Ritualizing day of the dead
A Time for Remembering our Ancestors and Honoring our Grief
As we approach Halloween, aka Samhain, and Día de los Muertos aka Day of the Dead (on Saturday, November 2nd), we enter a sacred time.
It is said, in some traditions, that this is the true ending of a yearly cycle as such the spirit world is more available to us than usual.
Grief & Eros Ritual
This year I plan to gather with my Tantra community to co-create a “Grief & Eros” ritual designed to address the past year’s personal griefs as well as the big collective grief we’ve all just been through: the devastation brought to our region by Hurricane Helene.
It is said, in some traditions, that this is the true ending of a yearly cycle as such the spirit world is more available to us than usual.
Grief & Eros Ritual
This year I plan to gather with my Tantra community to co-create a “Grief & Eros” ritual designed to address the past year’s personal griefs as well as the big collective grief we’ve all just been through: the devastation brought to our region by Hurricane Helene.

In this ritual, calling forth one’s own erotic lifeforce with an intention and container designed to express grief, acts as a sort of gas pedal to activate and move that frozen love out of the body through the emotions. The deepest sorrows of our hearts will be held in community as we experiment with new ways of being authentic with the entire spectrum of our human experience.
Other Suggestions
As we move into this sacred season, I encourage you to find your own way to connect with those who have passed and to celebrate the cycles of life and death.
1. Host an Ancestor Feast
Invite your friends and family together and have each person prepare a meal that one or more of your ancestors loved. During the meal, tell stories about that ancestor, the food they loved, and the gifts you received from their life and from their death. This feeds death literacy in community and it keeps alive the memories of your departed beloveds through the tastes, smells, and words that connect you to them.
2. Day of the Dead Stories
Even without the feast, this time of year is a great opportunity to gather together and tell stories about those who have passed. In the process you learn about each other, grieve and heal together, and bask in the momentary delight of existence. This can be done around a fire or during a quiet gathering with friends or family.
3. Visit a Resting Place or Plant Flowers
Another option is to visiting the resting place of a passed loved. It’s a ritual act of remembrance that can connect us to the life/death/life cycle. If you’re not able to be at a physical location that’s meaningful, you could write their name on a piece of paper and put it by a candle, flowers, or a special altar.
Similar Conscious Dying Posts:
In addition, here are some other Conscious Dying topics:
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Beginner’s Checklist for End-of-Life Document Preparation—Three Buckets of Paperwork
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Conscious Dying: Turning Inward as a Profound Practice—at Any Stage of Life
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Topics in the End-of-Life Immersion Course: External & Internal Preparation—for Death & Dying
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Death is an invitation to keep our hearts open—Even though and especially because…it’s vulnerable.
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Will my End-of-Life Wishes be Honored—Three Key Tips to Ensure they are.
Author: Lee Warren

Lee Warren is a death and tantra educator, somatic guide, writer, mystic, and community builder. Lee’s work delves into the intimate relationship between our physical existence and the mysteries of life and death. She teaches how embracing the certainty of our mortality can transform fear into profound gratitude and ecstatic embodiment.
Why do we want to be more embodiment? Because that’s where divine intelligence lives. Consciousness is in every cell of our being and it’s waiting to be enlivened.
Her rich and varied experiences—from three decades of ecovillage living and the practice of sustainable agriculture to her devotional Tantric path—prime her for sharing the teachings of the life/death/life mysteries.
End-of-Life Preparation Immersion Course:
Click here for my: 13-week End-of-Life Preparation Immersion Course information.
My free 7-day Email Mini-Course is available to enroll in here.

Lee Warren
Death & Tantra Educator
End-of-Life Preparation Coach
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