PDX Wildfire Grief Ritual & Mutual Aid Drive
Description
COMMUNITY GRIEF RITUAL + MUTUAL AID FOR WILDFIRE RELIEF
Wednesday, August 19 · 4:00–9:30 PM
The Lantern · 2828 SE Stephens St, Portland, OR 97214
By donation · No one turned away for lack of funds
As wildfires continue to devastate communities across Cascadia and beyond, we are gathering in real time to grieve together.
This is a space to slow down, bear witness, and make room for the grief, heartbreak, anger, fear, and love that arise when we witness the loss of life, homes, ecosystems, and a world we are deeply connected to.
We believe grief is not something we are meant to carry alone.
Together, we will enter a facilitated grief ritual rooted in the Dagara tradition of Burkina Faso, creating a communal container where what is difficult to hold individually can be witnessed and held by the village.
No previous experience with grief ritual is necessary. All are welcome.
Facilitated by:
Alyssa Rose · Alyx Somas · Asher Wallis · Ebon Ian · Megan Jeanne · River (The Grief Witch) · with musical support by Alexa Lux
ABOUT THE RITUAL
Our lineage for grief tending comes from the Dagara people of Burkina Faso, whose elders sent Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé to the West to share teachings about grief, ritual, and community.
In the Dagara tradition, grief is understood as a natural and necessary part of being human—and as something that becomes heavier when it has no place to be expressed or witnessed. Community provides the container in which grief can move, be honored, and reconnect us with one another and with life.
We enter this lineage with humility and gratitude, recognizing the deep history, cultural context, and ongoing impacts of colonization surrounding the sharing of these teachings in the West.
This gathering is also an opportunity to practice reciprocity. If you feel called to support the Dagara people directly, we encourage you to learn more about the Sonder Project and their work providing clean water to a Dagara village:
https://thesonderproject.org/clean-water-dagara-tribe-malidoma-some/
MUTUAL AID FOR WARM SPRINGS
Alongside the grief ritual, we will be collecting donations for the Warm Springs Relief Fund, supporting community members impacted by the devastating wildfires affecting the Warm Springs community. We will be collecting:
Bottled water
Nonperishable, unexpired food items
Unopened hygiene products (toothpaste, soap, shampoo & conditioner, etc)
Financial donations (see ticket description for instructions)
GATHERING DETAILS
4:00 — Arrival, settling in, cooking the ritual
Come when you can, connect, make a donation, and prepare yourself for the ritual.
5:00 PM — Doors close & ritual begins
Once the ritual begins, we will close the doors to protect the container for those participating.
Ritual concludes by 9:30 PM.
Come exactly as you are. You do not need to have the “right” words, a particular relationship to wildfire, or any experience with ritual or grief work. There is no expectation to perform, explain, or fix your grief.
There is simply an invitation to come together, witness what is moving through us, and remember that we do not have to carry it alone.
All are welcome. By donation. No one turned away for lack of funds.
May we grieve what has been lost. May we tend what remains. May our grief become a bridge back to one another.
Facilitator Bios
Alyssa Rose
Alyssa Rose is a grief guide and life-transition doula in Portland, Oregon. She works with individuals and small groups navigating change and integrating grief. Through her work, she uniquely tends to the body, mind, and spirit of each individual and co-creates beautiful ritual spaces for the deep soul work of grieving. She hosts monthly grief rituals and annual retreats, works with clients one-to-one, and trains other practitioners to support clients in navigating loss. With a background in Eastern and Western healing modalities, end of life work, trauma-informed coaching, animist psychology, ancestral medicine, Reiki, Craniosacral Therapy, and Integrative coaching, Alyssa is committed to creating a grief literate culture and developing resilient modern villages. Informed and inspired by the work of Sobonfu Some, Malidoma Some, Laurence Cole, Frances Weller, Stephen Jenkinson, Bill Plotkin, and many more, she studies Earth-based cultures, rituals, and grieving around the world in order to support our remembering and envisioning of how to honor and integrate loss as a people.
Alyx Somas
Alyx Somas is a 2S Native North American Culture Tender, Re-indigenization Practitioner, and Liberationist devoted to restoring relationship with lineage, land, and kinship lifeways. Rooted in ancestral teachings and eco-somatic healing, they guide communities through ceremony, grief work, and belonging-based systems change. Their work, the Collectivity Project, nurtures ancestral healing, cross-cultural belonging, and collective liberation.
Asher Wallis
Asher Wallis (he/they) is a gardener, potter, and poet who works as a grief counselor and end-of-life community educator in private practice in Oregon City. He has previously worked as a hospice bereavement coordinator, spiritual care provider, and volunteer coordinator. He co-facilitates Gathered Heart Meditation Community and is currently apprenticing to the Somé lineage of Dagara-style grief ritual tending. Asher is deeply interested in how griefwork, contemplative practice, and social justice can complement each other as technologies of liberation. He is hopelessly indebted to Stephen Jenkinson, Laurence Cole, Ahlay Blakley, Therese Charvet, and Dr. Robert Neimeyer for their generosity and wisdom. To learn more visit InvitingTheConversation.com.
Ebon Ian
Ebon Ian is a lifelong multi-instrumentalist, musician, songwriter, and student of the ocean and nature. Finding fluidity in the rhythms of the sea and the natural world has shaped his understanding of life, creativity, and spirituality, teaching him lessons of balance, patience, and interconnectedness. This deep connection influences both his music and healing work. Ebon was called to grief work and shamanic healing practices through his own healing journey and spiritual awakening. Through working with elders and teachers Laurence Cole and Therese Charvet, Ebon discovered the transformative power of community and belonging in the grief ritual process. Through all of his work, Ebon remains grounded in the belief that we are meant to walk this path together—guided by spirit and the ancestors, and supported and witnessed by one another.
Megan Jeanne
Megan Jeanne is a midwife, ceremonial facilitator, and healer whose life’s work centers on holding space for and tending to people at their most vulnerable and transformative moments. As a midwife, she has guided countless families through the sacred threshold of birth. As a facilitator of grief ceremonies and shamanic healing practices, she holds space for the equally sacred threshold of loss and release. Megan is a lifelong learner, turning to elders, children, history, plants, and the everyday teachers all around her for guidance and support. She is grateful to be at this crucial moment with so many others - remembering our interconnectedness and interdependence, painfully aware of the need for imminent human action and compassionate transformation, and continuing to answer the call with a resounding "YES".
River aka The Grief Witch
River aka The Grief Witch is an Irish Pagan community grief ritualist. River walks in the Dagara lineage of grief tending through mentorship with Francis Weller, Marisa Withey Byrne, Thérèse Charvet, and Laurence Cole. The Grief Witch also makes candles and ritual tools for grief and soul, and publishes related writings on substack.
FAQs
- Can I arrive after 4pm?
Yes, you can arrive any time between 4pm - 5:30pm. We will close the doors at 5:00.
- Are children welcome?
This ritual is best suited for adults. If you have a teenager who is interested in participating, they are welcome.
- How do I get involved?
If you'd like to volunteer or support this event, please contact Alexa Lux at hello@alexalux.com.
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