Sacred Dying - Embracing the End of Life

27/11/2025

It is not about moving on it is about moving with.

This year was the first time I created something close to an ofrenda a place in my home where the dead are not forgotten, where their names and their stories are allowed to breathe again. I set it up in November, in the same season when so many cultures honour the Day of the Dead. And for the first time in many years, my grief did not feel like a weight I had to carry alone. It felt like a doorway.

I realised something quietly life-changing: when we make space for our grief in the physical world, we make space for our loved ones to meet us there. Sitting with my niece, telling stories, laughing at memories that still sparkle in those moments I felt closer to them than I have since the day their bodies left this world. Their absence softened into presence. Their silence became a kind of guidance.

This practice taught me why so many cultures across history, oceans, and belief systems celebrate their dead instead of pretending the relationship is over. Because death never asks us to “move on.” That phrase is one of the deepest misunderstandings of grief.

Our dead want us to move with.

Move with the transformed presence of those who have passed.
Move with the relationship that did not end it simply changed form.
Move with the ache of missing them, and with the tenderness of remembering.
Move with life as it continues to unfold around us, and with time as it carries us forward.

As a death doula, I have come to understand that grief is not a closing of the story. It is the continuation of love in a new language. And when we honour our dead by lighting a candle, placing a photo, telling a story, or simply whispering their name we are not calling them back. We are walking with them.

The time we are here matters. It matters to the people we love, to the ones we live for, and to the ones who have already crossed the veil but still move alongside us.

And perhaps that is the quiet miracle of grief:
that when we make room for it, we discover that love never leaves it only changes shape.

Genevieve Matthews 🖤
Sacred Dying EOL Doula and Grief Guide.

23/11/2025

Excellent advice for the end of life 🖤

22/11/2025

20/11/2025

20/11/2025

19/11/2025

Would love to hear your story🖤

19/11/2025

A warm welcome to Poppie Swanepoel and Jacqualine Fjellvik, our newest followers! We are thrilled to have you onboard! Poppie Swanepoel Jacqualine Fjellvik

18/11/2025

The Beside is Bleeding

The Bedside is Bleeding — and No One Notices

The bedside is bleeding
not from wounds alone,
but from hands that once held life
now slipping away in silence.

Nurses are leaving,
one by one,
fading out like whispers
in overcrowded halls.

Burned by endless nights,
weighed down by unseen burdens,
hearts heavy with grief,
and spirits drained dry.

The clock ticks,
machines hum,
but no one hears the quiet cracks
in the armor of those who cared.

We patch the dying,
but who will mend us?
Our hands grow empty,
our footsteps grow faint.

And still, no one notices.
No one sees the spaces where we stood,
the lives left untended,
the care that’s slipping through.

The bedside is bleeding
because the healers are breaking.
And if no one stops to see,
what becomes of the ones left behind?

18/11/2025

Did you know? It’s completely natural to fear death and people fear it for many different reasons. While some fear pain or the unknown, others fear losing their sense of identity the “me” that experiences life. Even those who work in death care, supporting others at the end of life, sometimes verbalize that there are fears they cannot fully explain or escape.

Death is not just the end of our physical existence; it’s the conclusion of the story we’ve been telling ourselves about who we are, the choices we’ve made, and the life we’ve built. This fear, though heavy, is part of what makes life precious. It reminds us to live intentionally, value our time, and treasure the relationships and moments that give life meaning.

"It is not length of life, but depth of life." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fear of death can also become a doorway. By approaching it with curiosity asking questions, exploring beliefs, and reflecting on what matters we can begin to ease the grip of fear. Curiosity allows us to transform anxiety into understanding, helping us embrace life more fully while accepting the natural cycles of living and dying.

Genevieve Matthews 🖤
Sacred Dying EOL Doula and Grief Guide