Dear Beloved Community,
First, to those of you who are in the depths of your own grief journey right now: I see you. 💔
I honour the courage it takes to feel what you’re feeling in a world that often rushes us toward false comfort.
Your willingness to be with your grief – to tend it, to listen to it, to let it transform you – is sacred work.
We are all needed now, the tribe of the broken hearted.
The open hearted.
The tribe of the KIND.
The tribe of CARE.
The tribe of HUMANITY.
Grieve and then, eventually, move into right action, which might mean dancing, making art, mothering or taking to the streets.
Don’t be afraid, dear ones.
The Beloved is with us, no matter what. It is time now. ✨⚡️💛❤️🔥❤️🩹💔
For those seeking support in your personal grief process, I’m pleased to share that our next cohort of the Return from the Underworld starts on Friday.
Details and registration information can be found here. We also have lots of free resources on our website in the “Free Resource” section in the menu.
The main body of today’s message speaks to those feeling called to facilitate grief work for others – whether you’re already practicing in this field or sensing this as emerging work for you.
But remember: the first and most important step for many is simply tending to your own grief with gentleness and courage.
There is profound wisdom and medicine in that journey alone.
For those ready to explore supporting others in their grief, I offer the following reflections, not as instruction, but as an invitation.
We stand at a threshold. The old colonial world – built on systemic oppression, disconnection from body and Earth, and the numbing of our collective grief – is visibly crumbling around us.
It is incredibly painful to witness, as the dinosaur of colonialism is falling, it is causing immense suffering.
Yet simultaneously, we witness the tender green shoots of something new emerging: communities reclaiming sovereignty, honouring the natural goodness of human Spirit, and remembering our sacred relationship with the more-than-human world.
Grief tending creates a bridge between these worlds – the old and the new – and it is becoming ever more critical to have these spaces of support as we enter what Francis Weller calls, “The Time of the Long Dark.”
For despite the gravity of this season of division and disconnection, still, when people grieve together, something remarkable happens – they encounter one another in their raw, undefended humanity.
The artificial barriers that keep us separate dissolve. As one participant in a recent grief circle shared:
“I came in thinking I was alone in my pain. I left remembering I belong to something much larger than myself.”
This work is naturally decolonial.
When we create spaces for authentic grieving, we help dismantle generations of internalized patterns that keep us separated from ourselves, each other, and the living world.
We’re not just processing individual losses – we’re metabolizing collective trauma that has been carried in bodies and bloodlines for centuries.
There is an unmistakable urgency in this moment. The storm is not coming – it is here. We see it in the climate crisis, in ongoing wars and displacement, in the mental health epidemic among our youth.
The need for grief tenders in every community, organization, and corner of the globe has never been more pressing.
This urgency requires us to hold two truths simultaneously:
1.) We must slow down enough to feel, to listen deeply to our bodies and the Earth
2.) We must respond to the call of our Souls that whispers (or sometimes shouts): “this is your work to do in this lifetime and the time is now“
Like the mycelial networks beneath the forest floor, we need an interconnected web of grief tenders who can facilitate these vital spaces of transformation.
Not tomorrow, not next year – but now.
Are You Being Called?
Many who read these words already feel this calling stirring within.
You may recognize that the wounds that have shaped you have also given you unique gifts to offer.
You may sense that your own journey through grief has prepared you to be a guide for others.
The world needs you – your particular medicine, your unique voice, your courageous heart willing to stand at the threshold between worlds.
As you consider stepping more fully into this role, I offer these reflections – not as a checklist of qualifications, but as an invitation to self-awareness:
Relationship with Your Own Grief
- Have you worked with your own grief and trauma deeply within a supported environment?
- Are you aware enough of your core wounds that you can participate in groups and be present with your own triggers.
- Can you stay present with your own grief?
- Do you have practices that help you process and integrate your own emotional experiences?
Perspective & Growth Mindset
- Have you developed the capacity to see your trauma and grief experiences from a larger perspective and with deep kindness
- Can you approach this work with both confidence in what you know and humility about what you don’t.
Clarifying Your “Why”
- Can you differentiate between wanting to “fix” other people versus being of service to our collective awakening? (often we want to help other’s ‘feel better’ in order to avoid feeling our own pain)…
Continuous Learning, Sovereignty & Support
- Are you open to knowing you will make mistakes and have blind spots?
- Have you built or are you actively building a network of support in your life?
- Can you model receiving support as well as offering it?
Remember: Readiness isn’t about perfection—it’s about honest awareness of where you stand, willingness to continue growing, and having adequate resources to support yourself while supporting others.
The Bridge Is Built Through Practice
The bridge between worlds isn’t constructed through ideology or theory alone – it’s built through embodied practice.
When we create containers where people can feel their grief fully, something alchemical occurs.
The very trauma patterns that perpetuate colonial thinking – the disconnection from body, emotion, and the natural world – begin to dissolve.
In these spaces, we remember what it feels like to be truly human – vulnerable, connected, and alive.
And from this remembering springs the possibility of a different way of being together on this Earth.
This is why we need grief tenders who understand that their work isn’t just about helping people “cope” with loss – it’s about facilitating a profound transformation in how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the living world.
It’s about midwifing the birth of new possibilities that can only emerge when we’ve fully honoured what is dying.
Taking the Next Step
If you feel called to deepen your capacity as a grief tender, I invite you to consider:
- Where might you need additional support or training?
- What communities or settings are calling for your particular gifts?
- How might you begin or expand your offering in alignment with your own authentic path?
Our upcoming trainings – Roots of Ritual: Grief Tending Foundations Training (Level 1) & the 2025 Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training (Levels 1 & 2) offer an opportunity to explore these questions within a supportive community of practice.
Together, we’ll develop the skills, awareness, and resourcefulness needed to hold these vital spaces through the intensity of these times.
For more details on our trainings, please visit our website under the menu “Professional Trainings.”
Until then, may you tend your own grief with tenderness, listen deeply to the wisdom of your body, and trust the unfolding of your unique path of service.
“There is a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen
With Love, Gratitude, and Deep Somatic Listening,
Josea & the Dark Woods Team
