Ceremony

Ceremony

Ceremony is an event that is of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. It may mark a rite of passage in a humans life, such as marriage, death, initiation at puberty. Society/ community  and groups of people gather together in deep respect and come together as one. You can also hold your own ceremony for self, on your own.

There are many forms of ceremony,  but the two main ways are –

1 – Traditional Ceremony, which has been handed down through the teachings of the ancients, given and passed through the years as specific teachings given by a medicine person. These you only do with specific permission and they are to be respected and not altered.

2 – Self generated ceremony . These are ones that have been given to us by our own intuition, dreams, visions and meditations. We can bring in our own framework and add to them as it feels appropriate.

One of the  most important things about ceremony is respect. Respect for the space, for the elements, for Mother earth and Spirit.

We learn through ceremony to come together, unite as one in celebration, in cleansing in release and in healing.

There are many forms from the traditional ways like The Native Indian pipe ceremony, Weddings, Funerals, and many different traditional dance and fire ceremonies. We celebrate the different cycles of the year, such as equinox and solstice. The list is enormous

Through ceremony we learn how to give back, we sing, drum, pray dance -we open our hearts, our minds, our voices, our bodies and we give thanks.

When we come together we make a sacred space. The energy changes, times shifts and alters and we move into a different space and awareness.

Giveaway and re-birth are the centre of all ceremonies. it brings us close to our true nature, it opens us up to energy and to all of creation around us. All is made new and everything becomes sacred.

To perform your own Sacred Ceremony.

Decide on your intent, on what you would like to give away/celebrate

Set up a time when you are not going to be disturbed at all. No phone, radio, visitors etc

Find a special place, inside or outside in nature.

Light a candle

Sage yourself

Give thanks to Great Spirit and Mother Earth

Call upon your guides, animals and spirit helpers.

Call in the energies of North, South, East and West.( the four directions)

Call in your ancestors to be witness to this ceremony.

And then follow your own instinct.

You may wish to sit in silence, you may wish to move and dance or sing.

Have a rattle or a drum,

Follow your own intuition and go with the flow.

Give yourself time to be in this space.

After a while you will feel guided to bring this to an end

Sit in silence and give thanks.

Write in your journal if you have received anything, any guidance, and wise thoughts to self. Note your experiences.

Breath and bring yourself back into the present world

Give yourself time to adjust for you have just done something very powerful .

For with this space you have release and opened to new possibilities.

This can be done on your own or if guided to you, you can offer this  to people that you feel would welcome this type of work into their lives.

Keep it Humble and Sacred.

Namaste

The turtle broke / Love saved me x

Today has been a powerful day of coming together in ceremony and sending healing to one of our dearly beloveds.

Feeling humbled and blessed to be leading a healing ceremony. We joined together under a beautiful Oak tree for shade. The valley below and the mountains beyond. The sun slightly shaded by a little bit of cloud, which was a blessing as it was to be a very hot day. A most beautiful setting.

A group of us, all friends came together to send our healing prayers to a sister who was having a serious operation as we sat in circle. We felt powerless to do anything other than come together, support our friend who is with us and send love to her sister, as we live in another country and it was not possible to be with her.

This was the only thing we felt that we could do. Sit together, hold hands, call out to great spirit, our guides, Gaia and to link in with our own heart centres and send all the love and healing prayers that we could  to her at this time. our dogs joined us, sang with us, sat with us and they added their healing to the equation.

It was a magical moment in time, full of love, compassion and unity as we sat as one. A beacon of light shining our love out to the Universe and praying it would join with our sister in helping of her healing.

We saged ourselves. We sang to the sun to heal our pain and hers, we prayed to the universe for healing. We offered tobacco to the land with gratitude for supporting us at this time. We sat in circle and  focused our energies to our sister. The drum also was added at the end to help boost the energy.

Half way through our ceremony the bells of the local church rang twice and I said “may these healing prayers be caught on the waves of sound and be carried to our beloved”, it was at that moment I think the bell ringer must have decided to just ring the bells for the sake of ringing! For the bells suddenly kept going and it was as if they were linking in with our work.It was a beautiful moment. A moment that made me catch my breath and I think to the others.

I pray for my friends sister, our friend too. Such a beautiful soul, not a harmful hair on her head. A smile so big and a gentle demean-er, strong tho and a fighter. Worrier spirit is within. We are all holding her in our hearts and her family too.

The coming together to support one another is a huge gift that we are so grateful for. We celebrate when times are good and we support when times are difficult. What more can we ask from our clan, our sisters and brothers. It is powerful to unite in this way. The love and deep respect that we all have for each other is profound and I feel so blessed to part of this unfolding.

It feels such an awful thing to be struck by an illness when you are a being of peace, never hurting anyone, working hard and loving. Why I ask myself does this happen, why does this affect so many beautiful people in this world of ours. When there are others who cause  so much harm and seem to get away with it. I shake my head and can not answer this question with a happy heart.

I walked into a farm shop an hour later, after our powerful time spent in group and the first thing that struck me was a stunning turtle 5/6 inches long in a glass cage, half filled with water and one rock and a light blazing down on him. It stopped me in my tracks and it send my heart into such a painful place I found it difficult to breath.

Man (un)kind we have so much to answer for.

Beautiful people in pain and in fear and we create so much more pain and suffering to our beloved animals.

How much power do we have?

I wanted to buy him and set him free, He would have died in the frozen winter months and the shop would have just replaced him, so I would have encouraged the shop keeper to just go and get another one or two . I stayed with the tank for some time. I brought my finger up to the glass and the turtle followed it with his eyes and then around the corner, he followed. it was a moment of connection, deep, and I asked for the forgiveness of all mankind. I hope he felt my love, my compassion, my despair at what we are doing in the world.

My heart wept for what felt like  injustice in all of what had unfolded today.

I sat with this and let the tears flow, I felt my heart break and then felt like I stopped breathing. I felt at a loss.

Then I remember the power of prayer, the power of circle work. the power of joining together as one. The raising of our vibration, linking united in one thought to heal and send love. We can do this people, we can rise above the turmoil, not surrender, but stand up and raise our hands up to the heavens and link our heart and join our souls together and create heaven on earth.

Through turmoil come change, through change comes peace and harmony. This is my pray.

Time for ceremony.

Time to link in through our heart space and call out the the Universe for the healing of all sentient beings. Now I will sage and cleanse my feelings of frustration and anger. I will sit with this, work with the ancient Hawaiian shamanic art of Ho-oponopono.  I will work with my guides, my drum, sage and sing and pray and dance and sign a partition or two for what I believe in!

Action is so powerful even if I live in the middle of no-where most of the time,we can still be part of the bigger picture, we can still participate in healing our world, our people and our creatures. I am signed up for this petition! we are all linked in time space and dimensions.

My prayer is that we can all rise above the destruction and pain. The greed, meanness and cruelty. May we share in our communities, come together in peace and hold each other with deep love and respect.

May we all realise that we are all together on one planet, as one community. Whatever colour, faith or disciplines that we come from

May we bring our tribe together, the rainbow tribe of peace.

So from a heart felt healing ceremony to a trapped turtle, I have come to write this piece. With no thought before the moment I went to this page. The words rolled and the heart was engaged. What comes to me now is the sacredness of all things. Family, friends, our animal and our lands. We are care takers of all of this, let us not waste this pressure time together and come together in harmony.

Feeling more peaceful now.

Hope has returned.

Love and blessings

Suze

 

 

 

 

 

 

The build up to Vision Quest

Woke excited today. On my mind is Vision Quest and what it will bring this time around. More beautiful people to guide into the quest, to help prepare them for having time alone in the wilderness. To open with a welcome, a tour of the land and a day of ceremony. To build on their intent and to lead them into the realms of journey time. To offer guidance in what, how and where one should set up and be within their own sacred space.

We all move into the world of non-ordinary time space and dimension, each unique and individual in their needs and requirements. Minds wide open, hopefully ready for the unknown and what this will bring for them, anticipation builds as we get closer to letting them free to find their space.

I find this such an awesome offering. It means such a lot to me. I feel humbled.

Time spent alone, with yourself  in this busy day to day existence is often hard to come by. To  then only have a circle normally only 3-4 metres in diametre, to be in, is such a change to how we normally live life. Encouraged to fast with just water is also a challenge not many go through. This is an initiation, a time to let go, free one-self, empty and open to the fullness of self and all that life can offer.Spirit is your witness. To be in nature, under the ever changing sky with Gaia holding you close. It will change you forever!

The car is loaded. The drums, rattles, candles, sage.etc. My being is moving into a different place now as I write this, away from my normal everyday way of life. I sit, I open to what will come. What joys will unfold, what adventures will be had and I welcome this with open heart and excitement.

I will drum on and off through the days and nights to come. They are alone with themselves but the drum will let them know they are with others.

For me it is also a quest  To sit in the moon lit sky, the granite sparkling like stars underfoot. My rock, I have claimed! one spot on the beautiful land we are blessed to have use of, will welcome me, I know. We are one at three in the morning. I sing and drum ancient sounds, I love and am in awe of this process that I have such passion to offer.

I will journey tonight in dreamtime and call upon my guides and helpers to be with me, guide me and support us all on this journey. I put this out there for this time to be one of deep meaning for each and every single one of us that is participating in this quest.

I also give great thanks to my partner who will support me and also offer his words to the circle. For us the male /female link is so valuable. In creating and grounding this wonderful process.

Feeling so blessed

Namaste

Suze xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder what this day will bring….

Living off grid is a blessing and a wonderful experience. I wake up every morning with the thought..I WONDER WHAT TODAY WILL BRING!

Last night it was forecast to be be sunny and warm. This morning the weather shows us a different face altogether. Wet, hail and cool, beautiful grey moody clouds with the odd hint of the sun poking her face through at times, teasing us with her warmth. Im sure there were many rainbows out there today, but today was a day to stay inside and spring clean the cobwebs away. Literally from the yurt and from my being!

I awoke today with the cat on my face and a claw sticking into my lip, not a particularly nice way to wake! I assure you of that! Didn’t make me feel too happy!

So the I WONDER bit came second to the claw this morning! My acupuncturist had told me yesterday to release some old emotions from my being! Well, the cat certainly helped me get in touch with my not so good feelings. It hurt, and I was angry!! I then opened the door and reached for the key that Id left outside and boom down on my face I fell, banged my nose, huge bruise on my arm and my pooly shoulder felt poorly again.

I cried outside in the rain and then I made a cup of tea, went back to bed, took a painkiller and an Arnica and I wrote about my old self and the pent up, not heard feelings I held with me, I cried and wrote some more. Instead of not acknowledging the pain I had stuffed down within me,  I allowed it, I surrendered to it. I wrote and wrote. It was messy and very cathartic.

I asked for forgiveness, I said I was sorry to all that I felt I d hurt, I thanked the universe and my folk and kin and I loved them so much, so very much. My heart shifted from one of pain to fullness and I felt light and free from the burdens that I had placed within myself.

I am going to do a small offering to the fire tonight. Set up sacred space, sage the yurt and myself and with gratitude place my released emotions into the flames. This will be transmuted into light and love.

Today was a day that I was to work in the garden, plant seedling out in the sun and gain a glow from her warm,soft, spring rays. That was what I thought I would be doing. The I WONDER WHAT TODAY WILL BRING  always brings along a shift, a change of direction, something added, something unexpected!

As I write I am sore, I ache from the fall but also from the release of old patterns. I choose now to not hold these any more.

I WONDER if I had not had the claw to my lip and the fall to the ground, would I have been able to get so deep and release so much. So I give thanks to Jedi our ginger tom for waking me and I forgive him his claws, just this once! and I forgive myself for being clumsy and walking on slippy ground when only the day before I’d slipped on the same place, just before seeing the acupuncturist and had known not to walk there.

I was told to release old pain and I had wondered how I was going to do this and do it so it didn’t repeat itself….Today was a day of surrendering to the moment and going with what each moment bought me. I have a rawness within me, an empty space to be filled with new delights and a very clean yurt as well!! No seeds planted, no tan, the odd bruise, but a feeling of freedom from deep within.

I feel blessed.

Namaste

Suze

 

 

Welcome

Welcome to my page. I have been inspired, pushed and pulled to start this blog page. I hope it will bring you healing, inspiration and hope.

My name is Suze Plenty-Light Elliott and I have lived nearly half a century. To me time has flown by and I don’t feel more than 30 in years but have experienced many different life times in just this one life.

My interest lie deeply in Healing, Shamanism, Vision Quest, being in relationship with self, my partner, my beloved family and friends and new people that I have contact with all over the world, living off grid, being a mother….and so much more. I love dance, singing, drumming,writing, moving and also silence and being within the beauty of the unfolding journey of life.

For many years I have been a practising therapist. Only recently have I started to write and paint and sing, lead vision quests and healing workshops and show myself.

My work is intuitive and I follow my guidance and trust what is being shown to me. I work one to one, I have many years of training in Aromatherapy, Massage, The Bowen Technique, Energy work, Healing flower essences and I am a Shamanic Practitioner  A lot of the time the techniques, my tool kit, blends and molds to the individual person, I use the drum to move me to trance, ( my beloved drum). I journey for people and or give guided visualization/meditations to my clients, and this is normally after some form of body/energy work.  I call upon my guides and helpers to help me and use me as a hollow bone, especially when I am guided to suck out old energy and replace with new information. Some of the time ancient words are given through me and placed in for healing. At the time I am just the vessel transferring these words, sounds and song. I hold sacred space and call upon our beloved Gaia, Spirit, the Ancient One. All our ancestors, the animal kingdom, the Rock and mineral kingdoms and the Star Nations. I love to open sacred space and hold ceremonies. I have also recently started doing one to one skype sessions which have been amazing.

This is the adventure of life and I feel that I am breaking new grounds in writing here on my first ever blog. It is scary and I have butterflies in my stomach. My ego says what will people think of me, why am I putting myself out there for ridicule and to be judged. Well for the past few months the other part of me is saying, write what you have been learning, what I know and have been teaching and living, out there for others, and that maybe , just maybe one or two words may touch others and help them change their lives.Like I have been able to change mine.

I am a seeker of truth and the truth is to be personally experienced by self. So what I offer, I ask for you to go and seek for yourself. Go and open up to the experience and see if this is for you. For you are your own healer, just sometimes tho we need others to point the way. I still need others to help guide me on my journey and I am always learning and updating and releasing.

In my writings to come, be it a meditation, a prayer, a poem, a piece of writing that comes from my heart,  my intent is for this to bring healing, light, forgiveness, and movement forward into being present in your world at this time.

The time is now, not our past, not our future but what we have right now. If we can be the change we want to see in the world then we are Warriors of Light and we are helping bring healing to our selves and to the world around us.

If anything touches you here, please do feel free to comment or ask questions. If I can help in any way I would be so very happy to. And if I can’t I have many contacts of other wonderful healing people around the world that I can put you in contact with.

Many blessings to each and every one of you.

Love and Namaste

Suze