Living Funeral Ceremonies
In Person/Virtual
Photo by Emily Cross,
the creator of this ceremony,
https://steadywaveseol.com/
Each year there is great loss, change, global grieving, reckoning & facing death on many levels. As well there are so many new & continued opportunities that arise & much new & continued life that springs forth. As we walk this bittersweet path of life & death, my heart goes to those all of us who have lost loved ones & ways of life. Everyone meets such transitions on different levels, walks different paths, yet we all in some way walk with grief, be this global grief or personal, hopefully with a supportive community.
​
Over the past few years I have delved more fully into my interest in Death Doula work, including graduating from the UVM End-of-Life Doula training, Anne-Marie Keppel's Village Deathcare Citizen course, Waldo County Hospice volunteer training & studying with Death Doula Emily Cross to offer Living Funeral Ceremonies.
Living Funeral Ceremonies offer an experiential, transformative opportunity for people to contemplate their own mortality. Either virtually, in the comfort of their own spaces, or in person, held by the Earth, under the great Red Oak where I live, participants are led through the rich mystery of their life by meditating upon their past, present, & unfurling future during this ritual.
In this two to three hour ceremony, each participant is led to contemplate their own memorial as they imagine letting go of their earthly selves. They are guided to write their last words & desires and be gently led through a death meditation using guided imagery. Many have found this experience to be transforming, life-affirming & even life-redirecting.
Some reasons a person may wish to experience an In-Person or Virtual Living Funeral ceremony include wishing to overcome fears of death, facing changes in their lives that feel final, or one may be just feeling curious about death.
This ceremony is for anyone who feels prepared to experience their own mortality.
​
I feel honored to be able to lead people through this intimate, compassionate experience of meeting their own impermanence, both in-person & virtually.
​
The next In-Person Living Funeral Ceremony will be offered:
Saturday, Aug 10, 2024
1-4 pm
Rohege
Belfast, Wabanaki Maine
$45-60 sliding scale
​
Contact whitegourdia@gmail.com to join an in-person or virtual
Living Funeral Ceremony
or to book a private session.
​
​
VIRTUAL LIVING FUNERAL TESTIMONIAL:
"Suzanne is an artist, and her years of ceremonial performance shine though in her ability to create a curious, compassionate, exploratory space for the living funeral experience. I felt a willingness to be led into uncomfortable emotional places and to explore what arose there, because I trusted the one who is leading me. Suzanne inspires deep trust and has a powerful wisdom to create sacred space in which to let yourself feel things that would be too difficult or overwhelming to feel otherwise." -B.M.