SANCTUARY BURROW
at the
The Road to Death Faire
Special Screening: An Act of Love
Monday, October 27
5:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
Chatham County
Agricultural & Conference Center​
Tending to the Heart
Saturday, November 1
7:00–8:30 p.m.
Starlight Mead @ The Plant, Pittsboro
Read about our preliminary events leading up to Death Faire 2025.
Forest Therapy Walk
Saturday, November 1
Time TBD
Sanctuary at the Burrow
Moncure, NC
Purchase Tickets Here!
Schedule Coming Soon!
Nneena Freelon: Keynote Speaker
Nnenna Freelon is a Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, music educator, arts advocate, producer, and arranger who has achieved international acclaim in both recording and live performance. Her new book, Beneath the Skin of Sorrow: Improvisations on Loss (published by Duke University Press), offers another path through the landscape of grief.
“After losing my beloved husband Phil and my dear sister Debbie, I turned to improvisation—not just in music, but in life—as a guide. This book is a meditation, a witness, a hand to hold for anyone navigating the raw and sacred territory of loss.”
With her podcast, Great Grief, Nnenna uses story and song to lull listeners into an intimate exploration of Black women’s personal and structural grief—and how Black women are always expected to swallow their grief rather than allowing it to bloom, rather than tending to their grief in the loving company of other Black women. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
Laura McKelvey: Opening & Closing Ceremonies
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Laura McKelvey is a Cherokee water pourer for her sweat lodge community, a mother and grandmother, and an avid gardener. She is recently retired from the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, where she worked for over 30 years. In that capacity, she worked on a range of issues, including the Acid Rain Program, the State Implementation Plan for implementing the NAAQS, Air Permitting, the Urban Air Toxics Strategy, and the development of Maximum Achievable Control Technology Standards. For more than 20 years, she supported Tribal Governments, including serving as the lead for the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards’ Community and Tribal Programs Group. In this role, she managed the team responsible for supporting sovereign Tribal Nations in developing air pollution control programs, as well as assisting environmental justice and grassroots communities in identifying and addressing risks from air pollution.
Laura McKelvey holds a B.S. in Natural Resource Management from the University of the South and a Master’s in Environmental Management (Forest Ecology) from Duke University’s School of the Environment. Joining Laura will be her son, Carey.
McKenzie Bossert: Forest Therapy Walk
Join McKenzie Bossert on Saturday, November 1, for a forest therapy walk at Sanctuary at the Burrow, a green burial site in Chatham County dedicated to conservation and sacred connection with the earth. This heart-centered practice invites you to slow down, connect with your body and surroundings, and honor the life/death/life cycle of the forest. Through a guided sequence of stillness, movement, solitude, and community, we remember the ancestors and beloved dead who keep the Land.
McKenzie Bossert, MA, LCMHC, NCC, CEDS, is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in private practice in Apex, NC. An integral part of McKenzie’s approach to healing is the understanding that time spent in nature is a form of medicine. She is a certified forest therapy guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs and has earned a Certificate in Horticultural Therapy from the Horticultural Therapy Institute. In addition to weaving elements of ecotherapy into her work in private practice, McKenzie also offers forest therapy walks to the community to raise awareness of the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of being in relationship with the land.
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Saturday, November 1 · (Time TBA) · Sanctuary at the Burrow, Moncure
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Ways of Remembrance Ensemble:
Ceremonial Grief Concert
Ways of Remembrance Ensemble features: Aditi Sethi (voice, harmonium), Scott Sheerin (flutes, saxophones), Jay Brown (guitars, voice, harmonica), Joel Karabo Elliott (voice, percussion, trombone, guitars)
The Ways of Remembrance Ensemble is a world music and devotional group born from a core circle of doulas, stewards, and fire-tenders at the Center for Conscious Living & Dying in Swannanoa, NC. They offer a sensitive blend of contemplative folk, ambient improvisation, and kirtan, drawing from cultural root sources including India, Native America, Appalachia, Southern Africa, and the Caribbean. Their sound emerges from deep listening to one another, to the space around them, to the unspoken emotions of those present, and the subtle stirrings of spirit. Forged in the sacred work of tending life’s thresholds, their musical connection is rooted in love, trust, and shared presence.
The Ways of Remembrance Ensemble offers a ceremonial container where people are invited to sit in stillness, dance, meditate, release grief, and celebrate the mystery through spontaneous expression.
Panel Discussion:
"Community Supported End-of-life"
Aditi Sethi, David Hahklotubbe, Julia Hartsell, Matt Zemon
Aditi Sethi, MD, is a Hospice and Palliative Medicine doctor, death doula, and musician. She is the founder and director of the Center for Conscious Living & Dying in Asheville, NC. Aditi is an emerging and important voice in shifting our culture’s understanding and approach to dying, death, and bereavement care, and she has devoted her career to promoting positive death experiences.
“I am interested in community-supported end-of-life care, what death teaches us about life, and the impact of our modern approach to death.”
David Hahklatubbe is a gerontologist, death doula, author, university instructor, and public speaker. For over a quarter of a century, he has lived at the end of the road, harvesting the deathbed wisdom of his 1,023 patients.
“My mission is to deliver their urgent messages to avoid the worst pain we can suffer at the end of life: regret.”
Julia Hartsell is the co-founder and steward of Heartward Sanctuary, an animist church with a natural burial ground in Chatham County, NC. She helps people prepare for death, tend to grief, and reconnect with their ancestors. As an Ancestral Lineage Healing Practitioner, her work focuses on healing at the intersection of the living, the dead, and the land.
“I weave people together around dance and ritual to honor the seasons and thresholds of life.”
Matt Zemon is an author and community leader at the intersection of psychedelics, science, and spiritual experience. He blends academic rigor with compassionate advocacy to promote safer, intentional, and transformative psychedelic use.
“For this panel, I hope to share reflections on the role of psychedelics in end-of-life care, both for the person in transition and their loved ones.”
Songs of devotion
Prayerful singing and chanting are timeless and universal ways to express spiritual love and joy, shared by cultures and generations around the world. Join heart2heartnc members Amy Durso, Sheila Fleming, and Lolly Dunlap as they lead Songs of Devotion, a community singing event rooted in the uplifting and healing practice of devotional music.
With simple, guided instruction, we’ll sing mantras, prayers, and sacred songs from various traditions. No musical experience is needed—just a willing heart. Through shared song, we honor music as both meditation and medicine: a path to quiet the mind, awaken the spirit, and find harmony within and with one another.
Tending to the Heart
In support of the 10th Annual Death Faire, we set aside sacred time to tend to our own grieving hearts. During this special evening event on Saturday, Nov. 1, heart2heartnc offers a space to love fully, grieve deeply, and bring comfort to ourselves and the community. Cathy Brooksie Edwards will lead us through a powerful journey of breathwork, light movement, and healing touch. As we travel the transformative spaces of the fall season, musicians Amy Durso, Lolly Dunlap, Sheila Fleming, and special guest Will Ridenour will provide a soulful soundscape. Hands-on healers will also be present to offer light energy work during the rest period of the soundscape.
Please bring your own yoga mat, water, blanket, and any props that support your comfort as you relax into the stillness of your tender heart. Chairs will be available. Feel free to arrive several minutes early to prepare your spot and settle into your sacred space for participation.
This free community event at Starrlight Mead does not require advance registration.
Saturday · 7:00–8:30 pm · Starrlight Mead Great Hall
Leif Diamant: Nature Wisdom WAlk
Nature supports healing through presence, observation, and connection. Its wisdom and vitality help us navigate hardship, offering guidance, comfort, and renewal. In this experiential workshop, we’ll wander, pause, and explore both nature and our inner landscapes.
Leif Robert Diamant, MEd, NCLMHC, is a licensed psychotherapist, interfaith/spiritual minister, and lifetime student of nature. His psychotherapy practice often focuses on helping people with trauma, loss, death and dying, PTSD, and complex PTSD. Loss and grief are natural, just as resilience, beauty, and joy are. Leif has been practicing, studying, and teaching ecopsychology and nature spirituality for the past 20 years.
Frank Phoenix:
Planning your own funeral
Frank “Byrd” Phoenix is dedicated to equity and economic justice, transforming communities in unique and impactful ways. His unwavering commitment and profound spiritual principles of love, justice, equity, abundance, and compassion have provided critical financial support, encouragement, wisdom, and mentorship to trailblazing organizations.
One of Byrd’s favorite practices is sitting in circle, following the Way of Council. This 10,000-year-old tradition sets a container for authentic speaking and listening. When done well, it creates a space of deep communication, love, and healing. Another of Byrd’s favorites is making prayer circles—a way of honoring and connecting with Mother Earth and the Ancestors. His circles are places to meet, connect, and pray.
VANESSA JACKSON & CHERIE LYON:
Growing through Grief: Rituals to Activate the Transformative Power of Death, Loss and Grief
Death is inevitable, and we are left to create new connections, new meanings, and even a new purpose in the aftermath of loss. This workshop/ritual will offer tools for creating rituals to consciously engage with our grief and release fear around endings and new beginnings. We will incorporate elemental magic—earth, air, fire, and water—to demonstrate how nature can be our greatest teacher in embracing grief, offering the healing balm to help us grow through our experiences of loss. Bring an open heart and mind, your active and hidden grief, and your willingness to be part of a community of conscious grievers to tap into the growth potential of grief.
Vanessa Jackson is a high priestess, healer, and activist. She is the owner of Dudley’s Apothecary, an aromatherapy healing practice based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sage High Priestess Cherie Lyon is a magical being who prefers to be invisible, but she shines way too bright a light to be missed. She holds the center at the Spiritual Salon in Atlanta, Georgia.
karen Howard: Poetry lounge
Calling all Poets and Poetry Lovers!
Whether you’re a seasoned poet or simply love the beauty of words, join us to celebrate the power of poetry. Share your original work or come to listen and enjoy. If you’d like to read, contact Karen at karen@howards-end.net.
Karen Howard is an artist, poet, mother, grandmother, and Chatham County commissioner. A lifelong advocate for the arts, she began writing and performing later in life and now regularly hosts poetry events at The Plant and beyond. Born in the Bahamas and now living on a former plantation, Karen’s journey deeply shapes her creative voice.
MEADOW DEFOSCHE
The Pavamana Mantra, sometimes called simply by its first line (OM Asatoma Sadgamaya), comes to us from the Upanishads and is chanted to help purify the mind, create inner peace, and promote well-being for oneself and for all beings. For this practice, we will chant this sacred mantra 108 times to lift our collective vibration and invite deeper insight into our true, immortal nature. We'll practice the pronunciation together first, and handouts will be provided so you may follow along. Bring your favorite mala beads if you wish to keep count.
Meadow DeFosche, eRYT-500, is certified in Restorative Yoga, Yoga for Post-Traumatic Stress through Yoga Warriors International, Integral Yoga for Stress Management through Satchidananda Ashram, and Yoga Nidra through Arhanta Ashram. She is also a certified Accessible Yoga teacher and Thai Bodywork practitioner. She approaches her practice as a lifelong learner and continues to seek new knowledge about yoga and yogic philosophy to deepen her connection to the world around her.
WILL RIDENOUR & DONOVAN ZIMMERMAN:
drum circle
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This facilitated drum circle will create a space for communal reflection on life and death through rhythm. With a drum in hand, each participant will gather and follow the facilitator’s lead as the beats start slow and meditative, evolving into a shared, flowing rhythm. The circle fosters nonverbal expression of emotions like grief and remembrance, allowing participants to connect deeply without words. Our communal drumming becomes a healing ritual, blending mourning and celebration into a powerful, collective experience. Bring a drum, or use one provided by the facilitators.
ONGOING HIGHLIGHTS at Death Faire
little spirits studio: Kid's Fun​
Description to come.....
death faire art gallery
Description to come.....
interactive Ancestral Altar
You are invited to honor your loved one(s) by participating in this open, interactive Death Faire Altar. If you wish to recognize those who have passed from your life, you are encouraged to bring photos, art, or small items that are treasured keepsakes of your significant person. You may leave a poem, a writing, or a quote as a tribute. You can write a wish, a prayer, or a memory for any of your ancestors that can be hung on the provided line or placed in the burning pot of ashes to be sent to the ancestors by way of smoke. We will have incense and candles lit, so please mind where you set your pieces. Be sure to mark your name on any items you leave at the altar so they can be easily returned. Above all, respect each precious contribution to this altar. Many different faiths and beliefs will be represented, and the tokens placed will be special to each participant.
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