Rites of Passage Archives - The Sacred Hearth

Wedding Chants

Morningbird Library, Poems and Prose, Rites of Passage

The following chants can be chanted around the circle before or after the wedding or handfasting rite begins or during a procession. In our time of joy and plenty We will celebrate together In our time of pain and fear We will comfort one another. The road you travel Has brought you to this place […]

Where will you go when you die?

Morningbird Rites of Passage

Discussing the recent one-year anniversary of my grandfather’s death, a friend of mine asked me where the old man was buried. As it happens, my grandfather has was not buried. His body was sent to a medical school anatomy lab to help a new generation of doctors learn how the human body works. When we […]

A Burial Rite

Morningbird Book of Shadows, Rites of Passage

The person who has passed may be cremated and presented for burial in a wooden or clay urn or the corpse may be wrapped in cloth for burial. This way, he or she will quickly decompose and nourish new life. It would be ideal for this person to be buried wrapped in a cloth, instead […]

Departing Ceremony

Morningbird Book of Shadows, Rites of Passage

For this ritual, there may be an open coffin, or the deceased may be laid out on a bed or settee for viewing. This should be in a somewhat out of the way place, rather than the centerpiece, as some guests will have no desire to view the corpse. Alternatively and additionally, pictures of the […]

Child Naming Ceremony

Morningbird Book of Shadows, Rites of Passage

A baby naming ceremony is, in many cultures, traditionally done when the baby is about a year old, though many people prefer to do it as soon as possible after the child’s birth. The reason for the year wait is simply because, until recently, most babies didn’t make it through their first year. If they […]