With Our Own Hands: A Guidebook to Ritual Blessing of the Dead

How do you say a final goodbye? Chaplain and grief counselor Ellen Hufschmidt 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. These risks are where emotional and spiritual healing, reconnection, and repair take place. This healing happens not by one's turning away from the reality of death but by being present for some thing new to reveal itself. This booklet presents one way to put yourself in the path of mystery and beauty that can accompany death. These pages provide 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. Also included are helpful ideas for virtual funerals and rituals.