From "Here" to "Holy"

As I began gathering items for a fire ceremony tomorrow evening, I felt the shift within my soul…the shift that takes me from “here” to “holy.”

Why do we engage in ceremony? It is not about a particular religious outlook or ritual; it is about YOU and YOUR connection to the Divine as you perceive that to be. As such, even the idea of ceremony begins to shift you, to bring you closer to the Divine. Your soul yearns for the connection it has always known as a Divine Being, answering to the heartbeat of Spirit.

Ceremony need not be elaborate, though it can be. Some of my fondest memories of ceremonies are of sitting with the Q’uero shamans high in the Andean mountains as they created elaborate gifts for the Gods, called Despachos. It can also be as simple as centering oneself and lighting a candle in reverence, reaching out with your minds eye to that which is greater than you, and quietly communing with it. The big IT, not the conscious mind ‘I need to add carrots to the grocery list’ it.

Ceremony varies with the person, the time of the year, whether done spur of the moment (think blowing your gratitude into a leaf and placing it back on the earth to be absorbed and reenter the cycle of life) or done in a group – gathering around a fire with song and drums is a holy and energizing experience to be sure!

Do not let your perceived lack of expertise in creating ceremony keep you from engaging with the Divine in your own sacred way – which begins when you first conceive of the idea.