The invitation

Human life inevitably comes with experiences of loss in its many forms. The most obvious one is the death of a dear one. As we grow older we lose health and dreams. When we look around we might feel overwhelmed with a grief for the state of the world with an increasing loss of peace and biodiversity. And the list goes on.

Culturally grief is not a welcome guest at the table. Already as kids most of us learn not to express it but rather to be strong and continue business as usual. As adults numbing and disengaging might seem like the proper thing to do whenever we encounter loss, though this attitude can make us ill in body, heart, mind and soul.  

In Norse mythology, when the goddess Freya is crying her tears turn into gold when they touch the ground and into amber when they touch the water. This image suggests that there is something precious about grieving, that our tears might hold a gift.

Indeed, when grieving we set free life energy. People attending grief rituals report experiencing more vitality and aliveness, connectedness with other people and the more-than-human world, a capacity to be more present and engage, a sensation of being more at peace with their inner world and the world around.

For a lot of us grieving is rather unknown and often scary territory. During a grief ritual we set off into this landscape together and remember how to navigate it. While a lot of us have grown used to carrying our grief alone, we now gather as a community. The more we hear others share about their grief, and share our own, the more it gets clear that grief is something that is ‘ours’ instead of ‘mine’.   

What to expect

The first part of our days together will focus on getting to know each other and on teachings about grief. We will explore what grief is, which different forms of grief there are, how to relate to grief and how to approach grieving. There will also be time to exchange in smaller groups about the particular grief that you are holding. The second part we will open the actual grief ritual with the element of water in the centre. There will be several grief sessions during which we will both grieve in silence and with song and voice as a support. This will be a step-by-step process during which we keep on taking the time to share and check in with each other. The last part will be for integration of the grieving experience and celebration of life.

For whom

The grief ritual is open for anyone, regardless if you have prior experience with grief rituals, whether you are being with an acute grief or not. Also when you can’t put your finger on what you might want to grieve for or if you are simply curious you are welcome.

By whom

Zaia Hoffmann, Lien De Coster & team*

Zaia Hoffmann (she) has a passion for nature, dance, percussion and Japanese culture and crafts which she deepended since her late twenties in different workshops and trainings. When she first experienced grief rituals held by Dagara teacher Sobonfu Somé from Burkina Faso*,* integrating the elements of nature, music and dance in a sacred and purposeful space, she immediately felt at home and joined the unique three year training in nature connected rituals. This became her fundamental basis for holding rites of passage programs for teenagers. Together with Lien she is designing contemporary, locally rooted community focused rituals and ceremonies.

For more info about Zaia, click here.

Lien De Coster (she/they) has been holding ritual spaces for more than a decade. She is passionate about blowing life into the big ceremonies that make for a healthy and life-serving culture and to translate them to contemporary times. Her focus is on guiding processes of death and rebirth through rites of passage work with queer teenagers on the way to adulthood and holding sitouts, vision fasts in the northern European tradition, for adults. Lien studied with Dutch shamanic practitioner Linda Wormhoudt, among other the ‘rouwvrouw’ or soul woman training on supporting death and dying.

For more info about Lien, click here.

*We are working with a big international team of at least ten people, coming from among others Sweden, Norway and Germany. We are happy to confirm that Judith Wilhelm (she, Wildnisschule Wildeshausen) will be part of our team. Judith has many years of experience in guiding grief rituals in Germany and for the past years Zaia and Lien have been part of the team there.

For more info about Judith (in German), click here.

Dates

February 22nd-25th 2024, from Thursday 10am till Sunday 11:30am

Location & transport

Traveling by car:

Solhälla, Oskarshem 215, 44497 Svenshögen, Sweden

Traveling by public transport:

From Gothenburg you take the bus to Stenungsund. There you swap to bus 334 (towards Stora Högaskolan). You can find more details on the website of Västtrafik.

For more info about Solhälla, click here.

Costs

Please mind prices are in Swedish kronor, not in euro.

Workshop:

Standard rate sek 2500

Supported rate sek 1500

Supporting rate sek 3500

Venue:

sek 2700

The venue costs include sleeping in a double room or a dormitory plus three organic and vegetarian meals. (Mind there are a limited amount of double rooms.)

If wanted it is possible to stay an extra night for an added cost of sek 250. Lunch on Sunday can be booked for an extra sek 150.

Do you want to fund our grief work? Get in touch!

Info

liendecoster7@gmail.com or 0046(0)724468878

Join our free info Zoom on the grief ritual on Wednesday February 7th at 7pm. This Zoom comes without any obligations. You can register through filling out the form underneath.

Keep an eye on the Why Wild blog to read this winter’s free blog posts on grieving. 

Registration

Your registration is complete after we have received your registration form and payment.

Registration deadline is February 9th.