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intention:
to create a death-ceremony that is life-giving and uniquely imbued with your essence.
Imagine...
- creative details of your funeral attended to in advance
- distilling the most precious elements of your life into a ceremony that reflects your singularity
- death as a point of connection, an invitation to be known and loved by those you leave behind
How would you give the gift of yourself?
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Whether you are investing in death-planning for yourself, preparing a funeral for a loved one, or a living wake, Creative Funeral Design is an opportunity to bring joy, dynamism, and generosity to an otherwise sordid affair.
Transform the burden of your loss into a treasured experience.
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Death as I knew it was kept behind closed doors, made separate.
Funeral services were obligatory, governed by formalities, scarcely representative of the animate character that was my relational understanding of a person and their gifts. Predefined, generic.
And that was it... they were gone. A simple and resounding blankness, contrasted with the memory of all they taught me and the privacy of my enduring love for them.
I became fascinated with cultures that revered the dead, integrating them into celebrations of active remembrance.
Surrounded by cemeteries in small-town Massachusetts, I walked the hills studded with gravestones that offered tiny windows into abstract lives once flushed with purpose.
These poems, marked in stone, offered meditative windows for me before I was old enough to comprehend them.
But still they weren’t enough...
...thus began a life-long curiosity and passion for death.
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We remember how a person made us feel. The intangible qualities of their singular human soul.
But do we ever truly know a person? Do we ever fully understand what they endured to arrive at the structure of their observable life?
We each have something untouchable about us. When we die, everything we touched is surrendered.
I believe that death invites us to participate in the story of a lifetime, the hidden mysteries of a soul, with all its brilliant shapes and shadows.
So that is what we do here. We make from death a parting gift.
We consider how to share the secrets of our living and turn our legacy into something relational, something of transferable Beauty; we decide how our energy is eventually liberated and exchanged.
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This work is primarily for those who are cognizant enough to access their imagination.
It can also be completed by friends and family on behalf of a dying person.
Return anytime.
Live life conscious of the weight it carries, now and forward, for all our relations.
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Camille Roos is an artist and writer who received professional end of life doula certification in 2018. She has partnered with Green Burial Massachusetts, Sacred Undertaking, HospiceCare of the Berkshires, Threshold Choir, and local funeral homes to return ritual to the dying process. More of her creative work can be found at camilleroos.com.
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If you are in need of immediate assistance, contact Camille here.
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self-guided study:
instructional audio with accompanying pdf to conceptualize and articulate your death-wishes independently.
group workshops:
live classes are held in rotation throughout the year to help you complete the material with content-specific support.
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Creative Funeral Design
Design the aesthetic elements of your funeral, including symbolic preparations and options for bodily disposition.
Impromptu Funeral on the Fly
Navigate your choices within a short time frame under pressure to create a soulful funeral on the fly.
Death & Dissolution: A Living Meditation
Examine your cultural beliefs around death and dying by participating in a simulation where you let it all go.
The Obituary: Your Life in Bird’s Eye View
Tell the story of your life by reviewing major touchstones and acknowledging earned lessons.
Legacy Letters +/- Unfinished Business
Write letters of praise and thanksgiving to those you love; address any unfinished business with compassion.
Parting Gift: How to Memorialize Your Essence
Honor those you leave behind with a tangible parting gift and pathway to remembrance that suits your soul.
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Upon purchase, files are immediately accessible via download to the email provided. We ask that you please do not share this content with others.
Thank you.
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DEATH CURIOUS:
a virtual gathering space for the death-adaptive.
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This is our ongoing, informal, drop-in community.
Caregivers, grievers, wayfarers: welcome.
Together, we meet in practice and conversation to explore death-related topics as pertains to ourselves and our loved ones. We share ideas and stories, offer support and reinforcement, and learn to laugh while facing our limitations without fear.
When we are familiar and secure with death’s imminent totality, we are better prepared to meet life with purpose.
We are all equal in the eyes of death.
Sessions are held monthly and run for about an hour. Please come prepared with a cup of tea – and your solitude.
Space is limited. Registration required.