Dying into a Living World: Animism and Deathcare, with Sarah Kerr, PHD

Story Paths

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Cosmology is a story of how all this came to be, which leads into what is real, or, in the words of our guest today, ‘what is allowed to be real.’

The world-view of a person and culture determines how they live in this world, and also the manner in which they die.

Sarah Kerr sees the world as full of living beings, human and other than human, in physical bodies and in other states. She helps those who are dying, and those who care for them, through this great transition, with the help of carefully crafted ceremonies.

Today we speak about the world-view that informs her work, a view which describes death as not a blank ending, but a crossing over. Those who stay behind can help this crossing through their love and grief, which can be channeled through ceremony.

Sarah says,

“As a sacred deathcare practitioner and a teacher, I’m passionate about helping my clients and students find the healing gifts that can accompany death and loss.

I’ve been in practice since 2012, and I love helping people meet death and loss in soul-based way. I have a PhD in Transformative Learning, with a focus on contemporary ritual healing. I’ve been a student of cross-cultural energy healing for almost three decades and have studied with many Indigenous and western teachers.

I’ve made my own journeys through death and loss, into healing and resolution.

I offer myself in service to both the seen and the unseen world, and I work for healing on both sides of the veil.”

Here’s a talk Sarah Kerr gave about animistic and western world-views, in two parts:

A related conversation with artist Laura Burns

https://open.substack.com/pub/storypaths/p/river-songs?r=1ium1j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Episode credits:

I just want to grieve song, sung by Hanna Elise

I hear the voices of the grandmothers, author unknown, found at http://www.prcupcc.org

A video about the great turning, part of the work reconnects with Joanna Macy

https://workthatreconnects.org/resources/the-three-aspects-of-the-great-turning-wtr-training-video-series/

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