INTRODUCTION

There are examples of many types of rituals on the following pages. All have been used with groups as well as families and individuals. The actual ritual usually involves some readings, passing out of the materials (candles, flowers, seedlings, bottles of bubbles), the people in the group responding to the item they are given by saving the deceased's name, or some appropriate phrase, and closing the ritual with a moment of silence, final reading or meditation, or simply a concluding phrase indicating the ritual to be over. Finally, most facilitators and often the clients like to process or discuss the ritual, and how it felt to them.