Nine Keys & Co: the art, soft-business, activism, and mystery of death work

In this episode, Narinder sits down again with trauma alchemist, death worker, and somatic coach Sam X to explore one of the most overlooked aspects of death work: the voice.Together they discuss why so many death workers struggle in their work with knowing how to find the right words - struggle with speaking up, with boundaries, advocacy, conflict, and showing up honestly in difficult moments. They explore where these patterns come from, how they show up in the body, and what practitioners can do when they notice themselves shrinking, freezing, people-pleasing, or asking for reciprocity in return for what they give and give.Learn more about Sam X here.Instagram: @somatics.sam Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when death workers bring the same willingness for difficult conversations to each other that they bring to the families they serve?In this roundtable discussion, Narinder is joined by death workers, artists, and activists, Misha Murphy, Venessa Greenheron, and Rebecca Lopez Mullins for a thoughtful cultural critique on the death worker movement and an invitation to practice the skills we often ask of others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this grounding episode of Nine Keys & Co., Narinder sits down with somatic therapist, astrologer, and grief worker Sam X (xe/they) for a conversation about the somatic realities of death work.Together, they explore practitioner trauma, nervous system responses, imposter phenomenon, burnout, fear around speaking honestly in the death care field, and the grief death workers themselves quietly carry while supporting others.This episode opens up an important conversation around trauma care for the practitioners and what authentic, embodied support can look like for death doulas, grief workers, hospice volunteers, caregivers, and full-spectrum death workers navigating emotionally intense spaces.Sam offers 1:1 somatic support sessions online and is also hosting a collective healing portal, Rebirth Retreat, in Portugal this September.Connect with Sam:Instagram: Sam's InstagramWebsite: Sam's Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys and Co., Narinder Bazen sits down with death workers and artists Meghan Allynn Johnson and Rebecca Lopez-Mullins for a contemplative and unfiltered conversation about the modern death doula movement, comfort aesthetics, marketing, grief culture, trauma, and the growing pressure to make death look clean, palatable, and consumable.Together, they explore what gets erased when death work is flattened into soft branding, who becomes invisible inside “good death” narratives, and why death work must remain spacious enough to hold uncertainty, violence, beauty, mystery, and collective grief.This conversation touches on culture work, systems, art, care, and the ungovernable nature of death itself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it mean to tend grief, death ed, and end-of-life planning in late-stage capitalism?This is death work beyond the bedside.In this episode of the Nine Keys & Co. podcast, I speak with grief and death tenders Abby Goelzer and Venessa Greenheron about the evolving shape of death work in 2026. Together, we explore facilitating advance planning, death education, and collective grief spaces during times of political violence and systemic instability.When institutions feel fragile, when trust in medical systems is fractured, when the nervous system of a nation feels activated - advance care planning is no longer just responsible paperwork. It becomes sovereignty work. It becomes culture work.Abby and Venessa share about their co-facilitated offering:TenderNest Part 2: A Space for Witnessing and Awakening to the Grief of US ViolenceTuesday, March 10, 20266:30–8:00 PM Central Time (4:30 PM Pacific)Online gatheringTenderNest registration:garnetandthemoon.com/event-details/tendernest-part-2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facilitators, space holders, death workers, grief workers - This episode is for you. People are raw. And they’re braced. Grief groups are everywhere, which I love, but the nervous systems walking into our spaces are more lit up than they’ve been in years. Triggers surface faster and repair feels urgent.And facilitators? We’re not outside of it. We’re grieving too. Watching the news. Paying bills. Holding our own lives together while holding space for others.In this episode, I’m talking candidly about what it’s actually costing to facilitate right now, and the one thing I keep returning to: boundaries. If you’re holding space in this moment and feeling the tremors underneath it all, this is a coach chat about how to last.www.narinderbazen.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find Melissa Word's Devotion Mode here!In this episode, I get into why death work isn’t something youmemorize, and why art, making, and creative practice actually train us for theparts of this work that can’t be taught. I talk about death work as a lived,hands-on practice and why creativity matters right now. Then I’m joined by Melissa Word to talk about death work as art practice,paper, what the hands can guide us to, and her new offering, Devotion Mode - a monthly, zine-style practice that brings making things back into the center of spiritual and death-adjacent work.Join Narinder's newsletter list here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the Nine Keys podcast. I’m Narinder, and this first episode of 2026 returns to death work as a path of devotion.After a quiet winter shaped by listening, rest, and a new diagnosis of moderate hearing loss, I reflect on the magic that lives inside death work, specifically sympathetic magic: the simple, often unspoken practices we use to communicate with the holy, the ancestral, and the unseen. I share how the rose has become a living symbol in my death work, appearing again and again in moments of grief, ritual, reassurance, and awe. I offer The Rose Beyond the Wall, a poem adapted from A.L. Frink.This episode is an invitation to notice the symbols that follow you, the quiet magic you may already be practicing, and the deeper relationship you live inside of with your death work.www.narinderbazen.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this final Nine Keys episode of the year, Narinder closes the door softly on 2025 with reflections on soft business, world-building, and the death arts. She invites listeners into a season of genuine winter rest, where miracles land quietly, and nothing needs to be performed. The episode ends with Pink Light, a short guided moment for anyone who feels tired, tender, or stretched thin.Thank you so much for being a listener of the Nine Keys podcast. To stay in the flow with Narinder's work, sign up for her newsletter here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this tender conversation, Narinder sits down with her Admin Angel, Kursten Hedges, a strategist and mystic who helps artists, healers, and visionaries build businesses that actually hold their souls. Together, they explore a radical truth: business and spirit were never meant to be separate.This episode is alive with honesty, magic, and practical wisdom. Narinder and Kursten talk about:following sacred nudges inside your workhow money conversations must be part of mutual aid and community carewhat it's like to navigate chronic illness while still building new worldsthe tender, magical intersection between creativity, death work, and strategyIf you’re an artist, death worker, healer, or heart-centered solopreneur trying to build something sustainable in a world that’s falling apart, this episode will feel like sitting at a warm table with two people who deeply get it.Expect real talk.Expect magic.Expect to leave with a softened heart and a clearer path.Find Kursten at https://theadminangel.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Narinder invites death workers, healers, and soul-led practitioners into an honest conversation about getting their work out into the world beyond the grind of social media. Narinder reflects on the early “soul era” of death work online, when community and education were central, and contrasts it with today’s fast-paced, algorithm-driven “crazy bazaar.” (Daje Aloh's phrasing) Listeners will learn how to shift from algorithm-dependence to an ecosystem approach, using newsletters, blogs, podcasts, local workshops, and real-world creative offerings to grow their work with sustainability and intimacy. Narinder shares why repurposing your content is a wise use of our precious time, and how different channels reach farther.If you’re a death worker or healer feeling overwhelmed by social media, or longing for ways to share your work that feel more intimate, grounded, and aligned, this episode will feel like a deep exhale and a way forward.To sign up for Narinder's newsletter go to www.narinderbazen.com To schedule mentorship sessions with Narinder go to https://www.narinderbazen.com/study-with-narinderMentioned in this episode are:Yarrow Magdalena of https://glimmerportal.com/about-yarrow/Misha Murphy of https://hafezdeathcare.com/Meghan Johnson of https://www.madisondeathcollective.org/Daje Aloh of https://storywork.studio/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this tender episode, Narinder shares conversation with Venessa Greenheron - artist, parent, farmer, and death worker on Whidbey Island, Washington, and a cherished Nine Keys alum. What begins as a discussion about Venessa’s upcoming grief gathering grows into a deeper reflection on death work as an art form and the practice of reciprocity that keeps our care alive.Together, they explore the complicated ache that can surface around the holidays for those navigating fractured or unsteady family systems, and how tending something small and alive, like a Paperwhite Narcissus bulb, can become a ritual for reclaiming warmth and beauty inside that ache.An easy conversation, meant to be listened to with your hands around a warm mug. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*Best listened to in stillness, with a candle lit and your notebook nearby.In this Samhain-season, Halloween episode of The Nine Keys Podcast, Narinder invites death workers into an intimate, experiential reflection on the role of fear in death and grief work.Through story, breath, and gentle somatic guidance, she explores the quiet hauntings that accompany this vocation: the fear of saying the wrong thing, of not knowing enough, of being too much or not enough. Rather than trying to fix fear, Narinder teaches how to hold it, warm it, and listen to what it’s asking for.This is not a teaching episode, it’s an experience.If you need Narinder's one-on-one care, check out her mentorship offerings here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Narinder explores the other half of giving, the often-forgotten practice of receiving. Speaking to death workers, caregivers, she reflects on how the balance between giving and receiving forms the very rhythm of life itself. On this Libra New Moon, she considers the imbalance of giving without receiving, why receiving can feel unsafe for so many, especially women identified death workers, and how our cultural conditioning has made depletion a virtue, and receiving a fault or even something we register as dangerous.Narinder weaves the theme of reception through the lens of death work, asking what it means to truly allow ourselves to be cared for in return for our death work. If you'd like mentorship with Narinder go to her website here. ✨ AND! To join Dead of Winter, Narinder’s upcoming seasonal art circle for makers and folks looking for something so fun to do during the darkest months, beginning November 6th, go here. Learn more, stay connected, and sign up for her newsletter at www.narinderbazen.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find Madrid-based death worker and Mourning Artist Paula Hernando’s grief dolls on Instagram @doulas_project. And her death work performances and drawings on Instagram at @murnanaz.In this episode, Narinder sits down with death worker and Mourning Artist Paula Hernando to explore her work of alchemizinggrief into form. Paula’s “Doula Project” offers bespoke dolls that carry the stories of loss. Each one is a vessel, each one is a witness. Together, theydiscuss the reclamation of the plañidera (the mourning woman), the need for new death and grief conversations in Madrid, and how art becomes both death workand culture work: an act of remembering, restoring, and remaking the world through mourning. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder speaks with grief worker Abby Goelzer about her upcoming offering Midwestern Daughter — an exploration of what happens when cultural niceness meets real grief. Together, they unpack the Midwestern Daughter Archetype: the one raised to be kind before honest, the one who carries grief with a polite smile.Their conversation moves through tenderness, agency, and the quiet rebellion of telling the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. To find out how to join Midwestern Daughter go to Abby's website Garnet and the Moon or her IG account @Garnet_andthe_Moon Before the conversation, Narinder shares a brief note about Dead of Winter, a four-month art and death salon designed by Narinder and death arts worker Meghan Johnson, as a soft, creative respite for the darker months ahead. With prompts, artist-inspired process sharing, and room to rest, Dead of Winter offers a place to land when the world feels heavy.A grounded and intimate episode about grief, art, and the undoing of politeness in favor of something more real. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Narinder shares a story of an angel and hergolden oil, running water, and the unexpected path from childcare into the sacred work of death midwifery. She speaks candidly about living with chronic illness, the shame death workers often carry around charging for care, and the survival necessity of solopreneurship. Narinder explores how art making in Nine Keys keeps death work alive, stretching imagination, pushing the edges of practice, and offering new ways to sustain ourselves without burning out.Threaded through the conversation is her prayer-song, an invocation to Great Mother, Good Ancestors, and Earth herself, that opens and closes the episode as a reminder of why we labor, why we serve, and why our sustenance matters.This episode also connects to the upcoming gathering Dead of Winter, where Narinder and other artists weave together death, art, and mysticism during the darkest months of the year.Oh, Great Mother give me the desire to do your workI am your hands. I am your ears. I am your mouth. I am your feet.I am peace. I’ll do my chores; I’ll do my chores for peace. Oh, Good Ancestors, guide me home, for as long as I live.Meet my needs, and a little more, so that I may give.Oh, Earth, hear my love and my sorrows for what we’ve doneand know I will tend this little patch, this little land,where my feet firmly stand doing chores for peace.Oh, Great Mother give me the desire for work you’d have me do.And when my day come to rest, I’ll come home to you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Narinder sits down with Melissa Word (co-creator of Eye of the Needle) for another deep conversation. They explore what it means to gather right now in threshold spaces, - beginning at the sacred springs, moving through the urgent necessity of collective dreaming, art-making, and ritual. They also talk about how Eye of the Needle has evolved, who is invited, who is presenting, what magic is to come.About Eye of the Needle: Ritual Arts ImmersionWhat it is: A hybrid ritual arts immersion, weaving together online sessions + an optional in-person (residency) gathering. It’s designed for artists, grief tenders, death workers, visionaries, and dreamers. Through embodied making, cloth & fiber art, dream ceremony, land listening, improvisational quilting, somatic practices, seership and ceremony, the gathering aims to help us tend rupture, repair, and belonging.Dates & Format:Online portion: October 2025. (Exact online dates: October 10, 2025, 2:00 PM through October 12, 2025, 5:00 PM) In-person Residency: November 9-15, 2025 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.Facilitators / Guest Presenters / Artists:The immersion is facilitated by Melissa Word & Nico Wolf. Guest presenters include:Bayo Akomolafe Aerin Dunford Pat McCabe Kimberly Johnson Stephen Jenkinson Narinder BazenNaomi LewisGavin BernardChiara GiovandoWhat participants will do/receive:Online: work with grief, personal life density, dream ceremonies, foundational cloth/fiber art techniques, intuitive patchwork and stitching, somatic attunement, sewing circles with guest-speakers etc.In-person: deep time in the high desert of New Mexico, land-listening, co-creating a large community quilt (story & cloth combined), performance, cloth & body work, ceremony & ritual practices, honoring ancestral relationality, the more-than-human etc. Why this matters now: As Melissa & team frame it, this is a time of rupture, disconnection, and grief—but also emergence. The immersion asks participants to be both the undertakers of what’s dying (the overculture, inherited broken patterns) and midwives of what may come next. It’s about repairing belonging: with Earth, with self, with ancestors, with the unseen, with art as devotional practice.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode, Narinder invites listeners into a threshold moment: the renaming of Nine Keys from the Death Midwifery Apprenticeship to the Nine Keys School of Death Arts. Recorded during Still,Life the online opening reception and gallery night on September 7th, Narinder is joined in conversation by her friend and fellow death worker and artist, Melissa Word. Together, they explore how Nine Keys is not simply a training program, but a living conceptual art piece, one that blends ritual and practice, pedagogy and imagination, grief literacy and cultural midwifery.Narinder shares why the new name finally feels correct for her, and how the School of Death Arts is not only for artists, but for anyone who wants to do death work in a creative, regenerative, and culture-shifting way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Nine Keys podcast, Narinder sits down with creator and visionary Dajé Aloh to crack open what it means for the soul to have its own momentum when it’s rooted in the radical aliveness of Earth herself. We start with a passage Dajé wrote about soil, pollinators, and the magnetics of life-force, then tumble into conversation about the power of delight as resistance.This is a conversation about listening to what your soul wants, not as some fluffy affirmation, but as straight-up punk rebellion in a culture that thrives on disconnection. We talk compost, joy, hot wings, and sacred springs, and what it takes to let your roots grow deep enough to feed not only yourself, but the worlds around youCheck out Dajé's work at:https://storywork.studio/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Nine Keys Podcast, Narinder is joined by fellow death artist, Meghan Allynn Johnson of Madison Death Studio.Their conversation follows the flow of water - they explore death work as a force, art as a force, and the unruly magic that happens when those currents meet. They speak to the ways death arts keep pressing the edges of what this work can be, and how The Death Healer’s Hexagon holds death workers in that creative force, not controlling it, but honoring and shaping with it.You’ll hear Meghan share her transition from Madison Death Collective into Madison Death Studio, and Narinder share her shift as Nine Keys unfolds into the School of Death Arts. Along the way, they touch on death arts theory / artist identity / and death work as a path of devotion.✨ Mark your calendar: on September 7th Narinder is hosting Still, Life, an online opening reception for this next phase of Nine Keys. RSVP for Still, Life here.And a little sneak peek… Meghan and Narinder are already dreaming together about bringing Dead of Winter back around this cold and dark season. Stay tuned...it’s coming. ❄️ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beneath the asphalt, the springs of life are flowing. Her waters press against the gates we’ve been told to guard, our gifts, our art, our soul’s work.In this episode, a sermon by the spring water, Narinder rides the first wave of a great soul shift, where the pendulum between masculine and feminine swings wildly enough to break its hinge. She speaks of the feminine rising and the Great Mother’s spiral ways of work. Where 'new world' building is bubbling up through our uncapped souls.Along the way, she lifts up the work of Ayana Zaire Cotton and Daje Aloh—visionaries who tend the thresholds between art, story, and liberation.This is an invitation to tear down the fences, to let your own well flow without dam or lock, and to run, full-hearted and unafraid, to the places that will keep it flowing. Narinder’s Reimagine package is one such place, a living structure built to help you shape your death work, your healing arts so that magic and money can move together like a current. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Narinder lets the wind have her presently - thistledown, unscripted, carried by the Great Mystery and the hands of her ancestors.Death workers are always holding : space, others, steady - What happens when the death worker un-holds?Here, Narinder's flower in the morning. A spring in Merriweather County. A miracle older than bone dust. Stories to inspire you.This episode is for you if you’ve been pretending you don’t feel the pull - The dead working through you. The whispers aren’t going away. Maybe it’s time to follow them.Episode dedicated to Jon Gottsegen, Ace Amerson, Deryn Helleborus, Sarah Price, and Narinder's Ancestors and Apprentices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Misha Murphy of Hafez Death Care and the podcast Halva for the Heart joins Narinder for a warm, sharp, and deeply human conversation. A Nine Keys alum, Misha’s grief work centers Iranians in the diaspora, holding space for inherited griefs, ancestral wounds, and love stretched across time zones. Though Misha currently lives in Seoul, they serve globally.This isn’t just a somber sit-down. Misha moves between devotion and levity with rare grace, talking straight, laughing easily, and naming the magic of grief care without flinching. Together, mentor and mentee share stories about working with goddesses and ancestors, the quiet power of tending to the dead, and the fierce, sometimes funny tenderness required to keep showing up for this work.This episode is as much about the doing of death work as it is about the love and grit it takes to stay devoted to it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Narinder sits down with death midwife and artist Venessa Greenheron for a grounded and quietly magical conversation on the Nine Keys podcast. Venessa is a steward of land and hearts on Whidbey Island, Washington. Her days are spent working with her hands, whether in the barn, the kitchen, or her art studio. Narinder and Venessa talk about practicing death care in a rural place, the magic in death work, what it means to have your hands literally in the seasons of the land, and how art and death work, though hard to explain, move together in quiet, powerful ways. Venessa shares about her cyanotype practice, the ephemera of light and time, and her death midwifery practice, Prism Death Care. Find Venessa’s work here:prismdeathcare.com@prism_deathcare Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode What Is So: The Nature of Grief and Surrender, Narinder talks with her friend Melissa Word (melissaword.com), a movement artist, your favorite coach, and death worker who moves like a poem, about what happens when we stop trying to manage life and actually let grief have us. They get into that uncomfortable posture of being both soft and sturdy, spine intact, heart open. They talk about the exhaustion of performative sorrow, the psychic skills we're all going to need, AI as a weird mirror, and how to get the hell out of your echo chamber. 🤖🕯️📡 This one’s got bite and tenderness. Be prepared for a conversation that might bring some clarity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is a death doula, really? In this episode, Narinder unpacks the limits of the most common definition, "non-medical support at the end of life", and invites listeners into a much deeper understanding. With tenderness and clarity, she explores how death work is inherently political.Drawing from over a decade in the field, Narinder shares how her own practice began to reveal the inequities baked into our systems, how grief, care, and death are commodified, how the death and grief illiteracy of our society causes more harm, and how true healing comes to the collective when death workers take up space with their political work and name what’s been left out. This episode honors the work of other political death workers, including Misha Murphy of Hafez Death Care, whose approach to end-of-life care is rooted in ancestral remembering and spiritual justice. Narinder lifts up Misha’s work as an example of how death care can become a site of radical love and collective liberation.This is an invitation to all the grief tenders, death doulas, and cultural healers who know their work touches systems. Who light grief platitudes on fire and tend the sacred, raw, and real.Whether you call yourself a death doula, a grief guide, or something entirely your own, this conversation is for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Nine Keys podcast, Narinder speaks directly to death workers and grief workers who are ready to stop playing it safe with their offerings.She shares why getting specific with your grief events isn’t restrictive, it’s magnetic. From climate grief about plastics to grief groups for people who've endured a best friend breakup, Narinder offers real examples of how themed, boldly focused gatherings draw in exactly the right people. She reflects on the success of her own event, The Collective Wail, and breaks down how to market your offerings in a way that feels alive, potent, and true. This episode is a permission slip to stop diluting your work and start naming the grief you’re here to hold. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this soul-nourishing episode, Narinder is joined by the luminous Arria Deepwater - intuitive healer, writer, and speaker - for a conversation that moves gently. Together, they explore the radical power of deep rest, the wisdom of moving slowly, and the sacred choices we make to honor our bodies and spirits in a world that often demands speed and productivity.They speak candidly about living with chronic illness and disability, the grief, the tenderness, and the unexpected beauty found in those liminal spaces. Arria shares their own journey and offers insight into how we can all begin to reclaim rhythms that align with our bodies, and ultimately our inner worlds.This episode is a soft landing for those who are soul-tired, body-weary, and longing for another way to live, one that centers slowness, intuition, and rest. Arria is the author of Three Moons: A Grief Story and a contributor to Inbetween Spaces: An Anthology of Disabled Writers, and their presence in this conversation is a gentle invitation toward rest that restores.You can find Arria at www.arriadeepwater.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, recorded under the potent full moon in Scorpio with the Sun in grounded Taurus, Narinder gets bold, grounded, and beautifully honest. She runs the numbers, yes, real numbers, on what a sustainable, abundant living wage can look like for death workers outside of institutions, outside of burnout, and outside of the myth that sacred work must mean self-sacrifice.This is a taboo-tearing conversation about money, labor, and power in death work. Narinder makes space for the truth: that witches, healers, artists, and death doulas can, and must, build new economies rooted in care, rest, and cultural transformation. She shares personal insights, visionary math, and examples of what it means to build an income that centers the most vulnerable, honors your artistry, and refuses exploitation.She also uplifts fellow new world builders like Ayana Zaire Cotton (For New World Builders Podcast), Daje Aloh (The Story Doula), and Bear Hebert, anti-capitalist business coach, as comrades in reshaping what livelihood means in the work of world-ending and world-beginning. All can be found on Instagram or through the links provided. Tell the truth.Tear it down.Find stability, beauty, and abundance.This is witch labor. This is how we live.✨ Listen in and step into a bigger, more honest vision of what’s possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder explores what it truly takes for death workers to become solid infrastructure for new worlds. What happens when our own bodies, soft-businesses, and inner-facing death work become the foundation for cultural transformation? Narinder speaks to the necessity of being well-resourced, boundaried, creative, and in rhythm, so that our death work doesn't become stalled, but propagates futures. This is a conversation about sustainability, sovereignty, and the sacred responsibility of becoming the ground upon which new systems are built.For support for your death work soft-business or inner-facing death work, go to narinderbazen.com and check out Study With Narinder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Nine Keys Podcast, I'm joined by Annie Wilson, the brilliant lead instigator behind the Philadelphia Death and Arts Festival. MAY 29 - JUNE 1 2025Our conversation is full of information, vision, and deep truth as we explore the beauty and power of weaving deathwork and art into a shared cultural experience, one that invites tenderness, provocation, and collective transformation.After we spoke, I realized our conversation had unwittingly danced through almost every facet of The Death Healer’s Hexagon, from the Outer logistics and Inner stirrings, to the Cultural urgency and death/life-force behind this kind of work.Annie’s shares are tender and insightful, and this episode is a reminder of how powerful the fusion of deathwork and art can be.🌿 I’ll be at the Philadelphia Death and Arts Festival to teach a class and be on a panel, come find me!🕸️ All artists and death workers mentioned in this episode can be found at philadelphiadeathandarts.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're just beginning your journey as a death worker, this episode is for you. It’s a grounding love letter of encouragement for you who are answering your first calls, tending your first thresholds, or simply wondering if you're ready. This episode is a pocket-sized companion for your journey—save it for the days you need a little courage and clarity.Reach out for support if needed. Go to www.narinderbazen.com/study-with-narinder. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Narinder invites death workers and grief workers into a deep remembering: you are not here to replicate what has already been done — you are here to dream, to create, to reshape death care itself.Narinder speaks about the quiet trap of seeking approval — how it waters down your vision, drains your energy, and keeps your deepest offerings hidden. She shares personal stories about choosing truth over popularity, and how standing firmly in her values magnetized the exact people who were seeking her voice.You’ll be reminded that your "far out" ideas and your truths are sacred threads in the larger weaving of this work. Your authenticity is not just personal — it is part of the universe’s great unfolding.This episode is a permission slip to stop asking if you are "allowed" and instead to step fully into the death care world you are here to build.Maybe you are not here to fit in — maybe you are here to transform culture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So many healers, artists, and death workers feel called to grief work but hold themselves back—waiting for a certification, a title, or someone to tell them they’re “qualified.” But grief isn’t something you master. It’s something you witness, hold, and walk with. Grief teaches grief.In this episode, Narinder unpacks the myth of expertise in grief work and why you don’t need permission to show up for the grieving. We’ll explore how our gifts—whether they come through your healing modality, your creativity, your weirdness, or deep gifts for witnessing —are enough. If you’ve been playing small, doubting your readiness, or feeling like you need another credential before you can begin, this is for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Press play and let the unraveling begin.In this episode, Narinder sits down with The Story Doula, Vision Midwife Dajé Alōh, to explore the wild and real terrain of bringing our visions to life, our soul's work to the world. From the grief that shapes our boldest creations to the authentic expression that leads us to liberation, Dajé invites us into a deeper understanding of what it means to lead with soul.Whether you're a death worker, a creative entrepreneur, or someone longing to follow the pulse of your own vision, this episode will leave you stirred, softened, and ready to step 👏 it 👏 up! 👏🌿 Connect with Dajé at https://storywork.studio/. ✨ Follow her on Instagram: @thestorydoula Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Expanding on something said in the previous Nine Keys episode, The Death Worker's Antenna, through storytelling and poetry, Narinder explains the Great Mother's world that is being built through people who listen to her direction. A world where work is balanced with play and rest. Service that comes through devotion to her and not the exploitative ways we are used to working. If you are a hospice nurse, a caregiver, a death worker, a healer, a guide, a seer, this episode is for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Nine Keys is the last episode in a six part series called The Death Healer's Hexagon. If you haven't checked out the previous episodes in this series, you might enjoy going back to part one of the series. Death Work as a Path of Devotion is a topic close to Narinder's heart. Here she is, unscripted, talking about what death work as a path of devotion is, what it requires of us, and how it serves us in return. If you'd like to study death work, the mystic's way, with Narinder, please check out her Nine Keys death midwifery apprenticeship at www.narinderbazen.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From bespoke shrouds, to grief memes, to death art, to conceptual art spaces that double as death education spaces, creativity weaves infinitely through death work.In this episode, Narinder talks with artist and death worker Meghan Johnson about the facet of The Death Healer's Hexagon that is Death Work as Art Form and Medium. Death work and art go together seamlessly. Both artists and death workers reflect onto us our choices, our agreements, and identities. Both artists and death workers can break up status quos, can reshape realities, and can reorient us towards soulfulness. Death work invites so much creativity into it, and art invites our death work in return. Meghan Allynn Johnson (she/her) is an artist and death worker specializing in connecting community members to death and grief resources and sharing in the tenderness of life's endings through creative workshops and artworks that she calls 'living portals.'She is the co-founder of the Madison Death Collective, an online resource for grievers, the dying, and the dead, and her artwork has been exhibited in New York, NY; Johannesburg, South Africa; St. Louis, MO; Chicago, IL; and Madison, WI. She recently completed the Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship, and has a BFA in Studio Art from UW-Madison, and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Art. She has published work with the David Krut Print Workshop in Johannesburg, and her artwork is included in the text, Singular/Serial: Contemporary Monotype and Monoprint (Kernan, Oresman, Einstein). Meghan is based in Madison, WI.Follow Meghan and the Madison Death Collective on Instagram here:@meghan.allynn.deathwork | @madison.death.collectiveAlso featured in this episode:Artist and death worker Juliarose Triebes: Instagram @juliarosetriebesArtist Jennifer Bastian: https://www.jenniferbastian.com/about If you are interested in studying death work with Narinder you can check out the Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship at www.narinderbazen.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're invited to press your ear up against the studio door and listen in on this lyrical conversation between Narinder and her friend and colleague Melissa Word as they sing of the beauty and the hard realness of Death Work as Culture Midwifery. The conversation grows tendrils that touch on our collective grief, our body's intelligence, the power of keeping prosperity flowing in the eddies of community, and the threshold job that is death work.Melissa is an Atlanta-based artist, dancer, death doula and grief coach. As a facilitator, she helps people heal their creative lives and explore their relationship to their bodies and mortality. Her background as a professional dancer has shapeshifted through the years into creating experiences for others to get more in touch with their own way of moving and expressing. As a creative grief coach, she leads a seasonal online workshop for grief processing through quilting and hand-sewing, reimagining healing spaces as ones where our bodies, hands, and intuitive impulses guide the way. She is a graduate of Narinder's Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship.Learn more about Mel at www.melissaword.com and on Instagram @melissawordstudioThere are two other death workers mentioned in this podcast. They are wisemawellness.com and bodygriefcoach.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is the third episode in a six part series called The Death Healer's Hexagon: the six facets of death work as Narinder Bazen knows it, sees it, and teaches it. In this episode, Narinder is highlighting the facet of the hexagon that is death work as soft-business. Narinder is joined by her friend, death worker colleague, and business inspiration Yarrow Magdalena. Yarrow is a web designer, tech consultant and small business mentor based in Scotland. They hold an MA in creative media and bring a decade of experience in digital strategy to their work, which supports introverts in building creative businesses that are aligned with their values and fun to work in. Yarrow also makes textile art, facilitates ritual and hosts two podcasts - the Kind Business podcast and the Making&Mending podcast. You can find them at PinkWellStudio.com and YarrowMagdalena.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Death worker, the entire death work movement in hinging on our own inner-facing death work.Inner-facing death work is one of the facets of The Death Healer's Hexagon, and it's a whopper! This piece of our work greatly informs our outer-facing death and all of the facets of our work. In this episode, Narinder dives deeply into our inner-facing death work with her friend and colleague Mary Grace Allerdice. Grace is an artist, spiritual writer, teacher, healer, death midwife and priestess. She combines her extensive background in mystical and magical studies with her experience with embodiment to create ceremony, learning, retreats and services to awaken the transformational power of Love within each of us. You can learn more about Grace by tuning in to the Home—Body Podcast or subscribing to her newsletter at mgallerdice.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first episode of the six part series The Death Healer's Hexagon Narinder drops a lot of information about what exactly outer-facing death work is. It's not all the New York Times says it is, it's SO much more! Not only is Narinder giving information, she's giving permission, clarity and invitations in this episode to death workers and death work curious folks. She's also highlighting two hang ups that limit a death worker's outer-facing death work. The episode ends with a guided meditation to support a death worker's outer-facing work. If you'd like to skip to the meditation, it begins at minute 30.Stay tuned for 5 more episodes in this unique series: The Death Healer's Hexagon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder talks with death worker colleague, collective work comrade, and fellow magical being Cassie Uhl about her new book Craft Your Own Magic. This episode is loaded with tenderness, insight and healing.Cassie Uhl (she/her) is a magic practitioner, death and energy worker, rites of passage facilitator, artist, and author. She is the author and illustrator of several books and card decks, including the Journey Tarot deck, Understanding Tarot, Understanding Auras, Understanding The Wheel of The Year, Craft Your Own Magic, and The Ritual Deck (reboot coming in 2025). Her work is trauma-informed and rooted in earth-based, animist practices from her ancestral roots across Northern Europe and her local environment. She is passionate about helping folks feel spiritually grounded and supported in all seasons of life–including death. Cassie resides on Indigenous Myaamia land in so-called Indiana in the United States with her husband and twin children.  To find Cassie, you can go to https://www.cassieuhl.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pour yourself a cup of tea, get cozy, and listen to this episode of Nine Keys where Narinder shares some of her death midwifery stories. Maybe there's a treasure for you in this storytelling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder shares a calming message for those who are grieving the state of the world and for those who are needing some guidance for sitting in the acceptance of the prognosis of such a state. Grieving in solitude has its purposes. So many times we can think that we are doing something wrong with our grief, if we prefer to be alone with it. Narinder wants to offer permission here and a few tools to support grieving in solitude.Being in acceptance of the prognosis of the state of the world is not a quick doorway to hope or positive outcome or dread. It's a whole place, a whole house to move around in. Narinder shares her idea of what 'sitting in the acceptance of the prognosis' means to her.If you feel that this episode of Nine Keys has been a balm for you, please share it with others who may be served by Narinder's calming guidance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder, with humor and grace, takes the charge out of our Death Worker Inner Saboteurs and gives us practical tips on how to invite them along for the ride in our work, but not to give them the wheel. You won't want to miss this episode if you've got a Nagging Nelly keeping you back from letting your death work be its fullest expression.If you find what Narinder shares in the episode helpful, please share it with other death workers who may need a little boost of confidence. Thank you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Narinder takes you on a journey through the countryside, gratitude, and her thoughts on what it's like to be a person in service for over twenty-five years and what she's learned about helping other death workers find their fortification in their service work.Narinder talks a little bit about Dead of Winter - a lighthearted space of respite through the winter for artists, crafters, and makers who appreciate death and dying themes in art conversation. Dead of Winter begins November 8th! https://www.narinderbazen.com/dead-of-winterIf you are a death worker in need of some down-home help getting your death work into sustainable energy through building and organizing your business around it, you'll definitely want to check out Narinder's offering to you; Reimagine. https://www.narinderbazen.com/reimagine Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Nine Keys podcast, Narinder speaks about death workers talking about natural death and dying while the world's on fire, death work as a soulful path, the life/death/life cycles of death work for the one doing it, and also art making and death themed artist camaraderie.In this episode Narinder talks about Dead of Winter: a place of respite and art making through the winter for makers, crafters, and artists.For more information about Death of Winter please go to Narinder's website here.https://www.narinderbazen.com/dead-of-winter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Nine Keys, Narinder talks with Denise Johnson about how serendipitous events surrounding her mother's death four years ago led her to become a very busy end-of-life doula today. Denise and Narinder met at Denise's mother's bedside three months before her death. Narinder was called in to serve as Ms. Thelma's death midwife. What she didn't know was that she'd end up becoming Denise's teacher and colleague.You can find Denise at www.eol101.com.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.