April 11: Ritual for those Wounded by Religion

Holy Saturday Morning
A Ritual for all those wounded by religion.

The chairs in the circle were turned out, not in. It tipped us off that something different was going to happen. We began with intentions of why we are here:
• We are drawn to this healing ritual today by the pain of those times
we have been made to feel less than…..
• We are drawn to this healing ritual today by the pain of those times
we have been abused by those in religious power that we trusted
• We are drawn to this healing ritual today by the pain of those times
we have been hurt, misguided and lied to by religious authorities
• We are drawn to this healing ritual today by the pain of those times
our voices have been silenced…..
• We are drawn to this healing ritual today by the pain of those times
we have not been heard….
• We are drawn to this healing ritual today by the pain of those times
we have been angered by the closed mindedness of religions

Michael Busk then led us in a game of musical chairs—that was really about experiencing disempowerment and exclusion by religious authorities.
Afterward, we drew pictures and wrote about the pain of this disempowerment.
But we didn’t leave it there. We got on our feet and each of us made gestures of resistance to this pain.

Evelie Delfino Posch led us with heart beat drumming out the doors of the chapel into the courtyard where we individually repeated our gesture of resistance and then burned our drawings and writings in an act of cleansing and empowerment.
“Fire, bright fire, burn, cleanse, release!”

When we re-entered our chapel we were all invited for additional healing. In each of the four directions there were two sound-healing artists, and two prayer-healing persons. People went to one or the other or all four! One participant said she had never felt such deep healing enter her through the vibrations of sound.

After, we anointed each other with precious oils to seal in our healing.
Evelie sang from J.C. Superstar: “Everything’s All Right.”

And finally we reclaimed with candles---
We reclaim fire and light and darkenss. We reclaim the wholeness of our bodies.
And we light candles to reclaim our faith, whatever that is:
I reclaim the joy of the Holy
I reclaim the inclusivity of the Holy
I reclaim Love
I reclaim my spirit—holy joyful, arms wide, full of love
I reclaim my healthy suspicion of all power not fueled by Love….
And on it went

Perhaps the litmus test for any ritual is whether people stay around afterward.
Not only did the candles remain lit, everyone stayed and spoke with each other, sharing what they had received from the morning---which was Holy Saturday morning.