In our most recent online Shamanic Mentorship session, we explored our theme for the month: Freedom, while diving into the work of looking at our own death, and the freedom that comes from going back into the Oneness.
It’s not always an easy conversation to have, discussing our mortality and the mortality of those we love. It was a powerful journey for the students on the session, and raised some big food for thought for all of them.
This recent work with students was sparked by the fact that I spent a weekend in July completing a training with the Inelda organization. They are a group that teaches people how to be end of life doulas, also called death doulas, or end of life coaches.
I prefer to call it being a midwife of death. Just like when we are born and we receive support coming into this world, it’s vitally important to be available as support to those who are leaving this world as well.
I’ve always thought of entering human experience as a death to the Oneness, and when we die, we are actually born again into the Oneness. So, for me it’s always seemed a bit backwards from a human perspective, celebrating our death from the Infinite Bliss and crying when we return to that bliss.
There is very little that is more humbling then pondering our own death. Plant medicine ceremonies are a powerful practice for dying before we die, especially Ayahuasca. La Madre helps us prepare for that final act of life. Learning to die before we die empowers us to more fully live and to heal unconscious anxiety around our death and the death of others.
One of the things I appreciated from the training was the planning for our own death; i.e. planning our vigil and how we want our last days/last breaths to be, and planning our legacy.
I hadn’t really considered a vigil and how I wanted things to be if I happen to be bed-ridden or sick and need care as I’m dying. It was incredibly interesting to find out what is really important to me as I’m leaving this world. It was not what I expected, and certainly not what was expected within the context of the training either. I tend to have very different ideas of how I want my dying to occur.
Inelda is a great resource for those who wish to learn how to midwife those who are dying, volunteer in hospice, and to prepare for your own death.
It’s more mainstream than how I work, but a great training for those who are inline with typical hospice care.
Death is such a layered conversation, and discussing it openly is of vital importance in our continued growth. Explore how you would like your End of Life plans to look. Ask your loved ones if they have wishes for how they will die.
Be willing to explore your death and rebirth at the end of your life, in order to move through any fear, stuckness or attachments that may be creating challenges for you today.
It’s time to fully live, until it is time for us to transition to our next experience.
