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The Green
Burial
and Home
Funerals
Movement
[April 2008] This is a recap of what was shared by Sandy, Betty and Rachael about their trip to Washington, DC, to attend the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of Crossings. 60-70 people from all over the United States showed up for the event. Sandy was one of the key speakers for the weekend and did a superb job describing our Crossings work and the growing interest in North Carolina. Sandy and Betty particularly mentioned Nancy Poer, who wrote Living Into Dying: A Journal of Spiritual and Practical Deathcare for Family and Community, whose warm and wise presence greatly influenced the tenor of the whole weekend. One of the high spots was at the very end, initiated spontaneously by a request from one of the delegates, who asked for extra time for especially those who had not been speakers to tell something about themselves and what had drawn them to the Conference. And so, many shared their very moving stories, most often focused on someone special who had died, and how that had led them on the journey to this gathering. Many people were in the midst of or had been through major changes in their lives, such as going back to school and changing their professions toward something accommodating the interests that brought us together here. A surprising number had land they wanted to make available for green burial. At least two women had become funeral directors because of this growing movement; one was a celebrant, and the other practically a youngster just out of college – and, by the way, refuses to do embalming! There was a terrific emphasis on creativity and of course spirituality in the deeply focused paths people had taken related to these interests. One woman said she came just to see Beth’s celebrated “green” house, but there’s no doubt she got far more of worth than she had first imagined! The Crossings Celebration was like a tremendous leavening experience for everyone there, and at the same time, undeniable evidence of the growing and strongly felt interest in the home funeral and green burial movements. It’s obvious they address some of the fundamental concerns of our time. Being there was like witnessing a whole new reforestation springing up under the canopy of the old growth[guard] and from the ground of our present, in many ways hazardous civilization – fresh, alive and a profusion of colorful perfections all at once! You could see this in the overall picture as a movement being born and in each of the exquisite seedlings unfurling in the hothouse climate Beth Knox and Alison and company provided for this unforgettable weekend. Powerful reinforcement and confirmation for the Crossings Care Community work we are doing in North Carolina.
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Pat
Hogan, author of Alison's Gift, is responding to someone else in
a listserv, a few weeks into an ongoing 'conversation', post gathering
[above]: Thanks
Beth-- Yes,
it was really a terrific event-- a real blessing in many, many ways. I've
been thinking a lot about this and wanted to share my ideas with you, alice,
et al. first,
what you all did that was so valuable was to bring together the different
threads of end of life care. That is very important! This
is what I came away with-- that end-of-life, after death and funeral care
are all acting in tandem and need a framewowrk in which to operate
together. (On the periphery of these are journalism, academia,
midwifery, medical care, social work, spiritual care etc that created so
much rich connection between the participants.) I've looked around on
the web and I don't see an organization that exists specifically unifying
these themes. What
I envision is a national organization for EOL, after death and disposition
services. The momenetum that you all created needs to be
continued. (Obviously, if you all have plans that conflict with any of
this, please let me know.) When
we were at dinner Saturday nite, Nancy Poer asked me what could be done to
bring hospice workers into this work. I had some thoughts about that
but got interrupted. What I came to later was how crossings approached
our first workshops in WA and here: create CEU programs for social
workers, nurses and hospice administrators and then market that to
them. All this is both very simple, yet very ambitious, and I'm not
sure on what scope it could be brought into being, but bringing together the
gathering of people (and the types of people) from Crossings anniversary
celebration with hospice people and others will happen / has to
happen. It is the natural extension of hospice care-- and how the
mature organizational structure of after death care and green burial exists
to support this. My
wish would be to hold a conference next year sometime that offers CEUs for
differenet groups of people. (I'm thinking out loud that most
conferences are not on weekends because for most people they are work
related...) anyway, hold it over several days where participants really have
tahe opportunity to spend time together and network, to create those
wonderful connections that allow people to operate on a higher more
connected level. Anyway,
these are my thoughts, and what I am looking for from Crossings is some
basic support in terms of:
-
ideas
for creating such an organization
-
sharing
connections and contacts of people / organizations that might have an
interest in attending or giving presentations
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possibly
presenting or helping present at such a gathering
That's
it-- let me know what you think! Pat
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PDD Pages
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FEAR
OF DEATH AND DYING
SUICIDE
CRISIS HELP
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=NEW=
GREEN
BURIAL
AND
HOME
FUNERALS
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PREPARATION
FOR YOUR OWN PASSING: STAGE 1
PREPARATION,
STAGE 2: THE YOU
WHO
DOESN'T CROAK
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