From me to you…
When Death Comes Close
Poems written and read by Margie McCallum.
Written from the poet’s experience of death and dying, and conducting funerals, these poems reflect an underlying acceptance of death as part of the cycle of life, to be welcomed in its time rather than feared.
Available in:
- CD + booklet
- MP3
With a sense of the soulful and the sacred, they touch upon and honour death without exploiting the intense emotions that accompany it.
Margaret’s poetry is informed by assisting people in preparation for death and for funerals, their own or others’, and in midwifing the dying. It also springs from her own experiences of death at close quarters.
To read reviews and to purchase, please visit:
Margaret McCallum shop
Hello, Little Death
welcoming 'dying' to allow a fuller life.
This book is for anyone who wants to find more joy in living – and face living with less fear.
Available in:
- Book
- eBook
- eBook for Kindle
It explores those times when life does not deliver what we hope for. In Hello, Little Death I share personal examples of ‘dying’ from my own life, alongside examples from others. There are simple exercises for the reader to work through to reach an understanding of their own ‘little deaths’, how they are affected by them, and perspectives for creating a fuller and more peaceful life.
Little deaths come in all sizes – from small and seemingly insignificant disturbances such as rain on your gardening day, or the loss of your favourite hat, to the end of a relationship or the death of a family member. They encompass any loss or challenge short of your ‘big’ death.
Little Death wants us to understand what I have discovered – that when we meet, feel and welcome the stuff we’d rather ignore, or resist, or banish, the surface ‘us’ peels away, and the more real, content and alive ‘us’ shines through. I have felt more playful, joyful and at peace with every passing year, by putting this into practice.
To read reviews and to purchase, please visit:
Margaret McCallum shop
Soul Midwife's Journal
stories of honouring death
If you have nursed or accompanied someone into death I imagine you will find resonance and remembering in these stories.
Available in:
- Book
- eBook
- eBook for Kindle
If you have not yet had the privilege of being so close to the mystery and gritty reality of death, the stories of Uncle Bob, Margaret, Helen and others will take you there.
To read reviews and to purchase, please visit:
Margaret McCallum shop
Kind words
Soul Midwife’s Journal
Margaret’s beautifully written book provides a simple but profound insight into the nature of death as a natural process, at the same time pressing us to examine our own attitudes towards it.
Soul Midwife’s Journal comprises seven distinct stories of deaths at which Margaret has served in some capacity as a death doula. Each is followed by her own exquisite poetry written from the most soulful reaches of her midwife’s heart, and then reflections on her stories by colleagues and friends that sometimes moved me even more than the stories themselves.
In the story of Phillip’s death, Margaret talks of the ‘cultural milieu we’re in, and the medical milieu, that sees death as failure’. Yet her stories lead us to an understanding of death as a grace-filled passage to be embraced and revered rather than feared.
— Sue H, Celebrant
Hello, Little Death
This book is an engaging “must read”. Beautifully written, and courageously illustrated with personal examples, it has easy-to-read sections together with simple practices. It is a clear and coherent guide to working with the challenges that arise in daily life. An enormously important book in these times.
— Sue R, therapist (UK)
When death comes close
What a heart and guiding light comes through your words. From the minute I opened your package every detail was a visual delight – the colours, the imagery, the packaging concept, the sweet
little book I could take our and hold. I’ve never seen anything put together like this. I began to read the poems and by the ending of the second I was breathless. I was overwhelmed by the truth, the compassion, the dignity at the heart of your words and deeply knowing I had to have copies to share with friends. And not because immediate dying is part of their lives at this time, but because of the dignity and grace it brings to living.