In the modern perspective, a Death Doula attends and walks with those who are at the end of their life. Throughout history though, Death Doulas held a much larger role around death.
Death Doulas were the bridge between the physical plane and plane of spirits. Their work included walking with the dead, as well as, walking with those who were dying. They served as necromancers (communication, not raising the dead back into physical form). As Reapers, walking the Soul to their next journey after it left the body, and as Guardians of the Dead while they prepared for their rebirth.
They helped those left behind in their grief to heal. They helped the living to access memories from their past lives in order to gain a deeper understanding of their whole self and accessing the skills that lay dormant within. They were also the ones people turned to for major transformations in their life – because the path of Death and Rebirth is larger than just your physical death and we experience it many times in one life-time. Death Doulas are healers of the Soul.
Modern Death Doula training is centered more around science than spirituality. The majority of the training courses out there revolve around a health-care perspective. Working from the framework of psychology and physical body. This isn’t a bad thing, and that perspective is needed in the work, but the work also needs to go beyond it, because it is the soul that lives beyond it.
My training started from the medical perspective. A CCRN who was dealing and walking people through what we called emergent death. Every death taught me something different, but they all showed me one thing – the way we trained Death Doulas from this perspective was not enough. We were doing a disservice to both the dying and the living left behind due to just using this clinical approach.
The Ancient traditions and approaches of Death Doula work was very different. They focused on the body in similar ways for comfort measures, but they placed a higher focus on the Soul. Healing and preparing the Soul for the journey ahead. Walking along with them even after the death of the body. They were also not confined to just the dying. People in all walks of life came to them for all kinds of services that dealt with the journey and transformation of the soul.
As I grew in my own practice, I blended the two approaches and expanded upon them.
What Roles Can Death Doulas Hold?
I am always surprised when people think Death Doula work, especially in the magical and spiritual community, is only the physical dying work. It is understandable because most training only focuses there, but there is so much more. These are just a few examples but hopefully they will start to give another expanded perspective.
Much of this field in modern perspective is about gathering proof, and less about working with the spirits. With this being said though, we are seeing a rise in mediums and healers in the field – work of the Death Doula. A Death Doula can add crucial elements to these teams. Not only from a communication standpoint but also helping the spirits found. Whether it is healing the soul that is needed, cutting the strings that bind them there, shifting the energies of the place and land itself to stop attracting those types of energies, or identifying the reason behind their presence, a Death Doula can play a crucial role on those teams. They can also help to cleanse and clear spaces when needed – for not everything is benevolent.
Therapy, Shadow Work, and Past Lives
The skills of a Death Doula are those of transformative work. Therapists can use them to enhance their own practices. Combining the approaches to serve the whole person, to go deeper, to get to the core behind the issues, allowing true healing and transformation of them.
Those who are moving through their own shadow work – their own deconstruction of the self, healing traumas, creating their own foundations, and then re-birthing the new self – will find skills and tools in the Death Doula path to do just that. Learning about the two sides of body and soul, the way the mind works between them and how to bring them into alignment. Connecting to the Ancestral Soul, all the lives they lived before and what has been carried forward into this one – because not all that needs to be healed comes from this life. Understanding the framework for a death and rebirth transformation, because it is the same framework used in shadow work.
The Ancestral Soul is the part of us that holds all the lives we have lived before, including all the memories and skills we have developed in each. It is the Legacy of the Soul, what we are contributing to in this life and will pass on to the next life. It is not just about healing though – This is about accessing and raising these aspects of ourselves for positive effects and advancing ourselves in this life. Death Doulas have the ability guide others in this process, using effective tools and frameworks to get real results.
Spirit Communicators – Mediums
I believe everyone has the ability to connect and clearly communicate back and forth with the Unseen – Spirits, Deities, Soul that have passed, and so forth. The ability is there, developing and using it though can be difficult, especially in our modern world.
Death Doulas, trained in the spiritual aspects of the work, have developed a path to help others on this journey. Structures and exercises to enhance our psychic senses and reprogram the mind to process that information the same as it does for physical senses. The first steps to clear and accurate communication with the unseen.
Death Doulas walk with the person as they discover the unseen worlds, how to maneuver within them, and forge their own path in working with the spirits. Although all these planes overlap and share space, they work differently in many ways.
There are many names and traditions around energy healing. Each one though is focused on the energy of a person in order to heal the physical and emotional issues of a person. Death Doula skills can expand upon the knowledge of the energies and give new perspectives for the modes of healing.
I have had students who were Reiki Masters that went on to develop new kinds of Death Reiki focusing on the ancestral soul, healing the soul, and physical healing. Working on it from the perspective of long term diseases and autoimmune healing possibilities. It is a fascinating perspective and approach.
Death Emissary vs Modern Death Doula
As I said, these are just a few different ways people can use their Death Doula skills, if their skills are a blended practice of modern and ancient techniques – these the are Emissaries of Death in all its forms.
There is knowledge and skills in modern Death Doula practice that is important to doing the work for our dying. They also give us science and deeper understandings of the physical body that can help us in the work with the soul. The problem I see with most, if not all, modern death doula courses, is that they still keep a very clinical approach to the process – cutting out or diminishing the spiritual. The ones that I have seen that include that piece, have done so from a very christian or abrahamic perspective. That is still leaving out a large portion of the people and the expanded services, such as the ones above, a Death Emissary can provide.
I have been a Death Doula for over 25 years, first in a clinical sense, and then as a Death Emissary – the blended Death Doula. Not only do I find it very rewarding work, but the journey itself also transformed me. As one of my students recently said, “It occurs to me that we are doing our own death work within ourselves–letting go of the old self, shedding the layers, and celebrating the growth of the new.” This is very true.
We need more Death Emissaries and Death Doulas for the magical, pagan, and animistic communities. We need people who can bring in all the different elements and skills, that resonate with our world views and experiences, to serve the whole person and all the forms of transformations. This is why I developed and teach the Death’s Emissary Course, with the hope that those who participate will serve and teach others in this path.
Yes, you heard that right – create their own modes of teaching to train more people from the things they learned in their own experiences of the path. The tools they created, the structures they developed and altered to work for them. This path does not belong to me, it belongs to all of us. I developed a course to help guide others on their own journey and the tools that I have found to be the most productive and powerful, but they belong to all of us.
The course starts with the personal journey, the one of the soul and within the spirit realms. It ends with the professional skills, knowledge, and frameworks of a death doula.
I watch as my students alter, and discover new modes of working, that are providing them real and powerful results in the work. They are developing new paths and areas to blend this work and knowledge into, because they are actively experiencing it. They are combining them with other skills they already possess. And my hope is that they go forward to support and train others to do the same.
Death work is important, and is not just confined to the physical dying of the body.
The way we view and approach Death in western culture has created a lot harm within people. We need to start shifting that perspective, and giving new ones, in order to meet it with love instead of fear. To really heal, instead of slapping a band-aid on. To connect to the energies within us and those all around us. To move more smoothly through our transitions, including the final death and the next rebirth.
These are my hopes, and my hopes include my students creating their own courses and ways to guide others along this path.
If you want to learn more about the Death’s Emissary course you can go HERE
It is an 11 month course with two sessions. Weekly classes, live post discussions – all recorded to accommodate all schedule and time zones - a community space to connect with other participants and access additional resource materials, plus one-on-one time with me as you need it.
I highly suggest signing up through Patreon – there it is only $25/ month and when the course is finished you can change your tier or cancel it. Next session starts in October!
I try my best to make this as accessible as possible for everyone to have the ability to access it and take the journey because I know the importance of this work. I have had so many students say they didn’t expect much because of how cheap it was, but then it ended up being life changing for them. The thing is though – I am not pricing it based upon what I think its value is, I price it based on what I hope the wider community can bare. My goal isn’t to get rich, it is to give more people this experience – change the perspectives around death/ dead/ soul – and train more Death Emissaries to care for all our communities through all their stages of life.
No matter if you take this course or journey on your own – if this work is calling to you, I say embrace it. Follow the calling, follow the path, and see where it leads you. Let the Spirits, Deities, and Guides teach you. Death work is so much more than just death.
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