The Initiate, Ceremony, and Closing! | December 2020

This is December, the 12th month of 2020 and we are certainly in for the Grand Finale on the Winter Solstice this year.  I had many ideas for the newsletter but when I asked my Higher Self what topic should be covered, the topic of Ceremony was first on the list. 

What does being Initiated mean to you?  To me, the word initiate means, to introduce, to begin, to set your intention.  A dear friend said to me; for the uninitiated, this time we are living in can seem very brutal.   In that context, this initiation means to be in process of spiritually expanding. 

What does being in Ceremony mean to you?  I think of wedding ceremonies, graduation ceremonies, and birthday ceremonies.  All of those types of ceremonies are equated to celebration!

What does Graduation mean to you?  To me it means completion of a program that you may receive a diploma showing that you have met all the requirements for a particular subject.    

This year in 2020, when I was diagnosed with cancer my spiritual teacher in South Africa reminded me that this cancer journey was my initiation into a learning, and that as I have been going through the various stages of healing, I would be in a spiritual ceremony.  Speaking with my ancestors about this cancer initiation, I was guided to remove all of my beads and place them on my altar in my meditation room.  I was guided to create a sacred circle of crystals, and herbs surrounding the beads.  I am told that when the cancer ceremony is complete, I will be placing my beads back on my body and wrist.

Therefore, when spirit said, the entire world has been going through an initiation, ceremony and graduation, I understood it to be similar to my cancer ceremony and even my Sangoma ceremony.   It was to be a year of being initiated into a new way of life, by beginning a process of spiritual expansion.  Then, as you entered into the deeper aspects of the ceremony, spirit celebrated your learning milestones as you awakened into a new way of seeing, knowing, feeling, hearing the world around you.  As you are now into the month of December, having completed the 12 cycles of each month, the year 2020 comes to a close and it is time now to graduate this 2020 year!  You might be left wondering if you met all the spiritual requirements to graduate?  I asked this question of spirit and heard, if you are stepping into the year 2021, then you have graduated 2020.  So there is my best answer to that question. 

Each time I have entered into a new level of spiritual learning, there are the intentions, and ceremonies.  From the spiritual perspective you truly are being celebrated by the spirit world.  The good things, the horrible things, the laughter, the grief and everything in between.  The spirit world sees you move through each wave of change adapting to new knowledge, new wisdom, and new strengths within.  You might not yet see them for yourself, but spirit always sees your incredible human changes.  Believe me, in my own Sangoma ceremony, I did not know that I even had that many buttons to be pushed!  As the Senior Sangoma’s, drummed, danced and sang me into a higher frequency, my old ways of being fought hard to remain in charge.  As an initiate into the Sangoma tradition, I was put through test after test, to purposely break me wide open.  Then, many ceremonies came over a few years, to celebrate my awakening and the hardships gone through to get there. 

This 2020 year has been exactly the same.  You were initiated, by your own spirits’ intentions that you desired for yourself this year.  Then, going through month after month of ceremony, pushing more physical, emotional, mental and spiritual buttons then you even knew existed within yourself.  We have been pushed to our breaking point this year and in some circles they would say; well that IS the point after all isn’t it?  If I cried, the Sangoma’s drummed harder, if I screamed, they pulled me up off the floor and insisted I dance until it shifted, and if I became furious, they laughed, until I could remember to laugh too.  I was so stuck in my stuff during one of my ceremonies that they insisted that I clean all 7 stomachs of a cow that was being prepared to be cooked.  They gave me a job to do so that I did not sit in my stuck-ness!  It took me hours and if I did not get it clean enough they sent me back to do better.  All of this was part of my learning how to manage my spiritual expansion and maintain my footing in life! 

As we come to a close in December, might I suggest that you begin to make a list of all the ways you have grown over this year.  Then create your own graduation and completion ceremony to close out this year and begin 2021 fresh!  Ready to begin a new year as an Initiate, ready to step into another 12 months of ceremony.  So please read through the Energy tips to read my suggestions on creating a closing ceremony.  Makhos! 

Energy Tips

With any ceremony there is a beginning, a middle and an end.  Not one single part of the ceremony is more important than the other.  Each level is significant.  A ceremony begins with an intention/desire to move from where you are to where you want to be.  At the time you make that intention, you are becoming willing to shift whatever is needed to get you there.  Then the messy part!  In the middle of your ceremonial journey is where all the old blocked stuck energy can challenge you.  Asking you subconsciously, just how badly do you really want or need to change?  Then at the end, is the celebration, the graduation.  You have climbed the mountain and are on the other side now.  The secret ingredient throughout it all is to be in a constant state of gratitude.  Here are tips on how to close out your 2020 year intentionally!

1.  Create a sacred place for yourself.  It can be indoors, or outdoors.  You can place crystals, candles, sage, or simply offer a glass of water.  Close your eyes, as you begin to allow your expression of gratitude come to the surface. 
2. Have a journal and pen handy.  As you settle into expressing gratitude for simply surviving the year 2020, your spirit will begin to show you other events through memories, helping you to remember everything.  Maintain, Gratitude…equally for the ups and the downs. 
3. Remember where you were, who you were in January of 2020.  Then remember each month of you and who you were becoming.  Maintain Gratitude, again, equally for the ups and downs. 
4. December, closing your year of 2020.  Set your intention to release old residual from your 2020 year down your grounding.  Intend to release anyone else’s energy that may remain in your energy field, right down your grounding.  Let go, let go, let go of 2020.  Take as much time as you need.  Make notes.
5. December, intention to pull all of your essence that is still in the past in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December.  Intention; If I have left my essence in those months, I call all of my energy to be right here in the present moment now!  It can be fun to do it month by month because you can notice which months might have been the most impactful.  Then go back to that month and remember what significant event happened. 
6. Thank your body, your spirit, your spirit guides and mother earth for all that you have learned over the year. 
7. Fill back in with your own spirit to infuse all of those areas that you released. 
8. Give yourself a few days to settle yourself after this big healing, before you begin planning for the year 2021.  Celebrate with Gratitude!