Ellen Hufschmidt, a longtime member of the TCVC community, has written a new book, With Our Own Hands: A Guidebook to Ritual Blessings of the Dead. Visit her website for more information and to order the book.
Ellen has worked with more than a thousand deaths and the families who are left behind. In the dying process, both the dying person and the family take risks to explore their unknown places of unexpressed feelings such as resentment, joy, love, or trauma. Her book provides a step-by-step description of a bedside Body Blessing, along with stories of how this ritual has been used in different settings to bring about meaningful closure.