How can we ensure we go back to the earth and create green funerals and memorials for those people who spent their whole lives connected to the natural world?
Your person was the kind of human who felt the turn of the seasons in their body and probably long before everyone else reached for a woolly jumper… and then found more peace in a forest clearing than in bricks and mortar. And then they died…and you were directed straight to a funeral director who recommends a forty-minute slot in a crematorium with its magnolia walls and pictures of video trees and flowers playing in a tv screen in the background.
Does that really feel like a fitting send off for your person?
Because it doesn’t have to be that way. At Oak & Thorn Ceremonies, I create nature-rooted funeral and memorial ceremonies for people who lived differently and deserve to leave differently.
Whether you’re planning ahead for yourself, or you’re part of a family trying to create a send-off that actually fits your person I can help you.
What are Green Funerals & Memorials?
A green funeral or memorial is, at its heart, about returning to the earth with as light a footprint as possible. It might mean a natural burial in a woodland or meadow site, a biodegradable coffin or shroud, ashes scattered in a meaningful landscape rather than kept in a plastic urn on a mantelpiece or a remembrance ceremony building a sacred healing circle (also known as a Mandala)
Visit my guide to creating a healing circle blog here for details- sacred-healing-circle-embracing-grief
It’s also, increasingly, about ceremony and ritual that reflects those values. Not a generic service transplanted into a field, but something genuinely rooted in the natural world, the season, the landscape, and the life of the person being honoured. That’s where I come in to help you create your green funeral or memorial.
The Ceremony Itself
Here at Oak and Thorn Ceremonies, a funeral or memorial ceremony steeped in nature is written entirely from scratch. Every word chosen for the specific person, the specific season, and the specific place. If your person walked a pagan, earth-based or nature spiritual path, I have the genuine lived understanding to honour that properly. The elements acknowledged, the season held, and the tradition respected.
If they weren’t pagan but simply loved the outdoors, loved the land, loved a particular tree or hillside or stretch of coastline… that love becomes the ceremony. The natural world as the framework for remembering a life well lived as we send them back to the earth.
Ceremonies can be held in woodland, in gardens, at the coast, on a hillside, in a meadow. Wherever makes sense for who this person was. I work with you to find the right words, the right rituals, the right moment in the season to say goodbye properly.
J walked a pagan path and her family wanted to honour her beliefs with two ceremonies, one under her favourite oak tree and one in the pub she had run with her husband for a number of years.We started the mid – November outdoor ceremony under overcast skies calling in the quarters before the family created a mandala of leaves, stones, feathers and twigs as an offering to Mother Earth in remembrance of the woman they all knew and loved so deeply. They then buried some of her ashes along with some of her crystals. before candles lit candles in quiet contemplation. We then moved to the pub for a larger celebration where her family shared photo, memories , music and poetry with all who knew her. It was a deeply moving afternoon, with J at the heart of it. Just as she had requested.
Scattering Ashes, What You Need to Know
Scattering ashes is one of the most meaningful things a family can do, and in the UK it is legal, with a few straightforward things to be aware of.
On private land:
You need the landowner’s permission. In practice, most landowners and land managers are sympathetic when approached respectfully.National Trust and National Park sites often have clear, kind processes for this. Get any permissions in writing and keep them.
In rivers, lakes and inland waterways:
You need to notify the Environment Agency (in England) before scattering. This is free, done online or by phone, and the EA will advise on any specific spots to avoid, such as near drinking water abstraction points. Allow a few days for a response before your planned ceremony date.
At sea:
No formal notification is required if you are scattering beyond the low-water mark. Ashes should not be in any non-biodegradable container when they go into the water.
On a beach:
Scattering below the high-water mark is generally fine as this is Crown land, but as with anywhere, doing it thoughtfully and at a quiet moment is always the right call.
In a family garden:
Entirely lawful, no permission needed. Worth thinking carefully about long term though, particularly if there’s any chance of moving house in the future. One practical note that catches people out: always check the wind direction before scattering. Ashes are light. Scatter with the wind, not into it.
Sustainable Vessels for Ashes
If you want to scatter ashes in a way that is both beautiful and genuinely kind to the earth, there are some lovely options available now that go far beyond the standard plastic container crematoria use.
A few I particularly love and signpost families towards:
Biodegradable card urns are simple, dignified, and designed to break down naturally. They can be placed in the earth or used to carry ashes to a scattering site. Some are plain, some are beautifully printed with nature imagery. A genuinely sustainable option that doesn’t compromise on dignity.
Bamboo urns are another beautiful choice. Bamboo is one of the most sustainable materials on earth, fast-growing and entirely natural. A bamboo urn looks and feels very tactile in the hands, which matters more than people sometimes expect in a moment like this.
Water-degradable scatter cushions are something I find particularly moving. Designed specifically and exclusively for water scattering, the ashes are held within a cushion that dissolves naturally once it meets the water. It makes the act of letting go gentler, more graceful, especially in open water where loose scattering can feel unexpectedly difficult in the moment. These are for river or sea scattering only and should not be used on land.
I don’t supply any of these vessels directly but I’m always happy to point families in the right direction when we’re planning a ceremony together.
One UK based company to take a look at is https://scattering-ashes.co.uk/ ( no bias or inference intended, but they do carry a good range to help focus your thoughts)
Planning Ahead for Yourself
More and more people are choosing to plan their own send-off while they’re very much alive and fully capable of making decisions. And honestly? It’s one of the kindest things you can do for the people you’ll leave behind.If you know you want a ceremony in nature, if you have a specific place in mind, a particular season that feels right, elements of your pagan or earth-based path that you want properly honoured… let’s talk about it now, while you can tell me yourself what matters.
I can work with you to document your wishes in a way that your family can follow, and we can have a conversation about the kind of ceremony that would actually reflect who you are. No guesswork. No well-meaning but slightly wrong choices made by people who are grieving and trying to get it right. With me, you can plan your own send-off and leave instructions to ensure it is held in the landscape you love and in the season that means something to you.
For Families Planning Now
If you’re here because someone you love has just died, or because you’re in the middle of planning and something about a standard funeral isn’t sitting right… I want you to know that it’s not too late to do something different.
A nature memorial can happen weeks or months after a death. Many families have the crematorium service for practical and family reasons, and then hold a separate, more personal ceremony at a meaningful outdoor location when the time feels right. The two things don’t have to be the same day, or the same event. If you’re not sure what’s possible, just get in touch. The first conversation is always just a conversation.
REMEMBER AND HONOUR THE Season
Here at Oak & Thorn Ceremonies, the season is never just a backdrop. I try to ensure that it is part of the ceremony.
A farewell held at Samhain, when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest and the ancestors are close, carries a different weight to one held at Imbolc, the very first breath of spring, full of the promise of something continuing even as something ends. A summer solstice memorial at the peak of the light. A Mabon gathering as the year turns toward its quieter half and we count what we are grateful for.
If your person felt these things, if the wheel of the year was part of how they lived, then it deserves to be part of how they are remembered. Together we’ll make sure it is.
Later this month ( October 2026) I am attending a Sacred Grief Ceremonialist Course with the Priestesses at the Goddess Temple. I am excited for the journey because I know it will really enhance how I offer farewells, and I can’t wait to share my learning with you all.
In the meantime if you are looking at planning a funeral or memorial…
Planning services £100
Funeral and memorial ceremonies from £350.
Written from scratch, held outdoors wherever possible, and created with genuine care for the person at the centre of it.
Michelle | Oak & Thorn Ceremonies
Inclusive, sustainable, and nature-centric ceremonies in Essex & Suffolk.
