Learning To Understand & Accept Death

Over the next 10 days, teacher, public speaker and funeral celebrant, Spike Gillespie, will guide you on a journey to help understand the process of dying, death, and death’s aftermath. Drawing on professional knowledge as well as a number of her own personal experiences, Spike gives us insight into valuable practices to help us move through grief. She also addresses the pragmatic demands of death and offers a unique perspective on the concept of an afterlife, designed to keep the spirits of deceased, loved ones alive. This course ultimately invites you to replace fear with curiosity when broaching the concept of death.

Reviews

This is a wonderful and thought provoking course. I highly recommend.

Thank you Spike for sharing your experience, wisdom and insights. It was a beautiful journey through this course 💜

This was such a peaceful and gradual way for me to grieve. I appreciated and looked forward to each lesson despite the various emotions I felt during this time in my life.

I loved this course. Thank you so much for gifting us with it. I started out listening during mourning for my young son in law. While that grief remains, I am also just beginning to mourn the death of my brother, a few weeks ago. I am sure this course will comfort me as I go through it again.

This was just what I needed. Thank you Spike, you are wonderful for offering this course.

Thank you. That was a beautiful course that has helped me in my grief. 🦋🙏🏼🦋

Very intense and beautiful. A true journey to understand and accept. My dad passed away one year and a half ago and I am still coming around the idea of not having him here with us. it's so confusing sometimes. I know he is in a good place. The hardest part is to get used to the new life without having him around everyday. Honoring his memory is a great way to do that.

While another panendemic surrounds us, here is a thoughtful and loving conversation that we need to have, not just now, but in the future. Spike, I really enjoy your story-telling abilities to show that there is life, love and beauty beyond the loss and sorrow. Thank you.

Thanks a lot it did help me a lot in a worst time of my life and the horrible pain I’m feeling with the death of my mother.

Wonderful course. It was very helpful as I prepare for the elders in my life to make their transitions to next world—whatever it may be.

Thank you, that was immensely helpful 😍

Thank you for the insight of the inevitable for us all. You made me feel more comfortable with my death and those around me.

The most amazing and inspirational course of this platform. It has awaken me to a who new world of posibilities and given me a long sought perspective. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Your words and wisdom have helped me greatly.

Thank you for this. It proved to be so very supportive during my time of my mother’s impending death and the grief that follows.

Thank you so much for this course! Your insights have helped me get through a very difficult time. 🙏🙂

It took me nine months to seek assistance for my grief after the death of my grandfather and five months after the death of my grandmother (they passed away four months apart). My counselor recommended this app and when I came across this course I was hopeful that it would help. It did more than help. It was eye opening and very comforting.

Wonderful course. I returned home today from being with my family halfway across the country as my 97 year young grandmother - the last of my grandparents - had suffered a massive stroke and passed away a few days after my arrival. She had always been spry and in decent health, so age aside, this was quite unexpected. I was blessed to be able to get there while she was aware enough to see me, recognize me, and greet me verbally. To the best of the nursing staff's knowledge, and that of my family (there was always one or more family members in the room with her, sleeping on the couch, taking shifts, etc.), her greeting to me were the last words she spoke in this life. I was further blessed to have had the honor of being with her, along with my mother and one of her brothers as my grandmother passed away.

Though I am of a different faith system than my family, I noticed the physical changes, and also (unaware though my family was) noticed the sudden presence of my grandfather (passed in 1997), come to escort his bride home. The sense of peace and love in the room was so calming. The nursing staff came and removed all medical equipment, and for the next few hours, as my grandmother's body rested in her bed, my mother, uncle, father, and I began packing up her room. All preparations had been made already, down to my grandmother writing her own funeral service and obituary with fill in the blank spots to enter the date, age, cause of death, and location. She, as my mother and I are in our respective generations, was the family historian, and so wanted to ensure all the facts of her life were correct.

I mention this because it was an odd situation, having very little "busy work" to do afterwards. My mother is clergy and my father has been a licensed nursing home administrator much of my life, so none of this was new to them nor to me. The fact that all was already prepared, and that the funeral was delayed a week to ensure my child could get there left a lot of time for contemplation. My mother knew her stages of grief, and I sat to support her, doing the laundry for Grandma's clothing, selecting photos she could choose from for the memorial, etc. She is starting to lose her numbness now though.

I, however, am just now starting to feel the loss myself. I am no longer bolstered by my enormous family (extended and otherwise) and am again far away, with my spouse and child but no other relatives nearby who knew Grandma. My home is familiar; the support is lacking. Next month is the one year anniversary of my other grandfather's death, and I was just starting to get my feet under me from that. I knew I needed some guidance now, and this course popped up.

I listened to the entire thing in one sitting, as I carefully shook the wrinkles from shirts of my grandmother's that are now mine to wear and cherish. I will be returning to this course again, I feel, as it has a wonderful wealth of information and acknowledges all faith (and non-faith) traditions with equal respect. I can feel the tears moving closer to the surface, and I now feel more comfortable in letting them flow and embracing this journey of grief. I would not experience this had there not been such enduring love, and for that I will ever be grateful.

Thank you for this reminder, and for your courage and generosity in sharing your own stories of loss in the name of service to others also on this path. I appreciate you, I respect you, and I see the light in you. Thank you for sharing this course with this community. 🤲❤️🤲

Wonderful help in the healing process!!

Thank you for sharing your experiences in this great course.