In honor of the super full moon tonight I am sharing a simple ceremony that we do at my house every month.
What is the purpose of
spiritual ceremonies and prayers? Are they just meaningless gestures
and words, repeated without thought? Do they serve a purpose for
those who have left behind the traditional organized religions in
favor of a more spiritual one -on -one relationship with God or the
Universal Life Energy?
In order to understand the
importance that rituals, ceremonies, and prayers play in our
spiritual growth it is important to understand the benefits of
practicing them in the proper way. If you are not practicing them
with emotional energy then they are just words and movements. So a
simple background in energy is necessary first:
The Universe is made up of
energy. Every physical thing is energy, condensed and formed into
everything we see in this world. Beyond what our limited human
senses can perceive, the energy of the Universe permeates and
interconnects everything. Whenever you feel an emotion it is emitted
out as energy from you. This emotional energy forms connections to
other energy beings (humans, animals, etc) Think of them as strings.
The more emotions you have for someone, the more energetic strings
of attachment you have connecting you to each other.
The Universal Life Energy,
or all the energy of this Universe combined is what most people call
God. The bigger the energy system, the more consciousness it has.
God is made up of everything, so it is the Alpha and Omega,
omnipotent, and omnipresent~ the beginning and the end, knowing all
things and everywhere at the same time.
Now, let's go back to the
importance of ceremonies and prayers. Basically, ritualistic words
and actions help us to focus on our intent and to elicit an emotional
response in alignment with our intent. Intent without emotion is
powerless. Prayers without emotion are just words, and ceremonies
without emotion are just gestures. The feelings behind the rituals
are what drives the results. Think of the prayers as vehicles and
emotions as gas. The vehicle has the potential to get you where you
want to go, your intent is the destination, but without gas it is
just a plan that never gets put into action.
The proper use of
ceremonies, then, is to help us to engage our attention and focus on
our intent, and to aid us in evoking the emotional energy to drive
the intent to fruition. I have found that designing my own prayers
and rituals has brought them more personal meaning and enabled me to
really get into the mood. The following is a full moon ceremony that
I perform with friends every month. Feel free to customize it as you
make it your own.
Full Moon Ceremony
RELEASE: The first
part is lighting a small outdoor fire at sunset. This ritual
involves releasing anything that no longer serves you, emotionally or
physically. Some examples would be releasing resentments, anger,
emotional pain, unhealthy habits, etc. Each person holds a stick and
concentrates on what they wish to release, imagining all the negative
emotions and actions going into the stick. Then the sticks are thrown
into the fire. As the stick burns, each person brings up as much
feeling as possible evoking the emotional release of whatever was
ailing them. The feeling of being free of this negative emotion is
what is required. It is an act of letting go of the pain and filling
the hole with the loving energy of wholeness.
RESPECTS: Then we
take time to pay our respects those who have passed, honor the
Universal Energy Force for feeling our prayers, and sending white
light loving energy out into those we love and then extend out into
the world. You can use a prayer something like this:
Oh God, we thank
you, and feel gratitude in our hearts for this opportunity to
experience this life. (Silent moments of intense loving emotion
sent to God)
So let it be...
We send our loving
thoughts and loving energy to those who have passed from our lives,
and our gratitude for our time spent with them. (Silent moments of
intense loving emotion sent to them)
So let it be...
Tonight, specifically, I
would like to concentrate and send love to ______. I honor their
past presence in my life and am grateful for the experience.
(Silent moments of intense loving emotion toward this person.)
So let it be....
Let our loving energy
extend out into the world. (Silent moments of intense loving
emotion sent to the world.)
REFLECTIONS:
Then we take a few minutes to watch the full moon and reflect on our
past or present, to find life lessons, and to come to a feeling of
gratitude for all that we have experienced. It is advisable to be
very specific in this exercise, as trying to reflect on too much may
dull the intensity of the emotion.
Suggestions to
contemplate:
- your childhood relationship with your Mother, Father, or a sibling.
- Your relationship with an ex-love
- your current relationship with one specific person.
- How a specific event affected you and the lessons you can now see because you experienced it
- A current situation of concern- forming an intent of a loving outcome for all.
REAFFIRMING INTENT:
Then we
each light an incense stick, while silently repeating our intent for
the future. Again it is advisable to work on a specific intent to
evoke the intensity of emotion. Think of the end result of your
intent. Imagine you are living there now, and how it feels to be
living this past dream. Imagine it like you remembering it as strong
as a vivid memory. Feel the emotion of your creation as long as
possible. As the smoke rises from the incense stick, let it be a
representation of your emotional intent rising up to fruition. So
let it be...
GRATITUDE: Simple
prayer: God we are grateful for Life, Love, and this opportunity to
come together as a group and commune with Universal Life and each
other. (A few moments of intense feeling and silence) Amen
Then we have group
discussion and enjoy each others company.
Hello Ms. Shannon. I just happened to be doing a search on something else when I came across your blog. It really inspired some great ideas and I'm so glad I found it. I love your writing style and the simplicity of the ritual you described. It falls perfectly in line with my personal less-is-more philosophy. Thank you and may you continue to feel richly blessed, truly happy and deeply grateful now and always.
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