Funeral
Dedication and protection of an infant | Naming | Paganing | Wiccaning | Self-Dedication
Handfasting | Wedding | Bridal Blessing Song | Funeral
Part 1
We have for a while lost one who is dear to us, and we all feel the loss. But it is only for a time, and we will lose our sorrow.
There is a reason for being here, and a reason for going. The Other Side, the Places Beyond, Are warm, pleasing and beautiful with all ills gone, and youth anew.
There is a reason for leaving when the purpose of this life is done.
We must all journey beyond to pause, to rest, and to wait for those who are loved, in a place far from the cares of this world, with happiness and strength renewed. For dying is only a mode of forgetting, a way of rest, a way of returning to the Eternal Source, however we may see it.
It is said in ancient lore –
‘Arrayed in some new fleshly disguise,
Another mother gives birth.
With sturdier limbs and brighter brain,
The old soul takes the road again’.
(If someone wishes to say something or read a poem, this is when to do it.)
Part 2
‘Life and death are one, as the river and the sea are one. For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind, and to melt in the sun? What is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides that it may rise, and expand, and seek its Gods unencumbered?’
‘Only when you drink from the river of silence
Shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountaintop,
Then shall you begin to climb.
And when the Earth has claimed your limbs, then shall you truly dance.’
(Another opportunity to say something.)
Part 3
(This is read as the coffin is taken from the room used for the service to the grave/crematorium)
‘Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle Autumn’s rain.
When you wake in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.’