Ritual and Ceremonial Guidance

We all go through times of great change in our lives and need extra support and guidance to navigate through the rough waters and wild winds. While our ancestors may have had religious traditions and communities to offer this kind of support, many of us are looking for more personalized guidance that is less based on beliefs and more on an experience of real relational intimacy with ourselves, others and our environment. We may have a sense or a vision of where we want to get to or how we want to experience life and yet we often don’t know how to get there. This is where ritual and ceremony can come in to help us take the internal steps needed to move from a vision to a new reality.

 

Ritual is the practice of transformation from one state to another which can be an aspect of ceremony. Ceremony is reverently honoring and re-membering the natural web of life. The root of the word ceremony is “sacred” and so we are returning to the sacredness of life through this often more communal practice.

Whether you are transitioning into a new career, into a new phase of life with a partner, embodying a new identity, welcoming a child into the world, letting go of a loved one and honoring their life or just wanting to create more intentionality in your life, Hilary can support you to honor this next step.

We all need reflection and inquiry to get clear on how to make these profound changes more easeful and intentional in our lives. And working with someone who holds a loving, non-judgemental space of curiosity, asks insightful questions and offers you possible frameworks can help you get from overwhelmed and confused to grounded, inspired and excited to receive the unknown of what’s to come!

Possible Rituals and/or Ceremonies:

  • Wedding or commitment ceremony

  • Funeral or memorial ceremony

  • Grief ceremony

  • Major life transition ceremony

  • Self initiation into a new identity

  • Blessing-way ceremony to welcome a new child 

  • Uncoupling ritual

No words strung together can accurately portray the gratitude my husband and I have for Hilary. I am not sure if either of us could have made it through our wedding without her. She was able to sense how we were feeling and helped us through our difficult emotions before and during the wedding, which immensely relieved our stress. Prior to our wedding day, she was as flexible with her time as she could be when communicating with us via email and zoom to prepare, plan, and offer her support. We needed as much help as we could get while planning the ceremony and Hilary made sure everything ran as smoothly as possible. Her support did not end at the wedding either as she has continued to guide us through this next chapter of our lives together.

Amanda Petrie & Jeremy Coon

If you decide to journey together there will be at least one to two sessions where we meet online or in person to prepare. You can then choose how engaged and present you want Hilary to be in the ceremony that you co-create together. Hilary can offer a mindful, loving presence through each step of the journey as you discern what would be most generative for you and your beloveds. 

This process of discernment is for you to step into more of who you are becoming as you allow yourself to see and feel more of who you’ve always been.