A Golden Ceremony

I bow my head in gratitude for the experience of having taken part in my mentor Christine Kane’s Gold Mastermind this past year. The 30 women (and one amazing man) that I shared the journey with have become dear friends. We gathered from across North America to step into our brilliance so that we could share our gifts with the world in more profound ways.

There is a power in joining together with a group of like ‘hearts’. Each of us held the light for one another and because of the power of Christine’s teaching and the love of the group we have all been changed.

My vision for my work has expanded way beyond my imagination. The landscape out ahead is vast and I hope that many of you will journey with me through my mentoring program, ceremony circles and personal ceremony consultations to a life of conscious action with a tone of freedom and celebration.

My gift to you is an inside glimpse of the ceremony that I facilitated for my Gold group’s graduation. Picture a beautiful group of women who have stretched beyond their limitations and who have come together to acknowledge the change within themselves and their love for one another.

A Golden Ceremony

Several members of my Gold group were having dinner together at an event our mentor was hosting. During our conversation I acknowledged ‘knowing’ that offering personal ceremony was my gift and I suggested that I needed a ceremony to step into my work in a powerful way. This led to a request by the group for me to facilitate a graduation ceremony for our Gold group. I took a deep breath in and although I was thinking, “how will I find the time and the energy to plan this ceremony by tomorrow afternoon?”, I said, “Yes of course, I would love to!”

During the next 20 hours I dreamed the ceremony into life. I engaged in a process which is familiar to me, one that I trust. It is a creative process with a mix of action, waiting, opening, and receiving. It’s a collaborative process between myself and what I call the energy of Love. After a dream filled night I awoke with the beginning of a structure for our ceremony knowing there were still several hours in the day for it to come together.

By noon, after walking by the lake during our breaks and imaging the places we would stand, the actions we would take, and the things we would say, the ceremony was almost complete. I received one piece quite magically as I talked to a woman who was not part of Gold but who was attending the event and was outside for a break and curious about what I was up to.

I explained that I was preparing for a ceremony and I told her about the significance of the rose bushes that we would be touching to secure the memory of Gold. The soft petals would signify the beauty of our time together and the barbs the challenges each one of us had come up against.

Erin offered a quote by Abraham Lincoln…” You can be upset that a rose bush has thorns or happy that a thorn bush has roses.” I smiled and thanked her as I told her that this would beautifully illustrate our mentor’s teaching of the importance of mindset in creating a conscious life.

At 5:30 the Gold group met at the back door and stepped outside under the awning. The sound of the rain was a lovely accompaniment as we symbolically retraced the steps of our journey over the past year. Each of us in turn took our place in the center of the circle and listened as our sisters shared our amazing qualities…kindness, generosity, brilliance, …persistence. After this sharing we spoke each woman’s name followed by, “we hold you in your light”.

The rain stopped so we ventured along the walkway toward the rose bushes. I have a lovely visual image of the group of us touching the roses with the “oohs” and “aahs” and “ows”! Then we circled again and as a gentle warm rain began to fall we each recounted one memory we would carry with us and chose a symbol that would remind us of our time in Gold. For me it was the joy of being a part of our group. The laughter and our smiling faces will be recalled whenever I see a daisy.

We joined hands and I offered our final motion, one that had come from something our mentor had mentioned just that afternoon in our session. She said that her vision of a mastermind was one where a group joins hands and moves purposefully together in the same direction. The Gold group joined hands for one last time and ran up the steps toward the doors of the hotel and shouted Whooo Hoooo!

Inside we were greeted by a tray of champagne glasses filled with mineral water. This is the photo of us offering a toast to the entire Gold group.

And this is the photo (artistry by Laurie McCarrier) of the Gold group raising a toast to Christine Kane, our mentor extraordinaire who led us this past year along the golden path. We are forever changed by our experience.