healing the healers - sacred art of living

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www.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2020 Sacred Art of Living

www.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2020 Sacred Art of Living Center

The Healing Art of Ritual

Five Essential Elements

Session Four

IRISH BLESSING PROJECT

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IRISH BLESSING PROJECT

RITUAL FOR OUR TIMES

Amazing example of VIRTUAL ritual

Diverse and inclusive

Combining historical wisdom with

contemporary skills

Expresses grief, gratitude, surrender

and community

You can do this too!


RITUALS ENABLE US...

To navigate change

To integrate the past into our future

To mark the inner journey during

our lives


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HEALING POWER OF RITUAL

“Ritual brings deeper presence

to the mundane moment…”

St. Columba of Iona who bridges

the worlds of the Druids & Celtic Christianity


HEALING POWER OF RITUAL

“Rituals provide access to the

energy of the unconscious.”

Joseph Campbell, “The Power of Myth”


We live in a

de-ritualized society

which means we are

“metaphorically

challenged”

TODAY...

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DEFINING RITUAL

IT IS EASIER TO KNOW RITUAL

MORE FROM ITS EFFECT

THAN BY ITS DEFINITION

RITUAL HAS THE POWER

TO MOVE US…

From the inessential to the Essential

From the peripheral to the Center

From the surface to the Depth

The American Book of Living & Dying


DEATH — DYING & RITUAL

DEATH

LOSS

SACRED (RITUAL) TIME

PATIENT MOVING

TOWARD DEATH

AS NORMALCY

DECREASES, NEED FOR

RITUAL INCREASES

AS NORMALCY

RETURNS, NEED FOR

RITUAL DECREASES

FAMILY MOVING AWAY

FROM DEATH

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RITUAL AT DEATH

Re-humanize the medicalization of death

Create sacred space

Assist in finding peace in transition

Honor the body (thank, anoint, wash)

Mark the sacred moment of death

Remain after death for healing



STAGES OF RITUALArnold Van Gennep, Ritual Anthropologist

SeparationAcknowledge change

TransitionPeriod of uncertainty

IncorporationIntegrate the past into the future

Begin a new relationship


RITUAL AT THE END OF LIFE

People need ritual throughout the life cycle.

The need becomes acute when facing death.

Each person has unique needs and story

Effective ritual uses real and meaningful symbols.

Role of the ritualizer is “mid-wife” to the experience

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RITUAL MOVEMENT

YES

NO

YES

NAMING A UNIVERSAL TEACHING


RITUAL MOVEMENT

YES = Separation

NO = Transition

YES = Incorporation


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Garth_Brooks-Ropin'_the_Wind_(album_cover).jpg


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RITUAL MOVEMENT

YES = Separation

NO = Transition

YES = Incorporation


Group Ritual Exercise

Each Circle of Trust will create a ritual.

Your ritual should acknowledge some experience of

transition based on the learning of the last 2 days.

This is not a skit! Refer to the Five Elements (which you

are about to learn).

It should engage soul/emotion.

2 minutes MAX/There will be a random

draw of which group goes first, etc.

Please involve everyone in your group.www.sacredartofliving.com Copyright © 2020 Sacred Art of Living Center


5 ELEMENTS OF RITUAL



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RITUAL STORY

Definition: Connects my/our story with a larger, universal STORY

Problem: My small, personal story isn’t big enough to be THE STORY


DEATH STORIES

Myth always

includes facing

death/transition

in life

Group Assignment Choosing your Story

What learning(s) created a shift in you

these past two days?

Where does this learning connect with

the larger human story?


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A FEW WORKSHOP THEMES TO CHOOSE FROM…

• Die before you die…(meaning all the ‘deaths’ in life)

• Pilgrimage

• Wisdom of Nature

• The Wisdom of Suffering

• Working with People in Altered states

• Circling – Protection/Blessing

• Ancestor healing

• Anamcara Presence

• The YES-NO-YES cycle

GROUP ASSIGNMENTEngaging your Circle of Trust

You will be placed in a virtual breakout

room with your circle of trust

Appoint a time keeper for your group

This is a time for the group to FOCUS ON

STORY element of your ritual ONLY!!!

Engage everyone with time awareness

What learning/shift/change from those

choices would you like to mark with a

ritual?




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RITUAL COMMUNITY

Definition: People who have had a

mutual experience of a story

Problem: Individualism has caused

us to lose our connection to myth


The hunger of our age is the experience of authentic community. The experience found in most religious congregations remains at such a superficial level, that the inevitable result is either cynicism or agnosticism or even a more dangerous fundamentalism.

Brother Roger of Taizé


RITUAL LEADER(Your whole group)

A “Threshold Person”

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Elders are disappearing all over the planet. The same men (sic) that used to carry the responsibility of elder are now alcoholic or thinking about suicide…or they are in major depressions, or they are on golf courses, or all of the above. And when these men abandon our youth, we get what we have now.

Anthropologist David Guttman

Group Assignment How to create Community?

Everyone in the workshop will be

in ‘speaker view’

We can mute/turn camera off for all other

participants (other than your group)

Or, if you prefer, we can keep all cameras on

Consider whether/how you will engage just

your circle or the entire group




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RITUAL SYMBOL

Definition: A physical object

that connects us to meaning

Problem: Living in a ‘see-it-

to-believe-it’ age separates

us from the symbolic


RITUAL SYMBOLS

“The art of translating

the Ordinary

into the

Sacred”

Mary Groves

Group Assignment Deciding on your Symbol

Use ordinary symbols that are easily

available for everyone – candle,

water, stone, leaf, keys, feather,

phone, paper, pen, etc.

How can your symbol be a metaphor for

the story you are telling?


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RITUAL ACTION

Definition: Meaningful physical

contact with the symbol

Problem: The most difficult aspect of ritual celebration –integrates symbol with intention


WHAT RITUAL ISN’T…

CEREMONY… MORE THAN JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS

CUSTOM… A REPETITIVE ACTION

TRADITION… A FAMILIAR BEHAVIOR

ROUTINE… A HABITUAL PRACTICE

RITE… A PRESCRIBED RITUAL

“Modernity has replaced ritual with ceremony.” M. Eliade

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE INTENTION


PARABLE OF HEALING

POOL OF SILOAM

MAN BORN BLIND

GOSPELS

OF JOHN

AND MARK

SALVE OF MUD & SPITTLE

ڱڇ ڵڠڭۉ

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Group Assignment Creatively incorporate the Action

Brainstorm ways you might involve the

rest of the community with the symbol and

story?

What action/s can move us through the

YES- NO-YES dynamic?





RITUAL SPACE

Definition: Create sacred space where inner work possible

Problem: We don’t have models anymore

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RITUAL SPACE = A Thin Place

Where we catch a peak through to the “Other Side”


“When Chuang Chou awakened with a start he did not know whether he was Chuang Chou who had dreamed he was a butterfly, or whether he was a butterfly dreaming he was Chuang Chou.”

Lao Tzu

Group Assignment (Space)

Hopefully you have seen how virtual

space can bring us together in a

powerful emotional way

How can your group use the virtual

setting?


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Group Ritual Review

Practice with a group of participants in a supportive

environment (this could be fun!)

Appoint a Time Keeper for your group/ritual

Mark a transition of the last two days

Create a ritual/NAME YOUR RITUAL

Not a skit!-use ritual movement

Engage soul/emotion

2 minutes MAX/Random draw

Involve everyone in your group


Pilgrim

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