Rituals and Celebrations

Candles Table Setting Image

“The human role is to enter into the celebration of the universe.
That’s the primary thing.  To have lost that celebratory experience is to lose everything that makes life worthwhile.”

–Thomas Berry

To follow our eccentric heart we have to be quiet enough and open enough to sense what it is asking of us.  In the rush and noise of daily life it’s hard to hear much of anything unless we have ways to slow down, breathe, and just be. Meditation, movement, time in nature, making or listening to music, tarot sessions, are all ways to do this, but another wonderful way is through ritual and celebration.

Good ritual helps us to notice and celebrate our individual life story and where it fits in the larger cycles of life and nature, helps us fully experience our emotions, and helps us appreciate the unique life story and emotions of others.  To live with attention, care, gratitude and creativity.  To find the humor, even if sometimes it is black humor, in our struggles.  To see that we are not alone in our pain and joy, to be kinder to ourselves, and to give and receive support from others.

Candle Cards ImageThe opportunities for ritual, simple or elaborate, in solitude or with others, are endless.  Daily rituals can help us center ourselves, set intentions for our days, express gratitude, celebrate the important relationships in our lives, or pray for guidance.  Periodic or seasonal rituals can help us pay attention to the cycles in nature and in ourselves.  Other rituals can help us celebrate good fortune or recognize suffering and help us find support.  Rituals marking passages help us to understand changes, help us to leave the old and find courage to embrace the new.

Why bother with any of this when our lives are already so full?  Because ritual like this energizes us, connects us with all of life, and strengthens us. The ritual forces us to slow down, become silent and reflective.  Vague feelings that threaten to overwhelm us get discovered and discharged.  We see our lives from a broader perspective, helping us see patterns and discern meaning.  We set intentions for the future.  We feel heard, and receive the support of others.  Afterwards we feel lighter because the vague energy of fear or grief or confusion or excitement or uncertainty swirling around us has shifted and we now have more clarity and more energy to go forward with our lives.  Ritual reminds us of what we value and how we wish to live, and that our lives are important.

If you would like to experience some ritual like this and learn how to create your own rituals to bring reverence, gratitude and healing into holidays, personal milestones and everyday life, you may be interested in the workshop Creating Ceremonies of Connection.

Check here to learn about upcoming rituals and celebrations.

In leading a ritual, Anne has the rare ability to balance three attributes: to be centered in her own self, to intuit the needs of the participants and to guide the ritual forward.

Mary Samuels, retired Unitarian-Universalist minister

What’s New?

Anne on the radio

Listen to me talk about "Graceful Eccentricity, Intuition and Tarot" on the radio (about 15 minutes).  Here is the link.  My portion begins about 33 minutes in.

Reflections and news

My reflections and news contain personal reflections, poems, photos, quotations, a bit of my artwork, links to things I love, and news and information about my intuitive guidance practice.

Butterfly Seeds: June 2023 reflections and news

Emerging: May 2023 reflections and news

April in Minnesota: April 2023 reflections and news

In Between: March 2023 reflections and news

Wakening Imagination: February 2023 reflections and news

Let's Color! Meditative Fun February 2023

Inching into the New Year: January 2023 reflections and news

December Tidbits: December 2022 reflections and news

Musing on Change: November reflections and news

Tidbits: October reflections and news

Change and Release: September reflections and news

Touching the Real: August reflections and news

Poetry in July: July reflections and news

The Same World: June reflections and news

Stretching Into Life: May reflections and news

Waiting for Spring: April reflections and news

Imagination and the Front Lines: March reflections and news

Miscellaneous Musings: February reflections and news

Wanna Color? Meditative Fun, mid January 2022

Winter Whispers: January 2022 reflections and news

In Between: December reflections and news

Eclipse Adventure: November reflections and news

October Miscellany: October reflections and news

A Little Love: September reflections and news

Art, Life and the Moon: August reflections and news

The Whirl of Late Spring: May reflections and news

Foolish: April reflections and news

Venturing Forth in Early Spring: March reflections and news

For the Love of Flowers: February reflections and news

A Fresh Year: January reflections and news

Time for some Coloring? Meditative fun, mid January

Fire and Ice: December reflections and news

You Don't Have To: November refections and news

We Are Inevitable: late October reflections and news

Harvesting Hope? early October reflections and news

Wanna Color? Some Meditative Fun

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Welcome to Whisperings

Whisperings Water Image“There is a place where words are born of silence,
A place where the whispers of the heart arise.”

— Rumi

I will ponder here what whispers to me in the silence.  I’d love for you to whisper back; maybe we will all get clearer—or maybe, like in the old kids’ game of “telephone” we will end up somewhere else entirely (which would be fun too)

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