Our Relationship with Death - Nikki Wardwell Sleath

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What if our greatest fear could become our most profound teacher? Death – that inevitable transition we spend our lives avoiding – might actually be our most significant spiritual initiation.

Nikki Wardwell Sleath, occultist and author of Dream Sorcery, brings her unique perspective as both a magical practitioner and former hospice worker to this transformative conversation about our relationship with mortality. Drawing from her experiences witnessing end-of-life struggles, Nikki reveals how our cultural avoidance of death creates unnecessary suffering while robbing us of meaningful closure.

"I feel that we as a society largely have a very unhealthy relationship with death," Nikki explains. "The suffering, the denial, the taboo around death stands in direct contradiction to how I view death as a witch, as a shamanic dreamer, as an occultist."

As autumn leaves fall and nature prepares for winter's rest, we explore why so many cultures celebrate death and ancestor veneration during this season. The natural world offers perfect metaphors for understanding death not as an ending but as part of a continuous cycle – like night following day, with its own unique beauty and purpose. Through practices like lucid dreaming, shamanic journeying, and mediumship, we can develop personal evidence that consciousness extends beyond the physical body.

Nikki shares practical wisdom for connecting with ancestors, using "death as an advisor" to clarify life decisions, and preparing ourselves to become "good ancestors" for future generations. She invites us to reframe death as the ultimate adventure – "moving into the next dream" with all the wisdom we've gathered in this one.

Whether you're grieving a loss, contemplating your own mortality, or simply curious about what lies beyond, this conversation offers comfort, perspective, and tools for approaching death with greater peace and even anticipation. Listen now to transform your relationship with life's most certain transition.

Nikki Wardwell Sleath is a practicing occultist, author and teacher, and the founder of the Society of Witchcraft and Old Magick. She is a trained facilitator of Active Dreaming and is the author of Dream Sorcery, The Goddess Seals, and You Might Be A Witch. Nikki holds a masters in Integrative Health and Healing and provides readings as well as magic spiritual and energetic healing sessions for clients.
www.nikkiwardwellsleath.com

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