Goddaughter's first backpack The role of godparent is rather out of fashion these days. Some carry the title but do little to bring it to life. Many – myself included – grow up without any adults designated to supplement what their parents can offer by way of supporting personal and spiritual development.
I said yes without hesitation when asked to be godmother to Ava, and later, to her brother Bennett. My relationship with them is one of the great joys of my life. And so I was deeply touched when I was contacted by a mom a few weeks ago who wanted a ceremony to honor the relationship between her four year-old son and his godparents.
Like so many without a formal Christian practice, they had not baptized their son at his birth; they felt no need to cleanse him of any sin. But they missed not having had a formal “Welcome to your family; we are your people” ritual. They’d looked on line for godparent ceremonies but none of them seemed quite right. When they found my website, they fell in love with the idea of a customized ceremony.
They were coming to Portland for a big vegan convention, the four-year-old, his parents, and his godparents, who lived on the other side of the country. We met at a park I suggested not far from the convention center, with a fabulous pre-schooler play area. Once the guest of honor had gotten some of his yayas out, we gathered under the historic cupola of the park’s bandstand.
I cast a circle of protection around the fivesome, using dry quinoa to honor their connection to the plant world. I lent my singing bowl to the boy to ring out greetings to all living beings and the ancestors who’d come before us. I said a few words about why we were there. And then I read a beautiful blessing by John O’Donohue, who always seems to have the right words for any occasion.
I said yes without hesitation when asked to be godmother to Ava, and later, to her brother Bennett. My relationship with them is one of the great joys of my life. And so I was deeply touched when I was contacted by a mom a few weeks ago who wanted a ceremony to honor the relationship between her four year-old son and his godparents.
Like so many without a formal Christian practice, they had not baptized their son at his birth; they felt no need to cleanse him of any sin. But they missed not having had a formal “Welcome to your family; we are your people” ritual. They’d looked on line for godparent ceremonies but none of them seemed quite right. When they found my website, they fell in love with the idea of a customized ceremony.
They were coming to Portland for a big vegan convention, the four-year-old, his parents, and his godparents, who lived on the other side of the country. We met at a park I suggested not far from the convention center, with a fabulous pre-schooler play area. Once the guest of honor had gotten some of his yayas out, we gathered under the historic cupola of the park’s bandstand.
I cast a circle of protection around the fivesome, using dry quinoa to honor their connection to the plant world. I lent my singing bowl to the boy to ring out greetings to all living beings and the ancestors who’d come before us. I said a few words about why we were there. And then I read a beautiful blessing by John O’Donohue, who always seems to have the right words for any occasion.
To Learn from Animal Being
Nearer to the earth's heart,
Deeper within its silence:
Animals know this world
In a way we never will.
We who are ever
Distanced and distracted
By the parade of bright
Windows thought opens:
Their seamless presence
Is not fractured thus.
Stranded between time
Gone and time emerging,
We manage seldom
To be where we are:
Whereas they are always
Looking out from
The here and now.
May we learn to return
And rest in the beauty
Of animal being,
Learn to lean low,
Leave our locked minds,
And with freed senses
Feel the earth
Breathing with us.
May we enter
Into lightness of spirit,
And slip frequently into
The feel of the wild.
Let the clear silence
Of our animal being
Cleanse our hearts
Of corrosive words.
May we learn to walk
Upon the earth
With all their confidence
And clear-eyed stillness
So that our minds
Might be baptized
In the name of the wind
And light and the rain.
~ John O'Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
We then began our animal dance. Our four-year-old named his favorite animal – the elephant – and showed us the sound an elephant makes. We wished for him the memory of the elephant (who never forgets) and went round the circle greeting him with his elephant noise. Each adult then shared an animal whose attributes they wish for the boy, embodying each animal in turn: monkey, owl, bear, horse, and back to elephant. We had a great time taking these animals around the circle again and again.
We followed the animal blessings with a water blessing. Using rosewater, each adult anointed first the boy’s head, his forehead, heart, hands, and feet while sharing a blessing specific to those parts.
The boy and his godparents exchanged symbolic gifts and we closed our time together with one final animal dance before thanking the larger world of spirits and animals for giving us life and blessing us so richly.
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