Th e Ow l | Su m m er 2017 | Page 16
By Fr anne Demet r ician Recently I spent some time in Florida with a friend who is a Feng Shui practitioner and master teacher. She hosts a special series via Facebook Live and asked me to participate with her in a discussion about ritual and ceremony. We spoke about how we usually associate ceremonies and rituals with weddings, funerals, religious surroundings, and pomp and circumstance. And that?s all well and good. I personally love all the pomp and circumstance of big ceremonies, especially weddings. I also love creating these ceremonies for our clients. For some the idea of rituals and ceremonies is exciting and they enter the space with delight, anticipation and reverence. For others, not so much. Some regard ritual and ceremony with dread and resistance as it may bring up wounding or distasteful experiences from childhood. Quite understandable.
What I have found is that ritual and ceremony can be comforting, life-affirming, gentle, and easy, rather than anxiety-provoking, scary, and complicated. It can also be about the parts of our day and our lives that have personal meaning or significance for us. It can be for mundane aspects of our day that we choose to make sacred. For instance, in the orthodox Jewish tradition every moment of the day is made sacred by blessing. There is a blessing for turning on lights, lighting candles, washing hands, even using the bathroom. All of life is sacred and worthy of blessing, and that blessing is ritual. We can make anything a sacred ritual. Personally, I have a morning ritual of saying ?thank you? when I awaken. I do this because every day is a blessing and I am grateful for the opportunity have yet another one in which to create. So, I make it a point each morning to consciously express my