Dec 3, 2007

Right Place, Right Time

I’ve been a bit behind on my blog this fall, but nothing like getting asked to be on Paulo Coelho’s blog to get me back to it (check it out!) What an amazing gift! Here I am, starting out this year, trying to get the word out about who I am and what I do as Ceremonialist. To be offered this kind of connection by someone I admire so much is totally heartening, amazingly supportive and just what I need.

So I got to thinking about who has helped me get to this point where I can be in the right place at the right time in this way. There have been many guides in my life to whom I owe a great deal, and one of the most inspiring to me has been my teacher for the past 7 years, Kathleen Leeson, RH.

Kathleen is a Shamanic Healer and Clinical Herbalist who works in Ottawa. I started seeing her in one-on-one appointments years ago when I was sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. As I began recovering, I started taking herbal courses with her to learn about the incredible plants that were aiding me in transforming my health. The Wisdom Of Plants Herbal Apprenticeship Program taught about both the physical and spiritual healing of Nature's green beings. After several years, Kathleen created a 4-year Intensive Program about finding your Life’s Purpose and learning how to fulfill upon it. I am graduating this year, having accepted my Soul Contract as Ceremonialist and having spent this time learning not only about Ceremony but also about how to engage with my own energies especially discerning when I am in the flow of co-creative energies or coming from destructive energies. In this way I have become adept at my own Conscious Process and come through where I need to be on my own behalf and in service to the Whole.

I believe that teachers and guides appear to us when we are truly seeking them. Looking back over my time as Kathleen’s student and seeing how transformed my life is from where I started, I know that Kathleen has been exactly the right Teacher for me. Kathleen is so real, so committed to Wholeness, Healing and Transformation that no matter what challenges I have faced, she has lovingly held me in the Truth until I learned how to do it for myself. That, my friends, is a Teacher. May we all be so fortunate and may we all come to embody and share our lessons, for the benefit of the Whole and the next seven generations.

Sep 30, 2007

Why I do what I do!

I have been reading “The Witch of Portobello” by Paulo Coelho (2007) and I came across this perfect quote, which sums up why I feel so strongly about the work I do as Ceremonialist:
“Our time on this earth is sacred, and we should celebrate every moment. The importance of this has been completely forgotten: even religious holidays have been transformed into opportunities to go to the beach or the park or skiing. There are no more rituals. Ordinary actions can no longer be transformed into manifestations of the sacred.” (pg 11)
With my work, I am choosing to be a part of reviving the lost and forgotten opportunities and making them available again as manifestation of the sacred. I feel very blessed to do so and look forward to meeting those who want these ways in their lives.

Aug 13, 2007

And Now, a Pagan Handfasting!

Another day, another one-of-a-kind ceremony. Yesterday was the Pagan Handfasting Ceremony for a couple who had gotten legally married the year before in another part of the country and who wanted to do it up in style in their hometown on their one-year anniversary.
The bride is very practiced in the ways of ceremony – a veritable mistress/master. So for her day, she selected a smorgasbord of rituals – everything from her guests calling in the directions (a standard Pagan ritual), to a six-cord handfasting (for those of you who are unfamiliar, the couple is – temporarily – bound together with cords, as the origin of the phrase “tying the knot”), to personalized vows for the exchange of rings, to drinking out of a chalice as part of the wedding ceremony.
Because the couple was so grounded in their beliefs and true to themselves, it was remarkable for me to be with them in the intimate space of the inner circle (the outer circle was about 75 guests) as they recited their vows. What love and honesty. And again, they did it their own way, which is the only way to do it, in my way of thinking. Not a guest among them will forget the day, which also later included Sacred Circle Dancing and Fire Pit Jumping, followed by an al fresco meal in the nearby apple orchard. A day to remember!

Aug 5, 2007

A Beautiful Wedding


The wedding I officiated yesterday was AMAZING. The ceremony consisted only of the couple, the blended family of their 5 children and 2 witnesses, all on a gorgeous summer morning overlooking their rolling farmland in the Gatineau Hills. Honestly, you couldn’t ask for a more perfect setting in which to get married.
It was a simple ceremony, incorporating her Earth-Honouring spirituality, his Chinese background and their new family unit. We had music they chose, one of the older kids helped me with the opening and when it was time, the couple read vows they had hand-picked and had me edit to fit their beliefs. It was so intimate and so special. After the couple’s vows, each of them then took vows for each of their new step-children and gave them a necklace as a token of their new parenthood. The ceremony ended with them dancing as a family to a song they all loved and then going off to a family picnic.
The best thing for me was that the whole ceremony was exactly true to who they are – all the words, all the actions, the setting, everything fitted the very fibre of the participants. Nothing contrived and everything authentic and wonderous. How fun this is!

Jul 10, 2007

Funeral Rites


I have just had the privilege of officiating at my first funeral. Some friends have wondered if they should ask “Did it go well?” Well, yes, thank you, it went beautifully. I don’t know about you, but I have been to some BAD funerals – ones where barely anything is revealed about the person who died and you feel like this funeral was exactly the same as the one that took place 30 minutes previous except the name is different.
It is essential to mark a death well. The person well grieved is the person well loved. I mean it really is a privilege to meet a family and have them share their stories about the person they loved so much. It is an honour for me to hold space for them heal and grieve together and then to take their sharings and craft a funeral with personally meaningful rituals and a eulogy that honours a life.
I believe that it is a calling and a gift well offered when the family members told me that they thought the service was beautiful and exactly what they wanted. His death marks the beginning of their new life without him and it is key for them to have beauty with them in that time of transition.

Jun 22, 2007

Happy Summer Solstice!


Happy Summer Solstice! As part of a Council of Women, I co-organized the First Annual Women’s Summer Solstice Gathering, held this year near Low, Quebec. A whole day preparing for and then offering a Healing Ceremony to the Earth and the Web of Life. The Ceremony was originally taught to our Ceremonialist for the day, my teacher Kathleen Leeson, by Brooke Medicine Eagle, a Native American Elder.
12 of us gathered for the day, to touch the Earth with love. We began with some introductions and then chose ballots which split us into one of four groups, one for each of the elements and its corresponding direction: East/Air, South/Fire, West/Water, North/Earth. We then danced a Dance of the Sacred Feminine, a dance I had a dream about 8 months earlier, and one that I brought into form with my Sacred Circle Dance teacher, Linnea Rowlatt.
After bringing our energy together in such a way, we began our group work of getting to know more about the element and direction we were working with on this day. I led the group of the Element of Earth and the Direction of the North. Our group was working with the correspondences of winter, the elder age, feminine energies, groundedness, the physical and the spiritual. I then led a Healing Ceremony with the Earth for the group. Following that, we met to learn the group songs and to choose our group’s way of entering the collective healing dance of the evening’s collective Healing Ceremony.
That evening, on the longest night of the year, as the sun was drawing down in the West, all of the groups came together, offering gifts and expressions of each direction and element, and together we amassed healing energy and offered it to the Earth. We danced and feasted and laughed and most importantly offered healing in service to the Earth – what a glorious day!

May 2, 2007

The Invitation

Whether in ceremonies or in everyday life, we all need inspiration. A great place to find this is in books. One of my favourite inspirational Canadian writers is Oriah Mountain Dreamer. This is a quote from her bestselling book The Invitation about celebration:
"We are having a special meal to celebrate the end of my sons' school term. You can tell it is special because we are eating in the dining room. The table has been set with the Blue Willow china - not really "good" china, but a different pattern and less chipped than what is used daily. I am in the last-minute frenzy of trying to get everything from the kitchen to the table while it is stil hot...Suddenly Taras is on his feet, grinning and moving toward me from the opposite end of the table. "God, you look beautiful!" he says...His unexpected exuberance makes me believe him. He starts singing the wordless melody of the Blue Danube waltz and dancing around the table pulling me with him as I halfheartedly protest that the food will get cold...Joy finds us and lifts us in ordinary moments like this, if we let it." (The Invitation, pages 48-49)

Celebrants in the News

I was trained as a Celebrant, first by In-Sight Books as a Funeral Celebrant, and then by the Celebrant USA Foundation and Institute, the organization mentioned in the article, with a speciality in weddings. Because I have also had training in Ceremony in the Celtic shamanic tradition with Kathleen Leeson, RH, and other shamanic studies which I can bring into my work, I call myself a Ceremonialist rather than a Celebrant. However, because my orientation is in service of the client's needs, I can also do totally secular ceremonies as well and therefore can act as a Celebrant. The following article is a great illustration of how Ceremony can be a part of anyone's life and how Celebrants particularly work to create a vast number of personalized ceremonies.


Click on the photo to enlarge it and read the article.

Feb 28, 2007

February's Imbolc Altar & Ceremony


This is my personal Imbolc altar.

Imbolc, also known as Candlemas, is the Celtic celebration that took place this year on February 2. The Imbolc time of year is about looking at what “seeds” you are planting in your Life. It is the time of inceiving and conceiving of what you want to create in your year ahead with the Intention of nurturing and sustaining these plans in the garden of your own life. This celebration is also about the returning rays of the Sun and that now is the time to nourish and give fuel to the unique light that you are in the world.

This was also the first ceremony of my practicum this year and with the snowstorm going on outside, we had a cozy group of 6 participants! In part of the ceremony, we did a ritual where we literally planted seeds in the pot of Earth in the center of the altar, speaking aloud that which we are Intending to sustain as commitments in our lives this year. The pot and the candles surrounding it were all in white, like the snowy outdoors. I had a picture of the ceremonial altar, but the photo didn’t turn out!

Instead, I offer you a look at my own. I use my personal altar to align to looking at my life symbolically. In this case, the eight candles around the center symbolize the eight turns of the Celtic Year Wheel at the same time as each of the directions (North, South, East, West) and the cardinal points in between. I already have committed to co-creating ceremonies at each of these times in the year. The candle in the center is a symbol of me. The “altar jewelry” is for the seeds of Intention and the fun to be had, and the artwork on the upper part is about the Cycle of Life. (It is also a photo of the quilting extravaganza of a local fabric artist and teacher, Liane Thiry-Smith.) Isn’t it beautiful?

Feb 10, 2007

Welcome Winterluders!

If I met you today at my Winterlude Booth, welcome! It was nice talking to you and I'm glad you came to check out my site. Come by in a couple weeks when I'll have photos up of ceremonies that I've officiated, the seasonal changes I make to my altar, and more thoughts on ceremonies and how you can help make ritual an important part of your life either with my help or on your own initiative.

What is Ceremony?

Ceremony is a time and space consciously intended to be apart from ordinary life, in which we create connection, to ourselves and to the cycle of Life. Every culture in the world has ceremonies that acknowledge and incorporate the major life events of those within the community, whether it be wedding vows, funeral rites, coming-of-age rituals, or anything else they culturally value and consider important to mark collectively.

What is the Purpose of Ceremony?

Traditionally, there are 3 main reasons for having ceremonies.
1) For Community Building – cultivating and deepening relationships
between people to create more harmonious and sustainable communities.
2) For Earth-Honouring – consciously experiencing our lives as part of the cycle of Life in order to create connection with our place in the natural world.
3) For Healing – coming together with a specific Intention to create more Well-Being and Wholeness.
Any of these Intentions may be
incorporated into the ceremony you would envision. Traditionally, the Shamans in the community Journey for the appropriate Intent and form of ceremony that is best-for-the-whole. Journeying in this way is my specialty and experience, which you are invited to include for your unique ceremony.

Weddings: What can I expect from working with you as a Ceremonialist?

Initially, I meet with the parties involved to find out who you are and what you envision. What happens next depends on the kind of ceremony you are looking to create.

For weddings, I would meet with you for a free no-obligation 45-minute consultation. At this point, we would look at your ideas and discuss various possibilities that I can contribute based on my expertise. At the first consultation I give you an estimate of the time involved to create your personalized ceremony and provide you with a quote of my fee based on my rate of $50/hour.

If you decide to hire me, I would leave you with a questionnaire to learn more about you and based on what you share I would begin drafting a ceremony. You can expect about 3 drafts for you to review and edit, but we can do more if required. I can do a rehearsal and I can also co-ordinate with the other members of the day, ie. photographers, musicians, etc. I would also give you a written copy of your unique ceremony as a keepsake.

Funerals and Other Ceremonies: What can I expect from working with you as a Ceremonialist?

Initially, I meet with the parties involved to find out who you are and what you envision. What happens next depends on the kind of ceremony you are looking to create.

For funerals, I would give you a quote over the phone based on your needs and we would hold a family meeting to share about your loved one. From your stories, we would create an appropriate form of tribute. I would also then officiate at the funeral, and conduct a graveside service or internment if needed.

For other types of ceremonies, I can offer any or all of the following: I would be responsible for hosting the ritual, guiding people’s experiences and assisting anyone who is participating. I would bring you ideas about structure and content, and I would give you a quote based on those services contracted. In all cases, I create ceremonies based on extensive consultation with you, until we arrive at a ceremony which reflects your experience of your life.

Ceremony Packages

Here are the different kinds of ceremony packages I offer:

1) Personalized Ceremonial Consultation - I act as a constultant to craft a unique ceremony that you participate in without me as an officiant.
2) Personalized Officiated Ceremony — I act as a consultant and create a ceremony that reflects your vision and at which I officiate.
3) Ceremony for the Benefit of the Whole — I do a shamanic journey for a ceremony on your behalf.
4) Officiating of a pre-determined ceremony — I preside over at a ceremony you have already created, ie. a wedding or a funeral/memorial.

Feb 9, 2007

Carrie's Bio and Qualifications

To tell you a little more about me, here is the official bio that I use:

Carrie Rathwell has a passion for celebration that brings all of her life experiences together as Ceremonialist.

Growing up on a farm, she was deeply connected to nature and her rural community. She graduated from Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in 1995 and then lived for 7 months in Burkina Faso, West Africa and got first-hand experience of a culture rich with ceremonial traditions.

In 1999, she began studying intensively with Kathleen Leeson, R.H., Clinical Herbalist and Shamanic Healer. While completing the 3 years of the Wisdom of the Plants Apprenticeship and by participating in a Women’s Circle, she began to regularly gather in ceremony. Carrie felt at home in this practice of healing, connection and grace.

She spent the next years getting further involved. She graduated in 2006 from the Traditional Healer Internship offered by Kathleen Leeson, took courses in 2005-6 with Michael Harner’s Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and in 2006 became a Certified Funeral Celebrant with In-Sight Books, taught by Doug Manning, a leader in the field.

Carrie became a Certified Celebrant in April 2007 by graduating from an 8-month course offered by the Celebrant Foundation and Institute. She has been also spending this year acquiring practical experience creating and leading various ceremonies. She feels it is an honour and a joy to offer her services as Ceremonialist in the Ottawa area.
 
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