Circles of Blessing
Catherine Ishara de Garis, Civil & Interfaith Celebrant
Many
cultural traditions welcome a new baby into her family or community with
a small ceremony.
A blessing or welcoming ceremony can be held whenever the parents feel
ready - within the first few months of life, around the child's first birthday,
or even later.
A naming ceremony is a way of formally acknowledging a new member of the family. Naming ceremonies can also be performed to announce or confirm a change of name in adult life.
Hold a ceremony to launch your latest creative or business endeavour, to open an exhibition, to introduce new premises to your clients, to set a clear intention for a conference or gathering... Tap into the power of ceremony to bring people together and creatively direct their collective attention and energy towards the realisation of your vision or intention for the project at hand.
A Coming of Age ceremony marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. Becoming an adult carries with it certain privileges (eg. right to vote, freedom to purchase alcohol) as well as legal and moral responsibilities. Different cultural and religious traditions recognise this transition at different ages. In Australia, legal adulthood is reached at 18 years of age. A Coming of Age ceremony may be held in conjuction with the eighteenth birthday, or following an older tradition, at the time of the 21st birthday. Some families may wish to recognise their adolescent's growing maturity earlier, eg. on graduation from high school.
blessing circles for brides
When
you want to celebrate your love and deepen your intimate relationship, nothing
is as potent as declaring your loving commitment to one another in the witness
of friends & family.
Marriage
under Australian law is currently defined as 'the union of a man and a woman
to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life'.
Other forms of loving relationship may be honoured with a Handfasting or Commitment Ceremony
gay & lesbian commitment ceremonies
house blessings
Sometimes called
a 'blessingway' or 'mother-blessing ceremony', this ceremony can include
elements of a conventional 'baby shower'.
When held in late pregnancy, a blessing circle brings together an intimate
circle of women (and sometimes special men as well) to honour a pregnant
mother as she readies herself for the birth of her child. A blessing circle
can also be held earlier in pregnancy to welcome & celebrate the pregnancy
journey.
personal growth & healing
special birthdays
& anniversaries
wisewoman / croning ceremonies
elder birthdays
farewells
funerals & memorials
Life-changing Ceremonies
designed & facilitated
by Ishara
Circles of Blessing welcomes gay, lesbian and transgender individuals, couples and families!
This family partnership business is co-owned by Ishara de Garis & Miriam Brooker. We look forward to the day when same-sex marriage will finally be recognised under Australian law.
The most moving, memorable ceremonies are ones which truly
reflect your being - your unique qualities, needs and values - and actively
engage the circle of community around you. Such a ceremony builds a shared
sense of meaningfulness and connection.
When the intention behind the ceremony is clear, the resulting experience
is so much more powerful.
What moved you to want this ceremony? Why now?
How do you want to feel on your special day?
How do you want your loved ones to feel?
If you keep this in the front of your mind, it becomes much easier to recognise what is right for you - which celebrant to choose, where to hold the ceremony, who you want to participate with you and who you want to witness it all.
Ceremonies come in a variety of tones and flavours that reflect the people they are created for. A ceremony can be a solemn occasion warranting a high degree of formality, or it may be a more relaxed casual-dress affair. A ceremony can be short and sweet - a simple declaration of intention in the presence of witnesses lasting half an hour at most. Or it might be a longer event, lasting an hour or two, in which everyone present is invited to be actively involved in the symbolic action of the ceremony. In some ceremonies, most of the talking is done by the celebrant, whilst in others the celebrant's role is largely to prompt the various participants when it is their turn to read or speak.
If you have something significant happening in your life that you would like
to mark with a personal ceremony, Ishara will work with you to co-create a
ceremony design which matches your sense of the occasion.
Find out how..
Whether or not we consider ourselves religious, by and large contemporary Australians have a greater wealth of multi-cultural and spiritual symbolism available to us than did many of our ancestors. In designing personal ceremonies, Ishara is very happy to include symbolic elements, inspirational readings and prayers from any cultural or spiritual traditions which may be personally meaningful to you.
Ishara's work as a celebrant is under-pinned by her personal spirituality. When appropriate, she enjoys opportunities to honour our connection to nature - this land and the wider planet - and to offer reverence to all aspects of the divine feminine.
Read some testimonials about Ishara's work
“Ceremony assists people to adjust to change (a marriage ceremony
does this for families),
to recognize achievement (a classic example is a graduation ceremony),
to relate, to express love, and/or to establish a relationship.
Ceremonies are the human way we have to signpost a deal such as a business
merger,
to trigger off a healthy grief process (such as in divorce or funeral ceremonies),
to welcome another human being into the family.
So Ceremonies have these excellent effects - they can be used further to announce
intentions,
to express loyalty and to reinforce a sense of identity.”
Dally Messenger III, President of the International Federation of Civil Celebrants