Full Moon Lunar Eclipse Ceremony
Balancing my life has always been one of my greatest challenges. As a ceremonialist and priestess, finding time to be a mother and wife, an artist, and fulfill the many other roles I fill while finding time for spiritual growth and ceremony has been an odd, challenging dance. I've found that simple, sweet ceremonies that are not too complex and can be worked within the moment are best. I have heard so many spiritual workers say ceremony is not necessary and not to worry about doing it.
For me and for my personal spiritual practice, ceremony is my gateway to access more subtle realms of connection to all of Nature. It reminds me of a local trail here in Mount Shasta called the Gateway Trail. The trail at first seems mundane and typical, but once you get back into the deeper parts of the trail, it opens up to a portal of many magical trails that branch out all the way into the Mount Shasta Wilderness and surrounding mountain towns of Mount Shasta and McCloud. Ceremony is like this for me; a gateway that branches out into the Web of Life. It's an access point that helps me drop in, slow down, and co-create blessings and miracles with my many Relations.
Since November 1st, we've gotten lots of rain and snow here in Mount Shasta, which is wonderful for our ecosystem and an answer to my prayers and the prayers of many others. Mama Mountain now has a layer of snowy white covering her rich, volcanic Earth. Our mountain's snow and glacial ice layers are part of what feed and nurture this land of Northern California with lots of water and minerals. The glacial melt-off and springs run down from the Head Waters into Lake Siskiyou to help form the Sacramento River, which brings water from Northern California into Southern California. These waters also nurture our town and make everything so beautiful in the Spring and Summer months. Mount Shasta and Dunsmuir are very green and produce lots of wonderful blossoming botanicals.
I am very happy we are receiving so much precipitation, especially so because October was unusually dry. Last Tuesday, we had a snowstorm dump lots of snow on us in a few short hours. Today, Monday, we are seeing similar conditions only with much more snow in these evening Eclipse hours! I wasn't able to travel to my usual ceremony spots, so I chose something close to home, right in my front yard.
Monday Afternoon Eclipse Ceremony. Snowstorm has just started.
There is this beautiful spot in my humble front yard with three young trees growing; a tree I think is a cherry tree (but I'm still trying to figure it out!) and two cedar trees. I laid out a nature offering below the "cherry" tree, which is very dear to my heart. This is because when it first came out of the ground, everyone in my family believed it was just a weed. My husband was going to pull it out of the ground, but I convinced him to leave the tree alone. I knew it was a tree and told him to let grow. We've watched it grow over the course of the last five or so years and I love how tall this tree is now! The first few years, we saw no blossoms on the tree, but this year the tree bloomed! I was so excited! I feel the magic in this tree and we have a very special connection.
So I placed my offering of a pyrite rock, dogwood and calendula dried bloom, rosemary branch, and crushed tulsi here today for the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse and performed a Shamanic Ceremony here. I called in my Guides and Ancestors and blessed the Land and the Waters and prayed that we may receive more rain and snow in the coming seasons. I also blessed that this Land may be inhabited by people who truly care for her and steward her in kindness, love, and generosity without placing profit, industry, and population growth over her well-being.
I ended this ceremony today giving thanks to Nature and this beautiful Earth for all that she does for us, for all the ways she cares for us. This is what I usually do during my ceremonies: gives thanks to all of Nature for the ways my family is so generously cared for. Even if it seems like we don't always get what we want, the truth is that the very fact we have food, water, and shelter is incredibly miraculous. I get to lay witness to miracles every day and be immersed in the magic of this Land, the magic of ceremony, and the magic of genuine gratitude (a gratitude that isn't forced or done out of obligation and transcends self-help lists!).
My Ancestors stood with me watching the snows fall as I prayed and became the conduit of spiritual blessing. And now, as I type this in the late evening, we have so much snow it is covering our roads in thick layers of white. Winter came early here in Mount Shasta, just in time for this wondrous and mystical Full Moon Lunar Eclipse.
I hope and pray that your Full Moon Eclipse had moments of magic and sweetness present and wasn't the doom and gloom of heaviness it was painted out to be (although my "cherry" tree is currently bowing down from the weight of the snow!).
