Danna, Author at Waypoint Ceremonies

Author Archives: Danna

Grief and All That Other Stuff

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Danna • 4 Comments

Someone I know well (or perhaps after all these years, not at all) asked me why I’m always dwelling on topics like grief and all that other stuff, which by other stuff she meant death and dying. This was in response to our chat about Mother’s Day. To know me is to know that at… Continue Reading

Sweep Surrender

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Danna • 4 Comments

The year 2020 sure has come in with a roar. Eleven days past my annual New Year’s ritual (in which I burned a letter I had penned to 2019 together with a stack of ceremony transcripts), and I suddenly find myself in need of another way to say things rite. And that’s the thing about… Continue Reading

Ritual that Writs You Well

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Danna • 0 Comments

I’m often asked by clients and colleagues alike where and how I conceive of ritual ideas for my various ceremonies. My answer is unwavering. Everywhere! My celebrant antenna is always up in my hunt for unique ritual ideas. And my approach borrows from Mary Oliver’s “Sometimes” poem in which she confides the following great secret… Continue Reading

Mud Season

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Danna • 3 Comments

Spring Equinox is upon us and in this last year of the second decade of this uneasy millennium, she brings with her an extra-bright nightlight in the form of the super worm moon to help illuminate our way this season. It’s been 19 years since the earth and moon last aligned in such a way… Continue Reading

Coming to Terms

Posted on November 4, 2018 by Danna • 12 Comments

On this day three years ago, I sat in a corner of my father’s hospital room by the window, doing all I could to greatly reduce my own human footprint within his dying space. I carried an awareness on that autumn day, which would prove to be his last, that this act of emptying the… Continue Reading

Funerals, Family Feuds & Other Exciting F Words (Part 2)

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Danna • 0 Comments

This is the second in a two-part post about some of the F Words embedded in difficult family dynamics that can sometimes arise in my work as a funeral celebrant. To read the first post, click here. ************ FEAR For kicks, I anagrammed the word “Funeral” and all kinds of interesting words emerged (more on that later), not the least of which… Continue Reading

Funerals, Family Feuds & Other Exciting F Words (Part 1)

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Danna • 2 Comments

Death at a Funeral (2010). Lean in a tad too close to any funeral director and they’re sure to either regale or terrify you with tales of family dramas in the funeral parlor. Heck, if you’ve watched Death at a Funeral – either the UK or American version – you’re already an armchair expert… Continue Reading

Legacies of Love

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Danna • 0 Comments

The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” Muriel Rukeyser, from “The Speed of Darkness” When my son, now on the edge of 22, graduated from high school four years ago, I wanted to gift him a different set of life luggage. I wanted it to be something he might carry throughout this life… Continue Reading

Death is a Verb

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Danna • 0 Comments

You’ve long since heard the public service announcement: You’re going to die and so am I. And if you’re like most people, you’d rather put it off and not think about it, as in, at all, ever. I get it…it’s a buzzkill. And yet when we’re confronted with OPD (other people’s death), it can often feel… Continue Reading

Raindrops, Roses & Red Tent Restoration

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Danna • 8 Comments

Two cups of water, it turns out, is the magic measurement needed to puree four years of healing. Two cups, mixed with the torn bits of emails and a litany of epistolary fragments that together, represent a realm of relational trespasses and toxic clutter I’ve allowed to take up residency in my heart and soul. In… Continue Reading

Danna D. Schmidt