RITUAL OF REMEMBRANCE
The Land
You may be surprised to learn that The Land often shows up as an important part of the family and we get a lot of healing from remembering and integrating The Land. The places our people came from, the culture and traditions of that place, and the land itself seems to have a resonance whose echoes continue to reverberate for many generations.
Most people today are living in places where their families have migrated, either willingly or unwillingly. It can restore harmony and balance to do a personal ritual to remember the places that have been significant for you and your family. This can be done for the home country, the homeland; the place your parents or grandparents emigrated from, fled, were taken from, or exiled from.
Chances are there are many lands in your family lineage; do them one at a time, starting with the most obvious one.
Guided Ritual
The Land
Creating a personal ritual for The Land
Choose one object to represent you and one object to represent The Land. Place them in space in a conscious way. Notice how near or far apart they are.
Turn towards The Land and feel which of these phrases have resonance for you personally. Some of them may fall flat when you say them and that is okay. With some of them you may feel a tingling or alertness. That is one way to know it is the right stance for this ritual:
- We came from you
- We belong to you
- I am yours
- I remember you
- Thank you
- I carry you in my heart
If it feels right, take a flower offering and place it near The Land. You can also experiment with other offerings of remembrance that feel appropriate for this particular land. You can go outside of your home and pick an object from nature where you live now and offer it to The Land as a gesture of remembrance.
You can also offer the smoke of something fragrant — like cedar, pine, mugwort, white sage, or incense. This has a way of activating your own senses — seeing, smelling, touching, and brings you in to clearer state of presence in the ritual. Even if you never visited or lived in this land, it is running through your own blood and so you will have an innate knowing of which offering is most appropriate.
