Jacqui Moore independent celebrant

06/06/2024

I spoke to a person
who is convinced their
deceased brother
is in hell

simply because of
who they loved🏳️‍🌈

I told them that
if hell is real
I don't think
it is a destination

I believe hell is a campsite
that gets formed in the hearts
of people who judge others
for living a life that they refuse
to try and understand

those who condemn
others to damnation
are the city managers of
hell on Earth

my love,

let us build a heaven
in the space that exists
between my life and yours

let us create an endless garden
paradise where every single
exotic flower is honored

let us form a community of
angels who don't try to
polish each other's halos

we only have
so many heartbeats
left inside of us

to waste a single one
on deciding who gets
to grow like a sunflower
under the light of the hereafter

who knows what happens
to us once our bodies release
our souls like birthday party balloons?

~ why spend an ounce of energy
on deciding who gets to go to heaven

when we can spend our lives
building it here on Earth
with the bricks of how we
treat each other?

until I hear the harps
and see the golden gates

I'm going to consider this
world the Promised Land

and I promise to be as kind
as I can be with your heart
while we are here together

~John Rodel

08/09/2022

Peace, heart, let the time for
the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

04/09/2022

A first for me but a pleasure to hold a naming ceremony for my cousin Katie & her husband Calvin’s children, Matilda Primrose & Henry George in Cheshire yesterday.

18/08/2022

A lovely idea from memorial woodlands

Join us for a unique series of free nature walks designed to help people deal with bereavement. Once a week for seven weeks we will be holding a therapeutic walk with a group through the woodlands led by experienced professionals in the field of grief.

Find out more information here: https://loom.ly/SgyqNUY

09/08/2022

I am sure we all know someone this poem would suit!

03/08/2022

A local initiative for those living with grief

Are you mourning the loss of a loved one?

Join our bereavement walking group in the beautiful grounds of Bristol Memorial Woodlands, near Thornbury, Bristol. The walk will be lead by two bereavement specialists Mireille Hayden and Ben Stevenson from Gentle Dusk. Take the time to walk in silence, talk with others, moments to pause and reflect, and the opportunity to share with others your memories of the loved one who has died.

Find out more here: https://loom.ly/SgyqNUY

21/07/2022

I just received this very touching message from a lovley young man who lost his dad unexpectedly. My job can be very rewarding.

“ I wanted to thank you on behalf of the family. You really did make our dad's funeral so personal and beautiful. It was a celebration of life and you delivered in every way.
I wish you and the family all the best. “

20/07/2022

July is bereaved parents month but any parent who has lost a child will know this loss is lived every moment of every day of every passing year.

23/06/2022

I took a service this week for a 42 year old woman who had two very young children. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few short months ago. She told her husband people should not complain about growing old - growing old is a privilege.

So many people don’t grow old . Life is so very precious and should be enjoyed but it’s fragility respected.

This poem resonated with me.

You’re so old
they say
and I laugh
with a deep roar
rising up from my very soul
because how could that phrase
ever be anything
but magnificent?

She let herself go
they cry
and I smile
with every tooth in my head
because Mother Nature and I know
what a miraculous act
letting go
truly is.

You’ve changed
they say
and I am at once
completely fulfilled
and at peace
with my life’s purpose
because if I did not come here
to grow
then what was it all for?

By Donna Ashworth

05/06/2022

When a celebrant visits Dartmouth they have to check out the stunning natural burial ground. A very unique and beautiful place.

01/06/2022

This week many friends and family gathered to say goodbye to a remarkable young man who died aged just 18. A tragic loss of a person who not only was academically gifted but shared his knowledge, care , humour and love so widely.
His family, teachers and friends spoke with great eloquence.
His life was honoured and his absence keenly felt.
One of his friends read the quote by the wisest of bears, Winnie the Pooh.

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

16/05/2022

The beautifully observed words of Mary Oliver.

04/04/2022

Glad to see Divine Ceremonies are continuing to push for a less impactful funeral.

At Divine Ceremony, we have long been committed to developing and providing choices that minimise the environmental impact of a funeral, which can be significant and not always obvious. How and where you care for someone, the choice of coffin and where it has come from, the flowers and the way they are presented can all make a difference. We are the proud owners of Bristol's first fully electric hearse and we have now put together our Divinely Green funeral service to make things a little easier, bringing together the environmental choices we think are important to make.

Download our current price guide from the website for full details of our Divinely Green funeral.

https://www.divineceremony.co.uk/how-we-charge/fees-and-pricing-2022-01.pdf

https://www.divineceremony.co.uk/divinely-green/

30/03/2022

On my visit to tha Artic Circle I came across this chapel made entirely of ice, not my usual ceremony space but I had to try it out.

12/03/2022

I found this today, it seems particularly relevant at the moment. 🇺🇦

28/02/2022

I really like the simple nature of these coffins and the fact they are made by a craftsman in Wales, the affordability is a bonus. This price is comparable to a mass produced veneer coffin with a much higher carbon footprint. Even cardboard coffins are not as green or affordable as you many think. A good funeral director should always be willing to accept a families wishes and choices for their loved one. I doubt if most people think about coffins until they have too but always good to know about options !

www.ecologicalcoffins.co.uk

Based near Cardigan in West Wales, we make eco coffins using reclaimed wood and other natural materials such as manila, hessian and calico. They are FFMA accredited meaning they have been product tested to a very high standard and are suitable for burial and cremation throughout the country.

21/01/2022

This week we remembered a young life cut short. A beautiful and courageous young lady who faced her illness with a smile. She shone so very brightly her absence casts the longest shadow. Her love of life will be remembered by all who met her.
Her family and her story truly touched my soul and will remain with me.
Honouring lives is a precious responsibility.

Fly, fly beautiful angel,
Fly beyond imagining.
Past the planets and the stars,
Leave this earthly world of ours,

Fly, fly precious one,
Your endless journey has just begun,
Your heart is pure, your soul is free,
Be on your way, don’t wait for me.
Above the universe you will climb,
On beyond the hands of time,
The softest cloud, the whitest dove.
Travel on with all our love.
Over rainbows into the arms of eternity.

04/01/2022

As we turn from what is past to what is present.

New Day's Lyric.

May this be the day
We come together.
Mourning, we come to mend,
Withered, we come to weather,
Torn, we come to tend,
Battered, we come to better.
Tethered by this year of yearning,
We are learning
That though we weren’t ready for this,
We have been readied by it.
We steadily vow that no matter
How we are weighed down,
We must always pave a way forward.
This hope is our door, our portal.
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.
What was cursed, we will cure.
What was plagued, we will prove pure.
Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,
Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,
Where we weren’t aware, we’re now awake;
Those moments we missed
Are now these moments we make,
The moments we meet,
And our hearts, once all together beaten,
Now all together beat.
Come, look up with kindness yet,
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.
We heed this old spirit,
In a new day’s lyric,
In our hearts, we hear it:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
Be bold, sang Time this year,
Be bold, sang Time,
For when you honor yesterday,
Tomorrow ye will find.
Know what we’ve fought
Need not be forgot nor for none.
It defines us, binds us as one,
Come over, join this day just begun.
For wherever we come together,
We will forever overcome.
- Amanda Gorman

24/12/2021

Remembering all those loved and lost.

11/12/2021

I went to my usual Pilates class this week at the end as we did a little meditation the teacher asked us to spend time thinking of a memory of Christmas’ past. Snapshots of childhood moments- opening presents, the dog we got the Christmas I was five, the family gatherings with laughter, games and the grownups having one two many. More recent times as my own children got up at 5am, the mounds of presents and welcoming family for lunch.I found tears sliding down my face, sadness that those moments can never be recaptured again with some loved ones who are gone.
I have walked with a heavy heart this week, Christmas is a time of joy but it is also a time where grief and loss comes in to focus. I don’t mind these moments, it means they were were loved and still journey with us.
So I will remember and build new memories, holding on to the past as I move into my future with those I love.
I think take time for your grief. It’s ok.
Meet snowy the snowman who comes out every year.

08/12/2021

Made in Wales, this would certainly be my choice.

Based near Cardigan in West Wales, we make eco coffins using reclaimed wood and other natural materials such as manila, hessian and calico. They are FFMA accredited meaning they have been product tested to a very high standard and are suitable for burial and cremation throughout the country.

26/11/2021

Remember Me

To the living, I am gone,
To the sorrowful, I will never return,
To the angry, I was cheated,
But to the happy, I am at peace,
And to the faithful, I have never left.

I cannot speak, but I can listen.
I cannot be seen, but I can be heard.
So as you stand upon a shore gazing at a beautiful sea,
As you look upon a flower and admire its simplicity,
Remember me.

Remember me in your heart:
Your thoughts, and your memories,
Of the times we loved,
The times we cried,
The times we fought,
The times we laughed.
For if you always think of me, I will never have gone.