The Little Book of Loss Rituals

“Centuries of ritual suppression took grievers away from practical, accessible healing after loss, and The Little Book of Loss Rituals brings this modality back into the light. Blending ancient traditions with contemporary science, Sarazin presents 75 accessible practices organized around our four most fundamental needs in loss: to remember, to release, to reconnect, and to be recognized. For anyone who has ever asked What do I do with this grief?, Sarazin answers with warmth, precision, and wisdom–you ritualize it.” – Cole Imperi, founder, the School of American Thanatology and author of A Guide to Grief
“Grief is a language, but many of us aren’t fluent. In The Little Book of Loss Rituals, Stephanie Sarazin helps us work to become fluent in the language of grief so that we can discover what it means not merely to survive loss, but to be transformed by it.” – Dr. John Onwuchekwa, author of We Go On
“Stephanie Sarazin has thoughtfully crafted the perfect pocket guidebook for anyone asking, ‘What do I do with my grief?’ It’s an accessible, creative list that people facing all types of losses–from death and divorce to diagnosis and estrangement–will find useful and customizable to their specific heartache.” – Shelby Forsythia, grief coach and author of Your Grief, Your Way and Of Course I’m Here Right Now
“Stephanie Sarazin has written a wonderfully illuminating and inspiring book about the importance and efficacy of rituals to help grievers of all stripes process their loss. She convincingly lays out the many physical, social, and psychological health benefits to performing loss rituals, and then provides dozens of vivid examples to activate the reader’s imagination. A must-read for anyone in mourning.” – Colin Campbell, author of Finding the Words: Working Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose
“The profound pain of grief can be overlooked if we do not take the time to pause, to reflect, to come together to share what has been lost with the death of a meaningful person, a divorce, or the loss of a job or a home. Stephanie Sarazin offers us a roadmap to intentionally commemorate these life-altering losses, with the grace and respect they deserve, and shows us that the rituals confer benefit both to the griever and to the community in building our grief literacy.” – Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, author of The Grieving Brain and The Grieving Body
“The Little Book of Loss Rituals brilliantly offers tools to help us not only understand our need to recognize the pain of grief, but to integrate our suffering so that we can move towards healing. Stephanie Sarazin has somehow managed to lasso the profound significance of ritual throughout history, multiple cultures, and in modern custom, all while giving us a deeply useful book to boot! She maintains a sense of sacredness, while offering exercises that are practical, and achievable for someone who simply wants to know how to mark the occasion of loss. How wonderful to have a gentle guide for when we find ourselves lost in the murkiness of mourning! An absolutely beautiful book!” – J.J. Duncan, Executive Producer/Showrunner of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
“The Little Book of Loss Rituals is the rare book that manages to be deeply intelligent, deeply comforting, and deeply useful all at once. Blending history, science, folklore, and practical wisdom, it helped me–a lifelong griever–better understand why loss can feel so profoundly disorienting and what we can do about that. The rituals themselves offer tangible, grounding, and even hopeful ways to carry loss with more connection and intention. This book is part companion, part guide, part warm hug. It’s not only the book I wish I had years ago, but the one I’ll now give to everyone I know who is grieving.” – Jessica Fein, author of Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes
“By helping us link the past, present and future, rituals foster a sense of continuity in our lives. This form of continuity is often what’s disrupted when we lose a significant person or place. In The Little Book of Loss Rituals, Stephanie Sarazin explains why and how establishing rituals for both endings and beginnings can be so meaningful and offers accessible, creative ideas for establishing new ones. I wish I’d had this book a long time ago. I’m grateful we all have it now.” – Hope Edelman, author of Motherless Daughters and The AfterGrief
“In a culture that has grown grief-avoidant and grief-illiterate, this book arrives as a long-awaited companion–drawing on history, global culture, and research-backed wisdom–that offers not just language for loss, but beautiful, practical ways to honor, live with, and move through grief of all kinds. This book expanded me. It made me cry healing tears. It inspired me with hope. I’ll be recommending it for years.” – Kristin Vanderlip, author of Rest: A Journal for Lament and founder of The Pen & Mend Collective
“Stephanie Sarazin tackles a big idea in a little book: Ritual is a powerful tool to help us integrate our lives before and after loss. Drawing on science, spiritual wisdom, religious tradition, and personal narrative, she warmly invites us to create intentional moments that allow grieving folks to remember, release, reconnect, and be recognized.” – Andrew Ingall, director of public programs for Reimagine
“What moved me most about this big little book, is the permission to learn, borrow, create and honor grief rituals in ways both ancient and deeply personal. We heal by remembering and we are reminded why and how on every richly researched page and idea shared. This book is a beautiful reminder that grief needs expression, and ritual gives shape to what the heart cannot always say aloud. A gift to everyone.” – Barri Leiner Grant, founder of The Memory Circle
“When grieving, it can be challenging to land on how to best honor your loved one. While there’s no wrong way to do this, and Stephanie Sarazin’s Little Book of Loss Rituals is a perfect place to start for validation and for healing.” – Kara Kavensky, author of Tell Me About Joy

Stephanie Sarazin

Stephanie Sarazin is a grief educator, researcher, and award-winning author of Soulbroken: A Guidebook For Your Journey Through Ambiguous Grief (Balance, 2022). A leading voice in the grief space, Stephanie shares her monthly newsletter, “Looking Forward” with over 1,500 subscribers, was a Featured Author and speaker at the 2024 Grieftastic Book Fair, and is a frequent panelist, moderator, and podcast guest.

Her work is featured in various publications, including Newsweek, HuffPost, People, Psychology Today, Spirituality & Health Magazine, The Sunday Paper, and more. An active member of several communities, she is a TEDx Curator, was named a Luminary Thinker by Cartier, an Architect of Change by Maria Shriver, and serves on the Board of A Place At The Table near her home in Raleigh, NC.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. In 2024, she celebrated her new empty-nester status with a rediscovering ritual—trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp. She is currently researching rituals while recovering on her couch.

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