Pet Memorial
Altar
A Witness Circle & Altar making gathering to honor your pet grief
Join us for this 90-minute gathering where we'll hold space for pet grief, share stories of our beloved animal companions, and craft memorial altars together - a tangible forever shrine to keep their spirits close to home. We’ll move between making and sharing, between private creation and collective witness. All expressions are welcome.
Tuesday, February 17
5:30 - 7pm MT
Led by Lauren Carroll & Lauren Seeley
PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN
$11-$33
Pet Memorial Altar
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
— Anatole France
Animals have walked beside us since the dawn of time, offering companionship, guidance, and a love like no other. The bond we share with them is sacred, woven from threads of trust and devotion that transcend this lifetime. Even in death, our love for them endures, an unbreakable thread connecting us always.
This gathering recognizes that our relationships with animals are profound, life-changing, and worthy of ritual and remembrance. That their lives, just as their deaths, open new passages in us.
the two components of our evening
01
Witness and Remembrance
We'll gather in circle to remember and honor our beloved animals. Bring your pet's photo, their favorite toy or collar, a lock of fur, or any object that holds their memory. We'll light candles together and create space for stories, tears, and the particular grief of losing an animal companion.
This is a space to be witnessed in the depth of your grief and love. To speak their names. To honor the ways they changed you. To acknowledge that pet loss is real loss, worthy of ritual and reverence.
02
Altar Crafting
An altar is a forever shrine, keeping your pet's memory close to home (literally). Together, we'll get our hands busy crafting altars that serve as a permanent space of remembrance.
You'll have the opportunity to show your altar-in-progress, and we will craft alongside you in real time, honoring all of our unique connections to our beloved companions. You'll need:
A home for your altar (a small shelf, box, or designated space)
Basic supplies: scissors, glue, tape
Decorative elements that speak to you: their photo, ribbons, tassels, trinkets, sparkly bits, natural elements (flowers, stones, feathers), and any meaningful objects that resonate with your animal
Don't worry about having "the right supplies" - what matters most is the intention behind your creation. Together we'll cut, paste, bedazzle, and cry, remembering our cherished friends and our most precious allies.
This gathering is for everyone who has lost an animal companion and carries that grief in their bones.
You don't need experience with griefwork to join, or a crafty, artistic background. Curiosity, willingness, love for your pet, and the readiness to create a tangible memorial space are enough.
enroll
Pet Memorial Altar
one evening over Zoom | february 17 from 5:30 - 7pm MT
PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN
$11-$33
Use the following codes to select your price when you enroll:
Pay $33 - no code needed
Pay $22 - animalkin22
Pay $11 - animalkin11
Your guides
Lauren Seeley
Lauren Seeley is an artist, death and grief doula, and death educator whose work weaves together death literacy, spiritual practice, and end-of-life care. Her interests and research span the tender edges of both human and pet end-of-life care, LGBTQIA+ and trans-centered deathwork, memory care, ritual and ceremony, and the many ways we honor the dead through funerary and disposition practices. Lauren currently works at a funeral home in Brooklyn, NY, where she holds space for the living and the dead, and facilitates the Silent Book Club of Death, Brooklyn’s quiet little refuge for readers who aren’t afraid to sit with the big questions.
Lauren Carroll
Lauren Carroll, co-founder of La Mort, is a Death Educator & Holistic Funeral Director who is passionate about weaving community and family back into the death space. Her work centers around re-aligning our culture with Mother Earth and helping humans remember how to love one another. She is a former board member for the National Home Funeral Alliance and co-founded The Deathwives. She lives on an urban farm at the base of a mountain where she tends to her animals, raises her two children, and dances around bonfires on the full moon with friends while listening to Nick Cave.
Our Teaching / Learning / Creating Style at La Mort
We leave behind the polished, gate-keepy approach to education. We teach in ways that carry story and experience. We listen. We laugh (a lot). We go off-script sometimes. We cry (with you)(for those you’ve loved)(for those we’ve loved). We like science and studies and logical frameworks, but also mysticism and poetry and all that stuff. We really love to honor history and those who came before. We move through some serious curricula, but don’t take anything too seriously. We dedicate ourselves to seeing you, and want you to feel seen. We deeply honor our intuition and yours. We lead with integrity (always). And we welcome the odd-balls and misfits, because it takes one to know one.