The Celebrant Troubadour: Reaching for the Moon (Again)

The Celebrant Troubadour: Reaching for the Moon (Again): by Tulis McCall, Life-Cycle Celebrant After July 20, 1969, when human beings first set foot on the moon, we never look...

Reaching for the Moon (Again)

by Tulis McCall, Life-Cycle Celebrant

After July 20, 1969, when human beings first set foot on the moon, we never looked up at her again in quite the same way. Our journey to the moon also changed the way we looked at Earth. This first human sighting of Earth—the “fragile blue marble” surrounded by black space—changed our understanding of the planet from something invincible to something fragile that needs our attention, commitment, and care. What elements of your life might benefit from the same kind of change in perspective?

MATERIALS

• Paper • Pen or pencil

RITUAL FOR CHANGING PERSPECTIVE                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

• Lie on the ground, on the floor, or on a bed or couch. Slowly look up and from side to side. Take special note of two or three objects or locations you can see.

• Sit up and look around slowly. Note what you can see that was previously out of sight. Gaze at the objects or areas you previously noted. How are they different?

• Stand up and slowly look around. Once again, examine those objects or locations you chose. What is different now? What were you sitting on that you could not see before?

• Rise up on your toes three times. As you lift yourself, notice the change in your perspective. It is small but mighty.

• Finally, write down three areas of your life where you feel stuck.

Closet need clearing out? Client pool shrinking? Relationship not going so well? Write it down.

• Then flip your statements. Instead of saying “My closet needs cleaning out,” try “I need cleaning out.” Instead of, “I need more clients,” try “More clients need me.” Instead of “My partner is getting on my nerves,” try “I might be getting on my partner’s nerves.” Write down these new perspectives. Say them out loud. How do they feel and how do you feel saying them?

IN CLOSING

With every moonrise, there is an earthrise. When you bring a new perspective to a problem, there is a shift. With that shift comes new possibilities. We just need to change our perspective in order to see them, just as we did when we stepped upon the moon.

TULIS MCCALLis a Life-Cycle Celebrant® certified in Weddings. She lives and works throughout the New York Metro Area. You can reach Tulis through her websites, www.weddingsbytulis.com or at www.newyorkweddingofficiant.org.

In our fast-paced lives, many of us don't "stop and smell the roses." When we do take the time, though, we honor that which makes us magnificently human. Stopping to smell the roses can offer you a bouquet that keeps on blooming, because of your full attention and reverence to life. Life-Cycle Ceremonies: A Handbook for Your Whole Life is a compilation of ceremonies and rituals written by experienced Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants® from all over the world, who share their wisdom along with some favorite rituals. It's an excellent resource for those who want to better practice mindfulness in their day-to-day lives, for wellness, healthcare, and death care professionals, and for all lovers of life. 

This book was created by the Celebrant Foundation & Institute. Contact us at: celebrantinstitute.org or give us a call at: (973) 746-1792.  

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Cycle-C...

“Who Uses the Services of A Celebrant?”

                                                By Elaine Voci, Ph.D.

When you think of the word “celebrant” what comes to mind?  Perhaps you see someone dressed ceremonially performing an outdoor wedding as I did last autumn for a young Hispanic couple who said their vows in a lovely state park with the golden leaves of fall on the ground under crisp blue skies.  Or maybe you see a formal looking officiant presiding over the funeral of someone whose family is mourning their loss and participating in a personalized service that includes a memory table, several heartfelt eulogies and poetic tributes that provide a fitting “soul sketch” of the deceased in an authentic, touching memorial service.

But did your vision also include a simply dressed officiant helping a couple celebrate the adoption of their first child in front of a group of close friends?  And did you see a casually dressed celebrant performing a house blessing for a midlife couple who have downsized into a smaller living space?  Did you envision an officiant presiding over the five year anniversary celebration of a successful company whose services have earned local recognition for excellence?

Each of these circumstances, so different from each 
other, put to good use the celebrant’s skills of storytelling, their training in the art of ritual, rites of passage and ceremony.  Each event required attention to the goals and motivational desires of their clients to make the experience highly personalized, tailored, and meaningful.  Celebrants collaborate with their clients to create and perform personalized ceremonies that reflect the client’s beliefs, philosophy of life, and personality, not the celebrant’s. Taken as a whole, these unique events demonstrate the wonderful diversity of people who choose to employ the services of a celebrant to perform ceremonies that help individuals, couples, and families mark life-changing events, milestones, and/or significant life decisions. 

Given the vastly growing segment of our society who describe themselves as “not religious, but spiritual” it’s no wonder that the number of celebrant-led weddings, baby blessings, funerals and healing ceremonies are growing.  In 2014, for example, 74% of Australian marriages and more than 80% of funerals/end of life celebrations were also co-created and performed by civil celebrants.  In the US, Canada and many other English-speaking countries around the world celebrants are increasingly performing weddings, funerals, coming of age and other rituals.  Recently laws have been passed in the US where Civil Celebrants are included in the marriage laws to reflect the need of people who desire their lives be celebrated and their stories be told – their way.

 

Celebrants themselves are a diverse group and come from many different backgrounds; they are represented among various age groups, and have all kinds of different personalities.  Celebrants may perform alternative and nontraditional ceremonies in places, and under circumstances, where mainstream religious clergy will not.  Celebrants often perform ceremonies in parks, on beaches, on mountains, on boats, on hiking trails, in hotels, in banquet halls, in private homes, and many other places.  As one wise and witty celebrant I know puts it, “I will go anywhere that couples want me to with just two exceptions: I don’t go nude, and I don’t do ceremonies that involve hot air balloons or parachutes!”

The celebrant profession is an occupation that began in Australia and New Zealand over 50 years ago and has now established itself in the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe. The Celebrant Foundation & Institute is proud to be a member of the International Federation of Celebrants. If you are looking for a new career, come join us and be among the very first Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants in your community to offer personal, meaningful and memorable ceremonies for all life's womb-to-tomb occasions.

   

Celebrant Blog:  July, 2016

Elaine Voci is a life coach, specializing in end of life services, in private practice in Carmel, IN and a graduate of the Celebrant Foundation & Institute class of 2014.  The published author of five books, Elaine is the Editor of the Celebrant Blog for the Celebrant Foundation & Institute.

Photo courtesy of: Celebrant Foundation & Institute, Celebrants Marcia Almeida and Cindie Wilding

Cindie Wilding

As a Celebrant I have the best job! It is my great pleasure to get to know couples: who they are, what they love, how they met, what makes them ...-Cindie Wilding 

Email: celebrant.cindie@gmail.com

Please direct all request, comment or concerns about our CF&I Blog to our Social Media Manager ~ Marcia Almeida, Master Life-Cycle Celebrant. at  celebrantsocialmedia@gmail.com    

Or to the Celebrant Foundation & Institute’s director, Charlotte Eulette at:charlotteeulette@celebrantinstitute.org call us at (973)746-1792.  

Visit us at http://www.celebrantinstitute.org/?p=business