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Rev. Alcyone Daze

@facilitatrix.bsky.social

430 followers 380 following 3K posts

3 aeons in a trenchcoat. Accused of the Devil's work & praised for the LORD's work with roughly equal frequency; for legal & safety reasons it's just me on the business cards. Hedge priest, raconteur, bioethicist, part-time psychopomp. 🔞. (Ey/em/eir)

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · Nov 14

For nearly the past 30 years I've been haunted by an—as far as I can tell—specific-to-me cryptid, and I figure since I'm new to bsky I've never told this story on this platform.

I want to talk about the Pigeon Man.

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 13h

For October 12th's #DIYandDIE, a memorial ritual from Shiva Honey's "The Devil's Death."

[Background is a bonfire burning at night; there are sparking fading towards the top of the page.]

Text: Dracaena—A Memorial Ritual
By: Shiva Honey

Create a playlist that reminds you of the departed. Then, find a private space outside where you and other mourners can build a large fire. Once the fire is lit, start the playlist and pass out parchment to all assembled.

For each of the following, once you’ve finished, read what you’ve written
out loud, throw the paper into the fire, and say “Hail, [name]!”

1. To begin, write down your favorite memories of the departed,
your favorite things about them, and how they impacted you.

2. Next, write down something you want to let go of
in the wake of that person’s death.

3. Finally, write down a pledge or commitment you’ll
make in memory of the departed.

Say “Hail, [name]!” thrice more, becoming louder each time.
Jump, dance, sing, and scream around the fire in honor of the departed.
Continue until you’re exhausted and/or achieve catharsis.

(Transcribed by S. Euphemeo for DIYandDIE, 2025)

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 4h

Thank you! I don’t know if you’re already a knitter, but after the initial start (the lavender here) it’s stupid simple, just time consuming. (And full disclosure—I don’t like starting from the dead center out, so a friend helped me with the first 10-20 rows.)

Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 5h

I made a blanket!

A rainbow ombré heptagram-shaped blanket, started on my birthday and finished on Crowley’s (by sheer happenstance) and each of the seven sections has 156 stitches each (also by sheer happenstance.)

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 9h

One character takes fully 3/4 of the film to realize her polycule isn’t doing a really high-production-value escape room.

Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 9h

I have been informed this would make a great heist film/romcom, especially if some folks think they’re getting a heist team together & end up with an unexpected side of romance, and some are like "ok, my partners got to pick the activity, I guess I’ll go along… is this a fucking bank job?”

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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 20h

last night sean was giggling to himself and when i asked what was so funny he said he was imagining a southern mouse in a white linen suit drinking a ‘cheese julep’

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 9h

Apologies to my girlfriend for waking up before she had time to go on her “get boba and learn how to blow a bank vault” date.

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 9h

Had a dream there was a really obvious honeypot in the form of a dating app called Crimr, which was a) exclusively t4t and b) there was the tacit goal of recruiting diverse illegal skills for your polycule doubling as a heist crew.

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 13h

For October 12th's #DIYandDIE, a memorial ritual from Shiva Honey's "The Devil's Death."

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Loren Rhoads @morbidloren.bsky.social · 15h

Cemeteries + travel, what could be better? Last day! Enter to win an ebook of my new cemetery memoir, Still Wish You Were Here: More Adventures in Cemetery Travel. www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Book giveaway for Still Wish You Were Here: More Adventures in Cemetery Travel by Loren Rhoads Sep 30-Oct 12, 2025

Enter to win one of 100 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Sep 30-Oct 12, 2025. I'm giving away 100 ebook copies of my new cemetery memoir, Still...

www.goodreads.com

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Alison Withonel @withonel.bsky.social · 1d

That moment when the sauce spills out and runs down the flutes is so sexy it should be illegal

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 1d

OnlyFlans

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Neugin @lostcitymagic.bsky.social · 1d

Everything reminds me of her

Jack o'lantern with gourds placed in eyes and sides to give it bulging green eyes and horns, a large mouth is carved to give it large square teeth, fangs and a huge protruding tongue, on which is placed a smaller pumpkin, with tiny eyes and wide goofy, missing and gapped tooth smile.

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 1d

(You also have a super pretty smile! Is it weird to say that your lips are so full/elegantly shaped by default that I feel like a lip ring would just unnecessarily gild that particular lily? This is not me flirting, this is me being hella ace with good visual imagination.)

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Manticker @manticker.bsky.social · 1d

It Happened to Me: I Contacted the Spirit of H.P. Lovecraft via Ouija Board and All He Did was Say Old-Timey Slurs Until I Asked Him to Leave

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 1d

Septum, or the type of parallel nose studs where you can have a cute lil chain running over the bridge of your nose.

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 1d

For October 11th's #DIYandDie, The "Mourner's Bill of Rights," by Alan Wolfelt. (This is a precursor to a later (longer) Wolfelt piece that I've been grappling with for close to a decade.)

[Teal background with bronze art deco starbursts forming a border]

The Mourner's Bill of Rights, by Alan D. Wolfelt.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT

* To experience your own unique grief
* To talk about your grief
* To feel a multitude of emotions
* To be tolerant of your physical and emotional limits
* To experience "grief bursts"
* To make use of ritual
* To embrace your spirituality
* To search for meaning
* To treasure your memories
* To move toward your grief and heal

[Transcribed for DIYandDie, A. Daze, 2025]

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 1d

For October 11th's #DIYandDie, The "Mourner's Bill of Rights," by Alan Wolfelt. (This is a precursor to a later (longer) Wolfelt piece that I've been grappling with for close to a decade.)

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 2d

And part (2/2). Not to be all "like and subscribe," but if any of these have been helpful to you, or they might be helpful to someone you know, reposts are welcome because my reach here is really small.

TOUCH

Bathing the body with loving hands and adorning it—applying their makeup, styling their hair, painting their nails.

Anointing the body with diluted essential oils—this can be done on chakra points, other sacred/significant sites on the body, or as a final tribute to the person’s life—thanking their eyes for the sights they saw, thanking their feet for years of hiking, etc.

Dressing the body, usually in favorite colors or a favorite outfit.

Covering with a shroud, veil, or decorative cloths/blankets. In some cases, mourners may wish to sew up the last section of a shroud, using each stitch to share a memory of the deceased.

Yarn-winding—Invite mourners to pass a ball of yarn around in a circle, winding it on their wrist to symbolize their connection to the deceased and to each other. As each person winds the yarn, they speak words that describe the deceased. Once each person has had a chance to speak, scissors are passed around to cut the connecting yarn and each person helps their neighbor tie the loose ends around their wrist, symbolizing both release of the spirit of the deceased and taking the spoken memories home with the mourner.

Cloth tearing—Pass around a cloth that has cuts for easy tearing to signify the rip in the family and the community, then pin the cloth to your clothing. (This is adapted from the Jewish tradition of k’riah.)

A forgiveness exercise—Loosely tie knots in a sheet to represent unfinished issues from the dying/dead person’s life. In ideal circumstances, the actual dying person is able to release the knots
to symbolize the release of the unfinished business, but this can be done by family and friends during the memorial.

CREATION

Create a book so that visitors can write notes, poems, letters, and paste in photos.

Fold paper cranes to either be buried/cremated with the deceased, or suspended from the ceiling or trees at the memorial site.

Create an altar (or several) with photos, candles, flowers, and other sacred or meaningful objects.

Photo collages can center various themes—places traveled, progressive ages, hobbies. Photos can also be clipped onto a string and strung like prayer flags.

Build, assemble, paint, or decorate a pine box or cardboard casket kit.

Sew ribbons onto the edges of a shroud and invite mourners to contribute a memory of the deceased and then tie part of the shroud closed.

RETURNING TO NATURE

Flowers can be arranged around, on top of, or completely framing the body; flower petals can be scattered in a casket or into a grave, etc.

I’m pretty fond of blowing bubbles, since they evoke both the joy of childhood, the beauty and ephemerality of our own lives, and are a reminder that we’re still breathing.

The “discount Viking funeral” of launching a wreath or little boats made from biodegradable objects (like tree bark) down some type of flowing water.

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 2d

For October 10th's #DIYandDie, I took a slightly-disorganized handout from a death doula training program and grouped end-of-life rituals under common themes. These aren't meant to be prescriptive to mourners, but they're a starting point if planning otherwise feels out-of-reach. (1/2)

[Image is a dark blue starscape, with "adapted from Final Passages level III by S. Euphemeo, 2025]

End-of-Life & Home Funeral Ceremony Ideas

[Background throughout is starscapes in varying shades of dusky blue, lavender, and black.]

Note:
This is hardly a comprehensive list, but it should provide a solid foundation for shaping memorial activities. Many of the following suggestions have their roots in existing spiritual traditions, and certain rituals can be done with the dying person as an active participant, if they’re feeling up to it.

SOUND

Singing and/or live music—look up the Threshold Choir online; they’re volunteer groups who sing at the bedsides of the dying. (https://thresholdchoir.org/)

Recorded music—Favorite CDs can be great here.

Speaking words that describe the deceased as part of a group ceremony, as described elsewhere in this presentation.

Offering quotations that evoke the deceased, reciting their favorite poems, or reading to the deceased from their favorite books.

Chanting and prayers that honor the deceased’s spiritual philosophy.

LIGHT

For home funerals, hanging strings of lights around the room of the deceased—invite visitors to write messages to the deceased, and suspend them from the lights.

Lighting candles individually or as a group participatory event—place tea candles outside of the room and containers with salt or sand around the room so that each person who enters can light a candle and place it in one of the containers.

Releasing floating lanterns (but please be careful if you live in an area with a wildfire risk, and make sure the lanterns are biodegradable!)

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Manny Suazo @smokyburnout.bsky.social · 2d

topical

a cartoon of a man in a frog costume talking to a woman

ALT: a cartoon of a man in a frog costume talking to a woman

media.tenor.com

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Jordan Shiveley (Dread Singles) @jordanshiveley.bsky.social · 2d

The Six People You Meet In Heaven Are Part of Your Sleeper Cell and Other Stories

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 2d

It grieves my spirit to say "the closest thing off-Broadway has to an episode of South Park" is probably erasure of both "The Book of Mormon," and live productions of "Cannibal! The Musical," both of which actually *were* written by the same crew 😅

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joel hanes @joelhanes.bsky.social · 2d

It's a really simple game, actually :

Start :
Chop wood
Carry water
go to Start

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Josh Fruhlinger @jfruh.bsky.social · 2d

”im addicted to this Buddhism game” —things someone who is good at buddhism would say???

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Rev. Alcyone Daze @facilitatrix.bsky.social · 2d

Going to have to disagree as part of the neurodivergent contingent prone to describing popping boba as “gravid with eggs” and “I can’t drink this; it’s birthing.”

Jay Edidin @edidin.bsky.social · 2d

I don’t know if the person who invented popping boba was some degree of AuDHD, but they were definitely an Ally.