Funeral Celebrant Services
Free Consultation (via telephone, Zoom or in person)
Interview
Writing the Ceremony
Source items for Rituals/Memorial Altar
Order of Service
Planning and Delivery of Home Funeral, Living Funeral or Memorial Ceremony
After a no-obligation, free consultation and once you have confirmed that you would like Valli to be your Funeral Celebrant, she will arrange a meeting with you to collect stories and gain an intimate understanding of your Person. Together, you can co-create a beautiful End-of-Life Ceremony that is personalised and special. You can decide if family members or friends would like to deliver a Eulogy, poem or reading. You can choose songs, photos and videos to be presented. Valli offers a Heart and Soul-led ceremonial experience that is healing, meaningful and memorable. Valli provides a non-denominational service and embraces all cultural, religious and spiritual beliefs.
You’re Allowed to Choose an Independent Funeral Celebrant
Families can choose a different Funeral Celebrant to the representative provided by a church or funeral home that manages the body and burial/cremation of your Person. Some people have a de-personalised religious funeral when they weren’t a religious person at all. Settling for an End-of-Life Ceremony that is bland robs us of an opportunity to authentically grieve and heal together. Valli provides a Sacred Passage Home that is a Rite of Passage which evokes raw and heartfelt emotions. A Ceremony that reflects a person’s true character, their light and shadows and unique quirks in all of their glorious humanity.
Following cremation, a family can opt for a Memorial Ceremony that doesn’t have the body present. A Memorial Ceremony can be held anywhere and is an affordable option. It provides an opportunity for family and friends to come together, remember and pay tribute to their Person as an important part of the healing process.
Home Funeral - Home Funerals offer an alternative to traditional funeral homes, allowing for a more affordable, personal and intimate experience. Home Funerals are characterised by family, friends or community members taking a central role in the after-death care and funeral arrangements.
Living Funeral - a Celebration of Life for a person who is still alive. It's a chance to honour the person's life and achievements, and to share memories and gratitude with loved ones.
Vigil with your Person’s Body - Family and friends gather in the home to deliver one significant, last act of loving care before cremation. Families carry out rituals including washing and shrouding the Body; decorating a Shroud; decorating a Coffin; Singing and Praying to accompany the Soul on their Sacred Journey Home. Keeping their person's Body in the home for 1 to 2 days can assist families in their healing process.
I specialise in creating magnificent End-of-Life Ceremonies for children who lived with Disability or Chronic Illness.
Why Bring Your Beloved’s Body Home?
“Holding Vigil is the practice of staying with our dead and accompanying them until their Spirit departs from their body or when our deep creative unconscious informs us, through a felt sense or internal shift, that the time has come to physically separate and let go. We know from many diverse Death Care practices in cultures around the world that this often happens on the third day.
Three days allows the human psyche the necessary time to go through the stages of trauma, despair and finally the gentle beginning of acceptance. These stages often involve the washing and preparing of the body and then inviting others into this sacred space to see their loved one who has died and be witnessed in this experience of deep love and loss.
When the body is in the family’s care, all of this can take place.
When the body is not in the family’s care, the abrupt physical separation from a loved one often creates a void and can feel jarring because these natural human needs and processes cannot take place when, and in the way that is needed.”
Maria Lazovic