EOLPodcast

Ep. 515 Collective Grief Rituals: Honoring Ancestors and Carrying Light

kwyattmd

Learn about the importance of community-based rituals for grief to help us heal the divisions in our society.

In this solo episode I’m sharing some my observation that our society is currently in a massive collective grief spiral, largely due to unaddressed grief from the COVID pandemic as I wrote about in a recent Substack essay. Collective community rituals are needed to help us express and alchemize this grief together. I believe we in the death-positive movement carry a responsibility to help our families, neighbors, and community-members come together in simple ways to acknowledge grief and I invite you to participate in this endeavor.

Read the Substack post here

DOWNLOAD How to Create A Collective Grief Ritual

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • We are in a massive spiral of cultural grief
  • What happens when grief is not tended
  • Why community grief rituals are important
  • What other cultures teach us about collective mourning and remembrance
  • How to incorporate grief rituals into other types of deathwork
  • Who should take up this challenge to help our society address its unexpressed grief
  • Ideas for simple grief rituals and how and when to use them

“May we find ways, each in our own communities, to tend the tears of things, to honor our ancestors, and to carry light together through this dark season of grief.”

Karen Wyatt MD

Links mentioned in this episode:

Published by kwyattmd

Karen Wyatt MD is a family physician who has spent much of her 25 year medical career working with patients in challenging settings, such as hospice, nursing homes and indigent clinics. She is interested in a spiritual approach to medicine, illness, death and dying and is the author of two books. Check out her website at www.karenwyattmd.com

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