Grief Ritual - Ag caoineadh le chéile
Ag caoineadh le chéile // Keening together
A collective grief ritual
Building our capacities and skills of grieving, together
Because we were never meant to do this alone.
A Grief Ritual Day
When grief is witnessed, it transforms.
When we give it breath, it softens.
When we gather in this way, it becomes sacred.
This is a day of connection and ritual — a space to honour what has been lost, held, or left unspoken.
Loss of people. Relationships. Identities. Dreams. Possibilities.
All that has shaped us — and all we have carried quietly.
We will gather in community to tend to what is ready to move — through somatic embodiment, voice and ceremony.
To meet the parts of ourselves that ache to be seen — our shame, our grief, our endings.
To let them move through breath and body, through wailing, whispering, and remembering.
To return grief to its rightful place — as a sacred expression of love.
We will gather at Equinox - this momentary pause of balance that opens us outwards to Spring.
This ritual is an invitation to lay down & honour what has been, and to release what no longer serves.
As the natural world opens and unfurls, we create space for what is ready to emerge.
The Ancient Practice of Keening
We will work with the Celtic tradition of an Caoineadh, Keening, where women once gathered to keen — to wail, cry, and sing as an act of devotion.
It was a welcomed practice.
It was prayer.
A way to guide the souls of the departed and to honour the living who remained.
The keening voice carried through generations.
It wove communities together in times of death, loss, and change.
It made space for what could not be spoken — only felt.
Over time, this sound was silenced, shamed, hidden.
Grief became private, individual, domesticated.
Yet it still lives in the bones of the body and the land, waiting for permission to move again.
With this collective grief ritual, we invite a remembering and a rising - we invite men and women both to step into this sacred tradition, to heal together.
Men.
Women.
Queer.
Beloveds
& beyond
Le chéile
This ritual is a remembering.
A returning to that ancient way of feeling and freeing.
A reclaiming of grief as medicine.
Together, we will voice, move, and release —
not to perform our sorrow, but to let it breathe again.
Our work is together, as the collective, on behalf of the collective.
In éanacht.
Why do this work?
Grief work does not end when the ritual closes; it continues to ripple through the days that follow.
But something shifts — the weight begins to lift, and life begins to return.
You remember that grief and love were never separate.
You realise that grief as a practice liberates us all.
What You’ll Receive
Grounding & guidance with Jenny
We land and arrive together with focus, attention and intention.
Care as our guiding force, going at the pace of trust.
We attune to the land, to ourselves and each other. From there we gently welcome the deeper truths.
Embodiment with Claire
A gentle invitation to return to your body — to awaken your senses and reconnect to your own wisdom.
Together, we’ll explore what it means to move and feel without performance — to awaken the body without expectation, to notice any shame that arises, and to meet it with compassion.
No experience needed — only presence.
Keening Grief Ritual with Claire & Jenny
A guided ritual of sound, voice, and release.
You will be gently led into the practice of keening — allowing emotion, sound, and memory to move through the body as sacred expression.
Together, we will create a field of safety, sound, and reverence —
to let the grief that has been waiting, finally exhale.
Opening Circle & Shared Meal
We will close our ritual day with nourishment and integration — a shared meal, reflection, and time to honour what has moved.
Light lunch and tea will be provided before the ritual; please bring a nourishing dish or snacks to contribute to our pot-luck-style closing meal.
Additional Shadow Work Practices
Throughout the day, you’ll be guided through simple reflective and embodied shadow work inquiries —
to meet the parts of yourself that hide within grief,
to bring tenderness where shame has lived,
and to release what is ready to be let go.
What to Bring
A head covering or black veil (black is preferable)
We invite you to wear black clothing on the day
A photo or small symbol of remembrance for our shared altar — an offering to what you carry in your heart
Investment Details:
Full Day Ritual Investment: €150
Reduced rate available to those on low income — please reach out if this applies to you.
A deposit may be paid to secure your place €50
Your facilitators:
About Jenny O’Hare
Jenny is a depth ecologist and facilitator. With a strong foundation in the living world, her work focuses on the relationship between humanity and everything else, and is deeply inspired by her own sense of belonging to living systems.
Her work draws on foundations in eco-psychology, spiritual ecology, ancestral healing, group grief processes, somatics, ritual and soulful wilderness immersions.
She is passionate about grief as both personal and collective medicine.
Walking with grief as a lived experience from a young age, and initiating into ecological grief holding that meets the largeness of these times, she has been holding space for embodied and vocal grief process for almost a decade. Using the pan-cultual tradition of lament, and the Irish tradition of the keen has brought profound healing in the spaces she holds.
A founding member of Wild Minds Collective, a contributor to Education for Sustainability, and a core member of community group Siolta, she works with people across a diverse range of needs, offering Climate Literacy, emotional awareness and Soul exploration workshops, Nature based wilderness immersions, Grief retreats, Interbeing explorations and 1:1 mentorship.
She invites the human experience back into its collective belonging, and treats as sacred both that which enlivens and troubles us, and everything in between.
Connect with Jenny: https://www.instagram.com/a.tree.called.life
About Claire Killilea: Founder of CLAIRITY
Claire is a Clarity Coach, Shadow Work Facilitator, and Keeper of the ancient Celtic art of Keening. With over 20 years of experience spanning the corporate and wellness worlds, she now guides women through the sacred territories of grief, shame, and remembrance — supporting them to release what has been held quietly within and return to their innate wisdom.
Her work weaves modern coaching, somatic practice, and ancient ritual into spaces of deep emotional alchemy. She invites participants to soften into the body’s wisdom — where grief is not something to fix, but something to feel, honour, and be transformed by.
Claire’s path into this work is deeply personal. Having journeyed through her own layers of shame, addiction, and reclamation, she brings a lived understanding of what it means to meet the shadow and emerge whole. Her approach is both grounded and devotional — bridging the practical clarity of coaching with the sacredness of ritual.
Through CLAIRITY, she supports women and men individually and collectively to move beyond fear and suppression, and into remembrance, self-trust, and embodied expression. Whether through keening circles, grief rituals, or shadow work, her facilitation holds a rare combination of power, presence, and truth.
Connect with Claire: https://www.instagram.com/clairitycoaching
If You Feel the Call -
This is an intimate and intentional gathering.
Please complete the short registration form below so we can prepare the space with safety, care and awareness of what you’re bringing into the space and we will give you a call then to chat through.
Intake Process
To join, just fill out the short intake form and we’ll set up a quick call to connect.
You can go ahead and book your spot, but your place is only confirmed after our check-in.
If we feel the space isn’t the right fit right now, we’ll let you know with care — and you’ll receive a full refund.
Terms & Care
Deposits hold your place and are refundable up to 2 weeks before the event.
Full payment is due two weeks before we gather.
If you need a payment plan or low-income option, reach out — we’ll do our best to make it work.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss your circumstances, please contact us directly:
📩 clairitylightactivation@gmail.com
📩 jennyohare01@gmail.com
Location:
Studio Feasa, Gort, Co. Galway
H91YKP9
(Please follow this eircode, and not the google map link at the bottom of this page!)
Location
Studio Feasa Gort, Co. Galway, H91YKP9