"We have come together to this place to celebrate a life that was. ____________ has gone to seek the answers to the questions which cannot be answered in life. The Cycle of rebirth mutes our mourning, for we know that the person who was is a new person, perhaps far, perhaps near. We bring gifts for their tree...wine, memories. A hole in the earth has been left by digging, and a hole in our lives is left by his/her death. As we fill the hole, so we fill our lives, with the beauty of the person that was and the hope for the person that is or will be."
Each person then lays a gift in the hole, a bottle of the deceased favorite wine, a poem, the person's Book of Shadows, documents, picture, whatever. Each person explains the gift before laying it within the hole. When each has had their say, the leader lifts a goblet and pours wine into the hole) saying:
"Lord and lady watch over ___________, and grant him/her the kind of next life (s)he wants. Teach him/her his/her lessons and watch over him/her as you watch over us."
The tree is lowered into the hole and each person uses the soil around to pack it gently in, saying:
"____________, this is your spirit tree, may you hear all that your friends say and be blessed by their good wishes."
From then on the friends of the deceased leave trinkets and offerings, just as they would at a tombstone. The preservation of the spirit tree is a clan and coven duty, and if it should fall or be diseased it must be repaired or a new tree planted. The power of the Spirit tree is indisputable, and the comfort of simply putting your arms around the tree and hugging is immense. Following the planting there is often a party, where the loved one is rejoiced in song, dance and feasting. The dead move on, and mourning, while natural, need not be maintained to "honor" the dead. Indeed, by being reborn afterward, and moving on, you honor them further.
