How To Die
A life-affirming Deathcast from Cape Town.
How To Die is a series of conversations with people who dance on the edges of life, to discover what death can teach us.
Because talking about death won’t kill you… it’s good for life.
- Update frequency
- every 12 days
- Average duration
- 48 minutes
- Episodes
- 41
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Episode 20: The Mystic Rabbi
Rabbi Belinda Silbert just happens to have explored her psychic abilities since childhood, and brings them to bear on her profound spirituality.
This episode features Featuring ‘Lachaim’ by Kevin Mac…
Episode 19: The Financial Transitions Partner
Registered Financial Transitions Planner Louis van Der Merwe is compassionate, insightful, practical and down to earth when it comes to the big changes in life and what happens to money in their wake…
Episode 18: The Forensic Artist
What is a forensic artist?
In high demand due to the avalanche of unclaimed dead in our country, with its shockingly high numbers of unnatural deaths, this highly skilled practitioner provides a vita…
Episode 17: The Aquamation Advocate
What is aquamation and how exactly does it work on a human body after death? What are the byproducts and are they safe? Do you receive the ashes, or something similar?
This is an in-depth discussion…
Episode 16: The Cremationist
Cremation is a practice riven with misconception and superstition. It is taboo for many people, but also our obvious remedy to dwindling land available for burial. What happens when a body is cremate…
Episode 15: The Hindu Priest
Reincarnation, cremation, the sacred passage of the soul.... this is an in-depth discussion of Hindu rites and rituals around death and dying, and why these are so important in the cycle of life. A d…
Episode 14: The Forensic Pathologist
South Africa has just 50-60 state forensic pathologists serving almost 60 million people, plus a massive amount of unnatural death. What’s it like to work in this profession, and what does being so c…
Episode 13: The Undertaker
The Undertaker is a candid interview with a man who spends most of his days either fetching the deceased and transporting them, helping families face their grief, or preparing people for the final st…
Episode 12: The Palliative Care Nurse
Providing compassionate professional care for twenty-five years in a well-known local hospice, Sr. Margot van der Wielen understands the challenges people and their families face with life-limiting i…
Episode 11: The Paramedic
It’s not as if you were planning to go in an ambulance that day, right? You’re not wearing your best underwear, and didn’t pack a snack.
Bradley Klein has been attending to medical emerge…
Trailer: Season 2
How To Die is a death-positive podcast that promotes the idea that talking about death is good for life - it’s life-enhancing. Season 2 features a mortician, a forensic pathologist and others, launch…
Episode 10: The Sheikh
Profoundly humble and incredibly kind, Maulana Sheikh Sayed Imraan is a respected Muslim leader and scholar based in Cape Town.
He invited me to visit him to learn more about Islamic rite…
Episode 9: The Biker
Imagine being the principal on the scene of a road accident with multiple fatalities. When I sat down to interview Lloyd Castle, I had no idea that this is what he’d been responsible for…
Episode 8: The Sangoma
Choosing just one word to describe Lindy Dlamini is easy. She’s spirited, right?
Trained as a sangoma or African traditional healer, Lindy describes her work as a 'facilitator of healing.…
Episode 7: The Tombstone Maker
Ivor Gardiner is a Bob Dylan fan, which is enough for me.
Only when I was driving to his factory, Gardiner Stone, did I realise I should have been listening to Bob’s ‘Tombstone Blues.’ He…
Episode 6: The Funeral Consultant
Mark Wortman of Shoreline Funerals blends his natural affinity for good interpersonal relationships with a rare sensitivity and understanding about death and loss.
His experience, blended…
Episode 5: The Community Leader
Spiwo Xapile worked as a priest at JL Zwane Memorial Church in Gugulethu, Cape Town for 35 years, and now dedicates himself to community and leadership development. He helps change narrat…
Episode 4: The Tibetan Buddhist
Ezelle Theunnisen has a contagious zest for life which derives from a unique South African heritage, coupled with a Buddhist approach to death and funerary practices. She radiates an aura…
Episode 3: The Palliative Care Counselor
Christine Nachmann is the person you want to share tea with when you understand that time is all we are lucky to have - and not for long. The light dances in her eyes.
Her easygoing atte…
Episode 2: The City Cemeteries Manager
Growing up, Susan Brice wasn’t exactly dying to become the boss of cemeteries in our city or any other, but it’s something she’s extremely good at.
Susan is very down to earth, in a commu…