Why Ceremony?

For millennia, ceremony has been important for human beings to celebrate the rites of passage of their lives. 

It is literally a deeply vital and very defining force at the core of the human experience – much like our inherent ability to dream the world into being.  With ceremony, we are aided and guided to play an active role in making a successful journey through the thresholds of life:  birth, anniversaries (like birthdays), graduation, adulthood, marriage, new jobs, new careers, parenthood, eldership, retirement, and so on… all significant beginnings and endings. Even the greatest journey of them all:  death.

Active involvement in a ceremony supports us in stepping beyond our own individual emotions and awareness of self. 

We open to a greater relationship with the powerful nourishing forces of life.

This relationship allows us to experience a deeper connection with all those who have come before us and those who will come after us.

We begin with an invocation to the beneficial forces of our universe – aspects of Divine Source, if you will - thus creating a sacred space to hold the ceremony. In this envelope, or container of opened sacred space, everyone is protected and anything is possible. This provides a most ideal situation to anchor a transformative experience!

We can create sacred space and summon the healing power of nature anywhere on earth. 

To support you in navigating gracefully through life’s transitions, I am available to host private ceremonies for communities, families and individuals, tailored to your specific spiritual beliefs and needs. 

As I hold sacred space for you, one of the central guiding questions that will be asked, whose answer will deeply support us in our work together, is:

“How do we allow the actual expression of your life circumstances now to provide the curricula and transformative framework for ceremony?”

I very much look forward to answering that question together with you.

Contact me to learn more or to make an appointment:

Call 931-588-1823

or email me at Stephen.PureRevitalizingEnergy@gmail.com.

For a showcase example of ceremony, enjoy the following:

The Ayni Despacho Ceremony

For countless hundreds of years, the Laika, (high shaman or wisdomkeepers from the Q'ero lineage of the Andes), have used the "ayni despacho ceremony".  Central to their cosmology is the understanding that the universe is benign, and only seems predatory when we are out of balance.  They believe the world mirrors back our own state of ayni or right relationship.  Coming back into ayni allows the universe to work on our behalf once again, restoring the flow of synchronicity.  The despacho is a gift or giveaway, working with the sacred energy of reciprocity and will allow you to journey through a process of reestablishing perfect ayni or protection.

When we work in ceremony, such as the ayni despacho, we work at the level of the soul.  A despacho is similar to a mandala or sacred creation in that it holds symbolic elements and the prayers of the participants.  As a shaman adds the elements to the despacho, the vibration of the participants and the group raises.  The despacho becomes a living prayer that brings energy shifts and healing.

Traditionally, in the Andes, an ayni despacho ceremony is performed individually or communally after each earth cycle to renew and re-imprint the powers of nature on the luminous body.  This brings the shaman and the participants into harmonious relationship with heaven and earth, aligning the three worlds - the Ukhupacha (lower world - the past), the Kaypacha (middle world - the present), and the Hanaqpacha (upper world - the future).  All is brought to harmony and right relationship with the archetypical organizing principles of the Universe as well.

For the ayni despacho, the shaman begins with a large piece of white paper that will serve as a "wrapping" for all the offerings.  All ingredients have significance and each receives prayer before being placed on the paper.  Coca leaves or bay leaves are often used to hold prayers.  Various sweets are added to bring sweetness and love to the prayers.  Corn, barley and other grains are used to signify the active nourishment of the participants and the Pachamama (the Earth).  Many other ingredients, both traditional, as well as ones specific to the participants situation, are also added, with prayer, to the despacho.  Space is given to explore the energetic inner workings and symbolism of each element that is offered to the despacho.  Once all ingredients have been added, the shaman carefully folds the bundle into the shape of a square "gift" and ties it.

The despacho is then buried in the Pachamama (for slow, steady results), burned in ceremony at a fire (for quicker transformation) or fed to naturally running waters ceremonially.  Either way, the prayers are now with Spirit, calling in new possibilities for one's life.  

As you work with a despacho, you will notice how each time is unique and will become the living embodiment of your landscape of life. It will allow you to make the shifts you want at the soul level with ease and grace, and ultimately, support a deep, comprehensive, and activated awareness of your limitless connection to the source of all creation.  The despacho ceremony, in its tremendously exquisite beauty, is a journey to the soul of nature with the deeply nourishing assistance of the spirit world.  The ayni despacho is a powerful way to bring balance to our world at this time!

In Beauty,

Stephen

POEM:  I Must Awaken

by Stephen M. Feely

Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved

Because LOVE knows no end,

it can never begin,

it’s already here,

I must awaken.

Because LOVE knows no boundaries,

it can never be contained,

it’s everywhere,

I must awaken.

Because LOVE feeds the soul,

it can never be silenced,

it sings though everything,

I must awaken.