An article in Rusthall Life magazine

We have a fabulous local village magazine called 'Rusthall Life' and I recently wrote an article in it about what I do.....so here it is!

Hello! I’m Joy Neal, a local mum of three and Rusthall resident.

I have been working as an Independent Celebrant since 2022 after deciding I wanted a change from the world of baking and cookery teaching! Celebrancy uses skills I have learnt through running retreats and women’s circles since 2015. I think it’s the best job in the world, as I get to be a ‘story-keeper’ - hearing and then retelling the personal stories of people from all different walks of life.

My business tagline is ‘ceremonies for every season’ because I work alongside individuals, couples or families to co-create ceremonies which celebrate whichever season of life they are in! That might be a relationship ceremony (like a wedding, vow renewal or hand-tying), an end of life ceremony (like a funeral, memorial or even a living funeral), or a family ceremony (such as a baby naming, adoption, transition or blended family ceremony).

I’ve always loved ritual and ceremony – I think there’s something in all of us that yearns to mark life’s changes and rites of passage in a meaningful way. Historically that has been done through religious ceremonies - but as people increasingly feel less aligned with religious institutions, there is a need to honour these important moments in our lives in different ways.

I love that fact that as an independent celebrant I get to deliver beautiful and meaningful ceremonies that can include elements of faith and spirituality if that feels important to the people at the heart of them, or not!

Much of my work is as a funeral celebrant, and people often joke that ‘Joy’ isn’t a very good name for a funeral celebrant! But ‘joy’ and ‘happiness’ aren’t the same thing – and I believe that even at the bleakest of times, there is joy and hope to be found.

Supporting and journeying alongside families and helping them to give their loved ones a final rite of passage that is loving and personal is one of my greatest privileges.

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I feel passionate about helping people to understand the options and choices around honouring the end of life (it doesn’t have to be a service at the church or crematorium! You can have a funeral at the pub, in a village hall, or at your allotment – there are so many different ways to celebrate a persons life – and many of the ‘alternative’ options can be less costly, and WAY more personal!)

Recently, I have started working with people who know they are in their final season of life, to plan their own memorials and capture their stories in their own words. It might sound morbid, but actually can give people a sense of agency and control, and is even (dare I say it!) quite fun! I wish more people knew they could do that!

I think that normalising tender conversations about death and dying and beliefs about the afterlife is SO important, and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of some of those conversations!