Conversations on Death

Dr. John Troyer is the Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath. The Centre for Death & Society is the UK's only centre devoted to the study and research of social aspects of death, dying and bereavement. It provides a centre for the social study of death, dying and bereavement and acts as a catalyst and facilitator for research, education and training, polic...

Jessica Reis, also known as The Death Empath, a Death Doula who specializes in grief, loss, and shadow work. Jessica received her training through INELDA and has expansions in grief recovery, pregnancy/infancy loss, pet hospice and shadow work. We talked about suicide ideation, her experience as an empath and downloads she receives, energetic and living deaths, dancing through emotions, and many d...

Piero Calvi-Parisetti is a medical doctor, a long-time university lecturer, and a member of the Society for Psychical Research and the International Association for Near-Death Studies. His particular area of interest is applied psychical research, that is the practical application of research findings, in particular for the benefit of the bereaved and the dying. He has written four books on these...

Olivia Bareham, is a Death Midwife, Energy Healer, Ordained Interfaith Minister, Master Teacher and Founder of Sacred Crossings -The Institute for Conscious Dying and Alternative Funeral Home in Los Angeles. She holds a BA in Education from the University of London and a Bachelors in Natural Theology and Sacred Healing from the Healing Light Seminary in California.  We talked about her long career...

Dr. Karen Wyatt is the bestselling author of the book 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying , which contains stories of patients she cared for as a hospice doctor and the spiritual lessons she learned from them at the end of their lives. Dr. Wyatt also hosts the End-of-Life University Podcast, which features conversations with experts who work in all aspects of end-of-life care. In this episode, we...

Dr. Joshua Black is a grief researcher, speaker, author, consultant, online course instructor, and host of the Grief Dreams Podcast. He has focused all of his MA and PhD research (in psychology) on investigating dreams in bereavement (also known as grief dreams) and continuing bonds from many types of loss (including prenatal loss and pet loss). Most of his academic research and publications have...

Jessica Wertz is a ceramic artist and the founder of Spirit Vessel. Spirit Vessel provides the tools to create personalized celebration of life ceremonies - whether you're pre-planning your own ceremony, having a living memorial ceremony, or a memorial service in the comfort of your home or via webcasting services. It aims to restore the use of intimate ceremony around death by creating a gui...

In today's episode, I spoke to Dr. Christopher Kerr, who is a hospice physician and an end-of-life researcher about end-of-life dreams and visions. These dreams and visions are significant, subjective experiences within the dying process that occur while asleep or awake. They can happen hours, weeks, or even months before a person passes and may increase in frequency as patients approach deat...

Dr. Bruce Greyson is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the UVA School of Medicine . He served on the medical school faculty at the Universities of Michigan, Connecticut, and Virginia. He was a co-founder and President of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, and Editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies . Most recently, he penned AFTER based on near...

In this episode, I speak to Christina Andreola, founder of New Narrative Memorials, about virtual funerals - how the industry is booming, her experience as an event planner, horror stories, and about families she has helped. Christina also shares some of her favorite resources and people in the death-care space. _________________________ Connect with Christina! Website: https://www.newnarrative.ca...

Tiffany Hopkins began studying mediumship after moving into her great-great grandmother's cottage in Lily Dale, which is the world's largest community of Spiritualists. Spiritualism is a religious movement that began in the 19th century based on the belief that the spirits of the dead exist and we can communicate with them.   In today's episode, Tiffany takes us on a historical jour...

In today's episode I speak to Christina Pratt, who is a practicing shaman. She's also the author of the two volume Encyclopedia of Shamanism , runs The Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing , and is the host of the Why Shamanism Now Podcast.  She is pioneering new shamanic techniques to deal with the illnesses of our times. Her current focus is on the healing of our ancestral lines to re...

Tina “Kat” Courtney, The AfterLife Coach , is a traditionally trained Ayahuasquera + Huachumera and plant medicine guide. She works as a psychedelics integration coach, helping people make sense of transformative experiences such as doing Ayahuasca. Tune in and learn how Kat helps people prepare for and make sense of altered spaces, spiritual breakdowns, and even death itself (ego death).  Fascina...

Megan Carmichael is an independent funeral consultant whose main focus is building awareness around professional deathcare and encouraging others to join this line of work. She is part of the Dive Into Death collective ( https://www.diveintodeath.com/ ) and a co-founder of DeathcareConnect ( https://www.deathcareconnect.com ). We spoke about her journey into the deathcare space and her solutions t...

After a 3 month pause, I'm back with bi-weekly episodes! In this episode, Kelly and I talk about the ins & outs of post mortem photography, spirit photography & the history of spiritualism and seances, as well as photography of the dead during The Civil War. Kelly Christian is a Chicago based writer and future archivist. She is interested in the intersection of technology and systems...

In this episode, I talk to Erica Buist, a journalist and writer from London, England. After finding her father-in-law dead after a week, she decided to visit seven death festivals - one for every day they didn't find Chris. From Mexico to Nepal, Sicily, Thailand, Madagascar, Japan and finally Indonesia, Erica chronicles her experiences in her first book, This Party's Dead , which comes o...

On this episode, I talk to Karen McDonnell Hilligoss, author of How Dr. Wayne W. Dyer Taught Me That Life Is Worth Living. In 2015, shortly after the death of Dr. Dyer, Karen started to experience miracles surrounding him. These experiences helped Karen spiritually evolve into accepting several serious diagnoses involving her children's health that had previously caused her to lose her faith....

On today's episode, I spoke to Marisa Meddin, who, aside from being a coach, is also a medium. A few years ago, Marisa discovered she's a psychic medium who had the gift of communicating with those who had passed on through written format. That's right - she writes letters with words and messages from those who have passed on. We really let our conversation flow on this episode. We...

On today's episode I talked to Lisa Nisleit, founder of MVP Castings. She specializes in all types of life casting including babies, couples and families and, most importantly, in end-of-life castings.  We talked about her story, her passion, and the lessons learned from working closely with death. _________________________ Connect with Lisa! Website: http://mvpcastings.com/ Facebook: https:/...

On today's episode, I talked to the lovely Shaina Garfield, founder of Leaves With You, which was founded by Shaina to help others feel more connected to one another and the Earth when they or a loved one are at the end of their life. Shaina draws on her design background and meditation practice to hold space for the families with whom she co-creates coffins and rituals. Shaina and I talked a...

On today's episode, I talked to Vivencia's founder, Mariana Bandera. She's an Anthropologist & Archaeologist who has an affinity to the past, shaping who we are and who we want to be. She has a deep connection to the ceremony of death throughout all cultures and how memories are preserved. We discussed her Mexican culture and its relationship to death, her work with archeology,...

This one's a little different! Here I present to you guys a recording of my event with 'Reimagine: Life, Loss & Love', where a group of us played The Death Deck and got into some interesting conversations surrounding death, dying, and the afterlife. Reimagine Festival is going on until September 1st and they have a packed schedule with amazing speakers and workshops. To access t...

Today I talked to Cathy Byrd, author of 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much: An Astounding True Story of a Young Boy's Past Life Memories'. At the age of two, Cathy's son, Christian, began sharing vivid memories of being a baseball player in the 1920s and ’30s. From riding cross-country on trains, to his rivalry with Babe Ruth, Christian described historical facts about the life of base...

Emily Cross is an end-of-life doula, musician, and artist. She's also the founder of Steady Waves Living Funeral Ceremonies , a transformative, immersive experience intended to spur serious reflection about mortality and life priorities.  On today's episode, Emily talks to us about a virtual living funeral ceremony, which is an experiential meditation on mortality. The ceremony is an inv...

Wendy Rose Williams is a Certified Spiritual Teacher, a hypnotherapist specializing in past-life regression, a Reiki Master Energy Healer, author, and speaker. She helps people release energy that no longer serves them so that they can lead a happier, healthier life filled with purpose. On this episode we talk about so much juicy stuff! We get into her near-death experience (NDE), recall of her pa...