Paul Otti

Biography to be added soon.

Our dad walked home gently at 23:48 on July 1st. I was sitting vigil with him, when he decided to return his body to Mother Earth. For the past two days, my mother, Wolfgang and I took turns sitting with him. We invited Wolfgang to sit with us, for our dad was like a father to him growing up. One does not need to be a biological father to be a dad.

Dad was – and is – an incredible human being, artist, philosopher, tobacco aficionado and during the past few weeks we enjoyed many a cup of ice cream together which we openly “smuggled” into the hospital. He preferred banana, lavender lemon and watermelon, but for some reason he never said “No, thank you.” to any other flavor. Or coffee. Hot. Black. Not too sweet.

He also served as a UN peacekeeper on Cyprus, when he was younger, loved Karl May and the Wild Wild West, was a guitarist with the “Griffner Buam” back in the day and showed my brother Tommy and me, how to build bow and arrow, we also built a tipi one summer and one winter we tried to build an igloo.

In other words, he was a fun loving jack-of-all-trades.

Our dad with a member of our pride of cats.

Being allowed to walk with him, being home and sitting vigil with him was a gift. Some of you may know, that I also work as a shaman, so this is part of what I do.

Being allowed to sit with our father was a gift, feeling each other, the subtle changes in the energies and the physical body, and guiding the spirit home into the heart. He went home accompanied and welcomed by late aunt Anni, late uncle Karli and late aunt Rosmarie, better known as the “gang”, as well as other late relatives and friends.

Let us celebrate his life. He is in our hearts, one again.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the friends, companions and relatives who came to visit, who spent time with him and who smuggled his favorite cheesecake in.

I want to thank the team at LKH Wolfsberg for the kind and gentle way in which you cared for my dad, embraced my mother and your openness to my way of prayer and ceremony. You are awesome.

I also want to thank Marco Polo Eiscaffé, Konditorei Cafe Eberhard and Hotel, Café & Konditorei Hecher, as well – your ice cream and the cheesecake with strawberries made his day many a time.

I love you, dad.

Kristin Raphaela Otti

Serving as a UN Peacekeeper

Our dad served as a UN Peacekeeper on Cyprus. He told us quite a few stories of his time with the corps and his visits to other countries in the region. He signed up for a tour during his basic military training and after additional training in Vienna, he was off to an adventure. He later said that it had been like reading one of the books he had loved as a child and teenager, like the books of Karl May.

Our family is interested in the military. One of my uncles, Roman, served in the army and made it his profession. I am interested in military history as well and "Commentarii de bello Gallico" are among my favourite books of the kind.

He told us a lot of stories about his time with the Peacekeepers and the countries he visited during the time.

Our dad spent six months on Cyprus and visited other countries in the region as well. He recalls that during that time tourism was not much of a thing. It was very quiet.

Time was split between being in the field and in the barracks. While in the barracks they would train in the mornings and in the afternoons they would spend time in Lanarca, as taxis were cheap.

Our dad served as a UN Peacekeeper, a "Blauhelm", on Cyprus. This is him with our cousin Wolfi in front of our paternal grandparents farm.

Limersol was also a destination they frequented. The hotels were not expensive and staying in a four star hotel beats time in the barracks.

There are also stories, he tells with a glint in the eye, like the stories about the girls. You were not to go near them, as their fathers were very protective.

He also mentioned that it was strange to see the men playing backgammon whilst the women were doing all the work. One story he loves to tell revolves around this, albeit it is not funny, if you take a deeper look:

One day they had training and shot blanks. All of a sudden they saw vehicles drive by. The men were leaving the village leaving the women behind.

When they went on vacation to Israel, they were intrigued by the fact that there were female soldiers protecting the busses and noted how beautiful and untouched nature was. He recounted that there was only one hotel in the region and no mass tourism.

A living museum and its challenges

Our house and garden are like a museum like Millesgården in Stockholm. There is art everywhere and it comes with its challenges. Visitors and guests use to take quite a few pictures and there are those who have no respect for the sacred laws of hospitality and boundaries set. They will simply walk into rooms they have no business walking in and take pictures. Like my parents' bedroom.

We had one guest who would even go a step further, entering rooms without knocking and even trying to enter the bathroom, while someone was showering. The one showering had clearly and loudly said "No." but the guest in question had tried to enter the bathroom despite of that. As luck would have it, she had locked the bathroom door before entering the shower, so he was unable to enter the room against her will.

As said guest had violated every sacred law surrounding hospitality, he was asked in no uncertain terms not to return to the house. He showed up despite being sent away once more claiming to be in love with a member of the family. We realised later that he had also stolen small things from the house, most notably from the guest room. Thankfully our whole family had been present and as such observed and witnessed his behaviour.

To us hospitality is sacred, so if you visit our house as a guest, honour us the same way we honour you.

"Guardian Phoenix" (c) Paul Otti

Our guests are also able to visit our dad's workshop and take a look around. It is a magical place, my brother and I have also been allowed to hone our crafts in it.

Our dad and I have collaborated on four art projects to date, one of them "Saint Florian". It was made for the fire department in St. Marein. You can read more about it here.

My brother, Tommy, has learnt his craft being my dad's apprentice and he is now in a leading position in another company. Whenever my dad calls, he is there and lends a helping hand.

Note that the art created by Paul Otti is NOT public domain and all rights are reserved.