In this insightful discussion, artist and communal grief ritual facilitator Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey delves into the often-overlooked importance of communal mourning. She highlights the revival of grief ceremonies as essential for healing, describing how music and ritual can transform sorrow into connection. Ahlay also shares her experience creating the collective album 'WAILS: Songs for Grief,' inspired by whales and ancestral sorrow. Through her reflections, listeners are invited to rethink societal attitudes towards grief and embrace love as a vital part of the healing process.
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insights INSIGHT
History of Communal Mourning
Mourning was once a communal practice, deeply embedded in communities.
It was suppressed and privatized to maintain political and social control.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Crying for the Earth
Alexandra shared a personal experience crying deeply for the earth, not herself.
It shows how grief can be for collective beings beyond individual loss.
insights INSIGHT
Community Heals Through Grief
Community is the true healer in grief; facilitators simply guide the process.
Public grieving is a form of activism resisting social numbness and control.
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Francis Weller's "The Wild Edge of Sorrow" offers a profound and compassionate exploration of grief and its transformative potential. Weller moves beyond conventional understandings of grief, delving into its multifaceted nature and its capacity to lead to personal growth and deeper self-understanding. He emphasizes the importance of embracing and honoring our sorrows, rather than suppressing or avoiding them. The book explores various forms of grief, including the loss of loved ones, relationships, and dreams, and provides guidance for navigating these challenging experiences. Weller's work encourages readers to view grief not as an obstacle but as an opportunity for profound transformation and connection to the human experience.
Caliban and the Witch
Edurne Lazkano Ibarbia
Aitor Arruti Rezabal
Inés Moreno López
Silvia Federici
Laia Bragulat
Silvia Federici's "Caliban and the Witch" examines the historical connections between the witch hunts of early modern Europe and the rise of capitalism. Federici argues that the persecution of women as witches was not merely a matter of superstition but a crucial element in the process of primitive accumulation. The book explores how the control of women's bodies and labor was essential to the establishment of capitalist relations of production. Federici connects the witch hunts to the enclosure of the commons, the commodification of labor, and the subjugation of women under patriarchal structures. The book challenges traditional historical narratives and offers a powerful feminist critique of capitalism's origins and ongoing impact.
Today we’re joined by artist, musician and communal grief ritual facilitator Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey to speak about the cultural forgetting of communal mourning, the sacred role of professional mourners, and the re-emergence of grief ceremonies as necessary spaces of remembrance, healing and repair.
Ahlay brings her experience weaving song, body, and ritual into collective spaces where grief is given breath and movement, and we explore the history of grief practices across cultures, the political power of public mourning, and how grief can soften the heart and stitch community back together. We explore what to expect in a communal grief ceremony, and ahlay shares the story behind her 200-voice album WAILS: Songs for Grief, inspired by whales, ancestral sorrow, and Francis Weller’s work. Within the episode are woven tracks of her haunting songs, so tune up your headphones, and sink in.
Lifeworlds 
