For most of human history, ritual shaped the rhythm of our lives. It helped us mark beginnings and endings, honour milestones, and make sense of the changes that quietly reshaped us. Rituals rooted communities, offered language for moments beyond words, and created a shared understanding of what it means to move through life together. Somewhere along the way, many of us drifted from these practices - or were never taught how to create them in the first place. And yet, especially in grief and in moments of transition, we feel their absence.
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Megan Sheldon - cultural mythologist, humanist celebrant, end-of-life doula, and co-founder of Be Ceremonial, the world’s first guided ritual and ceremony app. Megan has created hundreds of ceremonies for people around the world, honouring what she calls the “seemingly invisible moments of change” - pregnancy loss, organ transplants, menopause, living funerals, death anniversaries, and so many others.
We talk about why ritual matters, how it supports us at the end of life and long before it, and how simple, intentional acts can help us meet grief with presence and meaning. Megan also shares insights from her work in North Vancouver, where she leads workshops, virtual courses, and retreats - and where, when she’s not crafting ceremonies, she’s swimming in the sea or wandering the rainforest with her husband Johan and their two daughters.
It’s an expansive, grounding conversation about remembering what we’ve forgotten - and reclaiming ritual as a human inheritance.
