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Death Café
Death Cafés are gatherings held all around the world for the purpose of bringing death out of the taboo closet.
The cafés give people a chance to talk about this most important topic that every one of us will at some time experience. As many spiritual teachers have taught over the ages, the more we recognize, accept, and incorporate the reality of death, the more precious and vivid our lives become.
Lynne Westmoreland writes about how she came to be facilitating Death Cafés:
"About 4 years ago a friend of mine invited me to come to a death café that he was facilitating. I was interested initially because I am always interested in talking about taboo subjects, and because I was angry at how completely the medical/pharmaceutical/insurance industry has co-opted our experience of death personally and collectively. I was hooked after that first café and began hosting after attending a few more and observing the styles of different facilitators. I was impressed by how open, tender, and loving these conversations were and at how many people were hungry to have a forum where they could speak honestly and vulnerably about a topic still closeted in our culture.
"Death cafés are a natural extension of the conversations and vision that we hold as Pachamama members. All of the topics of justice, sustainability and spirituality come up in these conversations. No two cafes are ever the same and many people return time after time to further their understanding of death and, as a result, to more clearly formulate their hopes for living a life of meaning, authenticity, and service."
These are not morbid gatherings at all, but very alive, engaging (and often hilarious) conversations. Talking about death won't cause you to die. But not talking about it may result in a life less fully lived and appreciated.
We hope you'll join in! All events are FREE. Please arrive a few minutes early so we can begin right on time! If you have questions, please contact Lynne Westmoreland.
Lynne is also facilitating virtual Death Cafés through the Deep Adaptation Forum, an international group of individuals who are aware of climate-driven societal breakdown and its implications for our future. These Death Cafés offer an opportunity to engage with mortality against the backdrop of cataclysmic climate change, global challenges to democracy, and the crumbling of the world as we know it.
There is no charge, although to attend, you need to apply to be part of the Deep Adaptation Forum group on Facebook.
You can find an excellent description of the Deep Adaptation Death Cafés, as well as a registration link here.
Contact for Death Cafés: lynnewestmoreland@gmail.com
Please note: This initiative is currently on hiatus.