Death & Chocolate Roving Forest Ritual (New Paltz, NY)
Description
Death & Chocolate at Stone Mountain Farm
You are invited to an afternoon of contemplating and honoring death through community discussion, decedent chocolate, music and ritual. To share our hearts over homemade chocolate truffles, allow space for grief, and offer homage to Death and all the lessons that come with the process.
As the leaves turn and the Earth hums of release and decomposition, Death's presence becomes more palpable. In the midst of this time, our ancestors have participated in rituals to honor death, grief, and the holy descent. Marking these shifts gathered in community allows us to connect deeper with the web of life we are so deeply embedded within.
Join us, Saturday November 7th from 2 - 5 pm, as we meander through the forest with mystic guides, embarking on an interactive sensory foray through the mythological landscape of death. We will traverse through an array of mythopoetic lenses to expand our ideas and perceptions around death, grief, the underworld and the afterlife.
In this roving experience we will weave ourselves through the forest landscape into an array of performances by talented musicians and ritual performers. Throughout our journey there will be times to drop in with ourselves and others, as we indulge in homemade decadent truffles wrapped in question prompts that will drop us into heartfelt contemplations. With multiple rounds, everyone will be able to pair with different participants and explore edges of our existence and our own beliefs around life & death.
Arrive as you are ~ we are here as a community to be in reverence and curiosity around the landscape of death, hold space for our grief, honor all that is arising for us and the world, and be present with the teachings that Death has to offer each one of us.
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Accessibility: We will be walking (slowly) through the forest, on some uneven terrain. We have marked paths and will be stopping many times throughout our journey, each leg of the journey is no more than 200-300 ft walking distance and all together we will be walking less than a quarter mile.
Arrival: Please arrive 15 minutes early (1:45pm) so that we may all embarking on the journey together. Wear warm cloths and good shoes as we will be in the woods, there will be a fire but temps are getting chilly! Please also bring a blanket or portable chair to sit on as we rove through the grounds.
Location & Parking:
All events will take place outdoors at various locations on the Stone Mountain Farm campus at 310 River Rd. Ext., New Paltz, NY, 12561. Parking is available, and our signs will direct you where to park. Please park in Lot A.
Lineup
Kaitlyn Cronin
Kaitlyn is a dedicated threshold guardian and certified Sacred Passage Doula with a profound connection to the cycles of life and death. Her inner flame burns brightly at the convergence of mycology, art, and community death care; shaping her into a passionate advocate for embracing the inevitable transitions of life. Kaitlyn hopes to assist in dismantling the barriers of fear and misconceptions that shroud death, grief and the dying process by re-estabishing deaths honored place as a vital part of life's continuum. This is her 5th year hosting Death and Chocolate, each year growing and evolving alongside the land she offers it on, the talented collaborators that inspire her, and the invisible ones holding council. It combines her devotion to crafting delectable foraged edibles, cultivating immersive ritual experience, and being in deep listening and collaboration with myth, mycelium, and mystery.
James Bird
James Bird is a poet/musician/bard local to the forests and rivers of Western Massachusetts. A live musician at heart, he has shared his ethereal folk music in a diversity of spaces like festivals, farmer’s markets, funerals, wedding ceremonies, ecstatic dances and grief rituals. Myth is a central theme in Bird’s music, using ancient stories to speak to the timeless human experiences of love, loss, friendship, mystery, death and rebirth. After a 6 year journey, his debut album "Riddles" will be released October 10th 2026 via Funnybone Records.
Marie Echo
Marie “Murry” Echo’s (fae/they/she) primary partnership is with the meandering magic of the Muse. Living in devotion to this waking dream, fae shapeshifts between and beyond archetypal roles of boundless bard, dream druid, death doula, cosmic clown creature, harmonic healer. Their offerings are a convergence of creativity, connectivity, sensuality & ritual.
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