Nine Keys
Death Midwifery
Apprenticeship
September Cohort is now full.
{We are now accepting applications for November. There are two spaces available.}
Death Midwifery
a skill once learned from Grandparents,
now a way of life for the sake of our common humanity
If you are looking for a quick death midwifery training program,
Nine Keys might not be the best choice for you.
Nine Keys is the deep dive into this work.
It’s soft-business development. It’s a matriarchal learning space.
It’s new paradigm death care.
It’s for collective healing.
If you are looking to become a “certified death worker” - this might not be the course for you.
Nine Keys, though one of the most thorough death work training programs,
will not partake in certifying a practice that belongs to all
and has remained intact in Indigenous communities since the dawn of time.
Nine Keys is the death midwifery training course for creative thinkers and artists,
who are aspiring death workers that are in touch with the soul of all.
It’s a death arts school. It’s the path of the death midwifery for the mystic*
*one who serves humanity through their relationship with the divine
alumni say:
”Nine Keys is the most thorough death midwifery training program.”
”I feel more in touch with my art because of Nine Keys than I did in grad school getting an art degree.”
”Nine Keys is real magic.”
”We leave Nine Keys as embodied death workers.”
”I love how Narinder sprinkles business mentorship throughout Nine Keys. Not many training programs help their students build businesses.”
”Nine Keys has reignited my love for making art!”
“Nine Keys opens portals. It opens possibilities. It opens hearts.”
full testimonials below
Ready to apply for Nine Keys?
Schedule an application appointment!
*During scheduling, you will see the application with a $40 non-refundable application fee.
Interested but have questions?
Schedule a time for us to chat about death work!
*This is a complimentary appointment to help you learn more about the Nine Keys and death work.
Maybe you hear a calling to death work but don’t know exactly what that means.
Maybe your calling to death work feels untouchable, like a gossamer vision.
It’s almost as if the calling to your death work is ancient, something that came before you, but something that is knocking on a sacred door near you now. This calling is the foundation of your death work.
Nine Keys helps you to unlock this calling. The Keys move the abstract whispers of our calling into recognizable forms.
But don’t just take my word for it…
Listen to this chat with Nine Keys Alum Melissa Word about how she followed the calling and how it shifted life, death, and everything-in-between.
The Nine Keys Death Midwives feel confident in their work.
They are prepared, supported, and prosperous.
The Four Core Principles of Death Work:
by Narinder Bazen
1. Death is the teacher.
2. Letting Go is the art we aim to master.
3. The lessons taught by Uncertainty far outweigh any other lesson.
4. The Calling to the work lays the work out for us. It is through developing a sound relationship with the Calling that we learn our unique style of Death Midwifery.
About the Apprenticeship
The course is divided into Nine Keys. The apprenticeship is completed in 9 months.
Keys 1-8 open doors to the calling that is death midwifery, through study, meditation, self-reflection, and art.
Each key consists of:
*1 monthly required group class via an online platform.
*An average of six assignments (reading, meditations, research, art activities, writing, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries and films.)
*A one-on-one call with Narinder each month.
Combining my work as a Death Midwife and Intuitive Counselor and artist, I am able to help each apprentice bring form to their death work,
from what may have felt like an abstract calling. I am there for my apprentices when they themselves navigate the underworld, the darker parts of their psyche, as they unravel their death anxieties. I am there when they get their first clients. Nine Keys is available to people who would like to learn the art of death midwifery, as guided by the Great Primordial Mother, for their families and their communities, joining the web of death workers serving the midwifing of culture and bringing grief literacy to society. This is truly an intimate apprenticeship. It’s as old-world as I can make it, in the age of rapid and besieging technology. - Narinder Bazen
The Ninth Key is an initiatory ritual and a Blessingway.
This is not a self-paced course. Assignments are given at the beginning of each month and are due by the last day of each month.
The Investment
The fee for the Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship is $3,300.
This fee breaks down to $366 a month for Narinder. This is a fair wage.
The non-refundable payment for the apprenticeship is paid electronically.
Due to the intimate nature of the program and Narinder’s petite business, there are no monthly payment plan options.
If there were to be monthly payment options, the tuition rate would have to increase.
“To partake in Nine Keys is to enter nine specific portals through which you will alchemize yourself into a death guide beyond your expectations. Narinder is an extremely knowledgeable, present, and creative teacher who will help you explore your relationship to death in ways you never would have imagined prior. I am infinitely grateful for the work I was able to do with her in the Nine Keys apprenticeship and will carry these lessons with me throughout not just my work, but my life.”
— Oliver V
“Thank you so much Narinder for your patience, your guidance and your willingness to share. I really feel like I apprenticed with you rather than just taking a class taught by you. Your gentle redirections and respect for my uniqueness made me feel valued and capable. You made me feel seen. Nine Keys was informative, reflective and spacious. I appreciated having the time to digest and learn at my own pace, but to also receive guidance and have real human connection with others who are on the same path. This is the first training where I feel fully ready to do the work. I have enough to step into my role as a Death Midwife for my community.”
— Miinkay Yu
Key Topics
The magic of Death Midwifery
Connecting with the spirit of your death work practice
The history/her-story of death midwifery and how we honor that
Self-care as community care for death workers
Maintaining a relationship with the spiritual touchstone of your death care practice
How to be sensitive to and honor cultures other than our own
Creating and maintaining sacred spaces
Post Capitalist / Matriarchal Business Building / Midwifing New Economics
Comfort care and therapeutic touch
The reality of current death care options in the US and Canada and imagining new paradigm death care - thinking way outside the box
How to take that urgent call
How to create and lead death ed and grief care events in your community
How to hold multiple truths at one time
Talking with those who are dying or with those who are loving someone who is dying
Showing up prepared and supported for your first clients.
Advanced planning and other ducks in a row
Creating sacred pauses for intentions
Bringing death home
Home Funeral Guidance
Caring for the deceased’s body and sitting vigil with the body
Laws concerning home funerals
Codes of Ethics
Green Burials
Defining your work
How to bring your death midwifery basket to the market / educating your community
Getting the word out about your work
Taking urgent calls and being an anchor for those who lose a loved one to trauma
Building your business, making your prosperity baskets, with a vision for sustainable holistic death care
Rewriting the patriarchal norms for caregivers
Nine Keys is a rare, thin place, where the tea of the divine is steeped. Chances are if you are looking here, you were led here.
Each Key held up a different mirror to where I needed to acknowledge, accept and nurture my gifts and authenticity. Narinder is a Death Auntie for those who need to create, experience, play, and rest to learn. Nine Keys is a space for those that know humanity needs the Artists, Seer's, Poets, and Truth Tellers now more than ever.
~Kat Courant
“Narinder said she would be there for us after Nine Keys and she absolutely is. When I had my first person ask if I would be their death doula, I felt some initial nerves and inevitable “what ifs.” Narinder guided me through questions I might want to ask for our initial visit and reminded me of my strengths as a death doula. I felt well supported and prepared for the next steps.”
— Maggie C.
“The way Narinder holds space and teaches is difficult to put into words - it's something you just have to experience. Despite whatever else was going on in my life, her teaching always guided me back onto sacred ground. Nine Keys was both a steady and surprising path. It took me to meet my grief; to ancient mountain caves with fires burning; to a cemetery being taken in tenderly by the rainforest; to my ancestors. Your trip will be just as magnificent, and equally your own. You might find the path of Nine Keys will lead you home to yourself, and what is more important than that?”
— Victoria
“When I got my first call, I was filled with purpose but also nervous. Having trained in Narinder’s Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship, I felt more than prepared to serve my client and their family. Yet there were still some jitters, as I readied myself to step into the reality of my work for the first time. However – true to her word – Narinder was there for me, right away. I knew we could talk on the phone or text for urgent questions, and after each conversation, I once again felt grounded, centered in the heart and soul of my work, and empowered to hold space for my client. I cannot emphasize enough how much it means to have Narinder’s support.”
— Leah Sims