A cheery chat about death? It sounds incongruous doesnât it? Death is tragic, traumatic, itâs a wrenched ending: something to be feared or ignored until it makes its presence felt. We use euphemisms: gone to a better place, passed away, moved on. Thatâs until it touches you, and then it threatens, engulfs, overwhelms. Covid has brought death closer. Itâs there in the relentless statistics, an online counter, the curve of a graph, a needle flickering up into the red zone.
Ruth McGill has a different idea about death. The actress and singer is also a death doula. âItâs sort of a new label,â she tells me via Zoom from where sheâs currently living in Ardara, Co Donegal. âSoul midwife is another term Iâve heard, but itâs so much more.â