Ceremony

One way to honor a transition is with a ceremony or ritual.  All cultures recognize the need to ritualize major life transitions, hence weddings, funerals, housewarmings, graduation, retirement ceremonies and the like.   There are many other transitions that do not have standard ceremonies, or those that exist may not be a good fit for your needs.  There are no rituals for divorce, nothing for protracted illness, or dealing with disaster, or women entering leaving their childbearing years behind. I work with you to design and/or facilitate a ceremony that meets your needs.  It can be something you do alone or with others, one time or as a daily practice.

Designing a ceremony begins with clarifying your intention.  What is the transition that inspires the need for a ritual?  What do you want the ceremony to accomplish? With that information we move to the planning stage where we look at the who, what, when, where and how. Next we focus on preparation.  Taking care of the details delineated in the plan and discovering what will help you feel and be prepared. Then it is time to actually perform the ceremony.  A well-designed ritual or ceremony is a dramatic event that takes you, to some degree, out of the ordinary world and connects you with a larger sense of meaning. A ceremony completes when you find a way to incorporate the meaning into your life.

A ceremony may focus on something as simple and individual as creating an altar or memory book. Or it may involve a family or other group for support, remembrance, healing or thanksgiving.

I have done countless weddings, and a good number of house blessings, baby welcomings, memorial services.  I've created the occasional ceremony for very specific personal reasons, and continue to work on a larger scale designing and facilitating ceremonies that use the arts to create community.

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