WHAT DOES A SOUL MIDWIFE DO?
Soul Midwives are non medical companions who guide and support those in the dying process by:
- helping the patient to have a loving, dignified and peaceful death by listening , providing gentle therapeutic techniques and providing compassionate care
- working with the spirit and soul of the patient at all levels and stages of transition
- keeping a loving vigil
creating and holding a sacred and healing space for the dying person (whether in a hospital, hospice or at home) supporting and recognising the individual needs of the departing soul to enable a tranquil death
- give healing using sound, touch, colour and smell
- Supporting families and loved ones
The services offered by a soul midwife vary greatly according to the wishes and needs of the client
A soul midwife has a flexible approach in order to fit in with the given situation e.g. assisting with a home death or a hospital or hospice death. Every death is unique and therefore every person’s experience is also unique
Before death, the soul midwife will usually meet regularly with the patient building a trusting and compassionate relationship and then be available by phone or for additional meetings as appropriate
During the final days and hours, the soul midwife will be close at hand to minister help and suggestions on comfort measures such as breathing, relaxation, using music, colour, essential oils or healing or simply by sitting quietly and keeping vigil
The soul midwife will also support the family or other chosen loved ones to participate in the process of death to a level at which they feel comfortable
The soul midwife’s most important role is to provide nurturing, continuous support and reassurance in helping the patients to experience the death he or she wants. Supporting the patients throughout the final stages, for however long
After death, the midwife will visit the family, or partner to share experiences and to talk and reflect and bring a feeling of gentle and loving resolution
A New Way of Dying
" It should be a sacred day for you when one of your people dies- a sacred day, when a soul is released and returns to its home" -Black Elk
We all die. But there are good deaths, and not such good deaths
Most of us hope to die, pain free, at home, with our loved ones around us given the choice
But not many of us actually achieve this. Most modern deaths are at best efficient, but clinical, institutionalised , functional and soulless
Soul midwives ensure that death is a loving and sacred experience
In traditional cultures around the world, death has always been regarded as an important rite of passage- an iniation, a journey across a spiritual threshold
In former times, physicians, healers and priests were highly revered for their work in assisting souls departing this world . It was understood that as well as honouring the person for the life they were about to leave, a healing process before death, would help the soul's onward journey
Temples, or early hospices, where people either died, or were prepared for death, were places of profound healing, filled with soft light, the sound of water, the smell of precious oils and soothing music. The dying person, was treated both physicaly and spiritually , to become as " whole "as possible before death
Modern soul midwives are able to draw on the ancient skills and traditions now long forgotten , applying them to our modern world and using them to ease the passage of those who are dying
They lovingly assist and accompany, befriend and guide and can provide their services within a home, hospital or hospice setting
" When all goes well, there is a crystaline quality that emerges which everyone in the room can feel like a symphony that lifts the soul.What arises from these depths cannot be measured and is aimed by an invisible hand that finds its mark
What could not be accomplished seperately becomes available to those who work togther and the wholeness that surfaces in these moments is characterised by luminous transparency"
Christopher Bache
