DEATH MIDWIFERY SANCTUARY

The Angels Hovering Over The Body of Christ in the Sepulchre
William Blake (1757-1827)
c. 1805 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Enter this liminal space, the twilight time between life and death with an open heart. This is the place of mystery and transformation. Enter this sacred space with awe, humility and a willingness to experience this transition consciously. Embrace the opportunity for wholeness and healing in its perfect form to manifest. Allow yourself to become as a child again and remember what you once knew so well…that you are safe, you are surrounded by love…and you are never alone.
- Rev. Joellyn St. Pierre

For death begins with life's first breath
And life begins at touch of death.
- John Oxenham

The Cup of Death
Elihu Vedder (1836-1923)
Museum of Fine Arts
Richmond, VA
This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center.

Do not seek death. Death will find you.
But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.
– Dag Hammarskjöld

Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.
– John Muir

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life in a manner so that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.
– Native American Proverb

Le jour des morts
(The Day of the Dead)
William Bouguereau (1825-1905) Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center.

...when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.
– Sogyal Rinpoche

There is no death! What seems so is transition;
This life of mortal breath is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call Death.
– Henry W. Longfellow

Jacob’s Ladder
William Blake (1757-1827)
c. 1800 British Museum

If you have a loved one or know of someone who is dying and would like to place them into Rev. St. Pierre’s healing circle, you may email your request.

Please understand that with reference to the dying, when we affirm healing, it may very well mean a sacred, loving and more conscious transition from this life into the next.