By Maphis (Samuel Wagar)

There are two great poles around which the Wiccan religion revolves – Sex and Death. Although we have numerous rituals for marriages and for the celebrations of the great moments of life, we have none that I am aware of for the final great Initiation, the moment of death. So I've written one.

Typically those who love a person who is dying will be aware that the moment of their death is approaching, even if the dying person is unaware. Even in the case of sudden accidental death there is an interval where those who are with the dying person will be aware of their situation, although they may not be able to mark the moment of death due to their own pain, fear and grief.

So, though this brief ritual may be performed by a loved one of a dying person, or by any person, it is more likely to fall under Ministry and to be performed by a Priestess/Priest visiting the hospital or the home to help through the transition.

I believe that there is some part of a person that survives death, which may undergo changes in the realm of the Goddess prior to being reborn into another body. This part of the person strips off personality and memory more or less rapidly along with its body but it may need assistance in doing so as death occurs.

There is no doubt that the person who is dying is experiencing a variety of things, which a death ritual needs to address – the dissolution of personality, the loss of contact with the body, the loss of the family and friends, the fear, the wonder and the awe of this transformation, and the presence of the Goddess and the Ancestors.

And those who are with them, their family and friends ideally, are experiencing terror and confusion, grief, fear at their own mortality. They will also experience the coming of Death and the warmth or cool of the soul leaving the body behind. And what the Priestess says will also have to partly address their feelings (although she will have time with them after the death to comfort them).