Greetings! We
hope that you will explore Journeying
Beyond 's pages on Death Midwifery
services, and 'end of life' (EOL)
and Advance-care Plannng consultations,
in Victoria, B.C. All of the
pages are listed on the left menu, as well
as at the top and bottom of each page.
You can get more information about Death
Midwifery and Home Funerals by visiting
the CINDEA
pages on The
Pan-Death Movement,
Death
Midwifery, and the Post-death
Care/Home Funerals.
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Journeying
Beyond
's Death Midwifery services include 'end
of life' consultations (comprehensive
Advance Directives and Representation Agreements,
as well as basic information on Power of
Attorney/etc. documents), support
for the Death Journeyer and their families
throughout the pan-death process, funeral
plans, funeral and/or memorial celebrant
services, and initial grief counselling.
'Home funeral' services including
an educational workshop "By
My Own Heart and Hands" (see
dates below) reviewing
all of the practical elements of post-death
care, necessary paperwork, and final disposition
arrangements.
The term "pan-death" refers to
the whole process, pre/during/post death
including education/information on
post-death care at home and required documentation,
which are often referred to as a "home
funeral". The acronym
'DWENA' implies any and all options for
'Deathcare Wholistic, Ecological,
and/or Natural Alternatives'. Please
check out our new By
My Own Heart and Hand home funerals
workshop
page.
Journeying
Beyond services include support
to Death Journeyers and their families through
an 'elective death' choice of MAiD (Medical
Aid in Dying) or VSED (Voluntary
Stopping Eating and Drinking). We
cannot provide medical support; but will
provide basic or access information, and
emotional and/or ceremonial support.
If
you are interested in Journeying
Beyond 's Death Midwifery &
ACP/EOL planning services in Victoria, B.C.,
or wish more information about these and
related services,
please contact Pashta via email
or call 250-383-4065
(available by phone,
email or Skype).
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Workshops
and Other Events
"By
My Own Heart and Hand" basics in
home funerals
and Bedside Singing workshops
Please
contact
us for further information on
either of the workshops.
Next
workshop in Vancouver, November 16-17, 2019


What's
in a Name?
Help make 'death midwife' a permitted term
in Canada
Reclaiming the ancient dual role of a midwife
- attending both births and deaths
GoFundMe
campaign to raise the funds for the lawyer
and court cost
Update:
I won the court case, and the judge struck
down the piece of legislation used against
me (HPA 12.1 (1) as unconstitutional.
However, the ruling is now being appealed
by
the BC Attorney General so
more work and expenses.
The Problem
This dual role of midwives lasted till the
early 20th century, when midwifery almost
disappeared. Then later in that
century both parts of the dual role were
revived separately.
After the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
aired a series of interviews on "DIY
Funerals" in 2016, Pashta MaryMoon
and other Canadian 'death midwives' received
'cease and desist' letters threatening legal
action and forbidding use of the term 'death
midwife' in Pashta's case, coming
from the College of Midwives of British
Columbia (CMBC) and
the Canadian Midwifery Regulatory Council
(CMRC).
Most of the Canadian death midwives chose
to comply, for personal or professional
reasons. Pashta decided that
she couldn't in good faith obey this request.
Now the CMBC is going to court to get an
injunction to stop her from using the word
"midwife" or any variation. Though
it seems unlikely to happen, the petition
for the injunction also made a mention of
the possibility of jail time. Nevertheless,
she felt a personal obligation to fight
the injunction in court.
Although
some of her work is for pay, a great deal
of Pashta's time and energy goes into pro
bono death-midwifery work, including education
and running CINDEA. She
has found an enthusiastic lawyer who is
willing to do the legal work for a reduced
fee, however he is not able to do it for
free.
The
Nitty-Gritty Details (skip
this part if you wish)
Historical evidence shows that for thousands
of years, the role of a midwife whether
or not the word 'midwife' was used
included deathcare. In the late 19th and
early 20th century, this dual role was split
between the domain of obstetrics and the
funeral industry. Birth midwifery
was revived in the mid-to-late 20th century,
with death midwifery following about two
decades later.
According
to the letter of the law, in BC and most
other provinces, the word 'midwife' itself
is a reserved title to be used exclusively
by birth midwives who are registered with
their provincial college. The
legislation makes it clear that it was only
intended to govern birth midwives; and there
is no reference whatsoever in the law to
death midwives, although this role and its
name were beginning to be reclaimed before
the legislation was passed.
The CMBC has claimed that the public might
be confused between birth and death midwives,
and could mistakenly assume that death midwives
are 'professionals with membership in a
regulatory body' (specifically
the CMBC). They were
concerned that either of these perceptions
would present a 'danger to the public safety'
however, they have since removed
these claims from their petition, presumably
because there is no evidence of either situation
happening.
The
obvious solution, used by many other health
professionals, is to add a qualifier
such as 'registered', 'licensed' or 'certified'
midwife since the average person
recognizes these qualifiers as ones that
indicate the person is 'a professional within
a regulatory body.' This distinction
would contribute to the public safety (in
particular, pregnant mothers) more
than the present reserved-title status could.
In the long run, the most important issue
is not that practitioners be allowed to
use the term "death midwife" for
themselves, but that there is a recognizable
term for the public to find alternative
deathcare options.
Pashta's
Appeal - Support the Right to Use the Term
'Death Midwife'
I'm seeking your help with my court challenge
that will include two main requests:
1. Addressing the unreasonable limits made
on the use of 'midwife', as being arbitrary
and overly broad in scope. My
lawyer and I believe this is an issue of
'freedom of expression' as defined in the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
and yes, this is a Charter challenge.
2. An exemption to the Midwives Regulation
which presently excludes the use of the
term 'death midwives' such as existing
exemptions for systems engineers, who do
not fall under the reserved title of "professional
engineer". [Note: the
College of Physicians and Surgeons were
interveners in the case; but pointed out
that they don't go after 'lawn doctors'
or 'tree sugeons' (etc.) because they trust
that the public is able to identify that
these people are not offering medical services
something that the judge did take note of
in her ruling.]
Your donations will help to pay the lawyer
and other legal fees, as well as any associated
travel costs.
GoFundMe
campaign to raise the funds for the lawyer
and court cost
see
also the Death
Midwifery page on CINDEA
or Pashta's personal website Journeying
Beyond


CSC
radio and article series "DIY Funerals:
Rite at home'
Two BC CINDEA
practitioners, and other DWENA practitioners
and family members, will be interviewed
in a CBC series
the first article "Death
midwives offer a 'more authentic' funeral
experience"
Podcasts
of the live interviews will be listed when
available.

"Returning
to a Natural Ending" Power Point
presentations
These 2-hour
presentations address Death Midwifery, home
funerals, and green burial/disposition options. They
are available (by donation)
for any group of any size in Victoria, or
elsewhere on Vancouver Island (travel
expenses required). Please
contact
us if you are interested
in considering a presentation for your group.
Three-in-one sheet flyers available in PDF
format.

Films
from the Parlour
Documentaries and Discussion on Dying and
Death
once
a month in Victoria, B.C., starting again
in September 2015
contact
us for film, date and location

By
My Own Heart and Hand basics
in home funerals workshop
CINDEA
and Journeying Beyond
co-sponsored the By
My Own Heart and Hand basics
in home funerals
workshop, offered on the Canadian
west coast. We are looking
towards being able to offer the workshop
via video conferencing, so that it
is accessible to all Canadians.
The
event included an evening showing
of A Family Undertaking
and discussion; and a full-day workshop
the next day which included
hands on practice in post-death
care, and a review of both the required
paperwork and the general timeline
of what is done when.

A
trick for easily washing the hair
This
introductory workshop is primarily
intended to help families in preparing
for, and planning, a home funeral. However,
it is also an opportunity for alternative
death-care practitioners to better
understand the basics of a home funeral,
as it might relate to the experience
of their future clients as
well as being the practicum for Beyond
Hospice students.

Navigating
a staircase with a casket
Further
workshops are being planned for the
west coast, but also available via
Skype in other areas of Canada
please contact
us if you are interested
in arranging a workshop.
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Safely
rolling the body onto its side

Washing
the back of the body

Washing the legs
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Testimonials
My
family used Pashta MaryMoon's
services before and after
the recent passing of our
mother. While
Pashta provides many services,
for us, she was a support
for both my mother and us
children before the passing
as well as after. With
her help we planned both my
mom's woodland green burial
funeral for close friends
and family, as well as her
ceremony open to everyone
later that afternoon. Pashta
was the master of ceremonies
for both events.
Death
is not something I had very
much experience with before
my mother got ill. Pashta's
experience and level of comfort
with the dying process made
it easier for the entire family.
Her gentle nature
helped us plan and organize
an event no one looks forward
to. Her ability
to bring our family together
to organize in a way that
worked for everyone was amazing. The
support she showed my mom
in her final months was truly
a blessing. The
support she showed me as I
cared for my mom full-time
leading up to her death gave
me the strength and self belief
to realize that I could really
do this.
Pashta
has an amazing way with people. She
made an effort to get to know
as many friends and family
as possible before the passing
so she would be a familiar
face at the funeral she was
leading. The
funeral and Ceremony were
beautiful, personal and deeply
moving. Pashta's
kindness, support and help
let our family be at peace
before the passing and feel
taken care of after.
From
all of us we can't thank her
enough for everything and
would like to recommend her
for anyone looking for a similar
experience. (DS,
daughter)

Pashta's
wonderful, caring support
and amazing knowledge regarding
Home Funerals made our mother's
home funeral a very special
and intimate experience for
our family and friends. She
made herself available to
speak with other family members
who were struggling with the
concept of a home funeral.
Whenever there
were questions or concerns,
Pashta was always there with
her never ending compassion.
She has definitely supported
and guided our family to crossover
the threshold of death and
helped make it a beautiful,
accepting, natural and real
journey.
We
are very blessed and very
grateful for her making this
uncertain decision of doing
a home funeral an everlasting
final act of love for our
beloved mother that we will
always hold dear to our hearts.
After our mothers
celebration of life and cremation,
we all gathered and shared
our experiences. We
all expressed the same sentiments
of joy, love, amazement and
courage that we managed to
keep our mother at home and
be so comfortable with it.
Thank you infinitely
Pashta, (Deborah
Magdee and Family)
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Articles,
Podcasts, Webinars
Vital
Conversations: Dialogues on Living and Dying
webinar replay
Dialogue with Kim Adams and Pashta MaryMoon
from CINDEA on National Healthcare
Decisions Day in the US and National Advance
Care Planning Day in Canada on What
is the Pan Death Continuum and Why is it
Important? This
YouTube version (a second
interview) also had technical difficulties,
but not as many of the original; and Kim
and Pashta were able to have a much more
in-depth conversation. You
can request notices on upcoming webinars
through Vital
Conversations: Dialogues on Living and Dying
Well.
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News
See
CINDEA's
Media
and Recent Canadian News
for articles and news stories.
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Pashta
MaryMoon, Death Midwife for Journeying
Beyond, is also the director
of CINDEA.
More information about pan-death care is
available on that site, as well as seasonal
updates on Canadian development
contact
CINDEA to sign up for
the updates.
Please visit (click on the
name graphic below) for more information
on Death Midwifery in Canada.

Pashta
is also a member of the National
Home Funeral Alliance
an extensive website addressing the
Home Funeral movement in the U.S.A.,
although providing listings for alternative
death-care practitioners both in the
U.S.A. and other countries. |
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Our
thanks to Skeena
web services for hosting this site
We also acknowledge the use of GRsites
programs and backgrounds.
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