Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

bronze urn

Bronze Deer Urn for the Hunter

They were high school sweethearts, but didn’t reconnect until much later in life. But when they did? It was magic. But last week, he thought he was getting a cold and then died suddenly on Friday. It was a shock to the system, this healthy, viral man who was looking forward to deer season was gone in a flash. Even the dog felt it.

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They lived in a rural area outside of a major metropolitan area on the East Coast. She described her home as North America meets Africa hunting lodge, and was filled with trophies from their hunts. Each mount had a story and they joked about their spirit animals. She was the wolf, he was the deer. Over the weekend she definitely felt like she was missing something, and as she wandered the house and the property, she waited for a sign from him.

In the meantime, shocked friends and family stopped by to comfort the grieving widow. A neighbor delivered a breakfast basket filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, English muffins, and jelly to help fortify her and her guests.  The gesture was so welcome, she said it was one of the best gifts she’s ever received.

Monday morning, the house was quiet and as she stood looking out the window sipping her coffee, an albino deer came out of the woods.

albino deer

She’d lived here for 11 years and had never seen a white deer and knew how rare this was. It was the sign she was waiting for. On Tuesday it rained all day, but early the next morning, she saw the deer again and got a shaky photo of it moving through the trees. It was the sign she was waiting for and she knew what to do.

She mentally planned a memorial for her husband. She ordered a bronze deer urn to honor his animal spirit, the sculpture would blend perfectly to compliment their lodge decor.

deer cremation urn

The winters are harsh in her area and his memorial would be held in April. In the meantime, she shivered a little thinking about an upcoming winter without him. He handled the tractor to clear their long drive, and it was expensive to have it plowed. A quad is good, but not on ice. She’s leaving town and will winter over with friends and family in warmer parts of the country. Why not? Convalesce with loved ones and then return home when things start to thaw and regroup.

We’ve always been fascinated by the spirit animal, white deer and the debate on whether they are sacred, weak, or bad luck. The client and I even joked that the albino deer would be a trophy for some hunters and that it was likely, although we hoped not, that it wouldn’t be tracked. Deer urns are magical and creative, but there are other styles for the person that loved hunting or fishing.

hunting fishing urns for ashes

UPDATE: Client received the urn and sent us a photo after it was filled and placed in the home.

deer cremation urn

Deer Cremation Urns-Magical and Creative

deer cremation urnWhen we chose the deer as inspiration for a cremation urn, we were thinking of the magical qualities of this animal. This style is a favorite with families that are honoring a hunter or outdoors man and is definitely a statement piece that takes a few weeks to produce.

Crafted in bronze, it’s more expensive than many of the traditional vase shaped urns and is made in the USA.  The beauty of this style is that it’s a bronze memorial that can be displayed in the home as a piece of sculpture, safely stores the ashes of your loved one, but does not SCREAM urn.

Most commercial representations of deer characterize them as gentle and sensitive creatures. Deer spirit animals are no different. By leaning on this animal, you will assume the power to deal with challenges with grace and dignity. Deer totem wisdom gives humans the ability to be vigilant, instinctive and to move quickly.

deer cremation urn

Deer Symbolism
Deer represent a variety of characteristics from soft and gentle to strong and determined. Others include:

  •     Ability to move through life and its challenges and obstacles with grace and gentleness
        Getting in touch with one’s inner child and innocence
        Being intuitive and sensitive
        Being vigilant

Deer totem allows people to bring grace into all aspects of their lives including during life’s most challenging moments. The spirit will remind you to remain calm and graceful during hard times, qualities brought forth from the heart.  A deer’s horns are great for defending and asserting one’s self, but being gentle doesn’t mean you are defenseless. With a deer’s powerful spirit on your side, you can be strong and determined yet graceful simultaneously.

deer urns

Deer in Mythology and Culture
In Celtic mythology, deer are magical and creative creatures that are able to move gracefully between worlds. St. Patrick, for instance, and his companions were said to be transformed into deer to escape a trap by a pagan king. In Greek mythology, a deer is associated with Artemis, a virginal huntress. She transformed Actaeon into a stag after he witnessed her unclothed body.

hunting cremation urn

The Native American Pawnee believed the deer was the guide to the light of the Sun. Early Christians said deer would spit water into a hole or crevice where a poisonous snake was hiding, drawing it out and then killing it with its hooves. Finally, in ancient China and Cambodia, the stag was also associated with the sun, but negatively as it was thought to bring a drought.

Urn Garden Cremation Urns

Brush With Greatness-Truman Gibson

Truman Gibson Jr.

Last month I had the television on and in the background was a documentary on the boxer, Joe Louis. I snapped to attention at the mention of Louis’ attorney, Truman K. Gibson Jr. Honestly, I’m sad to say that I’d never heard of Gibson, until 2006, when his grand daughter called from D.C. to order his urn.

At the close of the conversation, she told me that me that this great man had a hand in making history and his name was Truman Gibson. She invited me to look him up.

I did.

And was blown away.

And honored.

Brief Highlights:

Black Cabinet: a Chicago attorney who had been the last surviving member of the World War II-era “black Cabinet” of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman.

Racial Covenants: Mr. Gibson was a member of the legal team that challenged a restrictive racial covenant prohibiting African Americans from living in the Washington Park area of the South Side. He spent months poring over property deeds to build the factual basis for the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned the covenant. The plaintiff was black real-estate developer Carl Hansberry, whose daughter Lorraine would use the experience as inspiration for her 1959 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Army Racial Segregation: With the outbreak of war in Europe and the increasing likelihood that the United States would be drawn in, the Roosevelt administration sought to answer the growing outcry from black Americans over the segregated military and the second-class support status of African Americans in the military. Mr. Gibson played an influential role in finally convincing the Army that it had to commit African-American troops to battle. Most notably, the black 92nd Infantry Division was thrown against the heavily fortified German Gothic Line in northern Italy in early 1945 in a terrible bloodletting that remains a source of controversy.

Thank you Truman Gibson.