The Ancestral Technology of Ceremony

This past week, on three separate occasions, I had the sincere pleasure of gathering together with women in ceremony. Once for a dear friend’s Mother Blessing, as she prepares to become a mother for the first time. Once by the wild waters of the Salmon River with two of my best friends, nestled amongst the towering Cedars and Firs. And once as part of a sensual ecstatic dance my bestie, Audrey, held called Move The Earth.

These three experiences over the course of the week reminded me again, and again, and again, the power of gathering together with intention.

When we co-create spaces that are directed towards a specific purpose, there is a magic that ensues. Our energies lock together and we cultivate something wider-reaching and deeper-penetrating than if doing the same thing alone. ​

Don’t get me wrong, I love personal ceremony. I love connecting to spirit and to the forces of plants and earth on my own. And, something is alchemically ignited as we open ourselves up in a wider container, with other energies. ​

When ceremony is done well, everyone feels nourished and connected by the experience. It lingers in the body, and continues to teach us and heal us on a cellular level.

We give ourselves over to whatever forces we intentionally call in, and we are re-shaped by their presence. We become someone new. And we get to be witnessed in that process. ​

On The Emerald Podcast, Joshua Schrei says, “Ritual puts the individual, the communal, the ecological and the cosmic in humming relation. And then enacts alchemical change. But that change only works when the individual turns it over in some way to the communal and ecological and universal. This is why traditional ritual is trauma work without ever having to make it trauma work."

Ceremony and ritual are ancient and ancestral technologies that still today we crave as a way to express ourselves, and know ourselves, in relationship with the wider forces of life. ​

What passage, transition, longing, or moment in your life is calling for recognition, support, or healing?

Set a strong intention around being present with this specific inquiry, longing, passage, or transition. Call in guidance and protection, and let your inner creativity lead you through a ceremony of your own design. You may want to go out in nature, draw tarot cards, journal, sing, create art, move, sit in meditation, emote, or whatever else feels right. Remember to close the ceremony with intention when it’s complete.

Ceremony is an art form that's longing to be brought back into our living world. In her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer says, “Ceremonies large and small have the power to focus attention to a way of living awake in the world."

May we all live more awake in our lives.

Experience the power of a ceremonial 6 month container in the Golden Stone Wisdom School, where you'll learn ceremony design, and be a part of intentional energy and earth alchemy in community. We begin 9/22/23.