The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief

When feelings of shame arise, we pull back from the world, avoiding contact that could cause or risk exposure.

mindful to share these vulnerable truths only with people you fully trust. As Goethe said, “Tell a wise person, or else keep silent.”

These are the places within us that have been wrapped in shame and banished to the farthest shores of our lives. We often hate these parts of ourselves, hold them in contempt, and refuse to allow them the light of day.

Diane Ackerman wrote, “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just to the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”

Psyche, we must remember, was shaped by and is rooted in the foundations of nature. As such, psyche also experiences times of decay and death, of stopping, regression, and being still. Much happens in these times that deepen the soul. When all we are shown is the imagery of ascent, we are left to interpret the times of descent as pathological; we f

There is often a feeling of shame attached to the survivors of suicide, a hidden doubt that they might not have done enough to prevent this death. This is a doubling of the pain. Their grief is bound together with shame, making it more difficult to talk with others and get the support they need. Finding the courage to share your experience with oth

metabolizing suffering into something beautiful

Grief asks that we honor the loss and, in so doing, deepen our capacity for compassion.

Like any true ritual process, we are meant to come out of the experience deeply changed.