Opening Ceremony Podcast with Jess May
Podcast blurb
Welcome to ‘Opening Ceremony Podcast’ with me, your host, Jess May.
I'm on a mission to keep ceremonies alive! Join me to hear all about why!
In the UK people are giving up on ceremony and I believe it is making us sick.
I don’t want that for you and that is why we’re here.
Ceremonies remind you that you belong here, you’re precious and you’re never alone.
I hope that this podcast will do that too.
On my podcast we connect with Academics, Professionals, colleagues, friends & clients share their life events, passions, careers and the ceremonies associated with them.
Ceremonies hold power to create meaning and are a vital source of connection and belonging for human beings.
As cultures evolve, ceremonies do too, how we approach that shift matters, because even as they disappear and change shape, they continue to hold power for both good and bad.
I want to empower you to create ceremonies which honour your values and remind you that you and yours belong in this world.
Good ceremonies tell your own story and help you to find your own meaning by reflecting who you are, healing you and showing you how much you matter.
But they can also be used in damaging ways.
If you don’t claim that power and choose your own way of celebrating your life and telling your story, someone else will do it for you.
Even as they fall from fashion, they will continue to matter to us societally, historically, personally & culturally.
There is never a time in human history where people don’t use them somewhere in the world for myriad reasons.
Focusing on ceremony shows us the interconnected multitude of human lives throughout history and across cultures. Ceremonies help us to hear those voices, their differences and similarities and understand the world-views behind the ceremonies they create.
Jess May is an Award Winning Celebrant who started her career in 2013 creating hundreds of life changing ceremonies for every occasion.
Join the Opening Ceremony constellation to learn more about why ceremonies still play a central part in human and animal societies.
Opening Ceremony Podcast with Jess May
Amy Dugmore on the language of death
I love this episode so much!
It is all about how we use language in our current age here in the UK, how euphemism can serve a purpose and all the different assumptions professionals make about how the general public want to use death language.
I learned a lot!
Amy Dugmore has most recently been the content director for Funeral Choice, the UK’s leading funeral comparison and advice platform.
She has had a varied career, producing content for higher education, automotive and fashion retail among many other sectors, as well as co-producing workshops with Google. She also volunteers as a mentor, helping young people break into digital marketing and content creation.
As a copywriter by trade, language has always been at the forefront of Amy’s work and she is fascinated and passionate about the ways in which language shapes our experiences and helps us to find connection.
It’s safe to say that when she started out, she wasn’t expecting to find herself specialising in the death care sector – but has discovered a passion for compassionate content and helping people to plan the funeral they really want.
You can contact Amy through Jess
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
Dying for a Cuppa - The Podcast
Katie Costello - End of Life Support Services
