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Ritual: Maiden, Mother, Crone
Every Maiden isn’t young. Every Mother doesn’t have a child. Every Crone isn’t old. Ritual for a Group Several years ago, I created a ritual for hundreds of women writers who’d come from all over the world for a week-long conference held on a college campus. The ritual was to honor their stories, those…
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Ritual: Winter Solstice Messages from the Trees
It’s mid-December. The trees are bare, the ground frozen. Daylight disappears around 4 pm. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the year. Festivities celebrate the promise that the Sun, with its life-giving warmth, is making its way back to us. With the season of snow, sleet and ice is…
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Ritual: Oathing Stones
DARE YE VOW ON AN OATHING STONE? Hearken back now to a time long ago when the land was always viewed as the home of the ancestors. Everyone knew that the spirits of loved ones who had died now guided and protected those still walking the earth. Everyone understood that physical survival in this world…
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Rites of Passage: Funerals
Whatever your spiritual beliefs, death creates a threshold between the world of the living and the world of the dead. When we think of a funeral as a rite of passage, we’re referring not to the deceased but to those left behind. For the survivors, life is irrevocably changed by the death of someone significant,…
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Rites of Passage: Weddings
By its nature, a rite of passage is a ceremony intentionally practiced and witnessed by a group whose members affirm that the person who completed the actions of the rite has been irrevocably changed. Thinking about the elements of today’s weddings and funerals, I can see why writer Ronald L. Grimes says ritual may have…
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Ritual: A Baby is Born
Cue the scene from The Lion King when Rafiki lifts the newborn cub, Simba, to the heavens and proclaims him King Mufasa’s son and heir to Pride Rock. I bet you can hear the music, The Circle of Life. For centuries, cultures the world over marked the arrival of a baby with a ritual. For…
