Begin Your Journey
A quiet place to start
We change with the seasons.
Some seasons ask us to grow.
Some ask us to release.
Some bring us home to ourselves.
And sometimes, without realizing it, we find that the person who entered one season is not quite the person walking into the next.
Eternal Marigold changes with the seasons too.
The colors may shift. The gardens may bloom differently. Solas may wander into another corner of the landscape. New writings, offerings, stories, and places of remembrance continue to appear.
But the heart of this space remains the same.
A place to remember.
A place to reflect.
A place to become curious about your own life.
A place to honor what has been, while still allowing yourself to move toward what comes next.
You do not need to understand everything here to begin.
You do not need to believe the same things I believe, follow a particular spiritual path, or know exactly what you are searching for.
Some people arrive through grief.
Others arrive through love, change, relationships, curiosity, spiritual exploration, self-discovery, or simply the quiet feeling that something within them deserves a little more attention.
This page is here to help you find your way.
Where this space is rooted
Much of Eternal Marigold is shaped by the teachings and contemplative traditions of Theravāda Buddhism, alongside the Southeast Asian traditions that have surrounded my own life.
You do not need to be Buddhist to enter this space.
At their heart, many of these teachings ask very human questions:
Why do we suffer?
Why do we hold on?
Why do we repeat patterns even after we recognize them?
How do our thoughts, choices, and actions shape what follows?
What changes when we learn to see impermanence rather than fight against it?
And how do we learn to meet life as it actually is?
These questions appear throughout Eternal Marigold in many forms: remembrance, reflection, storytelling, ritual, conversation, mindfulness, cultural traditions, and ordinary lived experience.
If you are carrying grief or learning to live with absence
Grief has become one of the deepest rooms within Eternal Marigold.
Not because grief is where life ends.
Because love continues there.
Our Grief & Loss space gathers reflections for those learning how to live after someone they love is no longer physically here.
You will find writing about missing someone, complicated grief, remembrance, family, the body’s response to loss, anniversaries, acceptance, continuing bonds, and the strange ordinary moments when absence suddenly becomes present again.
There is no timetable here.
There is no expectation that you should be somewhere other than where you are.
Begin with Grief & Loss
Read reflections written for the moments when grief feels close, confusing, quiet, overwhelming, or unexpectedly tender.
The Soul Keeper’s Way
A reflective work centered on remembrance, grief, love, and the quiet work of carrying what remains.
It does not ask you to leave someone behind.
It asks what it means to continue loving while continuing to live.
If you are honoring someone you love
Sometimes remembrance needs somewhere to live outside of us.
Eternal Marigold creates Personal Memorial Tributes honoring the people and animals whose lives continue to matter long after they are gone.
A tribute may begin with photographs.
A story.
A song.
A memory no one else knows.
A sentence they used to say.
A life that cannot possibly be reduced to dates.
Each memorial is created with care for the person, the relationship, and the story behind the remembrance.
These offerings are not meant to preserve grief.
They are meant to give love somewhere beautiful to rest.
The Remembrance Garden
The Remembrance Garden is a dedicated place within Eternal Marigold where names, photographs, stories, and memories can continue to be held.
A quiet digital garden for those we still carry with us.
The Spirit of the Marigold
Sometimes you do not arrive here searching for one particular answer.
You simply know something is stirring.
The Spirit of the Marigold is where many of our reflections now gather.
Explore through four paths:
Love
Relationships, connection, attachment, intimacy, friendship, family, and what we learn through loving other people.
Loss
Grief, remembrance, absence, endings, and what remains after something or someone we loved has changed or gone.
Growth
Identity, boundaries, patterns, choices, self-understanding, change, rebuilding, and becoming more conscious of the life we are creating.
Awakening
Spiritual curiosity, Buddhist reflection, intuition, impermanence, symbolism, inner awareness, and the questions that arise when we begin seeing ourselves and the world differently.
You do not have to choose only one.
Most lives move through all four.
If you are seeking grounding and self-connection
Not every difficult season has a name.
Sometimes nothing dramatic has happened, yet something feels unsettled.
You may be tired.
Rebuilding.
Questioning.
Beginning again.
Or simply wanting to become more present inside your own life.
Quiet Practices
Simple reflections and practices for mindfulness, gratitude, awareness, stillness, and beginning or ending the day with intention.
These are not about performing spirituality correctly.
Sometimes a practice is simply a moment long enough to notice yourself again.
Ritual & Healing Kits
Thoughtfully created ritual offerings designed to support reflection, remembrance, presence, intention, and emotional grounding.
They are not cures.
They are not promises.
They are simply anchors.
Something tangible for the moments when you want to slow down, create meaning, or return to yourself.
If you came here to read, wander, and think
You do not always need to do something.
Sometimes you simply want something interesting to sit with.
The Soul Keeper’s Journal
Personal reflections on grief, relationships, family, identity, dating, intuition, human behavior, Buddhism, self-discovery, and the strange little things we learn while trying to understand ourselves.
Some entries begin with something profound.
Others begin with something that happened on an ordinary Tuesday.
Both can teach us something.
Celestial Journeys East & West
A meeting place between Eastern and Western traditions of understanding ourselves through culture, symbolism, spirituality, reflection, and lived experience.
The Spirit of the Twelve Sacred Animals
Explore Eastern zodiac traditions, personality, symbolism, relationships, and the five elements as another way of becoming curious about the patterns within ourselves.
Read what interests you.
Leave what does not.
Come back when something does.
If you are drawn to intuitive reflection
Sometimes we have already thought about a question a hundred different ways.
Tarot can offer another perspective.
Marigold Tarot includes collective readings, love readings, intuitive reflection, and readings centered on emotional clarity and self-understanding.
You may arrive with a relationship on your mind.
A decision.
A transition.
A question you have not been able to put into words.
Or simple curiosity.
There is no requirement to believe that tarot predicts your future.
Here, it is used as a reflective tool.
Take what resonates.
Let the rest pass.
If what you really need is a conversation
The Marigold Hour
A private space for life, love, and loss.
Sometimes you have already thought about something a hundred times.
You simply need somewhere to say it out loud.
The Marigold Hour is a private conversation with Lily Colchan, centered on compassionate listening, thoughtful reflection, and the patterns beneath what you may be experiencing.
Bring what is on your mind.
A relationship.
A loss.
A decision.
A family situation.
A life transition.
Something you cannot quite make sense of yet.
Or simply the need to feel heard without having to perform.
Sessions are available through voice, live written chat, or both.
No camera is needed.
Optional tarot may also be included if you would like another way of exploring what you are carrying.
First Hour: 60 minutes | $44
Use code FIRSTHOUR
One introductory session per person.
Returning Session: 60 minutes | $77
Longer journey options and shorter check-ins are also available.
If you are guiding or caring for a child
Children deserve language for what happens inside them too.
If you are looking for a gentle way to introduce emotional awareness, compassion, mindfulness, and Buddhist teachings without fear or pressure, begin with:
The Little Lotus Path
A Theravāda Buddhist guidebook for young hearts, created to introduce children to mindfulness, compassion, kindness, awareness, Buddhist teachings, and Southeast Asian spiritual traditions in language they can understand.
Meet Sati & Nanda
First introduced within The Little Lotus Path, these two young novice monks continue their journey through stories of friendship, curiosity, courage, mistakes, kindness, and everyday wisdom.
Their adventures allow children to explore very big ideas through very small moments.
Sometimes wisdom begins beneath a Bodhi tree.
Sometimes it begins beside a lotus pond.
And sometimes it begins with two boys getting themselves into a little trouble.
If you want to belong to the community
A More Personal Side of Eternal Marigold
A More Personal Side of Eternal Marigold
Join the Eternal Marigold Community for free and explore stories and reflections available only to our members, alongside everything you already enjoy on our public website.
Your membership includes access to:
The Soul Keeper’s Diary
Twin Flame Journey
Eternal Flame Keepers Community
The Remembrance Garden
Forward Thinking & Beyond
Here, I share more of my journey through life: childhood memories, relationships, loss, beginnings, and the experiences that brought me to where I am today. You’ll get to know more of the person behind Eternal Marigold, through writing I don’t share on the public pages.
Perhaps you’ll recognize parts of your own life in mine. Perhaps something you read will help you feel understood or a little less alone.
Come read, reflect, and explore at your own pace. There is no expectation to share your story.
Membership is free. You are welcome here.
Eternal Marigold
Where memory blooms forever.
The Remembrance Garden
For those who need somewhere to place the deeper parts of remembrance.
The Remembrance Garden is not a traditional memorial space. It is where we write about the people who shaped us, the relationships we are still understanding, and the memories that continue to live within us after someone is gone.
Here, remembrance can hold love, tenderness, regret, forgiveness, complicated histories, childhood memories, and the things we came to understand only later.
We write to remember.
We write to heal.
And sometimes, in telling the whole truth of a relationship with love, we begin to understand what that person left behind in us.
The Remembrance Garden is available inside the Eternal Marigold Community, free to join.
Explore the world of Eternal Marigold
You may also find your way through our Literature, Gallery, remembrance offerings, sacred imagery, future books, rituals, stories, and new projects as they continue to unfold.
Eternal Marigold was never meant to become a finished room.
It is becoming a living garden.
Things bloom.
Things rest.
Some things fall away.
And something new eventually grows in their place.
Just as it does within us.
There is no correct pace here
Nothing at Eternal Marigold is meant to rush you.
You are welcome to move slowly.
You are welcome to stay in one corner of this space and never explore another.
You are welcome to return months from now and discover that something you passed by before suddenly speaks to you differently.
You are welcome to take only what feels useful for the life you are living today.
This work is not about becoming someone else.
It is about becoming more aware of the person already here.
Stay awhile
By subscribing, you can follow the evolving world of Eternal Marigold, including The Soul Keeper’s Journal, Spirit of the Marigold, Grief & Loss reflections, The Spirit of the Twelve Sacred Animals, remembrance writings, new books, practices, stories, and future offerings.
Some people participate.
Some quietly read.
Both belong here.
Wherever you begin is enough
There will always be another path to explore when you are ready.
For now, this is simply a place to arrive.
A place to remember.
A place to wonder.
A place to begin again.
Healing is remembrance.
Remembrance is love.
And love, when honored, becomes eternal.
