Come all you Moms and Young Women!

A Feeding the Fire ceremony is planned this Friday evening July 11th beginning at 5pm.  This ceremony is a celebration of the feminine, of our moon time, it’s power and our beauty!  This is an old and traditional ceremony that encourages and supports a girl as she transitions into her moon time and beyond into womanhood.  By bringing this ceremony into our modern day we are aiming to break the taboos, the shaming and embarrassment that so often accompanies a girl and a woman’s cycle in the Western culture.  In the Lakota tradition a woman is considered powerful, connected to the natural rhythm of the Moon and Earth at all times and especially when she is on her moon.  In the ceremony we will acknowledge that this is a truth about all women.  We will hold ourselves in high esteem and bring this belief forward in a good way for each girl and woman in the world.

A fire is built in a sacred way, honoring the Standing Ones who have given themselves for this rite.  As the night grows darker and the fire grows higher – fed by each of the girls and women in attendance stick by stick, we will tell stories of the sacred feminine, of important women within our personal orbits, of women who have inspired us by their journey.  Will sing songs that are prayers.  We will grind corn – an honoring of the sacred foods that feed us.  We laugh and invite the joyfulness of the night to seep into the all the days to come.

This ceremony will be held on Echo Lake, the lake will bath us with warm waters to play and swim in beneath a Full Moon.  Sharing a potluck feast is customary – Shamanic S’mores our after dark treat!

Email barbara@soulproprietor.org to get the address and any other details you might need to attend.  This ceremony is for girls and women  only please.

In gratitude.  With love and light….. Aho Mitakuye Oyasin!

The Ceremonialist met for an early Summer Solstice celebration this weekend.  A sunny warm afternoon had the girls in Echo Lake right away looking for tadpole and getting fish nibbles.  While they swam to the other side and back, the moms were able to sink into a little down time, shedding the energy of their city life and allowing for their own energy to ease into the more gentle pace.

After a shared meal (thank you girls for washing the dishes!!) we set about the tradition of some ritual.

An altar had been laid in the yard – a circle of cedar boughs with stones marking the cardinal directions, a stone compass at the center.  A spiral extended out from the compass moving with the direction of the seasons.  We begin in the West, honoring the feminine, the water and offering prayers for all that depends upon the waters.  Some of us made our offerings aloud, some silent.  As we moved around the wheel, we talked of what the autumn holds and of harvest.  In the North we each laid down our tobacco and prayers to the Ancients, the Standing Nation, the dream time and whatever else our hearts hold.  A fire was burning in the East – we made offering for what needs transmuting into new form, blessings for the masculine, the warmth and a welcoming of the light.

Moving on the South we spoke of ancient stone creations built to catch the first light of a summer solstice morning.  We set about constructing our own version of a sun temple with many openings to allow for the sunlight to stream through from where it first comes into the yard at dawn onto a patch of cattails that hold a Red-winged Blackbird nest filled with three fuzzy headed chicks with two very defensive parents.

Adding more blessings for the sun season, prayers of peace and non-violence, and an abundance of joy when our beautifully balanced Solstice Stones was complete.  Around the wheel we went, back to the West, our circle intact, beautiful sweet voices singing Joni Mitchell’s Circle Games “…and the seasons the go round and round…”.

And what could be better than Shamanic S’mores by the fire as darkness closed gently around us?  We could only think of our time together lasting longer!

The Ceremonialist is an open group of Moms and Kids that gathers monthly to share time and stories, craft and create, explore and relax while learning something of the old ways and something of ourselves.

Pilamaya to the light and the seasons as they go round and round.  Pilamaya to all the Moms and Kids I am blessed with.  Love to you!

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin!

We were a small group today – Ophelia’s Book Store is keeping one mom busy and another mom walking the Camino de Santiago on a pilgrimage.  We were small but we were just right.  Often we will journey, today 11 year old Eva was offered the chance to drum for the very first time.  She is in love with horses, so making relations with the horse drum was just right medicine for her!

Before she began to drum, I shared a reminder to us all about the necessity for creating a safe container for our work – a protected and sacred container where only what serves our highest good comes forward.  It is important to have these reminders often for all of us to help reinforce the practice of creating a safe environment for a shamanic journey. We also spoke about the importance of engaging with our Spirit animal guides to bring personal protection to us each day in our daily lives.  What does it take to build these relationships?

Eva drummed with her allies help and she did so beautifully, coming away from the experience exuberant.  Afterwards, a bit of leather crafting, all the while talking about our heart’s desires and the way we are walking in the world.  Eva created a colorful leather pouch adorned with black horse hair.  The horse hair came from Lysje, my sisters Friesian mare.  it was a wonder full day!

We missed our friends, looking eagerly towards the next gathering when we can all be together.

Pilamaya, Pilamaya!