Since the mid-1990s, there has been a growing movement toward helping people deal with grief. As the population grows and the baby boomers age, more people everywhere are facing death. Or refusing to face it, as the case may be.

Enter grief guides Stephen Jenkinson and Francis Weller, who teach how to live and die well. Both Jenkinson and Weller provide relief from our culture of grief and death denial. Paradoxically, their grief work provides unprecedented freedom and joy for people and is a great service to humanity.

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 Stephen Jenkinson

“Die Wise” author Stephen Jenkinson, who is also the subject of the documentary Griefwalker, is quite direct in urging people to face their grief head-on. Through his work which he calls Orphan Wisdom, he points out that we all grieve because we are all orphans: through death, loss of ancestral ties, the damaging of the environment and many other circumstances. And a great grief results. Read an interview with Stephen Jenkinson in The Sun Magazine.

Here is the Griefwalker trailer:

From his 2018 US “Nights of Grief and Mystery” Tour:

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Francis Weller

“The Wild Edge of Sorrow” by Francis Weller is a powerful guide to clearing our unexpressed grief. Throughout the year, Weller conducts grief rituals for small groups of people who want to face their shadow side and experience some relief from their sorrow that seems so impenetrable. Read an interview with Francis Weller in The Sun Magazine.

In the video below, Weller speaks about what he calls the Five Gates of Grief.