In truth I have always been a bit of a ceremonialist, we have all had birthdays, gone to weddings or funerals, now more commonly called “celebrations of life.”

In my own life I had a commitment ceremony with my partner who then became my husband through the formal ritual of marriage. We then did a recommitment ceremony at 6 years of marriage, and more recently an unwinding ceremony of that marriage. Friends held me a mother blessing when I was pregnant with my first child and I have attended numerous new moon, full moon, fire, water, solstice and equinox ceremonies.

However I think one of my first really conscious markings of a personal ceremony was my 40th birthday. I called the event “The Threshold,” it was a dance performance. In the piece that I called the threshold, I had a sari stretched out on the floor, I dipped my feet in water, then stepped in chalk and walked across pausing in the middle. I felt in this physical conscious act I was marking a change in my life… crossing the threshold from my 30’s to my 40’s and it held power.

The more I consciously bring myself to mark moments in a meaningful way, the more ease I feel through the transition. The ancient and indigenous cultures understood this, and held ritual and ceremony for many passages of a year and a lifetime. It was just over a year ago while participating in a friends wedding that I thought, “I would love to facilitate this work.” In one year I completed my celebrant training, with a certificate as a wedding celebrant, and have officiated 4 weddings.

I believe there are many transitions in our culture that are often bypassed. Closures needed that are not taken, grieving what we are leaving for the joy that we are going to. It does not take a lot to mark these transitions, but it does take conscious intention with physical and verbal action.

I have seen and experienced transformation through the art of conscious ritual and ceremony, which is why It is my joy and privilege to participate in this work; holding space for those rites of passage which are sacred and deserving of our attention.

Thank you!
Lisa Gilmour