From Birth To Earth: Rituals for All Seasons

By Dawn Williams

Rituals From Birth to Earth: A Journey Through the Seasons is a collection of rituals and rites of passage that have been designed and performed over the last two decades by Rev. Dawn. They are a collection of rituals for honoring life's changes and growth, both of people and Mother Earth.

This book contains numerous examples of the hundreds of rituals and rites of passage she's created for both common situations as well as unique rituals for various alternative communities that she is passionate about.

Not only does this book contain a wealth of rites and rituals you can use, but it also includes the author's guide on how to create your own rituals!

This book contains rituals the author has created for:

seasonal celebrations

weddings and handfastings

baby blessings

funerals

cleansings

and more!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan Williams
• Release date: Aug 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201679330

Book preview

Dedication

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This book is dedicated to my husband, Dan, who’s always supported me on my quest to be the best Pagan Clergy, Healer and High Priestess I can be. This has taken me away from home for training and many dedicated hours involved in leading a spiritual group, designing rituals and officiating weddings, and other rites of passage. He’s been there with me every step of the way.

I also dedicate this book to the Sacred Flame Circle. Without the support of all the members for so many years, I wouldn’t have learned such an eclectic way of seeing the world and designing ritual around it.

And last but not least, I dedicate this book to my late friend, bat. She was so excited to hear I was finally putting my twenty years of rituals together and couldn’t wait to see it. Unfortunately, she crossed over unexpectedly in 2020 and won’t see this book come to fruition. But I write it with her in mind.

Love to all who have supported me on this journey.

Rev. Dawn

Who Wrote This Book?

Rev. Dawn Earthsong is a well-known healer, educator, and licensed Pagan Clergy based in Central Ohio. She created Sacred Flame Circle, an eclectic spiritual study group, in 2003, and is the High Priestess of the Sacred Flame Temple. Her passion for helping others is part of what originally inspired her journey toward becoming Clergy and Priestess, and that passion has sustained both her personal practice and her professional work for many years.

Rev. Dawn believes everyone should have the opportunity to learn, know, and grow into the spiritual path best for them. She’s shared her gifts, talents, experience, and knowledge with people around the globe, both in person and virtually. You will find her at home with her loving husband, spending time with her two sons, daughters-in-law, and granddaughter, or presenting at alternative lifestyle conferences and events in the US and Canada.

http://www.revdawnearthsong.com

Why Write This Book?

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This book has been a long time coming—many years of designing rituals, online classes on how to design rituals, people asking for copies of some of the rituals or help with how to make their own.

Why not put it all in one place to be shared with so many more people through print?

Though there are many books out there now that have rituals in them, rituals are as unique as the people they’re written for. It’s that uniqueness that makes them special. Plus, reading how others have designed their rituals and what they’ve come up with can fuel someone else's creativity. So, why not share?

With this in mind, a book is born.

About this book

This book is a collection of rituals and rites of passage I’ve designed and officiated over the past two decades. I’ve sifted through the hundreds of rituals and rites of passage I’ve created over the years and have chosen samples of each kind to share in this book. Some of these are for more common situations, and some are unique rituals for various alternative communities I’m passionate about.

Not only does the Earth live through seasons, but so do we as humans. Spring is the season of birth and new beginnings, Summer the season of motherhood and fruition, Autumn the season of graduations and change, then Winter the season of death and endings. As such, instead of separating the seasonal rituals from the rites of passage, I’ve designed the book around the seasons and added in the appropriate rite of passage to its corresponding season.

For some of the seasonal rituals, there will only be one version given. If there is only one version, this means I designed one that worked well enough to use year after year with only some minor tweaks. But, for others, I may have tried different styles of the ritual with my spiritual study group, The Sacred Flame Circle. 

As for the rites of passage, I’m sharing many of them, with names changed for anonymity of the participants involved. For the weddings, I’ve picked a few out of the many I’ve written that show the different styles used over the years. Some are secular, some Wiccan, some generic pagan, druid, native american, and even a polyamorous handfasting. Near the end I’m also sharing some weddings that I co-wrote with the Bride & Groom. I’ve added their names with their permission.

Not only have I shared some of the specific rituals I’ve written, I’ll also share the structure I use, so you can create your own rituals.

Introduction

This book is full of many of the rituals I’ve designed, collaborated on, and performed over the past twenty years. I’ve organized them in a way that reflects the seasons of the wheel: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Spring is for birth; Summer for fertility, motherhood, and fruition; Autumn for the Harvest, harvesting, graduation, and speaking with our ancestors; and Winter is for death, emptiness, and hibernation. Whether it’s a ritual for a seasonal celebration or a stage of our life, they can all be represented by the seasons.

There are two sabbats in each season that many pagans celebrate. I made sure to share at least one of these rituals for each sabbat. This is mainly because over time, I created a liturgy for the spiritual group, and our rituals were pretty much the same each year, unless one of the members of the circle wanted to write and lead something totally different. But, those are not for me to share. For a few of the sabbats I couldn’t decide on which one to share, I put in more than one.

On to the seasons...

Spring is the time for new beginnings. So I chose a few spring rituals, as well as baby blessings, house cleansings, weddings and handfastings, and even a ritual for setting intentions and a biker blessing. As for the weddings and handfastings, these will be a big part of the book, as I’ve done hundreds of them over the past couple of decades. I didn’t put them all in here. These are only a sampling. I chose ones that are completely unique in their design, and some that are similar to each other but have a unique piece in them. Instead of making a wedding chapter, I left them in spring, where I feel they belong. Also, instead of parsing out parts in similar weddings, I left the complete wedding intact so the flow of the ritual could be seen. 

Summer is the time for Motherhood and renewal. So I chose a few summer rituals, along with a healing ritual, Mother’s Day ritual the kids in the Sacred Flame Circle organized, and a renewal of vows.

Autumn is the time for the Harvest, both with the land and in life. Therefore, I chose to add two Autumn rituals, an Empty Nest ritual, a Graduation Ceremony, and Healing/Release ritual.

Winter is the time of death and letting go. So I chose two Winter rituals, a couple of funerals, a miscarriage ritual, and a Dark Moon ritual.

Before exploring the seasons, we’ll start with a little terminology of words you’ll come across in the book that you may not be familiar with. Then, I’ll move on to basics about how to create rituals and sacred space, which many of us use when designing rituals. This is meant to give you a good foundation on how to design your own rituals.

After looking through all the rituals I’ve shared here, it should give you an idea about flow and how pieces work together. That’s a large part of ritual. You can have all the pieces, but if there isn’t flow, it can become stilted.

So, take a breath and let’s step into the world of ritual.

Getting Started

Terminology

It may help if we start with terminology you may come across throughout this book.

Anointing - Smear or rub with oil, typically as part of a religious ceremony. In these rituals, it’s a dab of oil on the forehead, third eye.

Asperge - To sprinkle with water.

Athame – Dagger.

Besom – Broom.

Cuts a Door - Using a finger or athame, imagine a door being cut into a wall of energy, so people can walk through without disturbing the construct.

Deosil - Moving clockwise

Druid – A modern-day pagan religion based on the ancient Celtic religion.

Handfasting - An ancient Celtic ritual in which the hands are tied together to symbolize the binding of two lives. While it’s most often included in Wiccan or pagan ceremonies, it has become more mainstream and pops up in both religious and secular vows and readings.

High Priest/ess (HP / HPS) - A leader of a spiritual group, in this instance a Pagan/Wiccan/Druid group, who leads rituals.

Quarter - Direction or Element.

Sacred Space – This term means different things to different people. In this book, we mean it to be a space that’s dedicated to the purpose at hand.

Smudging - Smudging is the Native American use of an herb, like sage or sweetgrass, or incense that smokes, to cleanse an area/person or create sacred space. 

Subtle - For this book, it means the couple wants the wedding/ritual to have pagan flavors, but not be in your face to avoid offending certain attendees.

Wicca - A modern-day, nature-based pagan religion. Though rituals and practices vary among people who identify as Wiccan, most observations include the festival celebrations of solstices and equinoxes, the honoring of a male god and a female goddess, and the incorporation of natural objects into rituals.

Widdershins - Moving counter-clockwise

Wheel of the Year - An annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern pagans, consisting of the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them.

-  Winter Solstice/Yule - shortest night of the year, marking the beginning of winter

-  Imbolc/Candlemas - quarter day, marking the end of winter is near

-  Spring Equinox/Ostara - day and night are equal in length, marking the beginning of spring

-  Beltane/May Day - quarter day, marking the end of spring is near, fertility festival

-  Summer Solstice/Litha - longest night of the year, marking the beginning of summer

-  Lughnasadh/Lammas - first of the three harvest festivals, marking the end of summer is near

-  Autumn Equinox/Mabon - day and night are equal in length, marking the beginning of autumn

-  Samhain/Halloween - quarter day, marking the end of autumn is near, celebrating our ancestors

How to Create a Ritual

We’ve been designing rituals further back in time than the written language. It seems to be human nature to mark important moments and milestones in our lives. You’ve more than likely put together a ritual yourself, and have definitely participated in one and probably don’t even realize it.

Have you been to a birthday party? A baby shower? A wedding? A graduation? A bachelor party? A funeral? These are all rituals, rites of passage. Most have been around for so long that we don’t really question why we mark them. Many aren’t aware of the history behind the ritual or the traditions involved in each ritual, but we’re expected to follow the traditions nonetheless.

But, some of us like to combine traditions or add our own unique flavor. Or to create something from scratch. So, how do you do this?

Basic Questions in Designing a Ritual

Before you can build a ritual, there are questions that need to be considered.

Question 1: What kind of Ritual?

The most important question is, what kind of ritual or rite of passage are you trying to create? Is it a rite of passage like a birthday, wedding, or funeral? Even a bride’s night out or a bachelor party would fall under this category. They’re going to be a bit different from a holiday ritual or seasonal celebration.

Is it a ritual around an accomplishment, like a graduation or a new job or an article being accepted by a magazine? It could even be a ritual around a transition: a new home, an engagement, a divorce, or a transition in gender.

What about a healing ritual? Even that’s very different from other types of rituals.

Question 2: What is the purpose of the Ritual?

Then, you need to give some thought to the specific purpose of the ritual. Is it a Rite of Passage, a celebration, a healing ritual? For example, if you are doing an Empty Nest Ritual, which I share later in the book, is it about the children who have left home? Or the parents who are left behind? It could be both. This is very important to know. The answer changes the flavor and tone of the ritual.

Question 3: How many people are going to be part of the ritual?

Is this ritual a solo ritual—in other words, you’re doing it for and by yourself—or are a group of people going to be involved, either with the presentation of the ritual or as witnesses?

Question 4: What tone would you like for the ritual?

Casual? Formal? Motorcycle Club Protocol? Yes, I did a motorcycle wedding at a motorcycle club. I made sure to ask about protocol and tone.

Question 5: Is there a specific cultural or religious structure needed?

This could be anything from Christian to Wicca to Druid to Jewish to something more obscure, like Klingon.

Make sure not to make assumptions with this part. I had someone come to me to design a wedding and they wanted a Druid wedding. I pulled one together and then met them. They were from Brazil, and the way Druidism is practiced there is very different than how it’s practiced here in the US. They weren’t aware of this and assumed it was practiced the same everywhere. Luckily, we chatted in detail before we agreed on a structure so what they were looking for was incorporated into the ceremony.

Questions Around Personalizing the Ritual

After you’ve answered these basic questions, you can now personalize the ritual.

Question 1: Is there a theme?

For example, with a wedding I did at Halloween one year, the theme was Horror. This made room for a lot of fun stuff to be added to the wedding. The ring bearer held a pillow with a couple of severed fingers on it, and on the fingers were the rings for the bride and groom.

Having a theme can make it a lot easier to design a unique ceremony or rite of passage. It also allows creativity to flow, which helps bind the parts of the ritual together.

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Question 2: Who is participating?

Who is going to participate and play a part in the ritual? Let’s say it’s a scout graduation ritual, like I mention later in the book. What part does the scout leader play? What part, if any, do the parents play? Are there other parts that need to be played? A drummer? someone to hold balloons? Someone who reads a passage from a book?

Or a wedding—is it just the couple before the officiant? Are there attendants? How many? Do the parents of the bride and groom play a part? Kids? Dogs? Grandparents?

Question 3: What type of atmosphere?

Is it a celebration or a solemn affair? If you’re designing this for someone else, don’t assume. I’ve officiated more than one funeral where they wanted it to be upbeat instead of somber.

For a wedding or two I’ve designed, the couple wanted the tone to be about inclusion. They didn’t want the tradition of Bride’s family on the right and Groom’s family on the left. The way the couple saw it, they were going to be a blended family, so they wanted everyone mixed together. They even had a part in the wedding where everyone turned to the person on each side of them and shook hands and introduced themselves.

Question 4: What about the time?

What about the timing—is this important? Should the ritual take place during a certain time of year? This makes a lot of sense if you’re doing a seasonal ritual. Spring is celebrated in Spring.

Does it need to be on a specific day? Certain days of the week or month have special meaning. If someone is a follower of Odin, they may want to have their ritual on a Wednesday. Or if a couple met on a certain day, they may want to have their wedding on that day.

Or what about a specific time of day? Those who follow a pagan path or a witchy path may hold importance to a specific time of day. I’ve been instructed to start some weddings just before the top of an hour. That way they’re bringing time into their life as they join together. Others have a different reason for starting after the top of the hour. Maybe they see it as leaving their old life behind, so leaving the top of the hour makes sense to them. For whatever reason, it’s good to know if there’s any importance to this for those the ritual is being designed for.

Questions Around Setting the Stage

Now that many of the questions have been answered about the type of ritual and some other foundational questions, what about the fluff? What elements do you want to involve in the ritual? Let’s set the stage.

Question 1: Do you want to involve certain colors?

Now that you know what the ritual is about, the theme if there is one, and the time of year, etc. Do you want certain colors involved? For many of the seasonal rituals, there are various colors that represent each individual season. Or maybe you want the colors that represent certain elements.

Many brides like to have specific colors at their weddings. If a bride says blue, make sure to clarify which shade of blue.

Don’t assume the color for a funeral is to be black. Maybe they want to have the deceased’s favorite color, instead.

As for baby showers, some new moms may not want traditional pinks and blues at their baby shower, or any specific colors at all. My daughter-in-law was all about the theme of animals, so most of the colors at her baby shower were earth tones.

Question 2: Is smell important?

This can be an odd one, but sometimes smell is important. I had a bride who wanted to be anointed with rose oil. Roses reminded her of her mother who’d passed earlier that year, and the bride wanted to smell roses so she could imagine her mother being by her side. Placing a dab of oil on her forehead did the trick.

Maybe incense during a seasonal ritual is important to set the tone. Or sage during a healing ritual. You’d be surprised how smell can play a role in setting the tone and atmosphere of a ritual.

Question 3: Where is the ritual to be held?

There are so