In addition to a generous cash prize, the book will now be showcased at important book conventions worldwide for the next year.

This award, while a wonderful confirmation for the work itself, is vitally important for two reasons:

1. The cash prize can help to fund the web site and its work. Up to this point, all the work as been personally funded by me and my funds are becoming more and more limited.

2. By being showcased at literary conventions worldwide, the work will be brought to a far wider audience than I could ever manage on my own.

The only intention behind this book was to fill in a much needed gap in the current model for hospice and palliative care for the dying and to support those called to this path of service. It is very rewarding, though, for a first time independent author to be acknowledged by industry leaders.

Again, the book can be purchased through Amazon or directly from my web site (which pays a higher royalty which, in turn, goes directly to fund this work).

There has been a good response so far to the mentoring program offer. Again, it is open to those called to this path of service who have read the book and submit a 250 or so word essay on it. Do not write a book report but a commentary on thoughts and questions the book inspired and how you will incorporate it into your service to the dying.

This offer will not be open indefinitely…so if you are truly interested…get those essays in. There is no fee for the program but those who feel moved to do so may make a donation.

Thank you again for your support and for your service to the dying.

Peace,

Joellyn

“Remember…You are safe…You are surrounded by love…And you are never alone.”

Visit us at deathmidwifery.com.

Email Us

My spiritual mentor says that there are two tasks of the spiritual path and that applies to any spiritual path. The two tasks are, first purification, then consecration. In “The Art of Death Midwifery, “The Process” is the act of purification while “The Practice” is the act of consecration.

Therefore, regarding this particular path of service, by purification we mean aligning and toning the physical and subtle bodies to act as unobstructed channels. It is only by becoming as clear a channel as possible for Divine Will to flow through us, that we will be effective as spiritual death midwives. In the path of service we call “The Art of Death Midwifery,” the template for the spiritual warm up we use for purification is called “The Process.”

We never master “The Process.” It is not something that we do for a while and then set aside looking for something else to intrigue us. We must continually cleanse and purify our vehicles both dense and subtle daily, to filter out the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual toxins that we acquire by virtue of being in a human form. It takes great discipline and dedication to do that work tirelessly but unless we are willing to undertake that responsibility, to perform over and over the act of purification, we will not be channels of anything more than white noise and static.

After purification comes consecration. Consecration means having an ideal to which those energies we have created during the process of purification are then directed. In our case, we are consecrating our energies to serving the dying as unobstructed channels through which Divine Will may flow. It means remaining a focused loving presence to one who may be experiencing tremendous suffering. It means not allowing ourselves to collapse into that suffering but remaining a calm guide….bringing order out of chaos, breathing love into fear, staying centered in the face of unspeakable sorrow in the knowing that we are all safe, we are all surrounded by love and we are never alone.

This is an act of what my teacher calls Tikun Olam. It is our act of repairing the world by taking the experience we call death all the way up to God…in whatever form you choose to envision God to be. Tikun Olam is not mastered in a day…or a week…or a year…or a lifetime. If you choose to do this work, you have the tools provided in the book to begin an act that has no end. I hope you choose to begin.

From the press release:

USA BOOK NEWS ANNOUNCES
WINNERS AND FINALISTS OF
THE NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS 2009” AWARDS

Independent Titles Score Top Honors in the
6th Annual National “Best Books” Awards

LOS ANGELES – USABookNews.com, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of THE NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS” 2009 AWARDS (NBBA) on October 20, 2009. Over 500 winners and finalists were announced in over 140 categories covering print and audio books. Awards were presented for titles published in 2009 and late 2008.

Jeff Keen, President and CEO of USABookNews.com, said this year’s contest yielded an unprecedented number of entries, which were then narrowed down to over 500 winners and finalists.

Keen says of the awards, now in their seventh year, “The 2009 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the United States. With a full publicity and marketing campaign promoting the results of NBBA, this year’s winners and finalists will gain additional media coverage for the upcoming holiday retail season.”

Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape: Simon & Schuster, Penguin, W.W. Norton, Revell, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Thomas Nelson, American Cancer Society, Greenleaf Book Group, Sourcebooks & hundreds of independent houses contributed to this year’s outstanding NBBA competition. Keen adds, “NBBA’s success begins with the enthusiastic participation of authors and publishers and continues with our distinguished panel of industry judges who bring to the table their extensive editorial, PR, marketing, and design expertise.”

USABookNews.com is an online publication providing coverage for books from mainstream and independent publishers to the world online community. USABN Magazine Online is the monthly electronic magazine e-mailed free to a large cross-section of the book buying public. JPX Media, in Los Angeles, California, is the parent company of USABookNews.com.

Health: Death & Dying

Winner:
The Art of Death Midwifery: An Introduction and Beginner’s Guide by Joellyn St. Pierre, D. DIV.
Booksurge
ISBN: 978-1-4392-2906-4

A complete list of the winners and finalists of the USABookNews.com National “Best Books” 2009 Awards are available online at http://www.USABookNews.com.

Considering end of life care is not about “killing grandma” or telling people to “die quickly.” It is about re-thinking our insistence on certain procedures and protocols in certain situations that amount to no more than, as one highly experienced and compassionate palliative care nurse I worked with called, “legalized torture” while straining the medical care system to the breaking point. We are concerned about water-boarding prisoners of war, yet we think nothing of inflicting untold suffering upon our loved ones during the final weeks and days of their lives in order to have more time with them. More…not better. Where does quality of life come in? Or dignity? Often the one dying is kept alive through extraordinary means to give the family time to come to grips with the undeniable fact that their loved one is dying. Grandma or dad or wife is kept artificially alive, often in extreme pain, while the family acts out their particular dramas. Why is this? Usually because we, as a culture, choose to pretend that death is an option.

Just recently I saw a program on the Science Discovery channel suggesting that very thing; that science is advancing to a point where death may be optional. Okay…that is outrageous on so many levels it boggles my mind.

While in truth there is no real death, that in truth, our spirits are eternal, there is and always will be a physical death. I’m going to go way out on a limb here and state that there is a reason for physical death. We need this transition for our spiritual growth. We need to face death, to try to understand it to the best of our ability and to transcend our fear of death because one who does not fear death is truly free. Truly free.

A truly free person is a dangerous person. How can you control someone who is truly free? How can you control someone who has transcended the greatest fear we have, the fear of death itself? And how can we ever get to that point of transcendence if we can’t even hold a discussion on end of life issues?

It will be my thoughts, mostly stream of consciousness, based on issues in the news, experiences some of my students are having while serving the dying or adding more light to portions of my book.

I will speak about things we as a culture like to keep in the dark about death, the things we fear, the things we are ignorant of concerning the death process. Some of the things may be hard to hear. Some may offend. But it is from my commitment to the dying that I will speak. If a Zen stick is necessary, it will be used…with love.

So here goes….