Ceremonies of Outreach
Many Traditions and Elders of Traditions hold that to change how we interact and relate to this world, those that we share the planet with and each we need to be engaged in Ceremony and Ritual to tend social and environmental issues. The Society in line with many Traditions wants to encourage regular ceremonies, to restore balance, to ask for healing and forgiveness, to honour our Ancestors and Descendants, to honour Mother Earth, all those who call Her home and the waters that flow through Her.
On this page the Society aims to present Community Ceremonies, in which individuals and groups can engage.
The Ember Circle
Without rest or pause a torrent of words and images on violence assails us
Violence to each other, to ourselves, to animals, to the environment
It seems that we are powerless against such a war beyond us,
Sometimes we speak,
Sometimes we hope,
Sometimes we pray,
Sometimes we take action,
And sometimes we pass ourselves by and let be.
The Ember Circle is prayer in action,
A shared prayer for peace within ourselves,
Prayer is more than a conversation, it is a reaching out to be in union with the other, by whatever name. For the Sagh’ic prayer is not a placation or needful list of requests. It is a calling as a child to know that another is here, it is also a calling out so that any child will know that we are here.
It is in this our hearts can be warriors, who will bring an end to the war beyond us, that maybe we might not pass by, or that we will be honest with ourselves that this time we cannot stand.
The Ember Circle is to be a seed of hope to be passed and shared, so another fire can be lit and another circle of embers created, until the circle of Embers connects as many warrior hearts as possible.
On May 28th a small group gathered to reflect and meditate on the news that assailed them for that day; a terrorist bombing, a murder, an earthquake, death of a friend. They sang and drummed, calling to the Ancestral Spirits and reflecting on both persona l feelings and fears, and those of those ancestors. These feelings without agenda and those with, were manifested into a physical prayer circle of flowers, spices, sweets/candies, in fact anything that gave voice to those feelings and to the feeling that were held back, as well as pictures of ourselves.
The group knew that such a small and simple act could not possibly change any of the news or events. However it was a cry to let ourselves know and share how we felt, and that honesty would bring change to every member of the group, so that maybe they could go out into the community and be an element of prayerful change.
For The Sagh’ic, being animist, there is no deity that could be called to change us or the world. The Abhrannmathea Prayer is a prayer of a child calling into the shadows of loneliness, abandonment and difference, knowing that some parent would hear and be there with them. That ‘holding’ (being one with the other) gave strength, courage and compassion by which the child could take another step, face another day, stand up and be truthful in their abilities, reach out and hold another and be an anchor or beacon for the other children lost in the same shadows. The Ancestors did what they could and now pass it on to us, that we in turn will pass it to those yet to come.
The prayer as is the Ember Circle is sacred conversation asking, “Are you there?” and at the same time answering, “I am here.” In each Circle we asked our hearts to know that at that moment there was someone, somewhere alone, facing fear, death, illness, starvation and in that memnet we called to them whoever, wherever to say, “I am here.”
The Prayer ‘mandala/despacho/offering/sacrament’ was bundled in the same prayer and burnt both as an offering to the other and a beacon for hope.
The ash was collected and it was this ash that formed the first circle on the next larger community ‘Ember Circle’.
The ash from that Circle was collected and sent to individuals and groups who used it as the first offering in their Ember Circle, with the hope that ashes from those would be sent out further and further in an ever widening prayer of hope; and hope is as always a call for action.
This is a community outreach project, we ask as many to join with. If you would like full instructions and a vial of ash to create and begin a cycle of Ember Circles, please generalscgmss@gmail.com
The Honey Roads
There are times where it can feel overwhelming…so many crises. And the enormity of them can create a feeling of helplessness. We are haunted at times by the question “What can one person do?”
Perhaps…we remember that the world is not just a vast globe of uncounted, faceless and nameless ones. Perhaps, we remind ourselves that when many come together, wonders can be done. This is what ceremony does…it brings us together, so that our remembering can be stronger.
We see that the simplest moments of being united can bring about change. We remember that our lives are constantly a part of a greater whole…together with the fleet of foot, and the flight of wings, with the silvering fin; with those who came before us – and those who will come after us. The word ‘Unity’ comes from the Latin ‘unus’…meaning ‘one’. And one…can reach out to the many…becoming a greater whole again. And as One, in the One Great Song, everything can change.
The Bees are Unity. The Bees are constantly in communion with the whole. The Bees create sweetness that nourishes not just the one bee – but the whole of the hive. As they do this, their Unity connects almost the entire span of ecosystems in the world.
For millions of years, they have traveled the Honey Roads – connecting species after species with the trail they leave in their pursuit of Sweetness. The Bees are so interwoven into the seed, root, stem and blossoms of the world, that one mouthful of every three we take at every meal…is only possible because of the tireless flight of the Bees as they travel the Honey Roads above and around us.
The Bees too face a time of fearsome crisis. Since 1950, the population of human beings on the planet has doubled. The population of Honeybees in the Americas has been cut in half in the same span of time. The Bees are being decimated by a powerful interaction of circumstances…with every root in what human beings have been doing in our forgetful separation from the rest of the world.
This ceremony is a simple, local, personal moment of creating change. From our remembering, we act. And every action affects the whole. The focus for the Society and the S’aghic Tradition in the year ahead…is the power of Communion. Coming together, coming into unity, creating ripples of remembering the One Rhythm in the Great Song. Wherever you are, we invite you to step into this rhythm, and to assist in offering heart, determination, reparation and prayer…that both the Bees and the beings can remember and come into strength and harmony once again. We invite you to bring this remembering into your community, your circle, your garden, your balcony, that the whole may strengthened.
Download Final Bee ceremony
The ceremony is a simple honouring of the Elements, the Ancestors, the Descendants. It honours the Bees, and culminates in a drumming of heart prayer of strength – a wordless prayer that all of us endure this time of crisis. It completes with a simple action on behalf of those to come – the Descendants.
The culmination of this focus on Communion will be in ceremony in May 2017. We would like to be able to call out all the places this ceremony has happened. Can we ask that if you are doing this ceremony, you would email us with the date and the location. You can send these details to generalscgmss@gmail.com and they will be passed to us, and you can follow us and the ceremony on Twitter @SCGMSS and on Facebook This simple community ceremony is an invocation of memory…a re-membering that we all live our lives here on the Honey Roads, and that every action matters.
Blessings of Grandmother Ocean
This ceremony was gifted by Spirit to the Sagh’ic Tire Dhream (Wolven Path Tradition) Apprentice Group, Fire Flight, who in turn have gifted this ceremony to the Society and to you all. Fire Flight were Initiated into the Sagh’ic Tire Dhream in May 2015.
Download the ceremony The Ritual of the Blessings of Grandmother Ocean
The purpose of this ceremony is to make amends for the abuse we as humans have committed to and against the oceans and open ourselves to Her forgiveness. Historically men have controlled the ocean in their use of the seas and Her bounties, so in a sense this ceremony is a call for making reparation for a rape. As shamanic apprentices, we have become more aware of the poisoning and the misuse of the oceans around us. Here on the Northwest coast the ocean is contaminated with e-coli and there is a resurgence of red tide. As a group, we have looked at the plight of the oceans around the world and see similar contaminations and abuse of the waters and Her wildlife. We consider and want this ceremony to be an act of reconciliation between the male and female as represented by the ocean and the humans. The ocean is the birthplace of life on earth; the womb of all that live upon the planet and reflecting this, our ceremony aims to restore the innocence and purity of that birthplace.
In our stories the ocean gives birth to the moon and the moon calls us together in community, hence our focus is on the ideal of community as both a healing commitment and the openness of our actions. One of our concerns is that the poisonings of the oceans might manifest as a poisoning of our communities. So our ceremony is to be undertaken as a visible and witnessable ritual that we hope will symbolize the eradication of secrets and shame often associated with rape. Our ceremony at its heart is about forgiveness and reconciliation and is therefore a ceremony of celebration and joy.
We hope, which is our call for community action, that as many people will undertake this short ceremony monthly at the first sunset after full moon. We hope people will perform this ceremony for 13 months and/or would like to suggest and encourage others to perform this ceremony so that the burden of undertaking 13 ceremonies doesn’t fall on one group. The overall picture is to have the ceremony performed consecutively once a month by as many people who are able to as a flowing wave across the year and the world of reconciliation and forgiveness for the abusers of the oceans.
We hope that this is an ongoing annual cycle of ceremonies and each year in May, we could be able to call out all the places this ceremony has happened. Can we ask that if you are doing this ceremony, you would email us with the date and the location. You can send these details to generalscgmss@gmail.com and they will be passed to us, and you can follow us and the ceremony on Twitter @SCGMSS and on Facebook
On behalf of the Oceans of this world we thank you.
Fire Flight Initiates
On the Shoulders of Heroes
Through this ceremony, we stand on the shoulders of heroes by honouring the heroic sacrifices of both our Ancestors and of those who have acted bravely in our midst. In so doing, we become heroes ourselves and most importantly, spiritual catalysts for change. As heroes, we are called to action, driven to take risks and unafraid to make sacrifices.
This ceremony centers about An Cailleach, The Bone Mother; She who holds and guards the dead and who opens the path for those yet to be born. In a greater sense An Cailleach holds and maintains a connection to community and others through altruistic heroism.
We look out into a world bereft of true heroism; that heroic risk, which explodes in a truly passionate heart driving us to action, despite the cost, seems lost
We see that the time has come for us to BE the passionate action of the ancestral spirits – that unconditional act of love. Through this ceremony, each of us personally is called to be a responsible agent of change; be it protesting at a fracking corporation, opening a door for someone, smiling at the person who is tired at the end of their day, taking a shorter shower, standing in the rain to give soup to the homeless, air drying our laundry, not using the cell phone for one day, saying ‘no’ when it is easier to say ‘yes’, taking one more step for another, even though you are just too tired. The list is endless, yet the actions, risks and sacrifices, small and great, all contain the elements of the hero/heroine.
A true act of heroism is measured by its affect into the future, even if we are never part of that future. A metaphor for this might be the man who sees a place to cut good stone and chooses to begin; not knowing who will cut building bricks from it, and not knowing what grand project the last stone will complete.
We achieved this so that it was incorporated into a ceremony in May 2016, and we were able to call out all the places this ceremony had happened.
Can we ask that if you are doing this ceremony, you would email us with the date and the location, so we can repeat the calling out in May 2017. You can send these details to generalscgmss@gmail.com and they will be passed to us, and you can follow us and the ceremony on Twitter @SCGMSS and on Facebook
Download the ceremony On the Shoulders of Heroes
As a continuing commitment to heroic change in action, it is hoped that each individual or community will identify or re-identify the four heroes in the original 4 stones, re-pledge that original commitment, find another bone and recommence the ceremony for a further 13 months. This very act of recommitment and rededication is, in itself, that heralding of a new vanguard of heroes and heroines whose action, risk and sacrifice will inspire more and more heroes and heroines, who in turn will honour not just each other, but their heroic ancestors and living heroes and heroines. This will bring a greater sense of commitment to the lives we share with all those that live and dwell on this earth. In this, we bring honour to each other, we honour our dead, we honour this earth we call home and we honour all those that too call Her ‘home’.
This community ceremony is conceived through the Ancestral Spirits and Ancient Ones by Thunder Song of Sagh’ic Tire Dhream;
Pat Short, Mojo Kemp, Tad Seymour, Joseph Abbott
Singing the Song of Our Unsung Heroes
Tad Seymour, a Thunder Song Initriate has written an inspirational article documenting his experience of building a Hero Cairn.
To see a Hero Cairn take shape, and to read Tad’s moving journey with its construction, please click here.
You may comment, share your thoughts and experiences on and with the ceremonies and your engagement with them on this page or you can send these details to saghictiredhream@gmail.com
and they will be passed to us, and you can follow us and the ceremonies on on Facebook
Sagh'ic Tire Dhream 