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