Yesterday, I went to a letting-go ceremony. It was held at Storm Wisdom in Phoenix, a store and learning center. We gathered in their meditation room and spent some time writing down what we wanted to let go.
The card I drew as my intention for 2011.
Letting go means not dragging the worry and tension with you into a new year. Letting go means exhaling and waiting to pull in hew air into our life and lungs.
Letting goes means leaving behind. Things that aren’t useful. Things that drag us down. Things that hold us back.
We took our lists to a fire pit and one by one, threw them in. We watched the flame chew up our lists of discarded thoughts, emotions, loss.
We were then smudged with a sage bundled, blessed, and wanded with a crystal wand. When the cleansing was complete, we each drew a card to set an intention for next year. We chose the card without looking, knowing that this was the right one.
It was a kind and loving ceremony. I’ve never been cleansed or wanded, and it felt quiet and good.
I don’t know what kind of a year 2010 was for you, but I’m grateful to leave it behind. There are some lessons and people I will welcome into 2011, but frankly, 2010 was a year that I’m going to exhale from my system and be grateful that I can move ahead and away.
--Quinn McDonald is an artist, writer and certified creativity coach.
What a great idea! Wish I had been there. And I love the intention that picked you. Grace.
Joy to you in 2011!
I always make new intentions for the new beginning of the year, but I’ve never thought to let go of the old, the stuff I don;t want to bring with me. What a meaningful ritual!