Please feel free to use this ritual outline and tweak if you like
By Sayre and sisalfierce
Note: if you have questions feel free to respond on the blog and Sayre will get back to you
Setup: send out link to the ritual. Ask people to arrive on time, and close the room 5 minutes after the ritual begins. Ask them to turn off phones, and to mute when they aren’t speaking. Have your image of a candle or the chant ready to drop in when you share screen. Set up others to take invocations, chant or whatever else you’d like others to do.
- Facilitators say why they are offering this ritual
- Intention: “We gather together in the web of the living to honor death in the world and to facilitate a space where recently dead can meet with ancestral guides and move toward the next phase of their journey. “
- Grounding: On a breath, go within – and notice what is yours and what is not. If you are holding the fears of others now – if you are holding the fears of our ancestors who lived through famine and pestilence – let those feelings that are not yours leave you – on a long outbreath.
- Weaving a Web of Connection (an online approach to casting a circle): Ask attendees to switch between looking at the camera, and looking into the eyes of those on the screen. As they are ready, each is invited to say: “I am (name here). I belong to this web of the living. I am choosing to witness and honor the dead.” Facilitator ends with: “And so the web is woven”
- Elements: The web of the living that we are part of is supported by (element). (Element) is here – I feel it in (say how the element is present). (Element) is sacred.” For Air, Fire, Water, Earth
- “For spirit, now we light our candles – knowing that any kind of flame shines across the veils, into the other realms and can be a beacon. And we say to the dead: Come to the light, come to the sound of the drum.” All light candles
- Call Ancestors: “We invite the ancestors, the settled dead, those that have crossed over and now make their homes in the realms of the dead. Those who are willing to guide the recently dead to their new homes, across the veils. Ancestors, thank you for being present, for supporting us in our continued living, and for being willing and available to escort the recently dead. It is good to see you- hail and welcome.
- Call Recently Deceased: “We call to those who have died recently and who may not have yet crossed over into the realms of the dead. We call to those who have died and may not know the next step in their journey away from life.”
- Witness the Dead for the Week: Each in our own space (on mute) are asked to name any who have died this week that you wish to honor. (give it about a half minute) All are invited to repeat after the facilitator: “Their hearts were beating – now they have ceased .” “Their course has run, their rhythm is done.” “Death has claimed them.”
- Give a long pause here, to let awareness of death and the spaces created by deaths sink in and be acknowledged. “Let us take a space of time to acknowledge the dead.”
- “Bright spirits, known and unknown, whose time amongst the living has ended, we mark your passing. If you have arrived here, you have died. Your pain has ended. You are done with heartache and can let your burdens go. You ride on swift winds and embrace the stars. ….. Your time of crossing has come – when you are ready … when you are ready …. When you are ready …..
- The Meetup: “When you are ready – Ancestors are here to guide you. Your lives mattered. Your life was sacred. Your death is sacred. When you are ready, take the hand that’s offered to you and move toward the light, and begin the next step of your journey. We wish you well.”
- Now those attending do the work of holding space for the dead who are crossing. Attendees may echo the call and response chant, or drum, or move – they will do this work in their own way. We suggest you put an image of a candle or some other image up on the screen, and everyone turn off their video as attendees have said they feel freer to do this work without being on-screen; or you may wish to put up the words to the chant. Hold energy by drumming/singing or as you wish. Below is a chant written for this ritual; sing the chant as long as feels right, but at least 5 minutes.
The chant is a call and response chant in ¾ time. Here is a link to the chant, and the words follow: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ne2meh3gxw2gz0y/Chant_for_the_Dead_by_sisalfierce.mp3/file
Chant to Honor the Dead by sisalfierce
Come, if you’re willing, oh mighty dead
Take the hand of one who can’t find their way
What is remembered lives
In love may you return
Come, if you’re seeking, oh spirits lost
Take the hand of one who will show the way
What is remembered lives
In love may you return
Come, come, into the light
Come to the voices, the sound of the drum
Bright beings, known and unknown
We honor your death, and your crossing
- Send the dead on their way and clear the space:
“We the living celebrate your having lived. We the living honor your deaths, we the living mark your crossing. What is remembered lives, we the living can remember and honor you without holding you in our lives. Remembering is enough. Thank you for joining this gathering. Go in peace. - Thank the ancestral dead who came to guide: “Ancestral dead, there is joy in being with you again. Thank you for your presence here this night. Hail and farewell.”
- Unlight Candles: “Now we extinguish our candles/flames/lights and we say goodnight to this spirit fire, these lights that have been willing to light the way for the dead on their journey and for the living to honor the dead as they cross. And those dead not ready to cross over – though the lights go out, whenever it is your time to cross the veils, know that the light always shines for you, and a guide is available if you ask. Spirit is sacred, thank you for joining this gathering, go in peace.”
- Devoke: “Thank you (Earth, then Water, Fire, Air). (Earth, then Water, Fire Air) is sacred. Hail and Farewell.”
- “To this shimmering web of the living that has connected us and held us in this working thank you. May this web of the living remain so that the living may thrive and honor the dead with their continued lives. Each saying when you are ready:
“I am (name) and my place is with the living, I am choosing to live.’ “ - “And while this web remains, let our focus widen out to include all of the living. May our awareness of and connection to this web nourish and inspire us as we take the next steps in our lives. So mote it be.”
- “Now ground back onto this side of the veil, this life – dust yourself down, touching your shoulders, head, legs and arms. Pat your edges. Say your name three times. We are alive, as the earth is alive. Life – is precious. Life is ours. If you will, take a breath – a breath that connects you to life.”
- “Thank you to you all, merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again!”
Many thanks to Suzanne for the messages from the dead telling us what they need to hear.
