Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

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Mighty Isis Egyptian Keepsake Urns

Powerful Isis was the Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, law, and funeral rituals. One of the most popular goddesses in Egypt, she had her own priests and many temples were built in her honor.

Egyptian urns for ashes

We’ve commissioned several styles of Egyptian urns in the image of Isis for families to use as a keepsake urn for small portions of ash, flowers, or jewelry, or for smaller pets. We’ve had several cat owners purchase these for their cats named….Isis. Other popular styles are inspired by ancient relics found in tombs and pyramids of kings. Bastet is another popular style with cat owners and Anubis, protector of the dead is a timeless favorite.

bastet egyptian pet urn

Egyptian pet urn Anubis

But we’re talking about Isis, and she is usually shown with her arms spread, always ready to receive. Check out that wingspan:

One of our newer urn styles is inspired by one of the oldest images: The mysterious Arc of the Covenant.

Ark of the Covenant Urn

She covered a lot of territory. I was first introduced to Isis as a kid through the magic of television.

 

My favorite was Wonder Woman, who always prayed to The Mighty Isis.

Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter

Lynda Carter on Saturday mornings in a fabulous costume? Yes, that was a great way to start the day!

Need help sourcing an Egyptian style memorial?

Urn Garden Cremation Urns

June Bugs and Egyptian Scarab Keepsake Urn

June Bugs Makin Love
A Wild Ride

The June Bugs (or Japanese Beetles?) invaded the garden and got busy breeding, munching, and wrecked the garden and trees.

It’s hard to believe that the Egyptians worshiped the dung beetle. While we consider this bug a nuisance, the Egyptians considered them sacred. The scarab symbol is commonly found in hieroglyphics and jewelry designs and it’s really not clear why the scarab was so popular. Artifacts could be found everywhere with this image, amulets, and carved into tombs and pyramids. Historians think that the spiritual significance might have do with some heavenly cycle tied to rebirth or regeneration.

Egyptian urns for ashes

egyptian scarab

So we have a love hate relationship with the scarab. We love the mystery of Egyptian artifacts so Urn Garden commissioned a keepsake urn with the image of a scarab  that appeals to pet owners (cat owners especially) and families that want a mini urn to store a small amount of ashes. Many of these designs are inspired by actual relics and artifacts found in the tombs of kings and pharaohs complete with hieroglyphics and are found in museums around the world.

Green Scarab Urn

Urn Garden Cremation Urns

Don’t Make Me Do This

Last week I had a client who had been corresponding with me using two different email addresses. When client requested an invoice to be emailed, I had to ask, “Should I use the xxx@ address or donkeydik@xxxx?”

No Lie.

Canned Soul

Politicians had been talking for years about the need to replace the Oregon State Hospital, but didn’t get serious about it until a group of legislators made a grim discovery during a 2004 tour: the cremated remains of 3,600 mental patients in corroding copper canisters in a storage room. The lawmakers were stunned.

“Nobody said anything to anybody,” said Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, who dubbed the chamber “the room of lost souls.”

The remains belonged to patients who died at the hospital from the late 1880s to the mid-1970s, when mental illness was considered so shameful that many patients were all but abandoned by their families in institutions.

After doing some research into the story, Photographer David Maisel got in touch with the hospital administrators – the same hospital, it turns out, where they once filmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – and he was granted access to the room in which the canisters were stored.

Maisel set up a temporary photography studio inside the hospital itself. There, he began photographing the canisters one by one.

His book, Library of Dust, will be released later this summer.

Tip of the Hat to: Cleanser

TMI: Diary of 37.5 Million Words

olan mills

Rev. Robert Shields (1918 – 2007) was a former Minister and high school English teacher who lived in Dayton, Washington. He left a diary of 37.5 million words chronicling every 5 minutes of his life from 1972 until a stroke disabled him in 1997.

Excerpts:

July 25, 1993
7 am: I cleaned out the tub and scraped my feet with my fingernails to remove layers of dead skin.
7.05 am: Passed a large, firm stool, and a pint of urine. Used five sheets of paper.

August 13, 1995
8.45 am: I shaved twice with the Gillette Sensor blade [and] shaved my neck behind both ears, and crossways of my cheeks, too.

From Wikipedia