hi friends! today, I’m writing about ceremony, which is at the heart of everything at the dreaming otter. otter offers us this beautiful teaching:
‘ceremonies are where humans wake up from the trance, and remember how powerful they are.’
delicious, yes? good ceremony changes the shape of identity, and creation. and we are hungry for ceremony, in our times. as you check in with yourself, what was the last ceremony you engaged in?
did you honor changing from ‘me’ to ‘we’ in a wedding or handfast? did you share grief and sorrow at a celebration of life ceremony? maybe you celebrated someone’s graduation achievement. a milestone. a completion. a loss. a significant life change. healing from illness. a new beginning. there is so much to skillfully honor and witness in a rich human life…and that’s where ceremony comes in.
the ceremonies I’m writing about here use our power to craft beauty from important turning points. here are a few examples of life events we might create beautiful ceremonies for:
- moving: saying goodbye to an old life, familiar places. starting with intention.
- publishing a book: setting down the energy of that long project. reveling in completion.
- pregnancy or birth: fundamental change. you will never be the same. endings, beginnings.
- new life chapter: declaration! something in you has changed, a new voice is emerging.
to flesh out our sense of what a ceremony might look like (from an endless list of possibility), here’s a summary of one from a session last year…
spirit created a sacred art ceremony to release hurt + welcome support for an empath who was criticized in front of peers and felt paralyzed by fear. after receiving a healing and her ceremony blueprint in session, she invited trusted friends to help her build a very simple 2-foot wooden boat, and put objects inside it representing her feelings of hurt and humiliation (inner feelings), and adorned the outside with beautiful paintings, representing her public grace and professionalism (outer actions).
speaking meaningful words of power that we worked out beforehand, she set the boat on fire on a lake, and stood with her friends as it burned. under the stars, her friends sang songs of hope and healing, and each gave her a gift to celebrate her resilience and deep support. bonus: everyone participating received healing. she was able to begin working again, and is now thriving.
above, we can see how spirit helpers created a creative ceremony we might not have thought of to honor and then change energy around a situation – and it was perfect and potent. in this ceremony, there was a real ‘showing up’ aspect for an individual and a community, with incredible result.
ceremony is wondrous – it’s witnessing, art, alchemy, and a claiming of power and beauty. simply, there is ‘life before ceremony’ and ‘life after ceremony.’
if this feels interesting or nourishing for you, you might consider a 3-session series, where we explore what needs honoring or transforming in your life, you receive healings from compassionate helping spirits, we discuss how you can prepare for and perform effective ceremony, and we create a custom ceremony blueprint for you to perform on your own or with community based on guidance directly from our helping spirits.
we laugh, cry, have a good time, move energy around in your life, and I’ll be with you every step of the way as we create a beautiful ceremony you perform, to bring more magic and goodness into your life.
your ceremony could be huge and elaborate.
or simple, sweet, and profound.
…it will be just what is needed.
love,
anna
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