Spring Celebration Ceremony
May 2008
Articles
By Marilyn Keffer
The practice of shamanism invites us on a magical journey. It opens the door to earth-based spiritual pathways where we can connect with nature and awaken our inner knowing. It is about healing our imbalances and having more pleasure in our lives.
Nature offers the greatest inspiration for healing and balance. In the spring, the waters of Grandmother Earth thaw and run freely, the earth awakens, the breezes freshen, and the sun brings new warmth. The elements of life call on us to awaken and release the frozen places within ourselves and to be refreshed with new and vibrant life. The following Spring Celebration Ceremony, done outdoors in nature, is a powerful way to clear away imbalances and refresh your spirit and your life!
Go to a place where there is a moving stream or river or fresh-water lake. Walk briskly. Allow your steps to become fluid and free. Feel the energy move inside you and allow the growing warmth to loosen your body. As you walk, bring your attention down to your feet. Feel the planting of your heels and the flexing of your toes with each step that you take on Mother Earth. Imagine that you can see the spark of energy passing between the Earth and your body with each step. Focus on that spark as you walk. Allow the earth to give you energy. Take the energy inside you.
Ask the Earth to teach you how to have more energy and more strength in your body. Still your mind, continue to walk, and listen for the answer, which may come to you as a thought, a mental image, a picture, or even as a voice you hear in your mind. Take the answer inside you and make a commitment to yourself to carry it out. Notice which parts of your body are in need of energy right now and with your hands gently massage the energy of the Earth right into those places. Feel your body grow stronger and fuller, as you now walk towards the body of water.
When you reach the edge of the water, allow your gaze to follow the ripples and merge with the free, clear, simple movement there. Envision the energy of the moving water sweeping through your veins and cells, clearing away all the blocks in your feelings and emotions. Every time you sense a stuck place inside of you, speak whatever needs to be released and let the blocked feelings flow right down through your gaze and into the moving water. The water will help you. It just wants to flow. The release may sound like, “I release my pain over my lost relationship” or “I release my inertia in starting my new project”. Let the waters take it away. See it go. Feel the movement inside you. Continue until you feel lighter and cleaner. Ask the water what you can do to sustain this clear, flowing movement inside of your feelings and emotions. Listen with your heart. Make a commitment to yourself to keep this movement alive in your feelings.
Now bring your attention to the way the air touches your skin, to the way it enters your body, fills your lungs, and invigorates your being. Take some deep, full breaths. Feel the rising of your chest and expansion of your belly as the clean spring air fills you. Let the freshness of the awakening grass, plants, rocks, wildlife, and other expressions of life around you enter into your lungs. Feel your interconnection with life.
As you breathe deeply, ask the air what you can do this spring to create more new life. What do you want to use this wonderful gift of air and life to create? It may be something like preparing a special celebration meal to share with friends or getting your bike out for a ride, reconnecting with an old friend, or learning a new skill. See what comes. Make a commitment to yourself to carry this new project all the way through. And let it feed you with new life.
Finally, bring your awareness to the strengthening springtime sun as it warms your body and spirit. Feel the gift of your life. See what prayers you would like to offer up to the Great Mystery, by any name you know it. You might pray in gratitude or in self-forgiveness or in love of life.
Marilyn Keffer is a co-founder of the Institute of Shamanic Medicine and an instructor in the Shamanic Coaching Program offered in Ottawa. For more information go to www.shamanicmedicine.ca
By Marilyn KefferThe practice of shamanism invites us on a magical journey. It opens the door to earth-based spiritual pathways where we can connect with nature and awaken our inner knowing. It is about healing our imbalances and having more pleasure in our lives.
Nature offers the greatest inspiration for healing and balance. In the spring, the waters of Grandmother Earth thaw and run freely, the earth awakens, the breezes freshen, and the sun brings new warmth. The elements of life call on us to awaken and release the frozen places within ourselves and to be refreshed with new and vibrant life. The following Spring Celebration Ceremony, done outdoors in nature, is a powerful way to clear away imbalances and refresh your spirit and your life!
Go to a place where there is a moving stream or river or fresh-water lake. Walk briskly. Allow your steps to become fluid and free. Feel the energy move inside you and allow the growing warmth to loosen your body. As you walk, bring your attention down to your feet. Feel the planting of your heels and the flexing of your toes with each step that you take on Mother Earth. Imagine that you can see the spark of energy passing between the Earth and your body with each step. Focus on that spark as you walk. Allow the earth to give you energy. Take the energy inside you.
Ask the Earth to teach you how to have more energy and more strength in your body. Still your mind, continue to walk, and listen for the answer, which may come to you as a thought, a mental image, a picture, or even as a voice you hear in your mind. Take the answer inside you and make a commitment to yourself to carry it out. Notice which parts of your body are in need of energy right now and with your hands gently massage the energy of the Earth right into those places. Feel your body grow stronger and fuller, as you now walk towards the body of water.
When you reach the edge of the water, allow your gaze to follow the ripples and merge with the free, clear, simple movement there. Envision the energy of the moving water sweeping through your veins and cells, clearing away all the blocks in your feelings and emotions. Every time you sense a stuck place inside of you, speak whatever needs to be released and let the blocked feelings flow right down through your gaze and into the moving water. The water will help you. It just wants to flow. The release may sound like, “I release my pain over my lost relationship” or “I release my inertia in starting my new project”. Let the waters take it away. See it go. Feel the movement inside you. Continue until you feel lighter and cleaner. Ask the water what you can do to sustain this clear, flowing movement inside of your feelings and emotions. Listen with your heart. Make a commitment to yourself to keep this movement alive in your feelings.
Now bring your attention to the way the air touches your skin, to the way it enters your body, fills your lungs, and invigorates your being. Take some deep, full breaths. Feel the rising of your chest and expansion of your belly as the clean spring air fills you. Let the freshness of the awakening grass, plants, rocks, wildlife, and other expressions of life around you enter into your lungs. Feel your interconnection with life.
As you breathe deeply, ask the air what you can do this spring to create more new life. What do you want to use this wonderful gift of air and life to create? It may be something like preparing a special celebration meal to share with friends or getting your bike out for a ride, reconnecting with an old friend, or learning a new skill. See what comes. Make a commitment to yourself to carry this new project all the way through. And let it feed you with new life.
Finally, bring your awareness to the strengthening springtime sun as it warms your body and spirit. Feel the gift of your life. See what prayers you would like to offer up to the Great Mystery, by any name you know it. You might pray in gratitude or in self-forgiveness or in love of life.
Marilyn Keffer is a co-founder of the Institute of Shamanic Medicine and an instructor in the Shamanic Coaching Program offered in Ottawa. For more information go to www.shamanicmedicine.ca