Community Grief Ritual
The Temple of the Waters and Amici Mortem (Friends of Death) Collective are hosting a community grief ritual as part of San Francisco's ReImagine End of Life Conference. This ritual is free and limited to 30 participants.
The ritual will be drawing from Celtic and Jewish spiritual traditions, as well as trauma informed somatic therapy modalities.
Anchoring gratitude, positive resource, and our relationship to the web of life - together we will be co creating a sacred container with the intention of mourning through song and movement. This will be a largely non verbal/without words experience, instead invoking movement, song, prayerful silence, improv, sound, instruments and intuitive expressions of emotion. There will be resources shared, and compassionate helpers available post ritual to support integration and after care the evening of the event. Light snacks and refreshments will be offered.
We will share what to expect in greater detail upon opening of the ritual. If you have questions or concerns, please email amicimortem@gmail.com
***if possible, please bring cash donation for use of the venue, which hosts a community based non profit***
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There is no late entry into the ritual, please arrive on time. Though we encourage you to stay until the end for integration, we understand if you have to leave the ritual early to take care of your needs.
ACCESS: There are no stairs in the venue and venue is ADA accessible. Two blocks from Civic Center Bart.
Please be mindful of wearing heavy scents, perfumes and essential oils for those with chemical sensitivities: we will not be using incense during the ritual.
Please wear and bring whatever you might need to be comfortable, including water. Chairs are provided for those that need them.
You're invited to bring a special object for the grief altar.
Ritual facilitators draw on over a decade of training and practice in magic, ritual and healing arts. We are hospice chaplains, ministers, community activists, artists and ritualists rooted in various spiritual traditions.
We feel passionate about creating space for collective grief as our communities mourn personal loss, community loss, the impacts of systemic oppression, and unprecedented climate change.
Chuck Claire Bohman is the Board President of the Temple of the Waters. She holds a Master's Degree in Divinity in Spiritual Care and Liberation Theology. She has a background in Herbal Medicine and community organizing. She works as a chaplain at a public hospital and serves as an herbalist in the SF Bay Area, Ohlone territory.
Iridaea MacAi-Bolger, or Dave, grew up in the Irish-Catholic diaspora in suburban Chicago. From his youngest years he was inspired by his mother's powerful faith in God, and hopes to walk a path that brings him into constant connection with that Being. His practice draws from Thich Nhat Hanh, the writings of Starhawk, the early Christians, and the practices of the Celtic monastics.
Lauren Roellig is a witch, ritualist and animist rooted in European polytheist folks traditions and Buddhist Insight meditation. She is an aspiring interfaith hospice chaplain &somatic counselor, and co creator of Amici Mortem Death Collective. She is deeply influenced by her background in counter oppressive community activism, plant medicine, Hakomi somatic therapy, the Work That Reconnects, her devotion to the Sacred Mother, her bright and well ancestors and the collective work of remembering our place in the web of life.
Maya is a teacher, naturalist, grassroots organizer and lover of the wild. Maya lives their life seeking to heighten her awareness of the natural world and finding their place within their ecosystem. Maya started the Santa Cruz branch of the Wild Child Freeschool, and worked as Guide and Program Coordinator for 5 years. They are a Lead Guide with Gaia Passages, as nature-based rite of passage program for girls and queer youth. Maya leads mushroom hunts, and Mycological rituals. They are currently enrolled in the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess training program, which facilitates the creation of transformative Jewish ritual that is embodied, earth-based and feminist. Maya is the Co-Executive Director CoRenewal, a nonprofit that seeks to clean up oil pollution with Fungi and Bacteria, and is currently focused on post-fire ecological regeneration. Maya is also raising an enchanted toddler.
