Rituals - A Sacred Guidebook for Celebrating Life and Death

Throughout time,

rituals and ceremonies have been observed by cultures the World over.

Turning to the sacred.

Connecting into  primal nature, the spirit of our ancestors, motherlove from Earth herself.

In my darkest times,

I didn’t know where to turn.

The loss of a child, birthed into the World or not, is raw, real and painful.

A void.

Devastated and empty, I searched for something… anything, to help me heal.

I searched,

 looking for answers, support, understanding…

and during my search, I found more that what I’d lost

I found Rituals…

The loss of a child, sibling, parent, friend or pet is devastating. It’s pain that can’t be put into words. Endless days and sleepless nights.

It’s hiding away. Ignoring the phone.  Struggling to be happy for anyone. Anything.

Things that were important aren’t anymore.

During our bleakest times, we retreat.

Coming from the source of my grief was a knowing. That this… this soul-puncturing-sadness, the ache of wanting to see your loved one just one last time, needed to be put into words.

Rituals was born…

Rituals  helped to anchor me. The very nature of my daily rituals pulled me up, and out of the depths.

Rituals  taught me to be in the moment, in my body.

They helped me to feel again.

Part guidebook, part spiritual and emotional journal, Rituals showcases a number of experts in their field. With sharing their loss, their pain and subsequent lessons and joy, they’ve found a space for healing, teaching and growth.

My intention was to create an incredible resource for anyone struggling with grief, and to ensure that they had tools to manage and navigate their way through this dark maze.

The heart, soul, and spirit of this book is within the words. When you read through the stories, the vulnerabilities, the rituals, the raw truths, you will instantly feel incredibly connected as you realise you are never alone in your deep feelings of loss. This book allows the grieving process to come into light, by unifying us all in our experiences. It will encourage you, as the reader, to process and transform what you have been storing and holding onto – whatever has been weighing you down. Use this book as a guide for comfort, and a tool for transmuting your emotions. As always, beautiful work Adele! – Amy Landry

These rituals reconnect people to the healing energy of the divine feminine through earth centred shamanic practices, and will reconnect families as well. In both my healing and medical practice I see many people who would benefit from the stories and rituals represented by this book and I will certainly be recommending it. Many heartfelt thanks to Adele and the contributors for writing this very important book to aid in the healing of, and journey through, the often dark times after the loss of beloved child or pet. –Dr Danielle Arabena

The book offers support, tools and steps towards healing for yourself and any woman navigating through the darkness. It shines the light on rituals, self care and important honouring and burial ceremonies – Kate Lee Joystar

Beautifully designed, Rituals is practical, spiritual and logical….

Containing over 80 lovingly designed pages, Rituals contains practical and achievable ceremonies and practices.

It includes

Personal experiences and journeys of incredible women

Steps to take upon death

A Placenta Burial

An Honouring Ceremony

How to make a Medicine Wheel

A Shamanic Memorial Ceremony

Sharing your story, and how it can help you heal

How to call in the Water Element 

Sacred Bathing Rituals

Reiki

Meditation

Experiential Focusing Therapy

A White Candle Soul Connecting Ritual

A Heart Release Meditation

Art Release Therapy

Transforming Grief into Celebration

Using Tarot Cards

Joyful stories of women who’ve overcome pain and loss (with PCOS and IVF)

Celebrating the Life of your Pet

Creating and Altar of Love

All written with love, intention and purpose…

For only $29.00 

The loss of a child coupled with societal expectations to bear the loss (often quietly and sedately) and “carry on” puts immense and unreasonable pressure on an individual and families.  I feel the stories and rituals in this ebook will help with the healing process – and to help reconnect… – Dr Danielle Arabena

I’m crying, not in a dis-functional ‘on the floor kinda way’…. just tears of collective human being-ness. ‘Rituals’ is the book I wish I had when I was going through the unexpected, heart wrenching primal grief and disappointment of losing a baby earlier this year. Even though I cried all the way through, I felt I was in a sacred space, lovingly held by the words on the pages. – Kate Lee Joystar

Why did I create Rituals?

During my search for healing, joy and happiness, I came across a number of practices that not only enabled me to cope with my grief, but also to embrace it.

They allowed me to free myself from the dark sadness, the cloud, the inability to express myself and my feelings.

So, when I finally wrote about my experience on this very website, I was utterly overwhelmed with the emails, comments and posts from women all over the World who’d been going through the same or similar loss in their life.

They were afraid to talk about it.

They didn’t want to be judged.

They felt like it was all their fault.

And they didn’t know how to find their silver lining.

Who did I create Rituals for?

For anyone.

For everyone.

Grief doesn’t discriminate.

Losing a loved one – child, sibling, parent, friend, acquaintance, pet – is heart breaking.

This guidebook is designed to help you grieve openly, accept gratefully and release lovingly.

Who did I turn to in my time of need?

A team of the most incredible women I know.

They’ve all guided me gently through my journey, at different stages and through their work and healing practices, I’ve been able to embrace joy again.

I’ve called on them now, to share with you, dear reader, their favourite healing rituals and their personal stories.

Losing a child to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth or at any age is one of the most difficult situations a family can face. Akin is grieving the loss of a sibling, parent, friend, loved one, or pet.

The unique difficulty of grieving an unborn child has been processed differently throughout various cultures. Rituals seeks to examine these rites and explore an assortment of views on death and loss, while offering practical advice for couples suffering the unexpected loss of a child.

Rituals: Celebrating and Grieving the Loss of a Child is filled with accounts of ancient rituals explained by a number of experts in their field, along with their own personal stories of love and loss. The book features a range of experiences and Rituals for you to actively participate in, including a Shamanic healing process, Reiki,  Meditations, using Tarot, Bathing Rituals, a Placenta Burial and more. Shared by these experts, they explain how different cultures experience death, the process of grieving and the celebration of life. Losing a loved one is a universal experience, but the unique challenges faced by parents mourning an unborn child deserve special consideration.

Rituals contains practical advice for women and men experiencing the loss of an unborn child, and includes rituals that can be performed at home to help them heal from their loss. This book seeks to offer a view of global takes on losing a pregnancy, and comfort those in mourning.

With love, understanding and grace,

I invite you to join us in sharing, evolving and embracing grief wholeheartedly.

Be in the moment.

Feel into your body.

Allow the waves of thought and emotion to bubble to the surface.

You’re safe.

You’re loved.

It’s not your fault.

Let’s start a conversation, the World over, about loss

Let’s not be afraid to show our vulnerabilities and pain.

Let’s crack open our hearts widely, for in our honesty, we give others permission to do the same.

Own your experience, whatever it may be, knowing that you’re always supported, loved and never judged.

Review…

It’s been almost 12 years since my daughter Isabella passed away, but reading this book brought the memories to the surface gently as I read each story.

I wish a book like this had been available not just after Isabella died, but when she first got sick. The fear that she might die was so enormous – every time she had a seizure – there was constant stress with no reprieve. This meant it was difficult to enjoy the good times in between the seizures and hospital visits – it was just one big blur of fear and stress.

After Isabella died, the mainstream counselling service from the Children’s hospital was unable to provide the understanding and support I needed – they certainly tried, but I wanted to understand more about the process of death and their calmness and their surface level, western understanding of death was more patronising than it was comforting. I wanted to understand the process of death, why it happened, what happens after death and they couldn’t provide that.

Over the months and years after Isabella’s death, I searched for answers and relief to the pain I felt. In the early days, the only way I knew to numb the pain was to drink – every single night – not excessively, just enough to try and make the reality of the situation less real. I read books about spiritual realms, about life after death, I read about other cultures and their views of death and it made me realise that our western world has a very warped view of death that doesn’t really do a lot to help heal the grief.

I wonder if I’d known about these rituals, if perhaps the grief wouldn’t have gotten locked up inside me, to be released as angry outbursts.

Now, with this book, I have the opportunity to explore some self healing with the rituals that have resonated most with me.

Thank you so much to you Adele and all of the contributors for creating this amazing book. – Helena Denley