“My current thinking is that the human condition is just one experience in a vast, living universe which we only perceive a tiny fraction of.”
Posts Taggeddeath awareness
Cemetery Review 18 – Oude Begraafplaats – Baarn – The Netherlands
Although the Netherlands is fairly small, it has an abundance of cute little towns with a rich history worth exploring. I went to visit Baarn, a small town in the province of Utrecht, together with my friend Macha who grew up in the area.
Interview – Mortician Miranda – Miranda Benge Hummeldorf
“Embalming is not necessary, but its benefits can be remarkable. I have given parents the ability to see their children who were beyond recognizable after a car wreck, and I have let children see their father after he took his own life by shooting himself in the face.”
Interview – Jozef van Wissem – On Death In The Spiritual Domain
“My relation to spirituality has changed during the years. It’s a bit like the path the writer Huysmans took: from satanic to deeply religious at the end of his life.”
Cemetery Review #17 – Begraafplaats Adelbert – Bloemendaal – The Netherlands
My friend Carola invited me to join her on a trip to Bloemendaal, a town near the Dutch coast. Hidden away on the edge of a forest is a small cemetery, Begraafplaats Adelbert.
Interview – Vajravarah – Ruhail Qaisar on death rituals in the Himalayas
“I would prefer to die somewhere below the Kang Ya Tse glacier, silently amongst nature and birds of prey.”
Cemetery Review #16 – Begraafplaats Buitenveldert – Amsterdam – The Netherlands – ACID X Cemetery Club
On a cloudy winter’s day I teamed up with Sheldon Goodman from London who runs an epic blog called the Cemetery Club. As you may have guessed, he writes about the history of the dead. He likes to refer to cemeteries as “libraries of the dead”. We met up while he was visiting Amsterdam, and what else do two thanatophiles do other than exploring one of these libraries of deceased?
Cemetery Review #14 – Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Los Angeles – USA
Ever since my first visit to Los Angeles in 2012 I have been in love with Hollywood Forever Cemetery. For me, coming from the gloomy part of Europe, visiting a sun-kissed graveyard that’s so well maintained, with squirrels darting around and a skyline filled with palm trees, is equivalent to a tropical beach vacation.
Interview – Perspectives On Death By Funeral Director Susanne Duijvestein
“Times are changing. We are entering a new spiritual era and the subject of death will eventually no longer be taboo.”
Morbid Fascination – An Exploration Of Our Darkest Interests
“Engaging with death related subjects inspires us to accept the fact that we are mortal, that we will die, and gives us an opportunity to discover what that means to us.”
Interview – Lieke Van Der Voort – When Your Father Commits Suicide
“Suicide makes people uncomfortable as there is not just grief to deal with, but someone wanted this – someone consciously wanted to die, which adds an extra dimension to it.”
Cemetery Review #12 – Begraafplaats Kerkhoflaan And Apparent Dead House – The Hague – The Netherlands
Located on the outskirts of the center close to Scheveningen and the coastline, the cemetery was built on a sandy dune landscape back in 1830. Next to its gorgeous grave monuments the property also contains a building known as the ‘Apparent Dead House’. With the sun and a gentle sea breeze as my guides, I explored this beautiful piece of history.
In Retrospect Of Death: One Year After My Mother Died
Last year when my mother died I remember wondering how the process of grief would unfold for me. I had the idea of writing an assessment of this a year later. Today, one year and a couple weeks after the day she died, I will share my experiences with you. Of how the difficult memories have slowly shifted from dark to light and how the beautiful ones have found their way back into my thoughts.
Interview – Brian Grainger of Milieu
“A spiritual system I connect to is Pandeism – in short, the idea that whatever God was before the creation of the universe, that the last great creative act of expression for this being was to commit suicide, and in doing so, created the universe as we know it today.”
Interview – Hidden Velvet – Collage Art With A Dark Touch
“I like to think of the afterlife as a new experience; even as a different kind of life. The soul leaves its corporeal form to transcend itself in another place.”
Interview – Amy Haslehurst – Icelandic Folklore Inspired Photography
Amy Haslehurst is a visual artist from Australia, currently residing in Iceland. Through her photography she captures the otherworldly magnificence of the Icelandic landscape and combines this with influences of old dark folklore, to tell stories that often touch upon the subject of mortality. I asked Amy about her own experiences with death and how her ideas inspire her art.
Assisted Suicide – When Dying A Dignified Death Is Better Than Living, And Why
In the Netherlands the laws and regulations for euthanasia have been shifting lately. The basic question is: what are the requirements for someone to decide to end their life, and how can we legally support this?
Interview – Bart “Meester Bart” Ongering – On Death Education In Schools
“I don’t think age is tied to losing a loved one. It can happen to anyone, at any time. Children are people too, and they can experience loss at a young age.”
Interview – On Losing A Seventeen Year Old Daughter – Grieving The Death Of A Child
I got an email from Ruben the other day, a musician from Germany who lost his sixteen year old daughter. He told me he agreed with my urge to break the taboo around the subject of death, as through the death of his daughter he experienced this in his surroundings himself. Here is Ruben’s story.
Interview – Lisa Nilsson – Quilled Paper Anatomical Cross-Sections
Lisa Nilsson recreates anatomical cross-sections from small rolls of paper with a technique called “quilling”. The structures generated through this strongly resemble the look and feel of real bone tissue.
Cemetery Review #10 – Beth Haim “House of Life” – Ouderkerk aan de Amstel – The Netherlands
This picturesque town happens to be home to the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands, Beth Haim. The cemetery was established by the Jewish community of Amsterdam in 1614.
Nightmares About Death And Dying – Processing Grief Through Death Dreams
As Freud called it “the royal road to the unconscious,” dreams about death and dying can suggest a phase of transition or transformation. But when death actually takes place in our reality, we tend to dream about this specific death a lot. Let me share my death dreams with you, and explore how the process of grief continues on while we are sound asleep.
Interview – Mortiis – Håvard Ellefsen On Mortality
Mortiis is the wicked brainchild and band name, as well as the moniker of a goblin-like creature, brought to life by Norwegian musician Håvard Ellefsen. I asked Håvard about his view on mortality and if he can imagine what his funeral will be like.
What Is Death Awareness?
During the past year that I’ve been working on this blog, a lot of people have asked me – aside from the general inquisitions about my seemingly morbid interest in anything dead and dying: “Claudia, what is this death awareness thing exactly? What does it mean?!” As the concept of death awareness is popping up out of obscurity a lot recently, let me explain it to you.
Interview – Elisa Pesapane – Danse Macabre
I had a humbling conversation with Elisa about her two stillborn daughters, processing these experiences through creativity, and the idea behind her stunning Danse Macabre drawings.
On Losing My Mother
As my mother entered the final phase of her life due to terminal cancer, these past few months I was faced with the challenge of putting A Course in Dying into practice. In the light of truth and the ultimacy of reality, I feel it is important to share this honest account with you.
Interview – Rick Strassman on DMT and the dying process
Rick Strassman is a medical doctor specialized in psychiatry and the author of the acclaimed book “DMT: The Spirit Molecule” in which he shares his groundbreaking research on N,N-Dimethyltryptamine during which he administered 400 doses of the powerful psychedelic drug to 60 volunteers at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine.
Interview – Arnon Grunberg
“Life to me is sacrosanct. I’m not against abortion nor against euthanasia, but the thought that life is an obligation, that life must be lived, comes closest to my feelings about it.”
Meaning-Making Through Death Rituals
Throughout human history, we have invented rituals to remember and reconnect with the dead. Studying the social evolution of these rituals can help to make sense of what we are doing today.
Behind the scenes at the crematorium and a tiny cemetery review (#7) – Nijmegen & Ubbergen – The Netherlands
Back in August I took a summer school thanatology course at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. As part of the program we went on an excursion to a nearby crematorium to learn how the process of cremation actually works.
How To Mourn Your Own Death
We don’t like to think the seemingly unthinkable. Some of us are even convinced that mere thoughts of death will trigger the actual event. But what happens when we do face our biggest fear? Here are some steps to help you figure out the answers for yourself.
Interview – Caitlin Doughty aka Ask A Mortician – On The Death Positive Movement And Being Mortal
Caitlin Doughty is an LA-based mortician, author, and founder of The Order of The Good Death, a group of professionals in the funeral industry who are committed to making a difference in our death phobic culture.
Interview – Jeremie Saunders Of Sickboy Podcast
Jeremie Saunders is the co-host of Sickboy Podcast, a show in which he discusses the heavier sides of living with a disease. Jeremie himself has a genetic lung disease called Cystic Fibrosis (CF). I asked him about the awesome work he is doing with Sickboy Podcast and how he copes with CF.