Honoring Transitions
Transitions and letting go of what is familiar for the unknown can be hard! As a person that has experienced intense anxiety, I get the fear that comes with big change. Ceremony, along with various healing arts, have been a profound way I have found ease and beauty in change.
Can you imagine a world where babies are welcomed with song into their families and communities!? And children grow up being seen and acknowledged as they grow into new people!? Where people can release grief in healthy ways, and find release and peace in endings and well as new beginnings? Where courage is seen and acknowledged after stepping over a threshold into a new phase of life? Where life for everyone is made more beautiful and meaningful through its regular honoring? It is a missing piece for most people today.
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Ceremony creates a special demarcation of time, especially at big moments in our lives. It helps us to create a soulful life of meaning and gives a way for belonging to truly exist in community. It slows us down, opens our awareness to a larger purpose, connects us to the earth, to a deep sense of self, and beyond. It helps us understand who we were, who we are becoming, and who we want to be. Ceremony looks lots of different ways. In order to be relevant, it often has unique elements born from the creativity of the group. It might involve just one person, some our whole family or friends, some an entire community. |
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Some examples of times ceremony aids in moving through transition are:
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"Monique crafted and guided a Teething (aka Naming) Ceremony for fifty of our closest friends and family to celebrate and welcome our five-month old daughter into our family, the beautiful land we live on, and into our community. With Monique's help gathering in this way, fully supported and encircled by the people we love, felt like receiving a big hug. It was a way for us, as parents, to know that we are all in this together. It was a way for our daughter to hear our friends' laughter, feel their love extended, and help our community connect with a new baby. Monique was wonderful to work with, she really listened to what we wanted and created a ceremony that was unique and provided so much meaning to our daughter's name and wonderful spirit. She is perceptive of the whole group and created a space full of depth, song, and stories. By coincidence or not, the day after, we felt our daughter's first little tooth poking through!"
-Andrea Oeding and Jon Kulow |
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Together we can design or facilitate a ceremony that fits your needs. Email us about questions or for an initiatory discussion! [email protected]