Getting married at the beach?  Mother Nature always leaves messages for us. Unfortunately, we don't always know how to read them. What messages can you find in seashells? The answers are important if you're having a beach wedding.  Resources mentioned: Ocean Oracle: What Seashells Reveal about Our True Nature by Michelle Hanson Sea Magic: Connecting with the Ocean's Energy by Sandra Kynes

Ritual Recipes

The Language of Shells - Beach Wedding Rituals

Renewing your wedding vows can be a powerful ceremony You'll remember the happiest times in your marriage. You'll also remember the most painful. This episode offers two vow renewal rituals. One of them, The Growing Flame, can easily be adapted for any personal vow you make to yourself. 

Rituals to Renew Your Wedding Vows

Did you fall in love in Paris? Or Podunk? Use that info to personalize your wedding ceremony. Use that same info to create a ritual for a birthday or retirement party. Use it for a student who is leaving home to study abroad.  As often happens, this ritual was inspired by one of "my" couples, Thomas and Raffaele. They shared their first kiss in Rome's ancient Garden of Oranges on the Aventino, one of the city's seven hills. The men made their wedding vows on an oathing stone hand-painted with orange blossoms.  Not getting married? This ritual can inspire a daily exercise in gratitude. 

The 7 Hills of Rome Wedding Ritual

Imagine that you're a parent and your child is leaving home for college, or for a job, or some other grand adventure. You've equipped your son or daughter with all the necessities and you're excited to see your child take those first big steps away from home. But something doesn't feel right. This is a milestone in your young adult's life and in your own. Yet it feels empty. What's missing? A ritual! 

Is Your Child Leaving Home?

The falcon is the consummate hunter. It teaches us how to make progress by blending speed and focus. The falcon wants you to see beyond your limits. The hawk's medicine is inward and deep. It wants you to see your life from a broad perspective and let go of unnecessary baggage. The hawk awakens us to the vision we have inside us.  This is the 3rd in a series of how the magic and mythology of birds of prey can be used to create safe and simple rituals. See episode 43 for the Eagle, and episode 44 for the Owl.  For full shownotes, go to RitualRecipes.net

Spiritual Medicine of the Hawk and Falcon

Imagine an owl. Did you feel a sense of apprehension or foreboding? No surprise. Owls have long been associated with death. Or, did you picture Harry Potter's owl, Hedwig? Beliefs about owls are contradictory because the owl is the symbol of death, and wisdom, and magic.  At the heart of owl medicine is the ability to discern the truth.  In this episode, you'll learn how to use a paper template of a feather in celebrating baby blessings and birthdays, funerals and memorials, and how to find answers in your dreams.  This episode is the second in a series about birds of prey and how they can inspire rituals. 

Owl Medicine for the Spirit

Central to all birds of prey is their association with death and the cycle of life. This episode is the first in a series of how birds of prey can inspire rituals for a variety of situations: funerals  and memorials, projects that require focus or the ability to see the big picture, and life events that require courage. As Lesley Morrison writes in her book, The Healing Wisdom of Birds, at the heart of eagle medicine is reaching the place where we realize our freedom to soar. This episode shares the gifts, challenges, history and mythology of the eagle in various cultures from the ancient world to now. For example, an Irish tradition says Adam and Eve are alive today, having shape-shifted as two eagles that live in Galway. The eagle's ability to shape-shift explains why two eagles, formerly two Druids who changed themselves into eagles in order to protect the grave of King Arthur.  See RitualRecipes.net for a list of references used in this episode and for information on Zita's guest appearance on the paranormal podcast "See You On The Other Side."    

Eagle Medicine for the Spirit

Discover your secret sound. Take a lesson from crows about adapting, from parrots about diplomacy, and from dolphins about communicating with other species. Build an altar to the element of air. Visit RitualRecipes.net for more details. 

Rituals for Podcasters, Speakers, Storytellers, and Singers

To a writer, the blank screen can be exciting or daunting. Find helpful rituals with magic pens, stones, and draw on the special qualities of lions, ants, cardinals, and whales.  This episode also looks back in history at cultural changes brought about centuries ago by the Black Death, the invention of the printing press, and why having books became a status symbol.   (New podcast music by Hal Aaron Cohen! See HalAaron.com)

Rituals for Writers

Did your grandmother's house have a parlor that was used to care for the dead? Mine did. When the time comes, which do you want: a funeral home or a home funeral? Burial or cremation? Fancy casket or cardboard box? Ashes in an urn or scattered someplace special? Who have you talked to about what you want? No one? I'm not surprised. Death hasn't been a popular topic of conversation -- until now.  This episode explores the national death-positive movement through Death Cafes, Death Doulas, Speaking Grief, the National Home Funeral Alliance, and more. It also includes "The Memory Box." That's a funeral ritual I created to help anyone, especially children, find a way to grieve.  Mentioned in the episode: National Home Funeral Alliance  (This is where you’ll find the Quick Guide to Home Funerals) Speaking Grief    Death Cafe   The International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA)   Mary’s Place (A Center for Grieving Children and Families)   Death’s Summer Coat: What the History of Death and Dying Teaches Us About Life and Living by Brandy Schillace The Celebrant Foundation & Institute    This episode is the 3rd in a series related to funerals. Others are: Ritual Recipes Episode 38 / Funerals for Pets Ritual Recipes Episode 39 / Funerals for the Death of a Marriage  

Home Funerals - Your Own Funeral

Most couples don't get married expecting to get divorced. But when a marriage is dissolved, can ritual help the couple move on? Rocky Road is a marriage maintenance ritual. Untying the Knot is a funeral ritual for the death of a marriage.  As heretical as it might sound, I don't believe that all marriages are meant to last. I believe we're meant to learn from those relationships and share what we've learned with others.  The two rituals in this episode are more complicated than my usual. They're worth the effort. If you're going through a divorce, recognizing the gifts hidden in these rituals may keep your heart from becoming bitter. That's important. Because someday you might want to take the risk again. When that happens, you'll be ready.   Hear personal stories from three people who went through a painful divorce. One is a bride from the first wedding I officiated.  One is podcast coach Dave Jackson. And one is my own story. In case you're wondering, we're all doing just fine. 

Funerals for the Death of a Marriage

Over 11 million dogs and cats die in the United States every year. Because of the close bond people have with their pets, the people are often referred to as "pet parents." So, what do we do when a beloved pet dies? How do we celebrate the life that gave unconditional love?  The first pet cemetery in the U.S. was created in 1970. The burials were held at night because "clients were too ashamed to be seen treating an animal that well." Today, there are approximately 700 pet cemeteries in the U.S. If you've been asked to lead a funeral for a pet, or if your own pet has died and you want to create a funeral -- whether public or private -- what can you do?  If your pet is being euthanized, what kind of ritual can you have for the moment of transition? What might your vet think?       

Funerals for Pets

She's a woman of "a certain age." Our culture thinks those words are better than saying "she's old." Well, I'm a woman of a certain age. I'm certain of who I am, certain of what I want, and certain of what I have to offer the world. I'm 72 and I'm a Crone. I claimed that title in a ritual called "Croning."  A croning can never be like a surprise birthday party or a married-at-first-sight reality show. When a woman decides to claim the title of Crone, she needs to prepare herself. Doing so could take a full year, or more.  There are many kinds of croning rituals. The one I created is detailed in this episode.   Mentioned in this episode: Deeply Into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Passage by Ronald L. Grimes Crones Don't Whine: Concentrated Wisdom for Juicy Women, by Jean Shinoda Bolen , MD The Grandmothers, an oracle deck, by Megan Garcia

Episode 37 - Croning Ritual to Celebrate Aging

At 9 years old, I didn't care that my mother wasn't funny like Lucille Ball, or that she didn't wear circle skirts and twirl around the house like Loretta Young, or that she was no longer pretty like Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke. I wanted my mother to be brave, like Annie Oakley. Not long after Rosa Parks sat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in the whites-only section, I found out how brave my mother really was...and that Black Lives Matter.  This episode contains a simple ritual I call "Colored." Done with a group, the ritual can open the door to conversations about race.  Mentioned in the episode:  The 10 must-watch documentaries about Civil Rights, compiled by PBS.   Speak up! Use this link to contact your state legislators. 

Colored - A BLM Ritual

Do you believe in fairies? I do, but not in the way you might expect. My childhood ideas have changed. Now I think of fairies as thought forms of good energy -- helpful spirits, invisible, accessible. Hear about Ho Hsien Ku, "the immortal woman," one of the 8 fairies in the Chinese legend. Learn how to invite the fairies into your world, how to connect, what to offer. And, most of all, how to see them in the mirror.  Mentioned: "Spirits of the Earth: A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols, Stories and Ceremonies" by Bobby Lake-Thom, Medicine Grizzly Bear Mentioned:  "Enchantment of the Faerie Realm: Communicate with Nature Spirits & Elementals" by Ted Andrews

Fairies - How I See Them

A podcast that celebrates the milestones of life and the cycles of nature, one ritual at a time. Are you a woo-woo woman? Getting married? Having a baby? Launching a project? Dissolving a relationship? Mourning a loved one? I have a ritual for that. Ready to align your spirit to the seasons and celebrate holidays without the commercial angle? I have a ritual for that. As a ritualist, certified Life-Cycle Celebrant and Connecticut wedding officiant, I draw from 20 years of experience in both public and private ceremonies. Sharing what I know is like sharing a recipe -- a Ritual Recipe.

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Ritual Recipes

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