Ashley River Brant - Tending to the Sacred: Rituals to Connect with Earth, Spirit, and Self

Contents

Preface

U pon waking I gaze at the sun slowly peeking up from behind the redwoods. I am reminded of the power, light, and pure energy it provides, awakening my being to honor the day. My only intention for this day is to love. I write down my dreams and decode the messages of Spirit and my subconscious needs and desires. I make a cup of tea with the energy of my love, adding a dash of rosewater and a few drops of rose flower essence to uplift my heart, and mindfully step to the west of my home to listen to the flowers. I whisper good morning to the rock roses and sweet peas who dance so playfully in the light wind coming off the coast. I ask that their medicine support me in my day as I becomecloser to my truth, closer to my love.

Some of my oldest childhood memories are of speaking with the flowers. This was my first intentional ritual. The soft, sweet-smelling roses, the bougainvillea and orchids that hung above my head, and of course, the intoxicating gardenias that always brought the biggest smile to my face and warmth to my heart. They reminded me that I was safe, that I was home, and that I was sacred, just like them. They reminded me to stay open when things were scary and I had no control in the flow of my life as a child.

I grew up in eleven states, a new school each year, and tossed around among various caretakers. Home was placed behind walls that housed physical and verbal violence and abuse with freshly punched holes that echoed in my heart. The element of the river also seemed to follow me along my winding path wherever I ended up. She taught me the most. I saw myself in her waterssometimes calm, sometimes thrashing, but always flowing forward and carrying a current of knowing. My connection to the Earth kept me grounded during what was otherwise a tumultuous childhood that lacked all the presence and peace I prioritize today. It was my connection to that which is sacred, to the Earth and Spirits ethereal guidance, that taught me to survive.

My ears have always been attuned to Spirit for as long as I can remember. Some may call me a medium, but I call my abilities sacred listening. It was this connection to the Sacred that led me away from the limitations of my trauma and toward the love and purpose I so desperately was seekingthe dreams burning within. And it did. It also led me to love, to this book, and to you.

I grew up off and on with a grandmother who taught me much about intentionality and how that matters with the energy of our spaces, what we wear, who we spend time with, how we treat each other, and how it all ripples out into the energy field around us. She taught me about divination, the language of the stars, and beauty. We were powerfully close in my youtha soul bond I dont think I could ever replicate in this lifeso when she was no longer around in my later teen years, I felt a gaping hole inside me. It felt like all the light in life was gone and the Sacred along with it. It was her unconditional lovethe brightest light I had ever felt in my life at that pointthat was blocking out the pain of my childhood traumas, and the absence of her love allowed the overwhelming darkness to wash over me (and my healing to begin). Her passing left me grief-stricken, detached, and searching.

I left art school and moved from the American South to the Californian coast. The land out west was, beyond all logic, calling me to heal and connect to my gifts, and thats when I slowly began my path of ritualistic healing work. Its no coincidence that I would return to these lands ten years later to birth this very book. I believe that ritual finds us in times of profound seeking, even if we dont know what were looking for. We just know its out there. We find ritual to connect closer to our truth: what is real within, and without. From the indigenous peoples who danced for the rain, baptisms meant to purify and bring one closer to God consciousness, and all the altars of offerings to the divine beings of all cultures and religions in this world to bring forth healing to their people. We cant help but seek what we feel is missing, and sacred ritual can help us find exactly what that is and guide it home to our hearts.

Before I began my path of ritual healing, I was a fast-food loving, festival-going, binge-drinking, drug-taking American teenager who went barefoot to parties, smoked American Spirit cigarettes like a chimney, and forgot all about intentionality or the Sacred. This was because I completely shut off from it. My spiritual gifts and energetic sensitivities were overwhelming and I was in pain that I wasnt ready to face. An open heart meant my already heightened sensitivities were amplified, and I was afraid of what was on the other side of my openness. I saw and heard spirits, ghosts, and voices on the regular. I could feel the pain of others without even trying. I could feel the suffering of the Earth. It was all too much. So I shut off from feeling everythingmy body, my heart, my sensitivities, my connection to others, the language of Earth and Spirit. I didnt yet have the tools, awareness, or guidance to support me on a path of healing and becoming fully embodied in my gifts.

Then, right before my twentieth birthday, I dove in. Whatever I came across on my path, I tried itEFT tapping, breath work, yoga, vegetarianism, tarot and astrology (with books inherited from my grandmother), manifestation, herbal remedies, crystal healing, plant medicine, energy healing, even praying to goddesses. For years I tried everything and anything to bring me closer to the Sacred and whatever it was I was seeking. Even dropping out of college for the second time to follow the White Witch of Rock and Roll (Stevie Nicks) around the country, spending all my student loan money on platform boots and concert tickets, because dancing and singing to her music brought me just a little closer to what I was really seeking: love, courage, passion, freedom, and boundless self-expression.

Little by little, I did move closer to my truth, my desires, and my purpose, but I was also getting closer to my darkness. My pain, wounding, trauma, shadow, fears, and false beliefs were no longer hidden inside of meeverything was sitting at surface level, right in my face for me to witness. I eventually developed food allergies, was sick constantly, found myself enduring one hard lesson after the other, and began to mirror my childhood traumas with the relationships I was attracting. I disconnected from ritual work altogether for a little over a year. I was lost in it allovercome with decades of unprocessed fears and emotions and unable to find my footing.

I hit complete rock bottom and found myself in a dark night of the soul at twenty-five, following a traumatic car accident overseas where I realized I had lost everything I valued: myself, my boundaries, my love, my passions, my home, my connection to my path, my purpose, and Spirit. Until one day a couple of weeks after my accident, I carried my wounded body out into nature and decided to connect to the Sacred with a simple ritual. I was sitting on a rock at Castle Hill, New Zealand (a place the Dalai Lama has reportedly called the spiritual center of the world), and I felt the pull. I took a few deep breaths, set my intention from the truth of my heart, called upon Spirits guidance, and completely surrendered to my sacred listening. A wind came up suddenly and carried the biggest bee I had ever seen to my hand.