Cohousing-L Mailing List: GroundBlessing ceremony

[pattymara [at] juno.com (pattymara]

Dear List,
Craig's golden shovel reminds me of our 1997 ceremony here at Tierra Nueva 
(central CA coast).  We called our ceremony a Ground Blessing, set up folding 
chairs and tables, had a feast on the land, invited all of our "suits" from the 
bank, the engineering firm, the county planning dept. etc, as well as all of 
our friends and families.  Our shovels were golden like Songaia's. We toasted 
champagne all afternoon into the darkening of evening.  What fun! 

6 years later, I was asked to offer a blessing for another cohousing group's 
(Oak Creek Commons) ceremony. They had painted their shovels all different 
colors and patterns, and I was given my choice of them in exchange for 
participating in the ceremony.  I love the painted purple flowers on the handle 
of my shovel, and boy howdy, it sure is easy to figure out which one is mine 
when we all work together in the garden.

Another great idea for a ground blessing is to have each member of the group to 
bring a small container of soil from their present homes to the land of their 
future home in cohousing.  We did this at a sleepover campout on our land 
before construction began, and it is a cherished memory, each one offering a 
thought or wish as the soil from all over our county was poured and blended 
into the sacred soil of of future homes.  Oak Creek Commons did it too.

Here's the blessing I brought to OCC's ceremony:
        "Nearly 6 years ago when Tierra Nueva broke ground in 1997, we called 
our ceremony a Ground Blessing, as if WE were blessing the land, before the 
first bulldozers took their bites into the soil.  Today I would like to suggest 
that we got it backwards.  After living in my home on the beautiful land of 
Tierra Nueva, I realize daily that our ground....*Blesses Us* 
        Three years ago when I first visited this land I sensed a Sweet Energy, 
and knew that with its help, you would be successful in building your community 
here.  This Sacred Soil and all of its living systems, from the tiny microbes 
to the magnificent oaks...*Blesses You*.
        Today you are standing on the threshold, between your design & 
development phases, and your construction phase.  As you take your first steps 
into the labyrinth of construction, may you be guided by the Spirit of this 
Land.  When the inevitable surprises, delays and 
complications appear on the construction trail, remember to lean into one 
another and breathe deeply.  Be open to surprises, there are many in store!
        May this Sacred Soil, remind you to release your individual dreams of a 
perfect house and reach instead for a healthy, living community of extended 
family and friends.  

        As a symbol of the merging of your lives on this sweet land, you have 
brought small portions of soil from all the different places where you live 
now, to mix into this Soil.  We?ve brought some too, from Tierra Nueva, to 
celebrate with you.  In this humble act of mingling soil from our separate 
homelands, may we all be blessed and encouraged and fortified and connected, 
heart to heart."

coheartedly,
PattyMara Gourley
Tierra Nueva

http://www.gourleydesign.com/DolphinSmile/INDEX.HTM
feather to fire fire to blood blood to bone bone to marrow marrow to ashes 
ashes to snow.   
www.ashesandsnow.org

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