Blessing of the Departed:

You Can Bless & Be Blessed

Our culture has a problematic relationship with death. We don’t really know how to talk about it. So, we develop elaborate avoidance strategies and industries to avoid relating to an important part of life.

But, no matter how much we may try to ignore death, it won’t ignore us.

Death is clearly part of our life. It’s clear every Autumn as the trees shed their leaves. It’s clear when we consider the ways in which our sense of self, our beliefs, our goals have died and been reborn over the years.

COVID, climate change, the current wars are are just the most recent reminders that death is an ever-present part of our life. And that we need to include its fierce presence.

In meditation, we experience the process of birth, death, and rebirth moment-to-moment.

We see and feel the emergence and dissolution of thoughts and sensations. The very concepts that structure our sense of reality return to stillness. In meditation, we accept and then appreciate that whatever arises passes away.

Effortlessly thoughts that disappear like ripples on the surface of a pond. The mind settles and sees something marvelous:

That even as the forms of life pass away – there is something that remains unchanged, unmoved.

There is something present throughout the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

This something is not a thing. It’s not a thought, emotion, belief, or sensation. It cannot be observed because it is not an object. And yet it is present - clearly and undeniably. It is ever-present.

That which is ever-present has been given many names.


Some call it God. Some call it Consciousness-itself or the Void. We call it the Wisdom Heart. The label is not important.

What matters most is awakening to the ever-present mystery that is arising as your life.

With this awakening, you, like all mystics and meditators, will re-envision death’s nature and its role in your life. You will see that death does not happen to Life. 
Rather, death happens in Life.

Life transcends and includes death. 

Life also transcends and includes birth. Life is all-that-is. And you are part of Life’s ever-presence. You are not apart from Life in any way. You transcend and include birth, death, and rebirth. 

With this awareness, you relate to all the little and big deaths of your life in a new way. 


Whether that death is the loss of a relationship, a job, an ability, or your body. You recognize the sacred function of death and abide in the ever-presence that is your deeper nature.

And, you also connect with those loved ones who have passed on in a new way.

You see that they are ever-present. That their form has changed and your connection with them is ever-present. Through this ever-present attunement you can continue to bless and be blessed.

That is why we are inviting you to join us in practicing  The Blessing of the Departed meditation.

This simple and powerful ritual allows you to express your on-going spiritual connection with those loved ones who are no longer on the earth plane.