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Death, a Rite of Passage --> top of page HOME FREE GIFTS Well of Grief Ritual Living With Loss eBook Despacho Guide No Regrets Bundle Conscious Caregiving Series Music for Times of Transition PROJECTS The No Regrets Project Conscious Caregiving BLOG ABOUT Board of Directors Contact Us More Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Therese Wells Apr 10, 2026 3 min read Death, a Rite of Passage “I will not die an unlived life.” ~ Dawna Markova We are fortunate to be a part of a tipping point

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in our culture. Approaches to dying, death and grief are beginning to shift; people are talking. Conversations on death can be found everywhere – in numerous articles, bestselling books, TED talks, and among regular people who attend Death Cafés. Even the National Academy of Medicine has an ongoing conversation focused on D ying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life . Much of the wisdom that comes out of these conversations is the encouragement to initiate our own conversations with our loved ones, doctors

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and spiritual advisers. We are urged to make preparations by creating written declarations such as Advance Health Care Directives, Power of Attorneys, and Last Will & Testaments. However, while these documents are important, they alone do not address the psychological and emotional closure needed in the dying process. I propose that we expand the conversation and approach death as a rite of passage. In doing so, we may become more engaged to witness the final passage of others, celebrate the accomplishment of navigating the journey to death, and have a

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greater sense of our own journey to come. It is my experience that preparing for and celebrating the thresholds we walk through in our lives, wakes us up and allows us to live more consciously with courage and joy. So, what is a rite of passage? “ A rite of passage is a ritual which marks the thresholds we walk through during our life time, from one role or social position to another, integrating our cultural experience with our biological destiny of birth, reproduction, aging and death. ” – Mircea

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Eliade Baptisms, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, graduations and weddings are familiar rituals or rites of passage that imply that an old self has been left behind, a threshold crossed, and new responsibilities accepted. We spend time and money planning the rituals of the rites of passage that are important to us. We like to celebrate beginnings. In our culture endings do not receive the same recognition. We don’t have rituals for leaving home, job loss, miscarriage, divorce, aging, or the dying process. If we honored our old roles and then stepped