“The Art of Ritual: Changing Ways of Life and Death” November 2021

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I’m pleased to announce the second rendition of the Art of Ritual course, a five-week Zoom-based learning experience hosted by the Morbid Academy. The first rendition sold out quickly and we’ve extended the class-time for course two, running 2 hours rather than 1.5 per class.

Here’s some participant feedback from the first course:

I loved this class. The best part for me was the variety of ways we explored rituals – both existing ones and ideas for creating our own. The videos were spot on and plentiful, giving me a wide range of ways to think about death commemorations. The whole of the course was heartening as well: seeing the many different ways people adapt themselves and what has been given them so it fits their life, family, and community.

I very much appreciated the opportunity to follow the class via the recordings even if you couldn’t attend in person. I used it for the first class and it made me feel that I didn´t miss out on anything.

Overall a very interesting and well put together class! Awesome!

Very much appreciated the material that Tony so generously sent out in between classes so that we came prepared to the class with some shared references. A kind of flipped classroom model that worked really well. The great amount of references and links shared in the class by Tony was very much appreciated, it made the course very engaging and I think added to the great energy in class.

The group dynamic was great with a mixed group of people with different backgrounds.

Loved that we got to do our own work/prompts and share it in class.

Timely topic with a caring and engaged teacher.

I also liked that we started with a bit of history about The Dance of Death and the Grim Reaper. The visuals were amazing and inspiring. I also loved the brief trip down art history lane with paintings in the Vanitas and Memento Mori traditions. Stunning work. 

I really appreciated the lists of recommended resources with the “most recommended” asterisked. That was amazing and generous. 

I really appreciated how the class organization was standardized to a format that we could expect each week. 

I really appreciated how the assignments progressed and really got us thinking about things from different angles.  I loved the mudra process. 

I really appreciated and admired Tony’s utter patience and presence for each student, how he responded thoughtfully to each sharing and how he made everyone feel heard. 

I really appreciated how he found a balance between assignments per se and recommended acts of participation.  There was a sense of substance to the course yet it was spacious enough that we did not feel pressured.  

This course takes you on a deep exploratory dive into the art, science and culture of death and dying and leaves you with the inspiration and resources to continue on your exploration indefinitely into the future.  

I really enjoyed the preparatory materials setting the stage for some of the content during the actual class.  It feels good to come into the class prepared like that … it felt less like a lecture that way and helps with an overall feeling of being engaged and connected to the material.

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