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Classes
& Consultations
Home
Funerals
Through home funerals, families can grieve and express their love
in a very personal and unhurried way. Following death of a loved
one, Rites of Change guides families in home funerals and facilitates
memorial services.
In a two-hour
class or individual consultations, Rites of Change provides information
on how to:
- Prepare
the body to lie-in-honor
- Preserve
the deceased body
- Personalize
a casket
- Meet
legal requirements and acquire the necessary paper work
Contact information
is at the bottom of this page
Preparing
the Way: Planning for an Anticipated Death
When we
prepare ourselves to face an anticipated death of a parent, relative
or friend, we are better able to meet our own needs as well as
the needs of the person who is dying. In this class we will:
- Address
fears about death
- Learn
about the dying process
- Explore
and discern funeral options
- Talk about
ways to memorialize those we love
- Ddevelop
effective strategies to communicate our values and priorities
with other family members and mortuary professionals
- Demonstrate
a simulated sacred body washing to lovingly say goodbye
Contact information
is at the bottom of this page or click on Training
& Consultations for specific dates.
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PREPARING
THE WAY for PROFESSIONALS AND HEALERS
Ritual connects people to the spiritual dimensions of dying. As
a health professional, you may have clients who are facing their
own death of the death of a loved one.
The more
knowledge you have of alternative funeral practices and the role
of ritual as a consoling process, the better you will be able
to support your clients during end-of-life transitions. In this
training we will cover:
- Personal
and societal benefits of end-of-life rituals
- Decision-making
guidelines that help families find agreement around funeral
arrangements
- Funeral
facts and questions you may not know to ask
- Information
and options about family-directed home funerals
- Additional
therapeutic or logistical end-of-life resources for you or your
agency
In this training
you will have the opportunity to participate in a simulated demonstration
of sacred body washing. We will close our session with a gentle
letting go ritual to let go of job stress and honor loss.
This workshop
will benefit hospice staff, home health aides, nurses, social
workers, therapists, body workers, healers, volunteer coordinators,
chaplains, spiritual care coordinators, or clergy.
See contact
information at the bottom of this page.
What
Is Sacred Body Washing?
Rites of Change guides loved ones through washing or anointing
a body following death.
The sacred
act of washing the body after it has taken its last breath has
been almost lost in modern urban cultures. It is a beautiful process
that assists family and loved ones through the dying process and
assists the soul of the dead person as it transcends the body.
This rite takes place wherever the person dies – at a nursing
home, private home, hospice, or hospital room. We take care to
respect each family member’s personal level of comfort and
individual boundaries.
The benefits
of Sacred Body Washing are to:
- Help immediate
family and friends to get over the shock of death
- Personalize
the transition from living to dying for everyone involved
- Allow
for the decreased to be lovingly prepared for honoring in a
way that is natural and simple
- Provide
a sense of completion in caring for our loved ones before we
release their remains to strangers for burial of cremation
- Assist
in the grieving process
See contact
information at the bottom of this page.
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Sacred
Body Washing: A Story
How Ellen Hufschmidt, director of Rites of Change, was
inspired to begin providing After Hospice services
My close
friend died from metastasized breast cancer. For five years she
fought to stay alive, and her dying was wrought with pain and
fear. During the last months the wear and tear on her body, mind,
and spirit turned her face into a mask of pain.
When death
was imminent, my friend had asked me if I would make sure that
her soul got to the other side. Neither of us understood exactly
what that meant, and yet I agreed, feeling that we would learn
as we went.
My friend
died in the presence of her husband and daughter in a hospice
respite care facility. As I arrived, her other closest friends
also entered the room. Now there were seven of us. We were it.
We were the primary care team.
We sat and
talked softly, sharing periods of quiet, trying to absorb my friend’s
death and feeling our own grief. My friend’s daughter requested
that one of the hospice staff wash her mother’s gorgeous
hair for donation to an organization that made wigs for women
who went bald from chemotherapy treatments.
This seemed
to prepare everyone for what I was about to say. I suggested that
we wash my friend’s body with herbs that I had brought.
To my amazement they all stood and gathered around our beloved
friend, wife, and mother. We used the herbs and our own wishes
to sanctify the water.
Starting
at my friend’s head, we gently anointed her the breathless
body with our special water. As we rinsed her face we began to
notice subtle changes in her appearance. The darkness from her
stressed-filled eyes slowly lightened. The tension, fear and pain
began to relax, and a quality of serenity emerged. The herbs and
flowers from the water clung to her skin; little rose buds rolled
off her forehead to create a crown or roses along her hairline.
Our friend, mother, and wife looked amazingly beautiful.
This encouraged
everyone to proceed to anoint and wash the rest of her body. I
suggested that we approach this next phase as a symbolic gesture
of washing away the residual pain and disappointments from her
various failed medical procedures. We sang her favorite songs
and chants. There was something deeply soothing that came over
us as we washed her scars.
We covered
my friend with a clean sheet, adding more herbs and flowers. Our
last act was in keeping with her spiritual path. We turned her
body so that she was facing west. She had been a Celtic Historian,
and my last image of her was that of a Celtic Queen wearing her
crown of roses as her soul makes its journey to the other side.
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Contact:
ellen@ritesofchange.com
for further information
Ellen Hufschmidt,
Director
Rites of Change: Honoring Life Transitions
3937 21st. Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407
612.729.6817 |
