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Arlene Hoag, a hospice volunteer and co-chairman of the Mountains of Courage conference, shares her experiences and insights on death and dying.

She discusses her early encounters with death, the grief she experienced when a friend passed away, and the importance of communicating with loved ones who have passed.

Arlene also emphasizes the significance of supporting grieving individuals and caring for loved ones with dementia. She shares how a class at a spiritual community camp and a gravestone exercise influenced her perspective on death.

Arlene concludes by discussing her work as a hospice volunteer and her challenges in promoting conversations about death and dying.

In this conversation, Arlene Hoag discusses various aspects of end-of-life care and the importance of community and connection during this time. She shares personal stories and reflections on death, as well as practices for self-resourcefulness.

Arlene also introduces the concept of home funerals and the value of allowing time for grieving.

She mentioned this book - Please Be Patient, I'm Grieving, by Gary Roe, and The Living/Dying Project, as well as a movie they made at the Living/Dying project called Dying Into Love.

At the end she shared this poem by the Sufi mystic, Hafiz called “There is a game we should play.”

There is a wonderful game we should play,
and it goes like this:

We hold hands and look into each other's eyes
and scan each other's face.

Then I say, "Tell me a difference
you see between us. "

And you might respond, "Hafiz, your nose
is ten times bigger than mine!"

Then I would say, "Yes, my dear, almost
ten times!"

But let's keep playing.
Let's go deeper, go deeper.

For if we do, our spirits will embrace
and interweave,

our union will be so glorious
that even God will not be able to tell us apart.

This would be a wonderful game to play.

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In this episode, we speak to Laura Davis, author of The Burning Light of Two Stars, The Courage to Heal, and four other books. In addition to writing books that inspire, the work of Laura’s heart is to teach. For over twenty years, she’s helped people find their voices, tell their stories, and hone their craft. She teaches online and at retreat centers around the world.

She's a featured speaker for The National Association of Memoir Writers and a popular craft teacher at The San Miguel Writer's Conference. In May, Laura will be leading her signature Writing as a Pathway Through Grief, Loss, Uncertainty, and Change retreat at a beautiful retreat center in the Northern California redwoods. You can learn about Laura’s retreats, workshops, and classes, and read the first five chapters of her memoir at www.lauradavis.net.

Writing as a Pathway Retreat - https://lauradavis.net/writing-as-a-pathway/

Laura’s press kit regarding her book, with images, etc.
The Burning Light of Two Stars

We mentioned the Book - The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

And Laura mentioned The Inner Work of Age: Shifting From Role to Soul by Connie Zweig

The poem we shared was -

Allow
by Donna Fauld

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.

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We were honored to meet and talk with Jill McClennen in this episode.

She is a certified death doula, a non-medical professional specially trained
to provide holistic care for individuals in their final stages of life. She offers
comprehensive support, preparation, and deep soul healing to her clients and their
families, whether in person or through virtual sessions, as she works as a death
doula and end-of-life coach.

In her virtual practice, Jill helps people prepare themselves and their loved ones for
the end of life, offering guidance and emotional support, regardless of physical
distance.

Jill is also the host of the "Seeing Death Clearly" podcast, available on all major
podcast platforms. Through her podcast, she talks with guests and they share
valuable insights and stories related to end-of-life matters, further extending her
mission to promote understanding and compassion about this important stage of life.
https://www.endoflifeclarity.com
https://m.facebook.com/endoflifeclarity
https://www.facebook.com/groups/endoflifeclaritycircle/
https://www.facebook.com/jill.mcclennen
http://www.instagram.com/endoflifeclarity
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillmcclennen
https://www.tiktok.com/@endoflifeclarity
https://seeingdeathclearly.buzzsprout.com

The poem we read was -

Clarity
By Vievee Francis

Sorrow, O sorrow, moves like a loose flock
of blackbirds sweeping over the metal roofs, over the birches,
and the miles.
One wave after another, then another, then the sudden
opening
where the feathered swirl, illumined by dusk, parts to reveal
the weeping
heart of all things.

Here is a link to a YouTube of Joanna Macy's Tonglen Practice, she calls "breathing through" - https://youtu.be/-qUTIYCzYo4?si=LV05TEBwyXfwRBqj

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Also, we would love your financial support and you can join us on Patreon. Anyone who supports us at any level will be invited to a special live, online conversation with Annalouiza and Wakil.

And we would love your feedback and want to hear your stories. You can email us at endoflifeconvo@gmail.com.

Send us a Text Message.

Please note this content warning for the following episode. In this episode our friend Kate speaks about her experience with putting down a beloved horse. Please take care of yourselves.

Today we are excited to have a conversation with Kate Schuyler. She is an active student of life, self, and the heart, a mother, grandmother, partner, and loyal friend. She is a world traveler, a hiker, a backpacker, a community volunteer, a gardener, a poetry lover, and a musician and singer.

She has been a Licensed Massage Therapist since 1982, and a member of the Sufi Community since 1994. She has been singing with the Portland Threshold Singers, an affiliated chapter of Threshold Choir International, since June 2012, eleven and a half years ago.

We shared this poem -

AFTER YOU DIE
By Marva Lee Weigelt

Just so you know
after you die
I will not wonder
why you didn’t do
your dishes or
how long it’s been
since you
cleaned your
oven or microwave or
mopped your floors
or why there were
dust bunnies under
the bed and
behind the door
After you’re gone
I will not wonder
how you could
have allowed the
piles of old mail to
accumulate or
why you saved so
many bits and pieces
of this and that or
why you weren’t
more goal-oriented and
well-organized or
why your refrigerator
contained so many
expired condiments
When you are
absent from all your
familiar places
I vow to avoid wondering
why you didn’t
eat less and
exercise more or
why you waited so
long to stop smoking
or drinking or
whatever else was
simultaneously
soothing and
deadly or
why you took
whatever risk may
seem to have hastened
your exit or why
you left so much unsaid
unfinished or
unresolved
I will only wonder
if you knew how much
you mattered to me
just as you are
as you were when we
met in our temporary
human disguises and
laughed in the
dressing room of the
world at how funkily
our skin suits fit
at times
I will wonder and
hope you knew
you were beloved
I will wonder when
we last hugged
and whether you
felt how our
heartbeats
converged
and our bellies
bumped like boats
and then we
both sighed

******
At the end of this episode we share a sample of the beautiful music of the Threshold Singers.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Also, we would love your financial support and you can join us on Patreon. Anyone who supports us at any level will be invited to a special live, online conversation with Annalouiza and Wakil.

And we would love your feedback and want to hear your stories. You can email us at endoflifeconvo@gmail.com.

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode, we are blessed to spend time with the Rev. Judith Laxer. She is a modern-day mystic who believes that beauty, humor, and the wonders of nature make life worth living.

The founding Priestess of Gaia’s Temple, Judith is a keynote and TEDx speaker, teacher of the magickal arts and mysteries, and author of Along the Wheel of Time: Sacred Stories for Nature Lovers [Ravenswood Publishing].

Judith dedicates her work to the rise and cultural integration of the Divine Feminine in all Her magnificence and wisdom. www.judithlaxer.com, www.gaiastemple. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram as Judith M Laxer and Gaia’s Temple Seattle.

Poem from this episode:
You Did Not Leave Us
by Kristen Kory

You may have left this world, but you are not gone.
And you may seem faraway, but we will always find you.
In dreams and old letters, in stories and songs.
You may have left this world, but you did not leave us.
You stayed in our hearts where you will forever live on.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Also, we would love your financial support and you can join us on Patreon. Anyone who supports us at any level will be invited to a special live, online conversation with Annalouiza and Wakil.

And we would love your feedback and want to hear your stories. You can email us at endoflifeconvo@gmail.com.

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode, we had the honor of sharing a conversation with Jeffrey and Stephanie, a married couple who live on an island near Seattle.

Jeffrey has his master's and a Ph.D. in agriculture and has been working in food security in Sub-Saharan Africa for over 20 years. He has found that our humanity comes before our agendas, that we must connect as people before we work together, and that laughter, tears, and sighs bring us together in times of joy and sorrow. He is currently the program coordinator for an agricultural development project at the World Food Program and works in Togo and Ethiopia and remotely from an island near Seattle.

Stephanie has her master's in animal science and her doctorate in veterinary medicine. She's been a veterinarian since 1993 and blends her technical skills with compassion and sensitivity to do what is best for animals and their owners. When not caring for animals, she volunteers at a local nonprofit that supports senior citizens and at a nonprofit called Reading with Rover that helps kids gain confidence in reading by bringing her dog Kip to libraries and classrooms so that kids feel relaxed. Stephanie and Jeffrey were co-directors of a health center in Ethiopia from 2002 to 2004 and started and continue to operate a nonprofit called the Ethiopian Education Fund that enables girls and boys in Ethiopia to complete their education.

The Ethiopian Education Fund - https://www.ethiopianeducationfund.org/

Veterinary housecall euthanasia support page

https://www.lapoflove.com/pet-loss-support-resources

Pet Owner: Pet Loss - Washington State Veterinary Medical Association

https://wsvma.site-ym.com/page/54

Book - Tear Soup: a recipe for healing after loss
https://griefwatch.com/collections/tear-soup

Book - How You Live is How You Die by Pema Chodron
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61142207

Song - Smile in the Face of the Devil by Matt Maltese
https://open.spotify.com/track/0h6X7BCq7IYKHNoXln3LX3?autoplay=true

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Also, we would love your financial support and you can join us on Patreon. Anyone who supports us at any level will be invited to a special live, online conversation with Annalouiza and Wakil.

And we would love your feedback and want to hear your stories. You can email us at endoflifeconvo@gmail.com.

Send us a Text Message.

In this special episode, we bring you memorials to beloveds who have crossed over the veil ahead of us.

Wakil and Annalouiza share memorial tributes to Wakil's Grandpa Herbert and Annalouiza's sister Vivian.

We'll also hear from Jane Ellen Nickell whom we interviewed in our last episode who shares the story of her mother's end of life.

Then, our friend Quan Yin Lynn Williams speaks about her journey with her friend Coco and her gracious and beautiful end-of-life story.

Finally, we are privileged to hear from Allaudin Mathieu, a talented musician and composer and one of Samuel Lewis's first students in his tribute to Sufi Sam (AKA Murshid Samuel Lewis), a beloved and renowned Sufi teacher who founded the Dances of Universal Peace and the International Sufi Ruhaniat Order.

Sufi Sam died in early 1971 and each year his community celebrates his Urs, or his wedding with the Divine. This tribute was excerpted with permission from this year's celebration.

You can find out more about the Dances of Universal Peace here: https://www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org/

And more about Samuel Lewis and the Ruhaniat Sufi order here:
https://www.ruhaniat.org/index.php/lineage/murshid-samuel-l-lewis

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Also, we would love your financial support and you can join us on Patreon. Anyone who supports us at any level will be invited to a special live, online conversation with Annalouiza and Wakil.

And we would love your feedback and want to hear your stories. You can email us at endoflifeconvo@gmail.com.

Send us a Text Message.

Jane Ellen Nickell is enjoying retirement, after serving 16 years as Chaplain of Allegheny College, which followed a career in performing arts management and marketing. A native of West Virginia, she currently lives in Meadville, Pennsylvania, with two feline companions. In retirement, she keeps busy gardening, cooking, doing yoga, making music, reading, and writing. She also works with Third Act Faith, a group of activists over age 60 who are addressing climate and democracy.

For a college chaplain, death is a relatively rare occurrence, but it is often unexpected and involves losing someone at a young age. The job also involves counseling students who have lost family members.

You can find her blog here: https://nickellforyourthoughts.org

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Also, we would love your financial support and you can join us on Patreon. Anyone who supports us at any level will be invited to a special live, online conversation with Annalouiza and Wakil.

And we would love your feedback and want to hear your stories. You can email us at endoflifeconvo@gmail.com.