Giving Up The Ghost

Last weekend, I had the privilege to co-officiate a memorial service and butterfly release at ElderDog. It’s a moving tribute where folks (and pups) gather together to remember those canine and human companions that we have said good-bye to, and to honour their passing with the release of a butterfly.

It’s a special community in a beautiful setting for a moving service.

As butterflies were fluttering by, my mind went to the idiomatic “giving up the ghost” as a description. While we recognise this expression to mean that something has broken or that someone has died, the noun ‘ghost’ has evolved from its original intention.

Rooted in the Germanic and Old English, ‘ghost’ (as it appears in early English Bibles) is not meant to represent a phantasm or Halloween-inspired apparition; but rather it serves as a description for the seat of life or intelligence; a soul or spirit distinct from the body.

As such, we can imagine the release of such a being from all the bonds of this life. I imagine such freedom to be a celebration of liberation, a lightness of being that can dance on the breeze in its ethereal state.

In other words, I can imagine a spirit released moving freely and joyously like a butterfly. Wings opening, antennae pulsating as they feel fresh air, tongue tasting nectar as they sip a floral meal.
As we watched the butterflies we had released move among the fauna, in gentle movements, they reminded us all of the freedom of an unencumbered soul. They brought comfort to the moments of grief, and joy to the lightness of our embodied souls.

What a gift to see a physical interpretation of ‘giving up the ghost’ as part of the ongoing circle of life.