‘Tis a fearsome thing to love what death can touch.
Grief and loss are a painful part of all life. 2020 was a difficult, painful year for so many of us, as our worlds and rituals have been turned on their heads. The pandemic made it impossible to gather and take comfort with wakes and the usual customs and traditions. That doesn’t mean that we can’t create our own rituals at home to grieve and mourn our lost loved ones.
Here at Rituals for the Living we are honored to help you deal with your loss of a loved one or beloved pet through compassionate (and safely virtual) grief counseling, or by guiding you to create a personal ritual and living memorial in the privacy of your home. As a Grief Counselor and Certified Pet Bereavement Specialist, I recognized the need for those who are mourning at home to have some kind of ritual to honor their loved ones. Even in isolation, you can still have the comfort of releasing your beloved as they enter the next phase of life. Performing a ritual for yourself and the person or companion you are grieving is a soothing gesture which offers you peace and closure. Our beautiful, handmade healing ritual packages are designed to help you create a thoughtful, elegant memorial to keep their memory alive. Among the many elements in each package are a handmade ceramic pot and a packet of seeds for you to plant and nurture, to symbolize healing and renewal, and can be used in your kitchen, helping maintain the intimate bond with the lost loved one. Each element has its’ own meaning, and will provide a basis for you to customize your altar with photos and items belonging to your departed.
It is a scientific principal that energy never dies, but is converted from one form into another. This is where ritual and memorializing help us to deal with the pain of physical loss, by honoring and connecting with this deep and older part of our psyche. Our need for ceremony and ritual is innate. It allows us to reconnect with our deepest feelings, with metaphors that create a language that transcends words. Please contact us if we can help you through this most painful of times.
Dr. Patricia Danaher, MA, MBA, DA
Founder, Rituals for the Living
