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Evolution of Living Death Practices

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This summer Death has felt close.

If you're in the discord server, you know that I've been taking a bit of an extended break. Again. It feels like consistency has been the losing battle of the last few years. But if you read my last newsletter you know that this is an important lesson that I'm sitting with right now. One of Death's lessons is that it's important to take things one day at a time, one moment at a time, one breath at a time.

And I don't just mean that Death is close to me in a spiritual sense or that I am contemplating Death in a meditative sense - I mean that Death itself has been entirely too present in my life.

I attended two funerals in as many weeks, had another family member in the hospital for going on four weeks, and have been dealing with a lot of other closures (many of them good!). It's not dramatic to say that this is the time in my life when I feel closest to Hel, Norse goddess/Norn of death.

This is really a ramble of a newsletter, some thoughts that are percolating that I can't fully communicate yet. These are practices in flux, things that I'm experimenting with.

Trigger warning: In this newsletter I will be talking a lot about death not in a symbolic way, but in the way of loss and grief. Take care and read when you're in a good headspace. 🖤

Read on the website

Death comes in cycles

There's a folk saying that "Death comes in threes." I remember the year 2016 - before Trump was elected to office the first time - when there was a slew of celebrity death that my friends and I joked that it always happened in cycles of three. But I've seen that show up in other places as well.

Throughout my life I've noticed that death seems to come in cycles as well. I rarely have an instance of just one loved one dying. And even if I do only have one death of someone close to me, there are usually other prominent deaths reported in the news or deaths in my extended chosen family as well. Some best friend's aunt will pass at the same time that a cousin of my own passes at the same time that a celebrity dies in a car crash.

Sometimes there are other deaths mixed in - the symbolic ones, like losing a job, ending a creative project, etc. These are the deaths that many tarot readers associate with the Death card. Those are not the deaths I'm talking about here, but they can contribute to this overall sense of a haze of death hanging in the air.

But the cyclical nature of death means that there is something we can learn every time She comes knocking.

I think it's interesting that the Nordic Goddess of Death is half shining woman, half decaying corpse. Her name translates to "hidden one," and she is not just a Goddess but a place. All of this speaks to a sort of mythic cycle that I can't quite place my finger on. It's as if the focus on duality within the goddess, the image of her being half corpse and half beautiful woman, helps us to understand that death can help us come to terms with life.

(in general there are a lot of mythopoetic things happening in my unconscious that i'm not able to quite describe right now but i digress)

There are seasons of death - times when it feels much closer than others, times when there are multiple deaths in your family or other times death has been around, and then there are other times when the vitality of life feels so present! They are two sides of the same coin, one does not exist without the other, and Hel is deeply understanding of this.

Living Death Practices

We live in a very death-averse society. Looking at certain parts of life through a death-focused lens can help us to appreciate our lives more fully, but it can also feel bleak to start out with. I would recommend first starting small. Death is not bleak, but when you're going through grief it can indeed feel all consuming.

Sometimes with things that are really difficult it's important for us to begin to expose ourselves to them so that we aren't as dramatically impacted. Of course grieving a loved one is always painful, but there is something rich about approaching grief from the kind of grounded perspective that reckoning with death can provide. Exposure to death positivity can help you to honor your loved ones more fully at the end of their lives, because you aren't thrown into a tailspin over the very reality of death.

Of course it's important to find balance in all things. And I think that's one thing that Hel has really taught me in my relationship with her. Contemplating death is important for me, but it also helps me to not take life for granted. I feel the beauty of life more thoroughly when I contemplate the possibilities of death.

Some practices:

• Get the practical death things in order. Create a will, as well as a legal advance healthcare directive.
• Begin a meditation practice. There are specific meditations that help you to confront death in many traditions (Buddhist Maranasati Meditation, meditating and connecting with pagan death deities, and others), but any meditation practice will bring you in touch with the present moment - which helps to connect to the thread between death and life.
• Spend time in cemeteries. You can go for a walk in your local cemetery or sit on a bench and meditate. Being among graves has long been a method of connecting with loved ones who have passed away, but you don't need to be visiting the grave of a loved one or ancestor to find beauty in the cemetery.

I'm also working on incorporating some death positive practices into my Lunar practice. That's what I dedicated this last new moon to, in fact - thinking about how to honor Hel (and Death and the Underworld) in a cyclical way. As that is sort of an in-process thing for me at the moment, I will only be sharing it with my paid patrons on Patreon. I don't mean to create a barrier to this - but the paywall creates a bit of a circle of trust. I will eventually share these practices more broadly with the newsletter/blog list.

I hope this email finds you as well as possible.

See you next month!

Siri Vincent Plouff

This Week's Top Three: + Jeanna Kadlec's astrology for writers newsletter. + I'm on Nospace even though I'm probably too old lol. My username is "sirivplouff" + Supernatural. I'm on this incredible neverending road trip finding spooks. The show is actually good y'all. also also also I've shut down the Lore shop for the month of July (and probably most of August) as I get ready to move. Click on this link if you want to receive an update when the shop reopens.​

Salem Witch Fest Presents: Magic in the Margins I'm presenting at this month's Salem Witch Fest Monthly Event - Magic in the Margins! I believe that you can order tickets just for my talk, but the other talks look incredible. Join us virtually on Saturday, July 20th. Register Here

Mystic South I'm getting so excited to visit Atlanta for the first time! I'll be presenting "Queering the Runes" at the conference and hope to see some of you there. I'm still putting together my schedule of talks for the weekend - there are sooooo many good ones to choose from. Register Here

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