Latest Death Cafe News
Death Cafe write up: The Long Beach Death Cafe CA- Wicked Wolf
Posted by Lisa Stuhley on Jan. 21, 2025, 5:59 p.m.
This was the very 1st Death Cafe held at The Wicked Wolf in Long Beach, CA. To my surprise, many people were interested in coming to talk about death and dying! We had 14 people show! We enjoyed the decor of the teahouse, sipped on delicous teas and coffee, and discussed topics ranging from green burials, to human composting, to questioning the tradition of wearing black to funerals to traditions we do to honor our loved ones and even the fear of dying in space was briefly mentioned! You just never know what will come up when given permission! Our group was so successful that we took up ...
With Leona Oceania
June 4, 2026, 5.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m. (Eastern)
Sponsers by York Public Library and YCSA - York Community Service Association
New Blog post: Call for Participants - tell me about your Death Cafe experience
Posted by Eilidh Nicoll on Jan. 12, 2025, 9:06 a.m.
Hello Death Cafe Community, I’m Eilidh, a Scottish animator based in London.
I’m currently working on a short film for Animate Projects, supported by Arts Council England. The project is part of a programme entitled MORTAL - the goal of which is to produce work that reflects on how death and dying can be rethought. I have chosen to focus on the role of the Death Cafe in such a conversation, and would like ...
Death Cafe write up: Virtual Death Cafe Albany, CA USA PST
Posted by JimKirkpatrick on Jan. 10, 2025, 5:04 p.m.
We came from London, NE and SE USA and CA. Flow of sharing of our lives and legacy, grieving, loving, random acts of kindness and the rippling effect of our kindness. All the while deep listening and space for silent contemplation.
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe
Posted by ayalynn on Jan. 9, 2025, 7:21 p.m.
Death Cafe write up: City of Roses Death Cafe Portland OR
Posted by nomenoyou1 on Jan. 7, 2025, 3:42 p.m.
Our final City of Roses Death Cafe of 2024 had 19 participants divided between three tables.
One table discussed the challenges of living with a terminal cancer diagnosis including deciding whether the benefits of life extending maintenance chemotherapy outweighed the physical consequences (quantity or quality of life?), the difficulty of discussing one's diagnosis and its implications with family and friends, and responding to hurtful, but well-intentioned responses ("I had a friend who had that cancer and they . . . ") We also discussed living with grief when a sibling dies. Stephen Jenkinson's Die Wise was came up more than once.
Another table’s discussion centered a lot about feelings ...
New Blog post: The Art of Dying Well.
Posted by zeland2645 on Jan. 6, 2025, 12:37 a.m.
"We are born to die. This inevitable fact could lead to fatalism, although, more often, we simply fall into denial. We avoid thinking about death and stigmatize it as the greatest evil.
If this world is all we have, then death would be the greatest evil, although life itself would become futile, a temporary illusion — grasping pleasure as it slips through our fingers.
For a Christian, however, we are born to live. The inevitability of ...
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe North Canterbury
Posted by Death Cafe North Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand on Jan. 2, 2025, 8:02 p.m.
Today was a small group of 4, and no co-facilitator – I was flying solo! I was pleased to see a few people who returned for more Death Café as we delved deeper into some familiar topics such as how to handle grief and the compounding grief of dealing with the health system. It was a tender chat and a memorable meeting, and the last of 2024.
Death Café dates for 2025:
Kaiapoi:
February 16th
May 18th
September 21st
Rangiora:
March 23rd
June 29th
October 26th
Amberley
April 27th
July 20th
November 23rd
Stay well, Liz
New Blog post: Seasons Greetings
Posted by Karsten Speckin on Dec. 29, 2024, 8:01 a.m.
Dear Deathcafe Community,
we hope you had a nice Chitstmas and we wish all the best for New Year!
The photo shows the flower bowl on the grave of my beloved father. With fir branch with christmas decoration and winterflowers. inthe foreground you can see a candle light-.
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe Iowa
Posted by DeathCafeIowa on Dec. 19, 2024, 11:47 a.m.
Our most recent Death Café was held December 17th and had 4 people in attendance. We touched on a handful of topics, beginning with alternatives for final disposition. This included having one’s cremated remains turned into a reef ball (a concrete structure that’s used to bury cremated remains in the ocean), having them sent to outer space in a rocket, and various other places and spaces one can use to store and scatter cremated remains. We also touched on the concept of making a preplan and the benefits that come from doing so. We ended the conversation with the importance of talking to children about ...
Death Cafe write up: Austin Death Cafe: Conversations on Change, Loss, and Renewal
Posted by Lauren Terry on Dec. 14, 2024, 1:59 a.m.
Come together for an evening of open dialogue and reflection at SquareRüt Kava Bar, a safe third space where connection and understanding thrive. This Death Cafe invites you to explore universal themes of change, loss, grief, and renewal in a supportive and welcoming space.
This gathering is hosted by:
✨ @emotion.l.contagion (Lauren) – A Trauma-Informed Reiki Master Practitioner offering a grounded and compassionate perspective.
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe Park Ridge Qld Australia
Posted by Kate Leotta on Dec. 6, 2024, 2:16 a.m.
A small gathering but full of rich discussion that went on for sometime.
After attendees dove into a lucky dip of icebreaker questions in the living, dying, death space, conversation flowed:
Cremation/Body Disposition in Japanese, Philippine and other cultures.
Being laid to rest on country or other ancestral lands.
The pros and cons of VAD, also organ donation.
The issues with prolonging life, medical models, funeral models.
Death is a human event not just a medical and profit driven one.
Talk of living wakes, living to the full after a terminal diagnosis, dying at home, vigils, rituals, home funerals.
Having choice and control for dying and death ...
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe Whangarei
Posted by Jo Moselen on Dec. 4, 2024, 2:53 p.m.
We were a small group of three plus the two organisers, this made for a relaxed and intimate conversation which included planning for a funeral, changes to the assisted dying bill, fear around dying, embalming, colonisation and funeral practices. The attendees were all people who had been to Death Cafes before.
The feedback was encouraging - one comment being "it feels so freeing each time to talk about death"
The venue, a room in the local library worked well.
Death Cafe write up: Knaresborough Death Cafe
Posted by Richard Cyster on Dec. 3, 2024, 3:27 a.m.
This is the first Death Cafe I've organoised so I was a little nervous. However, I needn't have worried. Seven people turned up, including two who'd seen it advertised on the Death Cafe website. We had a wide-ranging conversation over tea/coffee (and cake!) which encompassed a range of subjects including visits to Dignitas, funerals, cremation or burial and the possibility of donating your body to medical science. We will meet again at the end of January 2025.
Death Cafe write up: Manly NSW Death Cafe
Posted by mknight on Nov. 30, 2024, 8:17 p.m.
Our October Death Café saw us exploring the notion of consciousness and life after death. What is consciousness? What happens to us when we go? One attendee responded, “The ego becomes cosmically expanded”. What does that mean for us?
And what of human-caused suffering, such as that experienced because of war? How do we reconcile where we live in a safe and civil society with the suffering of others, for example, oppressed peoples? Why does God allow this? But is it God, or ‘life’ which is challenging us? How do we reconcile science and spirituality when trying to understand death and dying and the suffering of others?
As ...