THE ANAM CHARA
BY STAR EDWARDS

“ May the Good Lord take a liking to you...............but not too soon!”

Making the long voyage to our ancestral home has profound effects for most of us. For Peggy Quinn, a fiery redhead in Denver, an ancient Celtic tradition gave her the name of her vision and set her on a course that was to determine her life's work.

Peggy attended an international conference on healing through illness and death, on the island of Iona, in Northern Scotland. There she met a man that lived on the island for seven generations, who shared with her the story of the Celtic tradition of the Anam Chara. Anam Chara is a Gaelic term for “soul friend.” Women who were known as the Anam Chara, served as a mid-wife and mourner for their local village. This soul friend would take the sacred task of facilitating important life passages, from birthing to dying. In her deep reverence for life she embraced the complete journey through threshold passages honoring each life. In many cultures and time periods there has been an “Anam Chara” person.

Peggy brought the ancient Celtic tradition home to Denver in 1992 and expanded to Boulder in 1997. She envisioned a community and home that provided comfort and healing for individuals and families of those facing illness or death. A place where death was honored and celebrated with the same joy felt at a newborn birth.

Officially Anam Chara is licensed by the state of Colorado as a personal care boarding home and by Medicaid as an alternative care facility. Unofficially, the agencies aren't exactly sure what it is. “We had a meeting recently with the state, and they said we didn't fit into any categories” Peggy said, “Finally, one guy said, “it sounds to me like you're replacing the nursing homes” And we said, “ I think you're finally getting it!” They ask, “Are you assisted living? Are you a nursing home? “We are neither, we are a home, where people live, play and die.”

“ In today's society, nobody wants to slow down, and when you get old by nature, you slow down.” says Peggy. By slowing down, you focus in on the now, listening to the breath, being in touch with many levels of our physical and spiritual nature, taking time to be..... instead of do.

The process of demystifying death has not been a smooth journey for Peggy Quinn. When she first started, death was something that was not discussed. It was standard practice to take a dying person out of their familiar environment and put them in a hospital. Death was quarantined, rather than embraced. Everything that could be done to prolong life, even of the most painful quality, was standard practice. At Anam Chara, Peggy says, “it is the quality of life that we care about, not the quantity.”

“ People ask me how I did it, if I am led by a inner voice of knowing.” Peggy said. “My voice is a voice of un-knowing!” It's staying in the moment, getting settled down in my body, in the core of my belly and finding that place of trusting again. I see it make miracles happen every day.”For information on volunteering or positions call Peggy at 303-295-7427. www.anamchara.org

Anam Chara is 501 C3 non-profit organization. Individual and Corporate sponsorships available.

May you live as long as you want….. and never want as long as you live.

Copyright 2001 The Celtic Connection