THE WISDOM OF RITUAL
Ritual is a sacred enactment through which we can connect to the spiritual realm. The need for ritual is a basic human instinct. Ritual channels our need as individuals to be part of something greater than ourselves. People have a compelling urge to merge with the infinite. Ritual unites us with a larger reality and invokes in us a visceral understanding of such universal paradigms as unity, continuity, connectivity, cycle, and constant change. Ritual is a symbolic manifestation of our intention. It carries us past our analytical mind and allows us to access universal consciousness directly and viscerally, through our heart. Ceremony — solitary or shared — offers us a way to relate intimately with the primordial force, and to embrace that sacred power which informs and fuels all existence. Ritual is our lifeline to the divine. When we set aside quality time and claim the psychic space for ceremony, we are able to transform our perceptions, our perspectives, our experience, our expectations and, in the process, our reality.
~ Donna Henes
Most indigenous cultures have rites of passage to honor moving from one stage of life into another.
We are a culture lacking in rituals to mark major transitions in our lives, creating a deep longing to be seen and witnessed. I facilitate rituals of healing for women, and women’s groups at Standing Stones Sanctuary: rites of passage for maidens, mothers, queens, and crones, rituals to honor your sacred body, rituals to mark the end of a marriage, rituals for calling forth a child into your womb, or to honor the loss of a child. Many of us stand at the crossroads longing to take that next step in our lives, but are unsure which direction to go. As a diviner, I can divine the rituals that the Deep Soul is longing for. There are many ways to come home to your divine birth rite to live a joyful, profound, soulful life at the circle of stones through the power of ritual.