Holding Our Sacred Grief: A Women’s Communal Grief Ritual
Overview
We were never meant to grieve alone.
Come experience a full day, in-person, women only, grief ritual designed to introduce participants to the embodied and communal work of grief.
Grief is an integral part of life that requires our attention if we want to be fully available to life. In our culture, however, we have forgotten how to share our grief with one another. When we add to our personal losses the experience of economic instability, ecological degradation, the extinction of species, individual and collective health crises, and the unrest and turmoil within human societies, the burden of grief that we are carrying as individuals can begin to feel unbearable. There are very few spaces where we are invited to experience and express this complex grief in community. This retreat will utilize Francis Weller’s “Five Gates of Grief” to connect participants to their distinct and multifaceted experiences of grief in the context of a co-created "village."
This work welcomes all forms of grief, including:
loss and death
life transitions and change
unmet dreams and disappointments
illness, betrayal, and heartbreak
ancestral and collective grief
environmental and social sorrow
ruptures within ourselves, our relationships, and our world
We go to grief ritual to make our hearts more spacious, more capable of falling in love with the world. Grief work is aliveness work. To welcome our grief is to welcome our joy and the full range of human expression. Because to suppress any feeling is to suppress all feeling! In welcoming our grief, we find ourselves more alive, more able to move in the moment with what arises and having more room for all feelings and sensations including joy.
The day will be facilitated by experienced grief mentors who have apprenticed in the grief ritual tradition of the Dagara tribe as brought to the U.S. and shared by Malidoma and Sobonfu Somé. We have been oriented to this tradition by mentors Francis Weller, Laurence Cole and Thérèse Charvet. Participants will be guided through singing, movement, poetry, teaching, live drumming, small group sharing, and the creation of a grief shrine. Our time together will culminate in a communal grief ritual, in which we will witness and support each other as we move into the shared experience and expression of our sorrows and losses. All participation is invitational; nothing is "required" beyond being present with and sharing the griefs you are carrying, to the best of your ability.
Date and Time: Saturday October 17, 2026 from 10:30am - 7:30pm.
Location: 11312 Roosevelt Drive, Grass Valley, CA 95945
Registration: Limited to 20. Registration closes October 16. Waitlist: Once we reach capacity, we will also maintain a waitlist in event of cancellations. Please fill out this form by clicking the link: Grief Ritual Registration Questionnaire
Cost:
Community Rate $100 — for those with limited financial resources
Sustaining Rate $150 — for those with enough financial flexibility to contribute more
Generosity Rate $200 — for those able to help make the ritual accessible to others
Pay by Zelle: danelleriles@gmail.com; 530-414-8381 or Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/Danelle-Riles
Contact Danelle or Marilyn before registering to ensure this is a good fit for you.
Meals: Bring a sack lunch and water, as well as something to share for our evening harvest meal. We’ll provide a hearty gf, df soup and bread for dinner. Please let us know about other dietary restrictions.
Facilitators:
Marilyn Hunt, LMFT – Marilyn (she/her) is an IFS therapist in private practice who feels deeply called to create spaces where we can come together to honor loss, listen to what lives within us, and remember that grief is not something we are meant to carry alone. Her work is rooted in the wisdom of the body, the transformative possibilities of deep connection, and the understanding that every part of us has a place at the table. She is continually fed and restored by nature, where she finds a profound teacher in the rhythms of life, death, renewal, and belonging. Her mentors include Francis Weller, Laurence Cole and Thérèse Charvet. Marilyn has been married for 35 years, is the mother of two adult sons, is an avid hiker, and an animal lover.
Marilyn@marilynhuntlmft.com, (925)270-7922
Danelle Riles, LCSW - Danelle (she/her) is a neurodiversity affirming psychotherapist and certified Integrative Health Practitioner. She has a private practice in Nevada City, CA where she provides trauma-informed psychotherapy integrating Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Jungian perspectives. Since discovering the work of Francis Weller, she has come to believe that grieving in community is an essential and often missing piece of individual and collective healing. She has extensive experience in women’s groups, contributing to the creation of safe containers for deep exploration of the feminine psyche. Since 2020, Betsy Perluss, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst and Wilderness Guide, has been an important mentor whose guidance and inspiration have deeply influenced Danelle’s work.
DanelleRiles@gmail.com, (530) 414-8381