TracyDove.com

~ A CELEBRATION OF LIFE ~ UNDER A NEW MOON ~

Last night was a new moon and a few friends and I pulled together a ceremony ~ gathering ~ woman circle ~ and Crone ritual all, pretty much last minute. Of course, we knew that the new moon was happening, but this just goes to show you how quickly a small celebration with deep meaning can be pulled together. All I had to do was drape some scarves and cloths over chairs and benches and tables and make a fresh flower wreath for one of the ladies who was celebrating becoming a Crone and entering a new age and phase of her life. It was very powerful to embrace the divine female energy of who we are and how we are connected to each other and our mother earth. Caregivers and nurturers of all life. The meaning of the word Crone in fairy tales and folklore are generally negative in content and make reference to being more like a hag. However, Crone reveres “ancient feminine wisdom” “the wise elder”. Regardless of the origin, the act of participating in these ceremonies are beautiful and full of loving intent. In our modern, American society I feel that we have lost many traditional rites of passage ceremonies to pass onto our children of all ages. I am thrilled to have my daughter present with me during these gatherings. After burning sage to clear the energy in our sacred circle around the campfire that blazed in the center, even adding a little sage to the fire. We began one at a time, each reading what we wrote earlier on a piece of paper of the things that we want to release and let go of, and then placed the paper into the fire after it was read. Following the releasing, came the time to read what we desire, what we are ready to receive in our lives. One by one a paper was read, some were lengthy and some were short and after each reading, the paper was placed in the fire to send our heart’s desires into the Universe. Our prayers, our hearts and our higher selves were shared as a collective and it was powerful and so beautiful. It sprinkled and tried to rain a little while we were in the circle, so I thought that there was something magical about the fire and rain ~ earth and wind elements that were all at play. The fire did some pretty interesting things with the papers as they were placed into it. Each one was something different. One took on the form of a butterfly as it burned, another blew out of the fire pit and sat on the ground at my daughters feet and sparkled like a million, tiny stars. Another had to be prodded into burning ~ it was something that one of the ladies wanted to release ~ apparently, she must have been uncertain of wanting to completely letting go! We later found out that she was. One paper just flared up like a dragon’s breath and, of course, it didn’t escape me that it was also Chinese New Year~ the year of the dragon! The entire evening was like that. Full of everything connecting perfectly and with ironic timing, it was crazy fun.

After the release and receiving New Moon ritual~ we named in a woman for the Crone ceremony. One woman read a beautiful piece on the passage about entering into the wise elder. The Crone took on a new name, for the purpose of strengthening her place in this new phase of life and group of elders that she is joining. She took on the name of Helga, which means “holy” or ” blessed”. Honoring ourselves and those who came before us and those who come and will come after us is necessary when gaining wisdom. After she was called in with her new name and we acknowledged that we were present and bore witness. I placed the wreath of fresh flowers on her head to crown her. The circle was opened and we continued our healing with good conversation,wine and cupcakes on the patio. It was lovely having candles lit everywhere and The Bells of Arcosanti playing and twinkle lights hanging around the patio.

We also did a “Rock Reading”, which I will post about next time, it was incredibly interesting. I would rather dedicate an entire post to that.