What is a death midwife?
A death midwife is one who assists an individual and their family through the transition of death, just as a birth midwife assists the baby and the mother through the transition of birth. A Sacred Crossings death midwife incorporates the roles of: spiritual counsellor, death doula, home funeral guide, funeral planner and celebrant.
Our definition is as follows:
“A Death Midwife shepherds individuals toward a conscious dying experience; guides loved ones in after-death care of the body and empowers families to create personal and deeply meaningful funerals at home.”
Click here for more information on the Death Midwifery Training.
The Advance Death Care Directive
Walt Whitman : Song of Myself
All goes onward and outward,
Nothing collapses
And to die is different from what anyone supposed,
and luckier…
- Walt Whitman : Song of Myself
Rumi
Death has nothing to do with going away.
The sun sets
The moon sets
But they are not gone.
- Rumi
Hermann Broch
"No one's death comes to pass without making some impression, and those close to the deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and become richer in their humanness.”
- Hermann Broch
unknown Japanese poet
In times of grief
and sorrow
flowers bloom
even then
- unknown Japanese poet
Sir Francis Bacon
"Death is a friend of ours; and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home."
- Sir Francis Bacon
Rev. Olivia Rose
"Death invites you to fall in love…it’s the fragility of life that makes you weep with helplessness."
- Rev. Olivia Rose
David Searls
"Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean."
- David Searls
Paramahansa Yogananda
“When I am gone, only love can take my place.”
- Paramahansa Yogananda
Sir William Gladstone
"Show me the manner in which a nation cares for its dead, and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of the people, their respect for the law of the land and their loyalties to high morals."
- Sir William Gladstone
Ram Dass
“We are all just walking each other home.”
- Ram Dass
Joseph Campbell
"The cave you most fear to enter contains the greatest treasure."
- Joseph Campbell
Lao Tzu
"Take care with the end
As you do with the beginning."
- Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching