Memento Mori Festival 2025

Have you always been curious about the Tarot? Do you want to learn how to “read the cards? Have you dreamed of making your own tarot deck? Join a small group of interested and like minded individuals to explore the history, myth and meaning of the tarot. We will meet weekly to learn more, focus on each card in the deck one at a time, learn more about imagery and start to “tell stories” with the cards. 

There are thousands of decks, with images that are somewhat familiar. Each session will begin with a brief guided meditation.

We will begin just before Samhain, an auspicious time when tradition says the veil between the worlds is thin and a terrific time to get in touch with your subconscious and the mysteries of this world and parallel worlds. Each week will be loosely tied to the pagan wheel of the year, and connected to seasonal observances and celebrations.

Reminder that this is not a class, but rather a group exploration. 

Drop in fee of $5 per session to help support use of the Art Centre.  2 hours a week.

To participate, please bring your own Tarot Deck and a journal or sketchbook.
Tarot decks can be purchased online and locally at Oceanside Entertainment. Sessional leader Myfanwy Cawley, suggests Banyen Books as a great starting place to look for a deck.

Visit Tidal Art Centre for this special Day of the Dead Exhibition and accompanying three-day hands-on candelabra making workshop led by ceramic artist and curator Nora Vaillant.

Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is celebrated in Mexico during the days surrounding our Halloween, October 31^st, and November 1^st, also known as All Soul’s Day. It is a time to honour family members and friends who are no longer with us by lighting candles, sharing special foods and telling stories that keep the memories of our loved ones alive. It is a liminal time when the veil between the past and present, the living and the dead, might be lifted to reveal angels, devils and mischief makers. 

When Nora Vailant was invited to work with traditional Mexican potters during a year-long residency in Oaxaca, she witnessed the important role Day of the Dead occupies in the culture and yearly cycle of festivals.  It is a special time of year when many people of every age stay up all night long several days in a row. Heaps of flowers, baskets of food, musical instruments, blankets, chairs and tables are brought to the cemeteries. Candles are lit. In some towns, processions of people carry lit candelabras through the streets.

Community Supported Dying qathet built a casket as part of Memento Mori last year. Community members were invited to come by to help build, sand, and paint the casket. Over the two-day project, participants shared stories of their experiences with dying, death, and grief, and their hopes and wishes for their own end-of-life care.

This year we’d like to give the casket in a free raffle. It will be on display in the Powell River Public Library for the month of November along with a selection of books  from the library’s collection.

Traditionally, the altar has flowers, especially marigolds, or cempoalxochitl, with a potent scent that attracts the spirits. We place a cup of water to quench the thirst of the spirits who have travelled so far, and candles to light their way. Incense, especially copal, is burned to cleanse the air of negative energy and make the spirits feel at home. Papel picado, the decorative coloured paper represents the element of air, which the spirits use to travel into the land of the living. Food, especially fruits and chocolate represent earth, the place where we grow our sustenance. In this way, the ofrenda holds the elements fire, air, water and earth, the fundamentals to life (and death) on this planet. Photos of our loved ones are placed on the altar, so that we can remember and honour their lives. These are days of joy, sadness, love and honouring, reminding us that we are all a part of the cycle of death and birth that makes each moment so precious.

The ofrendas are personal expressions of love created in a home, as well as a collective honouring of family and ancestors when they are created in public spaces. Our grief is personal, and yet our experience of grief and our own mortality is universal. We come together to share our personal grief and love for our loved ones who have left this world, knowing that we are connected through these cycles of life and death.

Tlazohcamati – Thank you

Please note new location this year at the Carlson Community Club

In this workshop:

• Kathy will share the process used for creating her playlist – it started with one song that resonated with her. It then mushroomed into an extensive collection of songs that spoke to what she was feeling – that connected, comforted and healed.
• We will listen and respond to select songs within the playlist that invoke a range of specific ideas, feelings and understandings.
• You will leave this workshop with a framework upon which to build your own legacy playlist. And, you will have access to a selection of songs and music you choose to cherish for yourself, friends, loved ones, or in your practice as a counsellor or care giver.

This workshop is open to all interested in the power of music to take us to a place of compassion, shared understanding and acceptance. It would be of benefit to care givers, grief counsellors, song writers, artists, spiritual leaders and anyone who has, or is experiencing loss.

Please contact Kathy Szajnfeld with any questions: kathyszajnfeld@gmail.com

Advance Care Planning is a process of thinking and talking about what’s important to you. This helps you, and those closest to you, prepare to make future health-care decisions. This workshop will help you to think about what matters most to you, to discuss your plans with those closest to you, and to begin recording your wishes.

Seating is limited. To register please contact coordinator@fourtideshospice.org or 604 223 7309

Join us for a contemplative gathering where the labyrinth becomes a space for healing. This ancient walking practice offers a quiet, meditative way to honour loss and carry grief with gentleness. As you follow the winding path, you are invited to pause, reflect, and release what weighs heavy on your heart. 

No experience needed—just come as you are. Refreshments and resources provided.