Mother’s Day Ritual
This is a ritual for honoring mothers…your mother. It is a gratitude ritual for Mother’s Day or for your mother’s birthday or another special day. It is perfectly fine if your mother is not present for the ritual; in fact, you might feel much freer if your mother were not with you as you go through the activities suggested here.
The ritual is perfect for a diverse group of men and women of all ages, as well as mature teens. It can be used by a family group, by a couple or by a single person, alone. If it is done in a group, the members of the group should already be comfortable with each other, as the ritual could make strangers feel quite vulnerable. If it is done by a couple, one person does the ritual first with the other prompting the inner work; the second person also acts as the scribe. The roles are then reversed and the second person does the ritual while the first scribes. If you are doing this ritual alone, simply read the parts that the leader would say as personal directions and things to ponder.
Materials needed:
A red cord or piece of yarn about 3 feet long for each person
A variety of beads or disks with central holes big enough to slip easily
on the cord or yarn
Paper and writing instruments
Set up for ritual:
Everyone gathers in a comfortable place. Each person is given a red cord and the beads are made available. The group is formed into partners. Half of the group readies themselves to perform the first part of the ritual while the partners, who are the scribes first, get ready to write.
Begin with the leader of the ritual saying: “We are gathered here to honor our mothers and the doorway through which we entered this earth plane. In order to bring the memory or the energy of our mothers into this room, let us each speak the name we had for our mother as children. If you had more than one person who mothered you, speak all the names. If you did not have a mother figure as a child, speak the name you had for your absent mother.” One at a time, the members of the group speak the mother names into the room.
The leader continues, saying, “Our mothers, whether present or absent, loving or aloof, formed our lives, our personalities, our beliefs very significantly. We will move from today backward in time by decades remembering our mothers. You will share the most significant memory, impression, or lesson you have for a given decade about your mother with the group. Your scribe will write your memory for you to ponder later. As you speak a memory, choose a bead that appeals to you and tie it on the cord. Space your beads so that you use about two thirds of your cord for this memory work spacing the number of beads that corresponds to your number of decades – six decades – six beads, for example. Half of you will share with the whole group and half of you will scribe; then we will reverse the process.”
The leader directs the oldest members of the group to begin first. If there are people present in their eighties, their ninth decade, they begin by speaking a memory or impression of their mother that they have had in their eighties. Their mother, most certainly will have passed, but her impact in their lives does not end with her passing. Proceed to the eighth decade, seventh decade and on down to the first decade of their lives. The group continues to share, scribe, and tie their beads. Then the leader continues slowly, with pauses to let the guided meditation deepen for the participants.
“I ask you now to tie a last bead on your cord signifying your birth. With eyes closed now remember anything you can about your birth or what you remember being told about your birth. Remember or imagine taking your first breath and feeling air on your skin for the first time. Remember leaving your mother’s body. Take a moment to thank her in your own heart for giving you your entry into this life.
“Letting your fingers move away from the last bead as the cord continues to slip through your fingers; continue moving backward in time, although being in the eternal realm before birth there is not time as we know it. Remember the forming of your life’s path and when you have the completion to this statement, ‘I am coming into the world to….’ Speak it to your scribe. Tie a knot into your cord for this memory and continue to remember other aspects of your life’s purpose; speak them and tie a knot for each aspect of your soul’s intention that comes to you.” Let the partners accomplish this in hushed tones until the process comes to a natural ending. The leader then continues slowly.
“Now holding the end of the cord in one hand, move your other hand over the memories from the formless world and stop at the first bead: your birth. Imagine all that came together in the formless realm for you to be born into the world of time, space, and form. Imagine the divine ideas and plans, the nurturing and the nourishment, the sendoff from the realm of eternity, and the welcome of the world – all in the moment of your birth. Your mother, too, spans the realms of eternity and time by consenting, consciously or subconsciously, to be the doorway for you to have a life experience on earth.
“Reflect, for a moment, on the creative process that you are…beginning as an idea in the Mind of God, having the consent and agreement of your parents, clothing yourself in flesh and purpose, and emerging into earthly time and space. Move your hands over the beads of your life and gather all the cord, beads, and knots into both hands which you hold in front of your heart in the traditional gesture of prayer. Your life memories have become your prayer beads.
“Now, ponder what wants to come into being through you now. See, behind your eyes, and feel all the elements coming together for the forming of that which wants to come through you from the realm of the formless into the realm of form – just like you did. Open your hands just a bit like opening a gateway for the creations to come into this world that are yours to create. Give consent for this new creation to come into being. If you can put it into words whisper it to your scribe. Pause, now, in prayer and give thanks to your mother for modeling the creative process for you as you came through her as God’s creation.”
After a moment reverse partners and repeat the process for those who were the scribes first. When the whole ritual is complete exchange the writing that has been scribed. The leader might suggest that the memories, the life purpose, and what wants to be created now are all related and worthy of additional spiritual contemplation.
Everyone call an end to the ritual by holding their beads and saying, “Blessed be the mothers.”
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