Complete this ceremony at the New Moon or anytime you feel the need to hit the re-set button and get clear on your goals.
Plan to have your ceremony anywhere you feel connected and calm. We have had ours in the backyard, on the living room floor and beside the ocean while on vacation.
Because we are energetic beings, smoke cleansing clears away any energetic blocks that may be holding us back .
To begin your ceremony place your herbs or incense into your bowl or incense holder and light it. Blow gently on the flame to allow it to smoulder.
Take your hand and waft the smoke around yourself and the room with the intention of clearing any negative energy.
Place the bowl down on a fireproof surface and allow the smudge to extinguish itself when it is ready.
GATHER AS A FAMILY FOR A GUIDED MEDITATION
A heart opening meditation not only opens your chest, releasing tension and stress it also makes you heart receptive to your intentions and opens you to your truest desires. Have your family sit in a circle and follow along here or listen to the free guided meditation included at the bottom of the post.
To start get comfortable in lotus, or easy seated position with your legs crossed.
Take a few deep breaths to relax your body.
Shift your attention to the feeling of your chest rising and falling with each breath.
Gently lean your head and neck back until you feel a nice opening in the front of your chest, don’t force yourself to go further than what is comfortable, we want to keep a sense ease to the body.
Take Five deep breaths, each time counting to five as you inhale, hold for five, and count to five as you slowly release it.
Bring yourself back upright and gently round your shoulders forward and tilt your chin towards your chest, creating a nice opening sensation in your upper back, again going for a sense of ease without pushing your body.
We are going to repeat those five deep breaths again, opening up and allowing space to flow into that often neglected area between your shoulder blades that hold onto tension.
Come back to your easy seated pose, and focus on your breath, don’t try to alter it, or judge it, just be the silent witness to it.
Imagine a universal loving light flowing freely into you with each inhale, nourishing you, filling you up. On the exhale imagine sending that loving light back into the world.
Stay in this place of love and light for two to five minutes.
Keeping your eyes closed, slowly bring awareness back into your body and open your eyes.
SET YOUR INTENTIONS
The new moon is a time of receptivity and openness making it the perfect time to plant the seeds of what you wish to cultivate in your life. Your intentions can be long term goals, or just a vision of how you want your life to feel and what you want to invite more of into your life.
What you put your attention on grows, and by taking time to set meaningful intentions you take control of your life and live with meaning and intention instead of acting reactively or to others ideals and standards.
Light your candles and Pass everyone in the circle a piece of paper and a pen. Write out your intentions (smaller children can draw them) fold up your piece of paper and set it aside. It’s time to start the salt bowl ceremony.
SALT BOWL CEREMONY (optional)
Pour your salt into a bowl in the middle of the circle. Spend some time talking about adventures you want to take and things you want to do as a family. It can be as simple as wanting to go swimming in a lake, or as complex as moving to a different continent. Just have fun and don’t overthink it. It can be so exciting to imagine all the possibilities for the future.
Then, have each person spend a minute talking about their personal intentions, have them put their piece of paper in the bowl, along with any petals, crystals/stones, or essential oils that are related to their intentions or call to them in any way. There is something very powerful about saying your intentions out loud.
If the herbs or incense is still smoldering at this point, tap it into your salts to burn it out.
CLEANSE YOUR CRYSTALS AND MALA BEADS
Place your mala beads, and any crystals you might have into the salt bowl (if you have added essential oils, be sure to mix up the salts first) and place it on a windowsill to absorb the energy of the new moon overnight. The salt will cleanse your stones and release any stored negativity while absorbing the energy of your intentions.
Keep the salts for use in your Full Moon Ceremony.
Optional: Take your pieces of paper out of the salt, take them outside and burn them, releasing your intentions to the universe both figuratively and literally. Trust that the universe will figure out all the details as you keep taking aligned actions toward your goal.
END WITH GRATITUDE
Close the ceremony by taking a moment to talk as a family about what you are grateful for and blowing out the candles.
Whether your New Moon Ceremony is long and elaborate, or short and sweet it is a sacred way to make sure that you nurture your intentions on a monthly basis, and make time to connect with those who matter most.