Have you ever stood outside in the soft pre-dawn light, watching a luminous full moon sink behind the mountains? Quiet surrounds you. Yet, you may hear the sound of your own breath and the hustle of winged and four-legged creatures preparing for the day ahead.

What a hushed sense of wonder and delight I felt this morning in that scene. Then, a rush of exuberant appreciation for all life! If you have witnessed a full moon setting (or the moon in any phase, really) you may feel familiar with this enlivening awe. Such fortune to savor fleeting sights, sounds and spaces as these.

Or perhaps you’ve felt it while kissing your child’s forehead in the sleepy cover of night, watching a bee pollinate a fresh spring flower, or holding your beloved’s hand.  Such moments help us p-a-u-s-e. Sometimes tears emerge. We cherish these pieces of time and space within deep wellsprings of our hearts. We carry our own myths within, to color them with meaning. As Celebrants, we pull from these varied experiences and senses of personal meaning to handcraft ceremonies people treasure.

The essence of serving as a Life Cycle Celebrant may be expressed in simple terms: listening, observing, creating, remembering, pausing, and celebrating. When I serve an individual, family or community, pure wonder and delight is what I bring to the experience. Every ceremony – for acknowledging any life milestone – is a unique expression of heartfelt stories, beliefs and values. We pause. We relish hand picked words, music, symbols, movement and sounds. We have fun! We carve out time and space that feels delicious. Being present within that space offers us connection to something vaster than ourselves, regardless of belief systems.

Leading a ceremony, for me, is akin to watching the full moon dip below mountainous silhouettes. I experience similar awe, when we tap into what is larger than us: source, divine, spirit, universe, God, great mother, or whatever you prefer say. We experience delight during the honest and natural progression of fresh authentic ceremony, plus expression of pure emotions.

I step back to pause, and savor a delicate appreciation for life, every single time.

Much love,

Kristine

As a Life Cycle Celebrant, I serve people at all stages of life’s milestones: new life, love and loss. I recently completed in-depth training about the loss end of the spectrum – to help families care for their own deceased at home. Today I found relevant articles that revealed two themes underpinning why I do this work: choices and connection for bereaved families.

One tells of the burgeoning home funeral trend, where we are returning to practices we know from our ancestors. The sobering photo in the article shows an elderly rancher looking at his coffin, handmade by his sons. It is a still shot from the film “A Family Undertaking“, which offers glimpses into contemporary family-led funerals. The other article tells how families are decreasing their funeral or memorial spending out of necessity during this slow economy. According to the independent funeral homes interviewed, families are more frequently opting out of the costliest line items and simplifying by choosing direct cremation.

Is the slow economy the only driver, I wonder? Or is this trend away from heavy spending on energy and material intensive products (steel caskets, concrete vaults and embalming) really a broader indicator? Is it a wake up call for not only Baby Boomers – yet all of us – to notice how we may return to simpler, less costly choices at the end of the road? Choices that involve deep connections through family care, support from a home funeral guide and perhaps even natural burial?

An interesting convergence of themes I think, these choices and connections for grieving families. Is a home funeral right for everyone? Well, no. Yet, with healthy planning and families holding an intention for death care at home, the end of the road may potentially become more emotionally healing and less costly in many ways.

With love,

Kristine