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
THE DEAD PET GIRLS
INTRODUCING THE DEAD PET GIRLS!
This platform and community delves into the world of pet death, offering a welcoming space for honest conversations whilst exploring the quirky cultural aspects of pet loss that are often left unspoken.
57% of UK households and 66% of US households have pets, with a whopping 97% considering them family. Pet loss, then, becomes a powerful unifier for us all. It touches everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Kim Kardashian and everyone in between. Often, our first encounter with death is through a childhood pet, shaping how we navigate grief throughout our lives.
Cat Dorman is a curator and emerging writer currently based in Washington, DC. She has developed the lead exhibits for a new museum across from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue exploring the fraught concept of the American Dream opening in 2025. Much of her work centers on the intersection of social history, art and literature, and death culture.With Dead Pet Girls she particularly enjoys bringing to life the many wild and fascinating personalities buried in the history of pet loss and animal culture and exploring what we can learn from them. Cat received her BA from American University in Literature and Art History and her MA from University College London in English: Issues in Modern Culture. She is currently working on her first collection of short stories.
She survives her deceased cats Max, Minnie, Marie, hamster Duchess and fish Annie and Pudd (x4).
Steff Boulton is a documentary producer and writer based in London who works in both development and production. She holds a dynamic track record, having nurtured acclaimed documentaries from initial concept to broadcast on prestigious platforms such as the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, and Disney+.Dead Pet Girls provides a platform for her to explore and share her fascination with the interplay of pop culture, history and pets whilst also providing solace and community for those journeying through pet loss. She has a BA in History from University College London.
She survives her dog Henry, rabbits Tippy and Lola, fish Flipper and Dipper and cat Cassius Earl Grey I.
you can find out more here!
https://www.deadpetgirls.com/about
#jessmaycelebrant
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