Transformations
Croning Ceremony (Menopause)
These are also known as Change of Life Ceremonies. When a woman reaches a certain age, her value increases through the experience and wisdom she has gathered in life. In most western societies older women are often denigrated for losing their youth and beauty. The focus on appearance is a shallow perspective with limiting beliefs that view older women as a burden.
In Asian cultures such as India and Japan, some Hispanic cultures, as well as Native American traditions, older women are revered as they become elders for the depth of their experience and the wisdom they share. They are respected members of the community whose wise and reasoned views are sought.
When a woman reaches a certain age, her value increases through the experience and wisdom she has gathered in life.
Claiming the positive energy of the Crone
When a woman concludes her childbearing years, a new stage of life begins where she can now become her own focus of attention. Throughout her intense years of mothering, if she has children, or attending to her career if she has none, her attention was directed outward.
A croning ceremony is the crowning of a woman in her integrity with the recognition that she has something important to contribute to the community.
With the end of menstruation her attention is drawn inward in a creative capacity to envision the future. These elder years can be as productive in emotional and spiritual creativity as reproduction was in physical creation.
As our longevity continues to increase, this stage of life can be as long as the childbearing period of forty plus years. Living a long life after menstruation finishes is a relatively new phenomenon in the evolution of humanity, with few established patterns to map out the terrain.
A croning ceremony is the crowning of a woman in her integrity with the recognition that she has something important to contribute to the community. This ceremony refreshes our sense of purpose in life.
Along with the woman of honor, we co-create the cro(w)ning ceremony. This earthbound ritual marks the shift of awareness into later life and celebrates those qualities worth fostering for a future full of joy, enthusiasm and creativity.
This grounding ceremony will include significant people in your life, specific rituals that symbolize the changes that are taking place on all levels, and which establish your position in life as an elder.
It is an empowering experience that builds community and restores the veneration that has been earned by women elders. Each ceremony is a personal and individualized event in which the new ‘crone’ is celebrated and crowned in her glory.
Ceremony for Metamorphosis – Divorce
The end of a relationship is often fraught with distress and hardship, making it hard to imagine what the future holds. This Severance/Renaissance ceremony acknowledges the need to release that which has been outgrown, the value of transition, stepping on to the path of new growth, and creating a future with love, joy and strength.
The Metamorphosis ceremony symbolizes the end of one cycle and the beginning of another to which others bear witness and surround these changes with positive energy to realize the best outcome.
The intention of this ceremony is to allow the old life to die away so that the individual can claim a new life, a new path and a future filled with possibilities and opportunities.
Severance marks the end of the previous existence symbolically, a transition is enacted that empowers the changes, and Renaissance celebrates the rebirth of the individual into new form.
This rite of passage recognizes the death and regeneration cycles of life and envisions and enacts the way to move forward.
The intention of this ceremony is to allow the old life to die away so that the individual can claim a new life, a new path and a future filled with possibilities and opportunities.
Other Severance / Transformation ceremonies
Other Severance/Transformation ceremonies can mark the end of one cycle of life and the beginning of another for any number of circumstances, including:
Each ceremony includes severance rituals that enact the end, others for transitioning to the present, and transformation rituals that embody the new person envisioning a powerful and positive future.
For more transformation ceremonies, have a look at the Blessingways section above. All Blessingways are transformative!
I look forward to hearing from you when you contact me about your transformation ceremony.