Eros, Ceremony, and Belonging

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Across cultures and over millennia, the tradition of ceremony to mark and anchor thresholds and initiations has been deeply integrated into healthy human life. We celebrate and mourn in ceremony, honoring our embedment within the natural world while taking our place in the communities and families to which we belong. We witness and honor one another as we discover, ever-more, our authentic expression and place. 

With the rise of Western Industrial Culture, ceremony was placed into the hands of churches and other colonizing institutions while Earth-based, self-designed, community-driven ceremonies were abandoned, forgotten, repressed, pushed away, and even criminalized. In the modern era, ceremony has been stripped of its meaning and transformative power, and instead has mostly devolved into impersonal, watered down, formulaic conventions. The few ceremonies remaining in our culture have become events that mark our process of further homogenization –– picture most graduation and wedding ceremonies. 

Yet, in its original role, ceremony marked a threshold crossing calling each human into more of their essential expression and contribution; a thing without which The World would not be whole. 

While the dogma and structure of dominant culture keep us indoctrinated and separate, it is up to us to listen to the deepest parts of ourselves, to find our voice, and to reclaim ceremony as a gateway into meaningful relationships with ourselves and each other, with Eros and Erotic Intelligence, and with the more-than-human World. 

With scarce community and no real guides, it can feel intimidating to imagine undertaking a meaningful ceremony of our own making. Ceremony and ritual are cornerstones of The Verdant Collective’s 4-month flagship program, and as guides and participants in Old World/New Women’s Culture, we feel the rising need to gather together and mark the many transitions and metamorphoses that are simply aspects of being alive at this time. 

Our time together over this Summer Solstice weekend will include: 

• Live, interactive experiences in community ceremony with each other

• Time to enact your own private ceremony

• Wanders on the land

• And space to come back and share your discoveries in council with others holding you in the mystery of your soul’s unfolding. 

Being witnessed by, and held within our human community weaves our responsibility and wholeness together, generating greater meaning and power for witnesses and initiates alike. As part of the container of our weekend deep dive together, consider these questions and journal prompts ahead of time to stir your wisdom:

Who are you now?

What are you calling in? 

What is the transition you’re marking? 

What is the contract you’re closing?