Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice for Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, and Healing the Planet

by Sarah A. Bowen

2023 IPPY Gold Award Winner | Animals/Pets


An elegant manifesto for improving life―and death―for all beings on sacred Mother Earth

"If there is one book you choose to read about how to enjoy and improve your relationships with animals and fully appreciate who they truly are, this is the one." ― MARC BEKOFF, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and other books; Professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder

Combining humorous anecdotes and thought-provoking research, Sacred Sendoffs explores human relationships with beloved pets, wild creatures, animal astronauts, marine life, farmed animals, and other sentient beings. Along the way, animal chaplain Sarah Bowen shares insights for sustaining their lives, honoring deaths, and managing the emotions that arise when we lose an animal we love. While many books focus exclusively on pet loss, animal welfare, or environmental issues, Bowen’s ever curious and playful style takes on all three, revealing their unavoidable entanglement. Sacred Sendoffs helps animal lovers uncover practical actions and everyday opportunities for helping the more-than-human world thrive.

“Bowen covers a great deal of ground here, creating a new paradigm for thinking about the way we treat our closest companions and fellow beings. And she offers hope for the future, reminding us that learning to value animals in life and death may be the first step toward saving our beloved planet.” ― Book Review, Spirituality & Health Magazine

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Dogs, Animals

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 12, 2020

About the author

Sarah Bowen is an award-winning author, columnist for Spirituality & Health magazine, animal chaplain, and multifaith spiritual educator.

Especially interested in the intersection of spiritual values with animal welfare, Sarah is a fierce advocate for all creatures, teaching interspecies mindfulness practices, working with humans around the grief and loss of companion animals, loving up animals in shelters, and providing wildlife struck by cars a "sacred sendoff." Her newest book "Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice For Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, & Trying To Heal The Planet" will hit bookstores April 5, 2022. (monkfishpublishing.com)

Sarah's first book, "Void If Detached: Seeking Modern Spirituality Through My Father's Old Sermons," and second book, "Spiritual Rebel: A Positively Addictive Guide to Deeper Perspective and Higher Purpose," from Monkfish Publishing both received numerous book awards including the Nautilus.

Sarah writes regularly for Spirituality & Health Magazine and her work has also appeared in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Elephant Journal, Common Ground, Light of Consciousness, mindbodygreen, Shatterproof, and other media.

She is also an academic dean at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, where she encourages people to align their spiritual values with animal and planetary welfare. In addition, she has presented on animal death and interspecies spirituality in a wide range of venues, including United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Compassion Arts Festival, Pace E Bene’s Campaign Nonviolence Action Week, The Spiritual Forum, and numerous podcasts.

Reviews

[debbicat *made of stardust* · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the ⭐️! So well written and researched. My signed copy came in right on time by the author. It went right on my favorites bookshelf alongside my Sophie and Bella’s ashes. Animals have thoughts, feelings, large interior lives. The book has just been released ( April 2022) and I will add some quotes this week. It’s the book animal lovers have been waiting for and speaks to grief in a way I’ve not known before. I had read some books on grief previously. I spoke with a grief counselor when my sweet pound puppy came to the end of her life at 17 years old in 2020. I thought I’d never recover from that loss. I wish I had had this book then. Grateful to have it now.

December 2021: have pre-ordered this book and can hardly wait. Good news for me! ( Jan 2022)just got approved for an ARC today and am anxious to dive in. I heard about this book a year ago when I first became aware of Sarah Bowen. I read her book Spiritual Rebel last Christmas and felt such a great connection. I lost my sweet 15-year-old kitty Sophie, on Dec. 3rd, 2021. I am still grieving. Life is not the same without her. I believe this book will be a very good source of comfort and some understanding.

More to come!

ARC has arrived! Beginning reading tonight. Quote from author Victoria Moran
"After reading Sacred Sendoffs, I find myself living in a more amazing world, populated by a more diverse array of unique individuals, each deserving of respect and care."

Getting back to this gem this weekend for my 3 day weekend. I am taking lots of notes and reading slowly. I did a workshop with the author a few months ago. That gave me a glimpse into what would be in the book and I knew it was for me! More to come as I keep reading.

Finished today, March 8, 2022. A Full and very thoughtful review to follow. 5 ⭐️! Available April 5

May 22, 2022. This is a very well done review by author Jon M. Sweeney. Check it out. I can't recommend this book enough. https://www.spiritualityandpractice.c...

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I requested this ARC from the author and she graciously mailed it to me. (Pub date 4/5/22)
It arrived on the one-year anniversary of the loss of my beloved dog, Milo, so it seemed like it was meant to be: I started the book that day.
I haven't even completely digested it yet, but this book is so much more than her advice for honoring our companion animal's lives. It's about course-correcting from the chapter one apology "I'm sorry about us humans" that she offers to those unfortunate beings she sees who lost their lives on our roadways, to recognizing all animals matter in life and in death- companion, wild, or otherwise. She offers reflections and useful insights for readjusting our myopic views on the relationship we have, to and with, the beings we shared this earthly life with.
I wish I would've had this book a year ago - her blessing for Little Buddy (Chapter 5) were words I wish I could have thought of in the midst of my grief over Milo's passing and will now carry forward in my heart and mind.
I highly recommend this book if you care about animals: furred, scaled, bare, 2 legged, 4 legged, or eight.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sacred Sendoffs by Sarah Bowen definitely got me thinking about my place in the animal kingdom, how I treat animals, and how to be a more conscious consumer. It is a personal book in which data and facts are interwoven with the author’s childhood memories and anecdotes. Concrete suggestions are provided including how you can help friends and loved ones who are experiencing grief from an animal companion loss, how you can help critters survive by planting native vegetation in your yard, and how you can make a change by using products that are cruelty-free. I had “am I doing enough?” moments while I read and plenty of light bulbs went off too. Worth reading if you want to better understand human’s complicated feelings and beliefs around animal loss, animal welfare, and environmental issues.

Full disclosure: I received an advance reader copy from the publisher.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book via Goodreads giveaway.

I recently lost my baby Ava Grace (a rescued toy poodle) in January 2022. So when I saw this book listed on the giveaway page, I knew I had to enter to win a copy.

I'm very glad I found this book. I couldn't have found it at a more perfect time. As I have been struggling with losing my four-legged best friend this year, I've noticed how easy it is for people to write off a human's grief of their companion animal. I also lost another of my best friends, Tilly, my handsome cat, back in 2020 during COVID. It was overwhelmingly obvious at the time that others thought I shouldn't have been grieving as much for Tilly with what was going on in the world at the time. However, those people don't understand what it's like to love companion animals on the same level as human animals. This book helped me to feel understood by the author, Sarah Bowen. At least if no one else understands me in this respect, I know Bowen does!

I also like how Bowen discusses issues with animals in other contexts. A few years ago, my eyes were opened to the horrible lives animals used in factory farming have. Bowen discusses these horrors and offers solutions we can personally take to ensure we're doing our part to heal the planet. I also like that she stresses the importance of realizing that we have been conditioned to think a certain way about the animals that we come into contact with. Many people don't realize the horrible experiences of animals in factory farms or animals being tested on in labs because they have been conditioned to believe that animals have "given" their lives for those things or don't feel pain in the same way as human animals. She also discusses some harmful language that normalizes the suffering of animals and gives reasons for us to try to move away from using them.

I also enjoyed reading about Bowen's personal experiences. I felt the same way that she did. I didn't realize the severe cruelty that factory farmed animals endure until I was in college. Bowen states that she was around 19 when she realized as well. I can relate to her through various stories of her inner conflicts. I liked hearing about Bowen's opinions on whether or not animals have souls, which is a question she says she gets a lot.

She also mentions briefly that as an animal chaplain, she does perform services for animals who have passed away. With the passings of both Ava Grace and Tilly, I have thought it would be amazing if there were religious people who could perform a service for them. I just did not know that anything like that existed.

I'm glad that I got a chance to read this book. I would love to read more from Sarah Bowen in the future.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciated the ways the author weaved research into the topic of animal loss and expanded the lens to include animals of all kinds--wild, farmed, research, etc. The book is wide-ranging in scope and so could have benefited from some tightening. Overall though I appreciated the stories and information shared and it got me thinking differently on how to consider animal loss anywhere it might be encountered whether on the plate or on the roadside.

[Dani Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be so helpful in processing my beloved pet’s passing. It offered a lot of information I had never known about the practicalities of losing a pet (and other non domestic animals) but in a way that also helped me to process and heal. I have purchased this for many friends now who have also gone through the sadness of witnessing their pets pass away.

[Lisa Arrigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway. I lost my little guy in 2020 and my world has not been the same. Reading this helped me start to heal.

[SonBeam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. I'm not sure about this one. 3 stars feels kind. We're about to lose a beloved family companion and I was hoping it would help the transition but it was a dud.
Reads like a text book, filled with stories vs advice.

[Pandaduh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good quotes but didn't really help me in my grief.

[Annabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It felt way too “woo woo” for me. And while encouraging readers to remain open in conversation with those who might have other opinions, still insinuated she had it right.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend for all animal lovers

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting and I have to say it has opened my eyes a bit. I thought the book was well written and passionate. I have started doing sacred send offs myself.