Sacred Crossings Alternative Funeral Home

A home funeral is a family or community-centered response to death and after-death care where most state laws support the family's right to care for their own departed. Families may prepare the body, plan and carry out after-death rituals, file paperwork, transport the deceased, and facilitate final disposition.

A vigil or 'wake' is a period of time, usually 1-3 days, when the body is laying in honor while family and friends visit to pay respects and say goodbye. The funeral service most often takes place in the home on the 3rd day of the vigil before the body is taken to the crematory or cemetery.

Many religions cite the importance of the three days following death as a period where the soul/spirit/consciousness gets accustomed to being without the physical form. Lovingly caring for a body and holding it in a sacred space allows family and friends time to accept the loss, say goodbye, and begin to face their own lives with gratitude and peace.

Home funeral guides are advocates for family-centered and family-led funerals who impart knowledge families may need to exercise their innate right of caring for their own dead. They are guides and educators, not directors, seeking to minimize involvement of anyone other than family and friends in after-death care through encouragement and education on minimal, non-invasive, environmentally-friendly care.

During a home funeral, the family remains in charge from the moment of death until burial or cremation. A family can take as much time as they need to personally care for their loved one according to religious or cultural beliefs and traditions, and the body can be viewed without being embalmed.

Benefits include: considerably lower cost than traditional funeral homes; family retains control and more time with the body; viewing without embalming; fosters community spirit; helps children accept death naturally; and promotes healing by allowing meaningful family participation in after-death care.

Yes, in almost all 50 states, families have the legal right to care for loved ones after death, including taking the body home from hospital, nursing facility, or coroner, provided you have necessary permits. However, Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, and New York have various restrictions.

When a loved one dies in a hospital, nursing home, or is taken to the coroner, Sacred Crossings will dispatch a driver to transport the body to the home. A Sacred Crossing Guide will then support the family through the home funeral process.

A death midwife assists an individual and their family through the transition of death, just as a birth midwife assists through birth. A Sacred Crossings death midwife incorporates roles of spiritual counselor, death doula, home funeral guide, funeral planner, and celebrant, shepherding individuals toward conscious dying and empowering families to create meaningful funerals.

The body is carefully washed, dressed (or shrouded), and preserved with dry ice to prevent decomposition. Caring for an intact body naturally at home using gentle, non-invasive techniques poses far less potential hazards than one that is chemically treated at a funeral home.

The process includes: in-home consultation, Home Funeral Guide arrival (usually within 3 hours of notification), family education with body bathing and dressing, body laid 'in honor' in home on bed or table, dry ice preservation during 1-3 day vigil, cremation casket or pine box delivery and decoration, paperwork completion, funeral service in home or other venue, and transport to cemetery or crematory for final disposition.

You do not have to hire a funeral director. In almost all states you have the legal right to act as the funeral director on behalf of your loved one, including responsibility for completing and filing necessary paperwork. A Sacred Crossing Guide can support you through the entire process.