tara sanctuary

Natural Burial Ground

honouring death and the preciousness of human life

 
tara burial ground.jpg

A beautiful, ecological, burial ground. A place to honour death and the preciousness of life.

 

A place for visiting, resting, dwelling, being with death, reflecting and meditating; a place to be held and supported by the beauty of nature


Our intention is to create a beautiful, peaceful place for burials and for visiting the graves of loved ones. People will be welcome to hold funeral and burial ceremonies of any kind (provided they are within the law). 

The land will be developed as a nature reserve. It will include some trees planted with enough space to grow to full maturity. The whole project will operate in a sustainable way, connecting what we do now to future generations. This link with life in the future will help create a bigger context for the burials and funerals which take place there.

Bereavement is, for many people, one of the most intense experiences in their life. Being able to bury loved ones in a beautiful place, which is part of a bigger vision, can be hugely significant and healing.

There will be benches and bowers, places to sit quietly or meditate, as well as walking meditation routes. People might come not to visit a grave but just to rest and reflect.

It will also be possible for cremated remains to be buried here.

 

Within the vast and empty
autumn night
dawn breaks

—Kinko

 
Death Ritual.jpg

a shift towards a more open and insightful relationship to death

There is a growing movement, which we are aligning with, to combat the taboos around death and dying. A movement to support people to meet these experiences with greater awareness and openness.

Part of the natural, or ‘green’, burial movement is giving people support and information so that they can, if they wish, be involved in more of the process when dealing with the death of a loved one. This is in contrast to the current Western cultural tendency to keep death at a distance.

We are a member of the Association of Natural Burial Grounds – part of the Natural Death Centre . They are a charity which has long supported the growth of natural burials and environmentally friendly funerals, and works to increase awareness of issues around death, dying and spirituality.  We will follow their ethical and environmental guidelines and code of conduct.

We’ll support people of any faith, or none, to create meaningful funeral and burial ceremonies

When people are bereaved sensitive support with all the details of arranging burials and ceremonies can make a huge difference.  The process of deciding the form and content of a ceremony can touch on what most matters to us in life.

Listen to Dayajoti talking about her vision for the Tara Sanctuary and Natural Burial Ground