A home is a lot more than square footage and a place to park one’s stuff. It is a place of joy and refuge where one’s family and personal life are lived and expressed. As a multi-faith minister and celebrant, I am privileged to help create meaningful, memorable ceremonies that say “our home really matters,” and “there is love here.” This is a time-honored way to express all the values embodied by one’s home.
Home Blessings and Housewarmings
A housewarming ceremony, where one takes possession and officially moves into one’s new home, sends a message to oneself, one’s family, one’s neighbors and the community that a significant and wholesome change is taking place, and that this change truly matters. The tone of a housewarming ceremony can vary from “spiritual,” to interfaith to entirely secular, and can incorporate elements from many housewarming traditions — from affixing a mezuzah, jumping across a door sill, to preparing a special meal with one’s loved ones, to planting a tree, or entirely new elements can be created and incorporated.
House Purifications and Space Clearings
I can also perform space clearings, where a home is energetically cleansed with traditional sage or other fragrant herbs and soothing sound and music, then consecrated for the new homeowner and his or her family with poetry, blessings from and for ceremony participants, and other elements.
Mortgage Payoffs
The moment when one’s mortgage is finally paid off is usually the culmination of years of debt, hard work, and sacrifice. It is both cathartic and gratifying to celebrate this joyful occasion with a meaningful ceremony, which can include a formal note-burning, expressions of thanksgiving, a re-dedication to the cherished values of the home, and a celebration of the unique spirit of the household as it has evolved over time.
I also design ceremonies that celebrate the sale of one’s house, cornerstone-laying, and the inauguration or completion of home renovation and beautification projects.
The Empty Nest
When children leave the home for college or their own homes, it marks a significant life change for the parents and the life of the home as well as for the children. I can help design ceremonies that acknowledge the poignant and often complex emotions inherent in these transitions and which help prepare a path for creative new possibilities to emerge.
Pets
People love their pets and are often so deeply bonded with them that when a pet dies, it leaves a hole in the family that creates a sense of loss and grief almost as intense as when a human family member has passed on. I can help design burial and goodbye ceremonies in which both the love for the pet and sadness at its loss loss are acknowledged, and a sense of gratitude and completion are achieved. I also work effectively with children coping with the loss of a pet.
