I turned 50 last week. Although I really don’t feel 50 and I didn’t have much psychological “stuff” around turning 50, I felt the need to mark this event in some way with a ritual. So, I asked a few friends if they might help me do so.
The first friend took me off to the ocean on a stormy day this past weekend. With the rain washing my face and the cold water swirling around my ankles, and the sound of the waves crashing in front of me, I stood eyes closed as she and another friend invoked angels and guides. I silently added in the Shechinah and all my ancestors. I opened my eyes to watch the huge white-capped waves swelling and breaking, creating foam that tumbled across the beach.
They smudged me with sage and made a copper bowl “sing” as I released all the things I did not want or felt were blocking me into the water. They walked around me in reverse circles as I imagined these things drifting out to sea.
Then they used rose sage in the same manner as I imagined all the things I wanted to create in my life in the future. I saw them coming in on the waves.
Last, they anointed me with oils on my third eye and on my base chakras. Then we all stood together with palms raised looking out to the ocean and thanked God and the spirits and guides.
In two weeks, my Jewish friends will create another ritual for me, this one with a mikvah of sorts and some Jewishly-oriented elements. By the end of the three or four weeks post birthday, I will have fully transitioned from 49 to 50.
Consider creating rituals for your life-cycle events…any events–a new job, a new car, letting go of an old relationship, creating a new attitude, allowing in the new day. It’s so powerful.
Anyone can do this; creating rituals offers a great practical spirituality practice that can cross religious lines and spiritual backgrounds. We are all priestesses and priests with the ability to create sacred space and invite the Divine into that space. We can all create a ritual. Try it. Let me know what you do and how it goes.
