Rainbow Threads – Queer Community Grief Ritual with Aiden Lamb

This was another super fun conversation, as I got to reconnect with Aiden Lamb, who was a part of the first ever cohort of the Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation training waaaay back in 2023. (Which feels like 100 years ago, seriously)… Aiden had a baby the same year he did the training, and so it took him a little while to integrate all that and put it into action. Actually, he didn’t really take the training necessarily thinking he would offer grief ritual work in his community. As a community builder and someone who is constantly facilitating and organizing, he took it more to be held in the community that the cohort offered him. But who knows where these things will lead us…and this is the story of what happened 3 years later! Aiden is a queer, neurodivergent transman, a dad, a nonprofit leader, circus artist, labour doula, and grief ritual facilitator, among many other titles — endlessly curious about life and the intricacies of the human experience.He completed the grief ritual facilitators program in its very first cohort (2023), and has carried those tender moments and lessons into all of his varied work since.He’s also the founder of Elevate Acro Association, a nonprofit AcroYoga festival, and Rainbow Threads Gathering, a 2SLGBTQ+ family-friendly retreat. He’s currently studying nonprofit leadership at Carleton University. Outside of all that, you’ll find him crafting, gardening, hunting, chasing down an energetic toddler, and taking on far more projects than any one person probably should. Dark Woods of Grief is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Dark Woods Level 1 Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training is our 4-month professional online training. We begin Sept 15th and applications are OPEN NOW ✨(and spots filling FAST!!) This is the prerequisite to our Level 2 Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training which takes place as a combo of in-person retreat & online work from March – June ‘27 For $3,397usd | payment plans available | solidarity pricing for Black, Indigenous & People of Colour) – you will step into an initiatory journey that will grow your capacity to: ✦ Stay present when grief intensifies — with somatic skills and unshakeable confidence ✦ Differentiate between grief and trauma — and know exactly how to meet each in the moment ✦ Tend your own ancestral and personal grief so it doesnt’ get in the way of your work ✦ Hold the full spectrum of human emotion — rage, despair, terror, ecstasy — without needing to fix or manage it ✦ Serve from overflow rather than depletion ✦ Be part of a growing network restoring grief tending skills for this and future generations Learn more and APPLY HERE NOW If you’re deep in grief and seeking support, you might find our Grief Support Group or our Return from the Underworld course more right for you at this time. That’s all for today! Grá mór, (big Love) Josea & the Dark Woods Team To hear more, visit joseatamira.substack.com