How to Design Your Own Ceremony or Ritual

How to Design Your Own Ceremony or Ritual

A dear friend asked me if I had any advice about doing something special and significant for this weekend’s Full Moon Eclipse.  I sure do have some methods and suggestions I would be delighted to share.  It is such a good question, I wanted to share the answer publicly.
 
The primary thing about designing your personal ceremony is Empowerment.  Whatever you do, whatever you create is is perfectly perfect and an expression of your unique needs for the moment.  Authentic ceremony looks different every time.  It is your intention, the energy and meaning you put behind it that are important.  The outward expression is simply a token of your Inner Space.
 
The kind of ceremony you chose depends on where you are, who you are with, what tools and resources you have available, and in what kind of weather and climate you find yourself.  Some tried and true expressions of ceremony are:
Earth – Use a crystal or some stones, sand, leaves.  Build an altar or dedicate a sacred shelf or ledge.
Water – take a bath, place a bowl of water under the moonlight to charge, make sun tea or moon tea to drink, charge some water with your energy, intention or a crystal, run a fountain
Fire – light a candle, build a bonfire, light the wood stove, string up lights.  Create some art, infuse some beauty to feast on with your eyes, hang a tapestry or painting.  Make beauty.
Air – breathe with the natural world around you, get outside or open a window, breathe to connect yourself to the heart of the universe, through your own heart and lungs, use a heart entrainment exercise (Hold a feeling of gratitude or love or abundance or whatever you want to call in in your spiritual heart space.  Keep infusing that feeling into your heart space and into your heart torus magnetic field.  Invite all of the cells of your body to entrain/attune to this vibration.
Space – Inner Space – connect to your deepest longings, intentions, heart and soul desires.  Dream big, and include all the lofty grandiose ideas.  Outer Space - Place yourself carefully – mind your surroundings.  Chose a spot that is safe, cozy and receptive to your needs.  Use astronomical alignments to create a powerful alignment with the cosmos (like full or new moons, solstices and equinoxes, eclipses, planetary or cosmic alignments).
 
For this particular Full Moon Lunar Eclipse – it feels like the energies are preparing us for BIG CHANGES and UPGRADES. 
 
A lunar eclipse brings the earth right in between the moon and sun.  In fact, the shadow we see on the moon is cast by the earth.  If we use the metaphor that the sun is our spark, our currency of energy.  The moon is our deep inner reflection, the feelings of our heart and soul.  The earth is our daily structure – of schedule, of mindset, of things we do often.  This eclipse is asking us….what “earth things” are overshadowing the inner longings of your heart and soul?  What daily patterns or habits keep you from using your time for self care?  What mindsets or repeating thoughts do you have about yourself that are creating limitation?
 
Create a ceremony or ritual for yourself, that examines your shadow, that delves deep into your Inner Space, that honors who you are, how magnificent and powerful you are.  It can be as simple as lighting a candle and sitting for one minute in reflection.  It can be elaborate dance around the fire.  It can be constructing an altar or building a crystal grid.  Let your creativity flow.
 
For my local friends, we may spend this eclipse shoveling ice chunks falling from the sky.  It all works!