Tributes
Leave a tributeI hope you're having a great time, where ever you are.
See you next time around ...
Jai Ma!
And your prediction that 'thuggism' would take over our country has pretty much come true! But maybe we are going to turn that around.
Keep the dreams coming my friend. So fun to know you in different forms. And to all Jay's friends, I love and miss all you all that I know! May you stay healthy in these crazy times.
Love, love, love, Abbahum!
baba jay, love...
from the top of the Hanuman Temple in Hampi. I am uploading a photo, taken by Jean Fogelberg, (widow of Dan.) Thanks Caroline!
You are part of my every moment. I miss you so much,
miss our conversations, miss the journeys of our heart and soul but trying to channel you daily!
May your spirit continue to sail!
You are always and forever in my heart! I miss being able to experience with you in your heart worship to the Mother. Jai Ma!
Love,
Veronica
Jay, you will truly be "forever missed." Thank you so much for the ongoing guidance of the spirit, as well as your ever so present guidance on how and who to disburse your stuff to! The miracles continue to abound.
For all of you local people, Sangita and I talked the other day of planning a gathering soon to make tsa-tsas out of Jay's ashes. We will keep you posted.
May we all continue to grow and push our limits thanks to the loving reminder and example of our buddy Jay.
Veronica Monet
I am also happy for you, you were soooo ready to let go of that broken body. I meditated on you and called out to you on Sunday - and you appeared in this lovely body - young, whole, walking strong. Still Jay - Still that cutting edge, with the warm heart.
Still warning me that there are harder times a comin' but that staying in the moment is the only way to ride those waves. I love you, and miss you terribly.
I feel you Jay, thank you for everything.
Yes, today would be the Master Skorp Skotsman's birthday! How deeply you are missed, dear Jay.
Missed, remembered, still living in my heart, mind and soul. Conversations and laughter daily.
To all you local folks, Gabe and I are wanting to have another gathering here. We'll shout out a few dates soon and hopefully will see you all back here at the Goofy Gompa before too long.
Best and love,
susan
I first met Jay in 1970, in the funky chapel of the "Golden Dawn Christian Community" on Haight street. He often schlepped one or the other of us around in his little hand-operated station wagon, and quite a few of us learned -with Jay hanging on for dear life, his long hair streaming - how to negotiate his wheelchair on those steep hills and stairs. I was always amazed at his willingness to cheerfully submit to our learning curve! I remember more than one ride when he was wheeled to a screeching halt with a laugh and a "Whew!"
Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge one day, early in our friendship, I had been pondering whether or not to submit myself to the by laws of the CC that required people to have a full time job in order to join. I had a part time job that was sufficient for my needs and then some. I'm sure Jay was feeling a bit exasperated with my sidestepping, as he suddenly exclaimed , " Teresa! We need people to carry the Light NOW! You can be an artist later, or alongside, but we need you NOW!" He was right, of course, and the next morning at Communion I asked for a sign. Then I hopped on the bus to work, walked in the front door of the studio space I shared with 3 other designers, and one of the owners walked right up to me and said " hey, do you want a full time job?"
OK then. I jumped right in, and with John Hatgidakis at the helm as priest, and Jay, and about 40-50 other members, we created an entity that caused enormous growth in those of us who were paying attention, and made ripples into the community. Still on Haight street in the early stages, we opened the lobby for coffee hour a couple evenings a week. Sometimes interesting people dropped by, sometimes they stayed around. One evening, I was there handing out the snacks, with Jay and a couple of others. Joanna Hostetler may have been one of the group, don't remember. This group of people from some kind of fundamentalist church around the block came in and proceeded to "exorcise" us, praying loudly that the evil spirits leave the building. Then they turned around and walked out. Jay, in his inimitable nonplussed way, said "that worked!"
By 1976 the CC had moved to the corner of Carl and Parnassus, into an old bank building, and Jay had moved to the place on Bennett. In 1977 my daughter Simone was born and my partner and I were caught mid-move between Stinson Beach and a place we'd rented in Inverness, but last minute building inspections had hung us up. So Jay allowed us to move in with him for a couple of months. We were all still a close knit group, and Michelle Rogers, Terri Sisler, Joanna and I managed the kitchen and cleaning, and kept the coffee, tea, and cookies coming for a full load of people coming through on a daily basis. Jay was a people magnet. The music and the fireplace in winter kept everyone going. Simone, at 6 months, practiced walking holding on to Jay's wheelchair as he did laps up and down the hallway. ( the nude with the red hair still hanging there last time I was over was one of my paintings). One day I heard him bellowing from the kitchen "TERESA! come get yer kid!" I came flying from the other room to find him pulled into the fridge with the door wide open, and Simone planted on her little butt right behind him so he couldn't back out. Simone spoke her first word standing in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace - "HOT!"
The day my husband and my now 3 yr. old moved to Hawaii, we looked out the window of the car at our beloved dog, Nicholas, in Jay's arms, with John and Michelle Rogers, and their little boy Justice, standing by. The dog went to live with The Rogers. Not long after our move, Michelle and John were pretty much up in the Laytonville area, Terri had moved to England, the Teitlebaum's found their own place somewhere nearby in Marin, and Joanna became Tom Hostetler's wife. John Hatgidakis had been reassigned to Minneapolis - for some reason a place where we had always joked about as the outpost none of the priests in the order wanted to be sent.
The years that group of us spent together learning to work with the Light, and opening ourselves to the guidance of Oneness, were years of profound shifts for all of us. I'm grateful to have been part of it.
Aloha, and best wishes,
Teresa Sanmiguel
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Saturday May 10th.
This will mark one year and one day since Jay departed.
I'm thinking potluck, begin gathering around 3 o'clock, going till 9 ish?
The potluck will be easy, simply bring whatever you feel inclined
to share, be it food or drink-I'm sure it'll all work out.
I'll probably have a few crockpots full of something or another,
Gabe will add some soup or salad or... Our new housemate
(another "downstairs Susan") also has offered to cook something up.
The vision for this Celebration has been scaled back from a year ago,
but the elements will be the same. We'll peruse his art, listen to his
music, if anyone has any videos of J's we can watch those, tell some
stories, do some dismantling of the mandala i.e potlatching, and
hopefully sing and play some music!
The house is still in transition energetically-probably will be for
years! I've been fully moved upstairs since Mar 1, but Jay had so much stuff
much of it is still here and there and scattered around. Some
is "part of the house" and some will find homes with you all.
Please spread the word to those who loved Jay.
Best and love to you all,
susan
dance on j!
Turning all moments into
now
For a moment
Waiting
Then when we forget
take a moment
And remember
We don't see each other
Just the rendering of our mind
So lets forgive
& praise each other
For all we do not see
So good seeing You
Seeing me
& breathing the same air
Together
Now
LOVEj
Leave a Tribute
The Day After
After a foggy day as J. unplied from his body
taking me/us along as a guest to the formless
realms of non dual love and bliss
I went to the ranch to kiss my horse.
Jay talking to me all the time.
I see green and he says
"what you direct your attention to is what you are"
I don't feel him for a moment and ask him where he is. He says
I am the wind,
and what you see is what I am.
OK says I.
I brush my horse.
Out of the corner of my eye I see something
white floating in the air.
It is a red tail feather from a hawk,
about 6 inches long,
riding the gentle breeze,
zigging and zagging
slowly in the breeze.
A barn swallow sweeps down and says
"I am Jay now!"
takes the feather in its beak and flies up, up.
Feather is heavy,
bird wants to play,
drops the feather
ANOTHER SWALLOW
enters in and snaps the feather in its beak.
Like a relay race they fly,
"I am J,
Now I am J,
and the feather says
"now I am J.
and the air says
"now I am J."
drop the feather,
then the other one picks up the feather,
drops it- on and on around the barn
and the sky in front of me!
At one drop the other swallow comes up
UNDERNEATH the feather and nabs it.
Jay is alive in every moment.
Om Abba Hum.
And still I am more and more stunned
even though he is in my ear, my heart,
always in my soul,
united in name and breath,
now all of us
left here,
remember.
Jai Jai Jay
Dear friend, Jay Yarnall, I will miss you. We have spent many an hour playing music together and hanging out, and you have shared your home so generously with your friends. You have endured a difficult physical situation for so many years and with so little complaint—we are all awed by the strength of your character and the love in your heart and your tolerance for the less evolved.
My favorite story is that Jay picked me up at the hospital to take me home after both of my hip surgeries. This time I am in the wheelchair, although very temporarily. He offered both times. One of my other friends in town refused me when I asked because she had other plans.
The radiance of Jay’s being came from his devotion to the spiritual. With no support at all from his family of origin, he created a family of his own with his personal friends. I feel very honored to have been one of those friends. Unwittingly he models what I see as the new family paradigm—that we bind ourselves most closely with those we most share a deep heart connection. We do not have to produce children to create deep loving relationships. All the beings in our lives can benefit from our love and caring.
Thank you Jay for all that you have given me!