Reflection on creating first ceremony

Reflection

As soon as we were informed about the first ceremony assignment, using earth-based faith paths, I knew that I wanted to focus on the hawthorn tree and on healing. I took the name Hawthorn as my business name back in 2000 having discovered the Ogham alphabet and symbolism in a little shop called “Enchantment” which, at the time, was on Church Hill in Morningside, Edinburgh where I lived. Despite being born in early April I was drawn to the Huathe and when I read about its properties I knew that it was the one for me. Health with Hawthorn was founded as a health-and-wellbeing consultancy. I taught group exercise classes, one-to-one consultations, and facilitated workshops, guest-lectured, and created bespoke trainings for community and workplace groups. I wanted my business name to reflect my ethos, which has always been to nurture the whole person and to guide each person to become more capable of making wiser choices about their wellbeing, so hawthorn was a perfect fit. All parts of the tree can be used for healing, it is particularly useful for heart health, with its antioxidant properties, and it is renowned for its self-healing properties. I finally took the name as my own in 2009 following divorce.

I observe how hawthorns are usually present near standing stones and healing circles where rowans also grow; I notice them on hillsides growing in line with the prevailing winds, yielding yet not breaking: "no matter how the winds rail against you, even when they threaten to pull your roots from the earth, you stand your ground."

And I watch as they are manipulated into hedging, sliced almost all the way through their trunks (pleaching) and then bent horizontal and woven in with others. And as I do all of this I sit with my hawthorn-self and acknowledge how I sometimes feel about to break (but I don’t) and sometimes I am defensive and thorny but still blossom in the right conditions. I am noticing that I am starting to really offer myself the healing I desire for others and I am grateful, I lean in and I breathe out the affirmation: My heart has been opened, the transformation is underway!

And as I have worked on creating this ceremony I have loved intertwining the different aspects of my life, my skills, and experience. I am excited at the prospect of offering the ceremony in my community in the future. I have also been surprised and delighted by how I have responded to my study buddies, both as we have explored their ceremonies and as they have guided and supported me with mine. It has been illuminating, humbling, and an immense privilege.

I have shared my preparations with my sister, my mother, and my husband by allowing them to read this document and I hope to speak with them in depth as the opportunity arises. I want to make the time to share it with my father (he’s away just now) who has always been a bit upset that I didn’t revert to his family name but chose to claim my own. I sense that this might well become part of the naming ceremony work I do!