Compound Grief and Midwifing Death
A Sacred Conversation with Amber Deylon & Willow Brook
October 4, 2025 | 11am Pacific | 75 minutes
A gathering for those navigating multiple losses and seeking the support of death midwifery
Suggested Donation: $25-35 | No one turned away for lack of funds
Recording available to all registrants
When losses come in rapid succession, how do we honor each sacred ending while surviving the waves?
One aspect of grief and loss has been described as compound grief: multiple losses in a short period of time. Also known as cumulative grief, we may attempt to compartmentalize each deep loss when they happen in rapid succession, all to survive. At times grief can feel impossible to process, which can manifest in our bodies as an offline nervous system. Before we have the chance to process one loss we are onto the next, responding with fight; or for others this is possibly where freeze comes into play.
How do we move through compound grief?
We will not arrive at simple answers in this gathering. Compound grief is complex, embodied, and deeply individual. But we will meet this territory with tenderness and curiosity, exploring how the ancient practice of death midwifery offers tools for integrating and moving the energy of grief when losses accumulate.
In this heartfelt conversation, Death Midwife and Grief Guide Amber Deylon joins grief guide and ritualist Willow Brook to explore the landscape of compound grief and the sacred art of midwifing death—both literal death and the many deaths we experience throughout life.
This Gathering Is For You If You Are:
- Navigating multiple losses in a short period of time
- Feeling overwhelmed by cumulative grief that seems impossible to process
- Supporting someone through compound grief experiences
- Curious about death midwifery and its role in grief integration
- Struggling with embodied responses to overwhelming loss (fight, flight, freeze, fawn)
- Seeking practices to move grief energy when it feels stuck in your body
- Called to understand death as a sacred transition that can be midwifed
- Looking for community with others who understand compound grief
Through Our Time Together, You Will:
- Understand compound grief and how it manifests differently than single losses
- Explore how grief lives in the body and nervous system responses to overwhelming loss
- Learn about death midwifery as both literal practice and metaphor for accompanying endings
- Discover practices for integrating and moving grief energy when losses accumulate
- Gain tools for supporting yourself and others through compound grief experiences
- Connect with a community of fellow travelers who understand this complex terrain
- Find permission to honor multiple losses without having to "get over" them quickly
Questions We'll Explore:
How does compound grief differ from processing single losses?
What happens in our bodies when grief feels too overwhelming to process?
How can the role of a death midwife help integrate and move grief energy?
What does it mean to midwife the many deaths we experience in life?
How do we honor each loss while surviving the waves of multiple losses?
What practices support us when grief feels stuck in our nervous system?
Your Guides for This Journey
Amber Deylon
Amber Deylon's mission is to guide those facing life's most profound challenges with grace and empathy. Her gentle yet profound approach serves as a beacon of support for the dying, their families, and their care circles. Amber tenderly holds space for individuals in their heartache and loss, guiding them back to a place of love and gratitude.
As a Grief and Intimacy Guide and Death Midwife, she shares her deep wisdom, offering solace and understanding to those navigating loss. At the heart of her offerings lies Grieve + Breathe Rituals and the Love & Loss Podcast, where she intertwines ritual, breathwork, and heartfelt storytelling to illuminate the human experiences of grief, pain, and ultimately, love.
Amber's journey into end-of-life midwifery was deeply personal, sparked by the loss of her beloved mother and followed by the passing of other cherished souls in her life. Through these experiences, she gained profound insights and a deep reservoir of compassion, which she now channels into supporting others through their own journeys of loss and transition.
Willow Brooke
Willow is a grief guide, earth-loving ritualist, and co-founder of Wild Heart. She brings over a decade of devotional practice and teaching across sacred traditions, with a particular gift for creating sacred containers for grief and transformation.
"I really believe that the size of our grief is a reflection of the size of our love... Grief is now one of the most honest, sobering and trustworthy friends in my life."
Willow's grief journey began with the death of her mother at age 20, an initiation that continues to shape her writing, song, and life. Her presence is a gentle invocation of the sacred, and she understands intimately how multiple losses can compound and overwhelm. Through ritual, song, and compassionate presence, Willow creates space for the full spectrum of grief experience.
Event Details
Date: October 4th, 2025
Time: 11am Pacific Time
Format: Live Online Gathering via Zoom
Suggested Donation: $25-35 (No one turned away for lack of funds)
Recording: Available to all registrants
Please offer what is possible and generous to you to support our team in continuing to share these events.
We're Eager to Hear Your Voice
Participants will be asked to submit questions before the event to inform what our speakers share. You will also have an opportunity to ask follow-up questions during our time together live.
You are an important part of the conversation.
Grief Conversations Happen Every Month of 2025
Join the Wild Heart community in other heart-to-hearts exploring the full spectrum of grief.
These conversations are for those who may be feeling alienated in their grief experience, longing for community and supportive resources. We hope these dialogues with companions on the journey will offer new perspectives and aid in exploring grief as a spiritual process.
Explore All Grief ConversationsA Note from Amber & Willow
Dear Friends,
We recognize how overwhelming compound grief can be—the way multiple losses can leave us feeling flooded, disconnected from our bodies, and uncertain how to process the accumulation of endings.
When losses come in rapid succession, our nervous systems can become overwhelmed, leaving us in states of fight, flight, or freeze that feel impossible to navigate. The idea that we should process each loss neatly before the next one arrives is not only unrealistic but can add shame to an already overwhelming experience.
Amber brings her wisdom as a Death Midwife—one who has learned to accompany others through the sacred transitions of dying and grieving with grace and presence. Willow offers her understanding of grief as sacred teacher and her gift for creating ritual containers that can hold the complexity of compound loss.
Together, we invite you into a conversation that honors the complexity of compound grief without trying to fix or rush through it. We will explore how the ancient art of midwifing death—whether literal death or the many endings we experience in life—can offer tools for moving grief energy when it feels stuck in our bodies and beings.
We hope you'll join us in this tender exploration of how we can accompany ourselves and each other through the most overwhelming experiences of loss with wisdom, grace, and compassion.
With deep care,
Amber & Willow
