerals, wakes, tombs, burials, and graves, plus “philia”, which means love/fondness, taphophilia quite literally means a love of graveyards, death and related subject matter.

Before we proceed even a single line further, it should be stated for the record, that the hobby/passion of taphophilia does not in any way mean the same thing as necrophilia.

The latter meaning that a person has an extreme/pathological fascination or obsession with dead bodies, which may or may not elevate to the level of engaging in sexual acts with corpses.

While it is certainly possible that someone could be both a taphophile and a necrophile, one does not imply the other in any way. In fact, I would argue that the crossover between the two groups is bound to be very small.

A taphophile is someone who has an interest in things such as funerals, cemeteries, gravestones, and the general subject of memento mori (as well as the funerary and remembrance items associated with such), and taphophilia is not something negative or perverse.

Taphophiles may enjoy such activities as visiting graveyards and cemeteries, photographing such locations, reading epitaphs, taking grave rubbings, thinking about/discussing subjects of death and the lives of those who have passed on, and studying the history of graveyards and/or famous deaths.

As well as researching subjects such as art, burial rites and customs, photography (including post mortem photography), poetry, music and other creative mediums in which death has been featured in varying capacities.

Anyone, of any age, can be a taphophile. I myself have been a proud (funeral) card-carrying member of team taphophilia since childhood.

Likewise, taphophiles can be of any nationality, spirituality or religion, profession, or gender.

If you have a strong interest in topics pertaining to graveyards, funerals, and/or death, you may be a taphophile already!

For some, a fascination or connection with these topics starts very early in life. For others, it may develop in their teens or their adult years. Indeed, a person can find themselves bitten by the proverbial taphophilia bug at any stage in their life.

It is not uncommon for taphophilia to emerge organically from other areas of interest such as genealogy or archelogy in which a person may routinely find themselves studying graveyards, gravestone symbolism, death records, funerary customs and/or art, or other related topics.

Likewise, someone who may start out with a focus on taphophilia might find that their interest in subjects like history or genealogy have been ignited or kindled all the more and so begin to weave these passions together.

Many, though certainly not all, taphophiles enjoy documenting/recording their trips to graveyards, often sharing some of what they’ve seen and discovered publicly.

Searches on social media – Instagram very much included – for hashtags such as #taphophila #taphophile #gravehunter #graveexplorer #cemetarywandering #cemetaryphotography #cemetarylove and many other related terms quickly reveals that no shortage of people have an interest in the history and exploration of graveyards and associated topics.

The reasons why some folks are, or become, taphophiles varies immensely. I cannot help but think that the unique, highly personal reason(s) why we’re drawn to subjects pertaining to death, funerals and graveyards is one of the most beautiful and endearing aspects of being a taphophile.

Other names for taphophiles

Various other names have been used over the years to describe those with a penchant for subjects pertaining directly to cemeteries, graves, and the general subject of death.

Some of the most common are cemetery enthusiasts, cemetery devotee, cemetery tourists, tomb tourists, tombstone tourists, gravers, and grave hunters.

Naturally, as with most things in life, one does not need to identify with any particular term or label unless they wish to do so.

Long before the contemporary term taphophile came into being, many folks throughout time have had a strong interest in the subjects that taphophilia covers. To this day, some people simply choose to say that they like/love graveyards and leave it at that.

Of course, if you’re especially keen on graveyards and associated subjects, it can be handy to know that multiple terms exist, should you wish to refer to yourself and this interest by them.

They are also handy ways to search for information on subjects pertaining to taphophilia, connect with fellow taphophiles/grave hunters, and share the graveyard wandering photos you may capture along the way.

Is taphophilia morbid?

Well, that depends on a few things – including who you ask and how you define the word “morbid”.

First and foremost, there is nothing inherently negative (and certainly nothing “evil”) about taphophilia. Far from it!

Some taphophiles have done, and continue to do, much to help preserve graveyards, crypts, and funerary related history. Others may simply have a passionate interest in these subjects.

Death as a topic does have a certain inherent element of the morbid to it, that much is true, but the degree to which one perceives taphophilia as a “morbid interest” may lie largely with a person’s own current relationship to, and thoughts, on death.

For those who are, or who have grown to become, greatly at home with subjects of death, funerals and graveyards, taphophilia may hold little in their eyes that is overtly morbid, eerie, or frightening.

As someone who is extremely comfortable with virtually all aspects of death, dying, graveyards, and concepts pertaining to the afterlife, I find great beauty and interest in matters pertaining to taphophilia.

At the same time, however, I readily acknowledge and respect that not everyone gets giddy at the thought of visiting a graveyard or talking about death.

If this area is not your wheelhouse, that is 100% okay.

As with so much in life, we each have certain interests and passions, areas that we’re more comfortable with and those that feel off-putting, frightening, or otherwise unpleasant to us. Or, by the same token simply hold little to no interest for us.

Why are taphophiles interested in graveyards?

This is not an easy question to answer, as the reason(s) why each person with an interest in funerals, graveyards, and related death applicable topics varies widely.

For some, it may be primarily spiritually or culturally lead. Others may be avid history or celebrity buffs and so studying and/or spending time in cemeteries may be a natural extension of that interest.

Early childhood exposure to graveyards, standout experiences with funerals or graveyards at any point in one’s life, or a general connection to the subject of death itself are other possible reasons why someone may find themselves drawn to taphophilia.

Some people, myself included, find graveyards can be places of deep personal introspection, serenity, comfort, and/or inspiration.

We visit and study them with great reverence and compassion, both for the departed and for the loved ones that the dead have left behind on this side of the veil.

Graveyards and similar settings – especially those with at least a few decades of existence under their belts – can be extraordinarily beautiful, fascinating and meaningful locations.

No shortage of taphophiles are drawn to cemeteries because of the breathtaking artistry and humble human history alike that they house.

There are, of course, many academic and culturally rooted reasons, as well, why someone may be drawn to visiting, studying or otherwise focusing on topics pertaining to funerals, graveyards, headstones and the like.

Gravestones and grave markers are highly important and meaningful, both to the families of those whose relatives have been laid to rest, as well as for society at large.

The volume of both art and history housed in graveyards the world over is immeasurable. It behooves and benefits us all to try, whenever possible, to preserve gravestones, cemeteries, and other burial grounds and the rich history that they house.

To this end, various excellent organizations, such as the Association for Gravestone Studies have formed over the years and the importance of the work these bodies do is deeply important and thoroughly commendable.

How to be a taphophile

The ways to be a taphophile/grave hunter are legion!

Arguably, an interest in graveyards, funerals, death, and/or the history of such is a primary component to being a taphophile.

Beyond that, one can opt to be as engaged, hands-on, and documentarian as you wish.

You can read every grave hunting-related blog under the sun, subscribe to YouTube channels and podcasts on the subject, and lap up every book you can get your hands on pertaining to graveyards, but doing so is not a prerequisite or requirement to being, or calling yourself, a taphophile.

While some taphophiles are drawn to particular graveyards, such as those where famous figures are buried or where their own relatives were laid to rest, many (if not most) of us break for just about any graveyard.

Plenty, (again) myself included, will actively seek them out, both close to home and when we travel.

So long as one is always respectful and lawful, there is almost no “wrong” way to visit a cemetery.

Just make sure you do so during official hours of operation, abide by any posted rules in a given cemetery, are respectful of other visitors (who may be there in a state of mourning), and do not take any manmade “souvenirs” home with you (items such as leaves, small amounts of graveyard dirt from inconspicuous areas, and similar organic materials are sometimes okay to take).

While visiting a graveyard, you may wish to capture photos or videos. This is generally permitted unless signage indicates otherwise.

Likewise, some people enjoy making gravestone rubbing. In recent years, there has been some debate surrounding this practice for various reasons. A key one of which is the fact that rubbings can potentially cause damage to older and/or delicate headstones.

Traditionally, paper (or thin fabric) and carbon pencil, charcoal, or another dark drawing medium have often been used to create gravestone rubbings. Rubbing wax, as detailed in this post on How to Make a Gravestone Rubbing, is another method that some people employ.

A fairly modern approach is to utilize shaving cream (which, as discussed in this PDF article on The Use of Shaving Cream on Headstones, can also be used to help clean graves off). Though, there too, mixed views on the subject abound.

It could be debated that creating headstone rubbings made more sense prior to the advent of digital photography and camera phones.

However, even a printed photo is not quite as tangible as an actual headstone rubbing that you created yourself, and it is easy to see why this popular form of graveyard recording is still in fairly wide use.

Personally, I prefer to stick with photographs of graveyards and headstones. Rest assured though, that I can easily see the appeal of gravestone rubbings and appreciate the important value they hold both to taphophiles and historians/genealogists alike.

Many ways abound to be a taphophile/grave hunter or simply have a passion for the subjects covered in this post.

You can research the graves of relatives, famous folks or total strangers alike, both online (websites such as findagrave.com can be a big help there) and off; collect funeral memorabilia (sometimes called funeralia/funerallia) including memento mori items, read up on the topics pertaining to funerals, graves, and death; join organizations dedicated to preserving graveyards and headstones, engage online with others who share this interest, make visiting graves a part of your spiritual practice (for example, those of a witchy/Pagan persuasion may wish to Use Graveyard Snow in Your Magickal Workings), study and/or create art pertaining to graveyards/death, and much, much more!

Some taphophiles are particularly drawn to certain elements of graveyards. For example, the epitaphs on headstones, graves that are older than a certain date, the stunning artistry that has often gone into headstones, grave markers, mausoleums, graveyard statues (be they angel statues or otherwise), or the wrought iron work found in some graveyards; or the grounds of a graveyard themselves, including trees and gardens.

Others have broader interests and enjoy graveyards as a whole, perhaps favouring certain styles of gravestones or types of cemeteries.

Some people find immense inspiration in graveyards and may visit them as a place in which to write or create art (or to gather the inspiration to create at a later point in time).

Graveyard photography has long been popular and is a fantastic way to document your graveyard visits. This act is flourishing more than ever thanks to digital photography and the awesome cameras that many modern cell phones now house.

It should be noted that, while certainly not necessary or even expected (per se), some people – irrespective of their spiritual beliefs – like to leave offerings or tokens of appreciation at the graveyards they visit.

A wide range of items can be utilized in this capacity, including fresh flowers, leaves, acorns, coins, small metal charms or trinkets, notes written on paper, and even bottles of alcohol.

Generally speaking, if leaving an offering/token of thanks, you want it to be something tasteful and which does not stand to damage the grave or the ground (and associated wildlife) around it.

Most graveyards are open to the general public and the majority are free (or by donation) to visit. If you feel the siren’s call to spend time at a graveyard, I highly encourage you to do so.

Generally peaking, graveyards are relatively safe, private, beautiful spots that may surprise you with their diversity and captivatingly soulfulness.

Being a taphophile is a wonderful and rewarding thing. It can be something you engage with occasionally, a main focal point of your life (and/or career in some instances) or anything in between.

If you opt to let others know about this interest, you may even find fellow taphophiles in your existing social circle or make new friends via channels such as social media or local historical preservation societies, where others who share this passion are able to connect.

As well, some cemeteries and graveyards have public (or, conversely, privately arranged) tours that you can take part in.

If you enjoy getting your taphophile groove on in the company of others who are apt to appreciate a good graveyard as well, such tours – which are often guided – can be a stellar way to learn more about a particular location and some of its interred residents.

Graveyards and cemeteries (the latter of which, it should be noted, tends to refer to a burial ground that is not attached or adjacent to a church or other place of religious significance, though the two terms are used fairly interchanging in everyday parlance) are immensely diverse places.

Some are massive, sprawling across multiple acres or city blocks, others are scarcely larger than a small backyard. Some are hundreds of years old, and plenty are far new. Each is an outdoor museum and history lesson in one.

Much like snowflakes and fingerprints, no two cemeteries are exactly alike.

Some may be more interesting or breathtaking than others, but each has a great deal to show and teach us. Even those that we have never been to before, tend to have a sense of the familiar and the unknown alike to them.

Graveyards are sacred, liminal spaces. They ask for respect, and ideally preservation, but demand little and offer up so much in return.

Intersecting interests

Taphophilia can be a standalone hobby or passion unto itself, and for plenty of taphophiles, it is just that.

However, a good many of us may have overlapping or related interests. Scores of other hobbies, passions and pastimes can dovetail or otherwise go hand-in-hand with taphophilia.

Some of the more common include studying/appreciating/collecting mourning jewelry and/or other forms of funeral and death related memorabilia and art; ghost hunting or other forms of paranormal investigation, abandoned building exploration, urbex (urban exploration), dark tourism, genealogy, history, poetry, writing, art, photography, bird watching, natural walking, and travel.

As well, it should be noted that many taphophiles are death positive – whether they are aware of this concept or not.

The term death positivity was coined by funeral industry professional, author, YouTuber, and all-around seriously awesome person, Caitlin Doughty to convey the concept that it is not only okay, but welcome and incredibly important, for people to speak openly and honestly about topics pertaining to death, dying, funerals, burial arts, corpses, and their own end-of-life plans.

If you wish to learn more about death positivity, I highly encourage you to read this excellent page on the Death Positive Moment.

Online resources for taphophiles

The number one resource for taphophiles must surely be graveyards and cemeteries themselves. In the 21^st century, this is followed closely by the internet and the ever-larger volume of information pertaining to topics and locations that are of interest to those with a penchant for visiting cemeteries.

The following is an alphabetically arranged list of some of the taphophile, graveyard, and funerary history-related websites that I’ve personally found to be helpful over the years.

This is not, by any means, an exhaustive list of online resources for taphophiles. Instead, it is a great jumping-off point or way to further your existing taphophilia resource sphere.

Note: Some of these websites have not been updated in recent years. The information they house is still useful though to many who are interested in graveyards and cemeteries, so I’ve opted to include some “retired” pages here.

–100 Best Examples of Epitaphs

–A Grave Interest

–A Timeline for Taphophiles

–Art of Mourning

–Beneath Thy Feet

–Billion Graves

–Canadian Cemetery History

–Cemetery Club

–Cemetery Conservators for United Standards

–Cemetery Travel

–Find A Grave

–Grave Explorations (YouTube channel)

–Grave Mappers

–Headstone Meanings & Symbols

–Headstone Symbolism

–Historic Oakland Foundation

–In Loving Memory

–Introduction to Churchyard and Cemetery Monuments

–Spade & The Grave

–Stoneletters

–The Art of Dying: Memento Mori Through The Ages

–The Cemetery Club

–The Graveyard Rabbit

–The Jolly Taphophile (and their corresponding YouTube channel, Graveyard Junkie)

–The Order of The Good Death

–The Secret Life of Death podcast

–The Sepulcher

–Tombstone Symbols and Their Meanings

–Travels of a Hobgoblin Taphophile

And here is a handful of great YouTube videos that those with an interest in graveyards, tombstone symbolism and related topics are apt to enjoy.

–Bizarre Graves and the Stories Behind Them

–Cemetery Symbols

–Epitaphs & Grave Quotes From History

–Funny and Creative Tombstones That Actually Exist

–Headstone Designs, Symbols, Cherubs, and Iconography Found in Cemeteries

–Skulls, Willows, Cherubs & Other Gravestone Emojis

–Tombstone Symbolism

–The Fascinating History of Cemeteries

In addition to the online taphophilia resources listed above, a fab way to get the ball rolling when it comes to graveyard exploration and research is to simply Google keyword phrases such as “cemetery in [name of location]” and take things from there.

While not every cemetery has a website or Facebook page, in my experience, many of them – especially those that are actively maintained at present – are at least listed on Google Maps.

As well, plenty of city council, local tourism, and historical society websites will make mention of graveyards, cemeteries, and memorial parks in their vicinity. Each of these resources can potentially be useful for those wishing to explore burial grounds either close to home or further afield.

And lastly, there are quite a number of books – both in and out of print – pertaining to graveyards, funeral customs and rites, and similar topics.

I’m thinking that this an area that deserves a blog post unto itself, so will start compiling just such a list to hopefully share here with all you in the future.

What being a taphophile means to me personally

As you may have deduced, my passion and the reverence I hold for cemeteries, funerals, and the vast subject of death is tremendous.

If you follow me on social media, particularly Instagram and Pinterest (in particular, check out these boards on my account: Death Becomes Us All, In Loving Memory, and Remembered in Art), you may already be aware that this is a subject that is very near and dear to my heart.

I collect antique and vintage funeral related items, read extensively on death-related subjects, follow oodles of others who share this passion, am incredibly death positive, and visit cemeteries on a regular basis.

Graveyards soothe me. They are serenity and comfort, inspiration, spiritual hubs, and places of extraordinary beauty.

I feel at home in cemeteries. Their headstones and markers, angels and crypts ask no questions, yet they spark many queries and remind me both of the brevity and extraordinary gift of life.

It’s safe to say that I am a proud taphophile and wouldn’t want it any other way.

My sweet husband, bless him, has long learned that a trip to a cemetery is a surefire way to lift my spirits, help calm my nerves if needed, and bring me happiness in the process.

We currently live within walking distance of our small town’s cemetery, which was founded in the 1910s. As I do not drive, the fact that – in the non-snowy months at least – I can reach this sacred spot on foot is all the more meaningful to me.

I visit often. The lanky evergreens that pepper and surround this quiet, humble small-town cemetery stand watch over those who slumber in the manicured ground below. The energy of the place is cathartic, pure, honest, sweet and wonderful.

With each trip, I become more familiar with those who reside in this graveyard, yet every visit introduces me to something new as well.

And when we travel or simply visit nearby towns, cities, and tiny unincorporated communities alike, I seek of cemeteries. Even before we’ve met, they feel like old friends.

Familiar, timeless, and earnest, graveyards beckon to me and I gladly heed their call. Each one teaching me, guiding me, and helping me to celebrate both sides of the veil in equal measure.

Are you a fellow graveyard lover as well?

The post What is Taphophilia? Exploring the Fascinating Subject of Grave Hunting appeared first on Witchcrafted Life.

I’ve always felt a strong kinship to Canada Day and to the history of the land into which I was born. A history that stretches back substantially farther than 1867, when the Canadian Confederation unified various Eastern parts of the country to create the backbone of a nation that would, in less than a century encompass, the entirety of the landmass that we know today as Canada.

In a few days my own birthday will transpire once again. Another year – a truly unforgettable year in terms of what befell the earth and its people – of experiencing the unparalleled magnificence of existence, with all of its highs, lows, smiles, tears, and magickal happenings will be added to timeline of my existence.

The proximity of the two days – Canada Day and my birthday – has always delighted me. And as I grew up and began to research my genealogy with great vigour and intensity, I found it was a chapter of the year that often brought forth an abundance of thoughts about, and connections to, my ancestors.

For without them, I – like each of us and our respective lineages – would not be here today.

I was born in Canada, as we both of my parents and three of my four grandparents (my maternal grandfather was born in a part of what was then German Russia called Bessarabia; today this area is comprised by areas of Moldova and Ukraine).

If we start digging further back in time, fewer and fewer of my ancestors were born, let alone lived for any portion of their life, in Canada, though some certainly were and did.

The oldest bloodline that I can lay claim to in this country is that of the French Canadian ancestry, which comes by way of my maternal grandmother’s parents and stretches back to at least the 1600s.

Like all non-First Nations Peoples of this country, however, my Canadian lineage is relatively new when viewed through the lens of human history.

Ultimately, if we go far enough back in time, all modern humans share the same ancestor – a Mitochondrial Eve – as she is often referred to in scientific circles.

In the approximately 100,000 – 200,000 years since then, our DNA has branched out further, creating something rather akin to a genetic fingerprint that both differentiates us from, and concurrently connects us to, one other as a global species.

While it is commonly believed that in the 1950s, biologist James Watson and physicist Francis Crick discovered DNA, they were not, in fact, the first to do so. Though their discoveries and advancements in the field of DNA research were ground-breaking and have impacted the world in innumerable ways since then.

This distinction does to Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss chemist, who in 1869 – just two years, incidentally, after Canada officially became a nation – first identified what would later go on to be called deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly called DNA, inside the nuclei of white blood cells.

In the nearly a century between this extraordinary discovery and the Watson and Crick’s 1953 finding that DNA molecules exist in three-dimensional double helix form, a number of other scientists focused on the study of DNA before they even fully knew what it was or to just what extent it shaped life as we know it on this planet.

The discoveries these pioneering genetic scientists and all those who continue to follow in their footsteps has truly revolutionized our world.

From helping to solve crimes to aiding in a better understanding of human evolution to allowing us to test for a litany of different medical conditions, the importance of the discovery and subsequent advancements in the understanding of DNA cannot be overstated.

In today’s post, we’re going to look at ancestral DNA testing in a different light than it is generally viewed.

We’ll explore some of the ways in which DNA testing can help you to better understand yourself and your ancestors and how that knowledge can be applied to your life as a witch, Wiccan and/or Pagan in the 21^st century.

What is ancestral DNA testing?

Genetic ancestry testing, ancestral DNA testing, or genetic genealogy, as it is sometimes called, is a scientific way for us to discover more about our ancestors than historical facts and records, photos and family lore (important as these thing all are!) could ever tell us.

When one’s DNA is tested for genetic ancestry, we can usually discover more about where they came from and what population(s) their ancestors belonged to. Generally speaking, the more closely related two people, families or populations are, the more likely they are to share various DNA markers.

There are three type of genetic testing that are commonly used for ancestral and genealogical related purposes. They are as follows:

-Y Chromosome testing: As Y chromosomes are passed down exclusively from fathers to sons, this form of genetic testing is not available to woman (because females do not possess a Y chromosome). If you wish to know more about this type of genetic testing as it pertains to your own family, your best bet is to get a close biological male relative, such as a brother or your father, to take an ancestral DNA test and share his results with you.

-Mitochondrial DNA testing: Unlike Y chromosomes, mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to child and is present in both males and females, thus providing valuable information about a person’s direct female ancestral line.

-Single nucleotide polymorphism testing: This form of genetic testing looks at a person’s entire genome, commonly comparing it to those who have taken the same types of tests to help provide a clear(er) picture of a person’s ethnic background. While not foolproof in this respect, of course, again, it can help to provide a good deal of information regarding whereabouts in the world a person’s ancestors may have come from.

Whereas mitochondrial and Y chromosome testing can tell us about our direct ancestral lines, they do not paint as broad a picture of one’s full ethnic background, which is where single nucleotide polymorphism testing shines.

It is important to keep in mind that throughout human history, countless populations have migrated, mingled, and mated.

This often means that genetic DNA testing can lead to some surprising results – or, conversely, that it may confirm things that were either stated as gospel loudly and proudly or said in hushed whispers within families or communities for many a year.

Where can I get ancestral DNA testing?

These days, most ancestral DNA testing is done via paid online services such as 23andMe, Circle DNA, Ancestry DNA, Cri Genetics, National Geographic’s Geno 2.0, and Living DNA.

Other consumer genetic testing services exist, some catering to specific areas such as medical data, and chances are more will emerge as time goes on and further advances and discoveries are made in the fascinating field of genetics.

The cost varies from ancestral genetic testing service to service, as does the data reports that you’re presented with.

Several years ago now, when it was relatively new to the world, my husband and I availed of a sale 23andMe.com was holding so as to test our respective DNA.

As an avid hobbyist genealogist (and someone for whom science, health and history are all immense passions as well), I couldn’t jump at the chance to do so quickly enough!

While some of the medical aspects that the testing indicated I may or may be prone to developing/having hit the mark and others were way off base, the more concrete ancestral data was of little surprise to me and helped to further confirm many years of my own genealogical research.

The fact that 23andMe continues to provide users with additional data as time goes on and additional tests are included in their offerings has only further helped to make the cost of this service more than worth it for me personally. (This post is not sponsored by 23andMe or any other website or company.)

If you’re looking to avail of genetic ancestral testing yourself and want to score a good deal, too, I suggest waiting for sales. Many of these reputable testing websites hold sales each year, especially around (very logically) Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, as well as Christmastime.

However, prices have, generally speaking, either dropped or stayed fairly stable over the years and most online ancestral DNA testing services are not inordinately pricey.

I would be remiss if I did not address the fact that, obviously, in order to receive this kind of testing, you must submit your own DNA (usually in the form of saliva).

As such, technically, your DNA is housed in a database and while there is (and I cannot stress this point highly enough) no reason to believe that any of these companies are using that information for unethical or otherwise nefarious purposes, at the end of the day, we have a right to know who has access to our DNA and what it could, no matter how hypothetically, be used for.

For a wide range of highly understandable reasons, not all individuals or group of people are comfortable with scientists having their genetic material – a point that the Atlantic highlighted in a piece regarding Genetic Testing and Tribal Identity, for example.

If you’re down with genetic DNA testing, as many of us are, then you’re likely in for a delightful world of information that has been encoded in your cells your whole life, but which you might never have known about were it not for this astonishing branch of science.

5 Reasons why ancestral DNA testing can benefit your witchcraft

There is almost no limit to why genetic testing appeals to various people, what it can tell us about ourselves and our ancestors, and why it matters for the collective whole of humanity.

If you identify as a witch, Wiccan and/or Pagan of any sort, have you ever stopped to ask yourself how genetic testing might be able to deepen, enhance and even better your spiritual journey?

What about, if applicable, your witchcraft? How about the patron deities or the pantheon that you may work with? The types of foods you leave as offerings or utilize when holding a dumb supper? What you place on your altar in relation to your ancestors?

Could it come into play for you in regards to things like hedgeriding, visualizations, shadow work, healing generational trauma, strengthening your psychic abilities, kitchen or green witchery, or the divination methods you use?

Yes to all of the above and plenty, more including the five different ways that genealogical testing can help your witchery that we’ll explore in greater detail below.

1. It may be able to help you find the witchy path that is best for you: While there are more ways to witch than there will ever be witches themselves, for those who feel the need to belong follow a specific type of witchy/Wiccan path or who wish to do so in the ways that are truest to their generic ancestry, DNA testing can help point you in the right direction.

I do not personally believe that one must only work, as some are quick to state, with the systems of Paganism, gods and goddesses or cultural traditions of their own direct ancestors and/or culture.

That said, for a lot of us, the desire to do comes naturally or develops as we continue along our journey through life as witches/Pagans.

The clearer and more accurate a picture we have of where our ancestors stemmed from, the better able we are to research, engage with and build a spiritual practice that involves elements of the cultures and peoples that comprise our genetic makeup.

It is worth pointing out that, true as this can be, there are definitely some cultures for whom we presently know much more about their earlier beliefs, customs and traditions than others.

Simply knowing what area(s) of the world we have genetic ties to, however, can be a stepping stone to connecting with the culture – both past and present – of those locations and in turn finding ways to incorporate these important things into our daily spiritual walk.

2. Knowing where your ancestors originated from can lead to incredible travel experiences: If one feels so inclined, and has both the means and health required to do so, visiting one or more countries (if they differ from where you currently live) that you have ancestral ties to can be a profoundly poignant, potentially even life-changing, experience.

You could choose, for example, research and try to visit specific parts of the country, including graveyards or other burial sites, where your ancestors may have lived, worshiped, or been laid to rest.

Or you might opt to visit spiritually significant locations, sample national cuisines, perhaps, walk in locations that your ancestors may have trod with their very own feet, watch the sun set on the same horizon that they once gazed upon, connect with the Elements as they exist in that area (likewise for the genius loci), study traditional clothing and jewelry, and otherwise connect with the lands that helped in their own way to propel your ancestral line ever forward to the eventuality of your own existence.

There is no shortage of ways that travel can help to foster and bolster your spiritual path, your connection with your ancestors, and your understanding of human history – both that of your own family tree and the world at large.

3. It helps you to better know and understand who your ancestors were: Genetic DNA testing might not be able to give you precise names or put faces to those names, but it can very effectively paint a detailed picture of what ethnic groups we may have ancestral ties to.

This is important for a wide wealth of reasons and may, at least in part, help to explain why you’re instinctively drawn to certain cultures and/or the belief systems of such.

Many witches and Pagans honour, celebrate, and work with our ancestors in a myriad of different, highly personal ways. The more we know about the people we were descended from, the more specifically we can venerate and communicate – and/or feel a close bond with – those whose existences ultimately lead to our own.

As well, and this is a point whose importance cannot be overstated, ancestral DNA testing is not dependant on who our parents were. This means that if a person was adopted or little is known about who their parents were for whatever reason, genetic DNA testing helps to part some of the dark clouds of mystery surrounding your ancestors. Giving you a better and more accurate picture of whereabouts in the world your relatives called home.

Knowing this can be of great comfort and support (including offering a sense of kinship with others from the same areas of the world) to each of us, but potentially all the more so for who were adopted or had direct relatives who were adopted or whose family histories are largely unknown.

4. Provides more information about your ancestral female line: While some of us feel a stronger connection to male or female energy and/or deities, and some prefer not to assign or identify with gendered energy or aspects of the divine (or ourselves), here on earth we are all the product of countless generations of males and females engaging in the reproductive act.

Unfortunately, historically, less information was, in some times and places at least, recorded for our female ancestors. Names, birth and death dates, specifics about their lives and interests, and much more has frequently been lost to history. And the same is certainly true for many males, too, of course.

Ancestral DNA testing alone won’t likely be able to say what your great-great-great-great grandma’s favourite colour or dessert was. Nor can it, in and of itself, tell you her name. What it can do, however, is to help paint a better and broader picture of the female ancestral line from which you are both descended.

Everyone, regardless of gender, can benefit from honouring and connecting with the females in their family tree, some of whom, I’d be willing to bet, you both look like and may have much in common with.

In short, genetic DNA testing can help to give women a stronger presence in history, even if the particulars of their lives have sadly been lost.

It reminds us that they were just about everywhere that males populated the world for any length of time, while also reinforcing the goddess-like quality inherent to the act of giving life.

5. No one can take your ancestry away from you. Despite the atrocious, heartbreaking attempts to annihilate various populations or smaller communities of people (to say nothing of specific individuals) throughout the course of our collective history, those of us who are alive today carry in our very DNA proof of all those who came before us.

The importance of claiming and celebrating our ancestral autonomy, of knowing where we come from, and being able to connect (be it literally or in spirit) with various populations around the globe is a highly meaningful act. And to my mind, it is also a basic human right.

No matter how long you live, what you do in your life, the relationships you engage in, your job, your beliefs, or anything else, your DNA is your DNA and your ancestry is your ancestry. It cannot be stripped from you, for your DNA is quite literally what you are made of on a cellular level.

There is such an uplifting sense of strength, positive power, and inspiration to be found in this fact. Which you can apply to your witchery in a multitude of different ways, from having greater inner confidence to learning more about the peoples you are descended from to actively making elements of their cultures a part of your spiritual path.

Ancestral DNA testing is its own form of modern-day magic

Is ancestral DNA necessary in order to live your witchiest life? Definitely not. But that doesn’t mean that availing of an ancestral genetic testing service can’t be of meaningful, perhaps even substantial, benefit to you as a witch and/or Pagan.

It is important to note that if you wish to research if you’re descended from an accused witch or if you come from a family lineage that included people who practiced witchcraft (or were cunning folk, shamans, etc), genealogical research usually will need to be employed as well.

And even then, scant to little direct evidence may be found in many instances. For a multitude of understandable reasons, it wasn’t always the safest thing to flaunt one’s witchiness far and wide in various times and places past.

Though, conversely, sometimes it was the fact that someone was a healer, cunning woman, local witch, etc that helped the stories of their lives and abilities carry forth through the generations to the present day (this may be especially true in families with a long history of hereditary witchcraft).

While some of us, myself included, are firm believers in past lives, at the end of the day, we are each currently living our life in the here and now.

The physical body that our soul/spirit presently resides in is connected to the entirety of humanity as it has existed from the days of our collective mitochondrial mama.

Genetic DNA testing is a miracle of scientific discovery and understanding. Imagine, even just a few short generations ago, having the ability to look back in time across the span of human history care of a wee vile of our salvia?

It’s remarkable that we’re able to know and learn so much about ourselves and our ancestors via this incredible technology.

If you have the chance to use a genetic testing service, I highly recommend doing so. And if you’ve already availed of this kind of service, consider reflecting further on how the results you received about your ancestry can be of benefit to you from a spiritual standpoint.

While my ancestry composition tells me that I’m 99.7% European, that number is further broken down in the report I received and its results both back up and expand on where my genelogical research informs me that my ancestors hailed from.

The fact that I’m comprised of fair number of different European ancestries, most of which stem from Northern and Central Europe, helps me to feel that my natural inclination to associate with the Pagan traditions of these areas is exactly the spiritual path I’m meant to be on.

They echo down through the ages and are a part of both my genetic memory and my literal genetic sequencing. As it’s pretty safe to assume that if we go far enough back in time, plenty of my German, Scandinavian, Russian, French, Irish, British, etc ancestors would have been straight up Pagans.  

I like to think that it might also be part of the reason why, at the end of the day, I’m an eclectic witch who cannot spend enough time in the woods, feels instinctively at home around people who speak certain European language that I know scarcely a word of, and why my heart is called to so fiercely by various parts of the world.

The connections you develop, already have and may deepen, or what surprises come your way via genetic DNA testing and how it corresponds to your own witchery will vary from mine. They will help to strengthen your life’s story along with the voices of your ancestors, whoever they were and wherever in the world they called home.

We grow as people the more we learn about ourselves and our ancestors. Doing so reminds us of the fact the entirety of humanity is interconnected and that for all of our differences – be they real or perceived – at the end of the day, we have far more in common with one another than points that set us apart.

Yet true as that is, we each have our own wonderfully unique origin stories as well. Ancestral DNA testing allows us to explore branches in our families trees that might never have been accessible to us were it not for this extraordinary technology.

If that is scientific magic in action, I don’t know what is!

Have you used an ancestral DNA testing service before? If so, how did what you discovered (or had confirmed) influence your witchery or Pagan practice?

PS: Happiest Canada Day wishes to all of my fellow Canadians who are toasting our nation’s birthday today.

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