Mortellus, who is a Mortician, Necromancer, and High Priestex, joins Patrick to talk about their new book, Do I Have to Wear Black?: Rituals, Customs, and Funerary Etiquette for Modern Pagans. Discussion also includes what you need to do to prepare for your death NOW, misconceptions about embalming, and the fascinating alternatives to traditional burial, including body farms. Visit BigSeance.com/183 for more info. Other Listening Options Direct Download Link In this episode: Episode Teaser :00 Intro :48 Bio for Mortellus. Welcome to the parlor! 1:32 Book description for Do I Have to Wear Black?: Rituals, Customs & Funerary Etiquette for Modern Pagans 3:49 Check out Lonnie Scott’s interview with Mortellus on Weird Web Radio! 5:54 How do Pagans celebrate the life of a departed loved one during a Pagan funeral? Do they perform any kind of ritual that is meant to aid their transition to the afterlife? 8:30 Mourning practices in the Pagan community. 11:10 Their path through death work. Also, the recent and very unfortunate discrimination that Mortellus experienced. 14:00 Misconceptions 18:10 Embalming misconceptions. 20:00 You have options when patronizing a funeral home or mortuary. 21:34 Your legacy, plus the things you should plan for and think about in preparation for death. 25:23 The tradition of using poppets as a stand-in for a lost loved one. 29:59 Patrick is conflicted about what he wants to do with his body after death. 32:11 The cenotaph. 34:27 Bodies are compost. And more on embalming. 37:02 Body farms and other options for donating your body after death. 43:31 Seeing and hearing the dead following a Near Death Experience (NDE). 43:58 A beautiful and touching story about Mortellus and their most treasured possession, a garden hoe. 48:50 Do I have to wear black? The story behind the book title. 53:52 Socials and where to find Mortellus. 57:10 Writing rituals for funerals 58:33 A special THANK YOU to Patreon supporters at the Super Paranerd and Parlor Guest level! 59:50 Outro 1:01:41 For more on Mortellus mortellus.com Do I Have to Wear Black?: Rituals, Customs & Funerary Etiquette for Modern Pagans (Amazon) Instagram: @acrowandthedead Twitter: @acrowandthedead Facebook: @acrowandthedead A Crow and the Dead (Patheos Blog) The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe and share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at [email protected]. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!

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