To Grieve

This episode features 4 of the nearly 40 artists who can be found on bereavementartists.com (bereavementartists.com). The website acts as a free directory to these artists working across media to create unique, heartful, creative artworks to honor a loved one who has died. Joanne spoke to 2 of the 3 co-founders of the website, Gina Klawitter and Teresa Dunwell, as well as current administrator Nancy Gershman and fellow artist Sybil Sage. As each artist shares her journey to making art pieces for the bereaved, we hear some incredibly powerful stories of loss and healing through art.

In this episode, Will sits down with Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Congregation Beth Ha Tephila in Asheville, North Carolina, to talk about Judaism and grief. The conversation moves from a specific look at the year of rituals that commences after the death of a loved one to a general discussion of the grief work performed by a Rabbi. This latter topic opens the dialogue to the realm of trans-generational grief in the Jewish community and leads to the contemplation of the spiritual resistance cultivated by Jews and members of other faiths throughout the ages.

This episode brings us to the Raga Room, nestled in the highly charged environment of Black Mountain, North Carolina, where Will interviews Aditi Sethi-Brown, JoJo Silverman, and Greg Lathrop. Once each season, these musicians host a Ceremonial Grief Concert that harnesses the powers of collective grieving and music to hold space for the work of spiritual transformation in the wake of grief. After listening to the episode, please check out the following links for more information.

JoJo Silverman: Devotional Music Foundation, musicasprayer.org (musicasprayer.org) and Drcacaos.com (Drcacaos.com)

Aditi Sethi-Brown: aditimusic.com (aditimusic.com)

Greg Lathrop: thirdmessenger.com (thirdmessenger.com)

Three other participants in the ceremony were unavailable for recording, but please check our their work, too: Musicians Jay Brown (Jaybrownmusic.com (Jaybrownmusic.com)) and Jason Hebal, and Sheridan Hill (http://www.griefcircle.net/ (http://www.griefcircle.net/)) who functions as a grief doula in the space.

And keep your eyes peeled for the launch of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying in early 2019.

You can also find each of the musicians on Facebook, so look them up if you feel called to the Raga Room!

This podcast features Faith's Lodge (https://faithslodge.org/), a grief retreat center in Danbury, Wisconsin, that hosts grieving parents and families as well families with a child who has a medically-complex condition. Joanne speaks to several of the facilitators and administrators who support the healing grief work that takes place at the Lodge: Kelly McDyre (Executive Director), Jenna Rogers (Director of Advancement), Tammy Breault (Counsellor), John McMahon (Counsellor), and Arlene Rauchbauer (Massage Therapist). Come learn about the special place where hope grows.

Sam Butler and David Harradine—the artistic directors of Fevered Sleep (http://www.feveredsleep.co.uk/)—talk about their current art and life project, "This Grief Thing." (thisgriefthing.com) Fevered Sleep's projects appear in very diverse places, across the UK and beyond, from theatres, galleries and cinemas, to parks, beaches and schools, and in the spaces of everyday life: in people’s homes, on phones, online. Whatever they make and wherever it’s experienced, the company is driven by an ambition to present outstanding and transformative art. "This Grief Thing" is part pop-up grief center, part philanthropic outreach, and part artistic experiment. This episode will surely interest performance makers, cultural theorists, fans of socially-engaged art, and grievers from all walks of life.

Kara Jones of the Creative Grief Studio (https://creativegriefstudio.com/author/kara/) and GriefAndCreativity.com (https://griefandcreativity.com/) shares her knowledge from 20+ years of experience as an artful and heARTful griever. This episode is ideal for hospice nurses, death doulas, social workers, and other medical professionals who are seeking resources for cultivating an inclusive grief environment. Kara and Will discuss the intersection of grief and social justice, the triumphs and failures of language in grief work, and their own experiences as grieving parents.

Photographer Andrew May talks about the striking visual suite of images contained in his recent project, "5 Stages of Grief." Joanne and Andrew discuss the stories behind the pictures and the work required to interrogate our journey through grief.

To find out more about this project, see https://andrewmayphotography.com/asheville-grief-photographer-shape-of-grief/ (https://andrewmayphotography.com/asheville-grief-photographer-shape-of-grief/). To learn more about Andrew's work as a wedding, engagement, and elopement photographer, check out: https://andrewmayphotography.com/about-andrew/ (https://andrewmayphotography.com/about-andrew/).

Joanne offers a comprehensive overview of the herbs most helpful during the grieving process. Visited by fellow grieving mom, Emily Farlow, Joanne tests some of her own creations and shares recipes for tinctures and teas.

Adam Weiner, front man for the band Low Cut Connie, talks about grief, the history of rock 'n roll, and the important role of music in the current social climate of the United States.

In this first episode, Joanne Zerdy and Will Daddario introduce the premise of To Grieve and its link to their efforts at Inviting Abundance. The goal of these podcasts is to encourage listeners to grieve openly and purposefully so as to tap into the greater beauty of life.