We’ve looked at many ancient burial rites and how they all tell a cosmological story. In our talk with funeral director Elizabeth Fournier, it’s time to rewrite the message of our modern-day sign-offs. When most people think about funerals, the traditional image of a casket and burial or cremation comes to mind.
There’s a better way to go than spewing more toxins with cremations or slowly rotting in a box. Natural childbirth now has its counterpart in natural funerals. Why not return our molecules, which are all on loan, gently and respectfully back to Mother Earth with gratitude? To be composted as Nature intended with all life, we can nourish the next generations and become a Tree of Life! Nature has intended that our bodies be reunited with the earth. All organisms that have lived have died and returned to the soil…only to be recycled into new life. Elizabeth also points out that when you bury a loved one in an environmentally friendly way, you can take comfort in knowing that their body is being returned to the earth in a gentle and natural way.
Affectionately known as “The Green Reaper,” Elizabeth Fournier makes this inevitable passage more user-friendly as we rethink deathcare with new eco and spiritually-minded options outlined in “The Green Burial Guidebook.”