Post-Gathering Integration

Coming out of ritual space and into the mundane world of tasks and carrying on with our life-as-usual pace can feel a bit jolting. Here are some reminders to help you with your integration of what moved through you today:

1) Allow the material of what you worked on stay close to your heart. In terms of alchemy, let it ripen in the vessel before taking the lid off too soon. This means to not talk about it with other people before it’s fully cooked. When you do decide to talk about it, be sure it’s with people you trust.

2) What you did MATTERED. We can easily begin to judge ourselves for what we did or did not say, and downplay the importance of what we just did. Be aware of the inner critic and don’t let it steal this moment away from you.

3) For this reason it can be very powerful to do some art or writing around what came up from our time together. A simple writing prompt starting off your sentence with “I remember” can help you access the benefits that you received from our time together.

4) Take in the beauty around you. Opening up to grief and sorrow also opens us up to the joy and beauty of life around us. Get outside, take in a film, a song, perhaps a whole album. Let yourself be touched by the beauty of the world.

5) Let yourself REST. In the words of Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey, “We must believe we are worthy of rest. We don’t have to earn it. It is our birthright. It is one of our most ancient and primal needs.”

6) Keep your grief warm, keep working with it, stay close to the vulnerability you touched. Check out the work of Malidoma and Sobonfu Somé, Martín Prechtel, or the book by Francis Weller, perhaps pick up a copy of this children’s book to read to your inner child if you lost a parent, or listen to some grief-inspired music like the songs on this Spotify Playlist