Ceremony and the Serpentine Belt
Ever heard of a serpentine belt? And no, it’s unfortunately not just sacred snakewear.
Serpentine belts came to my attention at a recent oil change for my 14 year old, 212,364 thousand mile Toyota RAV4. Oh yeah, that baby has taken me places.
The car basically runs on prayer at this point - and trust, there’s a LOT of prayer protecting her. But I also try to honor material reality and get regular oil changes too.
If you only want the oil change, the mechanics give you a paper before you go with things to consider fixing next time; transimission fluid flush, AC service, etc. At 212K miles, I generally ignore these recommendations knowing that the next thing to break will probably be the last and I can finally retire this trusty steed.
But this time I actually scanned the paper, mostly out of boredom at a stoplight, and read the “Why It’s Important” section next to each recommendation.
To the left of the serpentine belt it said, “This drive belt keeps all your vehicle systems running. If it breaks, you will not go.”
Now, me being a minister, I simply cannot resist a brilliant metaphor like that. I thought of all the ‘vehicles’ in my life and began to wonder about their serpentine belts, without which the thing would not go.
I have a few personal serpentine belts. Good sleep, walking around Sloan’s lake, regular psychic hygiene and regular showers. But I started thinking deeper. What are the really big things in my life that I simply cannot go without?
The number one thing that came up is ceremony. I’m talking the ceremony of my daily personal prayers, the ceremony of seasonal change, the ceremony of a dinner party during the holidays, and even the ceremony of a single session with a client.
Then I started thinking of the ceremony of weddings, funerals, baptisms, and all the sacred passages of a human life. And the most important to me of all are the prayer ceremonies with all night songs for healing, power, Christ presence, transformation, and renewal in all ways.
Curious about personal ceremony in your life? TL;DR check out my new How to Lead Ceremony course here or read more below.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that ceremony is the serpentine belt of my whole life.
Which is PERFECT because I am just now, for the first time ever, offering a course on How to Lead Ceremony (yes, I did the classic preacher thing and buried the lede). I’ll tell you all about it below but for now I’ll just say that when ceremony works in my life it feels like the pesonal vehicle of Cindy will run for infinity miles.
When ceremony isn’t working, or I simply haven’t done a ceremony in a while, it feels like the car is on cinderblocks rusting in the front yard.
So that’s what this new ceremony course is all about; the spiritual car with infinity miles and an everlasting serpentine belt.
Ceremony has certainly saved my life and everything in it multiple times. And there’s many people I work with who would say the same.
So this course is for you if you’re ready for the holy sacred serpentine belt. This course is for you if all the other engines of society have failed you so far. And this course is for you if you, like me, know that life itself is ceremonial and there’s no more powerful way to live than that.
I’ll meet you there, friends.
Ready to dive right in? Head to the Workshops page and enroll now.
How to Lead Ceremony is my newest 3-month foundational course designed to provide you with all the tools necessary to lead effective, powerful, unique ceremonies.
WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?
⫸ Therapist and coaches who do individual medicine sessions with clients
⫸ Psychedelic medicine carriers and other psychedelic professionals who want to host high integrity circles for deep client healing
⫸ Yoga teachers who want to bring more depth to their classes
⫸ Breathwork facilitators who want to use ceremony tools for greater healing with their participants
⫸ Somatic practitioners and body workers who are ready to integrate ceremonial healing techniques into their sessions
⫸ Those who feel a spiritual calling to lead ceremony
⫸ Those who want to live ceremonially, not just ‘do ceremony’
⫸ New and experienced practitioners alike who want deep integrity and power woven into every ceremony they offer
WHAT’S INCLUDED?
⫸ 3 months of in-depth teachings offered in person in Denver and virtually
⫸ 6 two-hour modules covering core teachings, multi-modal learning, Q&A, and direct engagement with peers and facilitator
⫸ 6 downloadable practica for you to try your new skills
⫸ 3 one-hour mentorship calls for individual support with an option to add more for $100/session
⫸ 3 Teachings from guest instructors with diverse techniques
⫸ 12 weekly emails to keep you tapped into the course
⫸ Journaling workbook to discover your unique ceremony style and medicine
⫸ Private Facebook group to collaborate with your peers, Rev. Cindy, and other instructors
Head on over to the website to learn more about what I’ll be teaching, our guest instructors, course practica, and more.
If you have questions about whether the course is right for you, book a 15-minute Complimentary Call so we can make sure you feel ready to enroll.
MONTHLY SPECIAL - August is “Politics”
My teachers say when I give a healing I get a healing. And boy do I need some healing on politics if I’m gonna make it through the election!
If you’re also lit up by politics this month and want to work on this with me, book my new Monthly Special service for the (truly) ridiculously good price of $50 for 30 mins.
Here are the upcoming themes
August - Politics
September - People Pleasing
October - Sleep Trouble
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New Here? You can find lots more on my Instagram, all past newsletters on my Blog, and lots of services on my website included Clairvoyant Counseling, Courses, and Teachings.
Artwork? Top image is by Nadia Waheed. Second image is mine because I’m a Canva expert these days. Third image is by Freeman Mester. Fourth image is by Piotr Stachiewicz.
