Circle of Healing: Grief Ceremony (Durham)

Join Circle of Healing for a powerful Grief Ceremony that calls on the four natural elements to process and release the sorrows we carry. Guided by Water, we share our grief in a harvest circle and drop a stone into a bowl of water for release and cleansing. Guided by Fire, we shake, vocalize and dance to the beat of drums to move grief trapped in our bodies. Guided by Earth, we compost our old grief to fertilize the soil of our lives in preparation for new growth. Guided by Air, we rest and restore through a vibrational sound bath. All forms of grief are welcome and honored.

This ceremony is offered monthly on the first Friday of each month in the Movement Studio at 2007 Chapel Hill Rd, Durham. Pay-what-you-can options available for BIPOC and trans folx. Ten percent of ticket sales support The Collectivity Project, an indigenous led project for cross-cultural grief tending.

The facilitator, Tessie Castillo, is a Durham-based grief ceremony practitioner working under the mentorship of national grief tenders Lawrence Cole and Therese Charvet. Her approach to crafting ceremony and holding grief with tender care draws on the transformative powers of the natural elements, community witnessing, and movement for emotional and energetic release. The Circle of Healing ceremony was co-created by Tessie Castillo and Rachel Cole, and inspired by the lineages of Francis Weller, Joanna Macy, Malidoma Somé and Sobonfu Somé.