the magic of offering despacho ceremony.... then, the fire drummers drummed for us...

Time of abrupt shifting and transformation + the fire drummers drummed for us during despacho ceremony!
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we offered a gratitude despacho ceremony together...

Holy wow... you never know when life will throw a curve ball at you...

At the beginning of January, my partner and i received notice to move from the lovely home we've called home over the last few years.

This notice came out of nowhere and we certainly weren't expecting it. The owners informed us that their lives had shifted and they needed to move back in the space we've been renting.

Whoa! Now?

Of course when something like this happens, it's never good timing... We were shocked... and i know i went through the many phases of that shock... not knowing where we'll be next is a big part of that...
And so, we are now in the throes of packing up our home and squeezing it all into cardboard boxes... searching for a new place to live while at the same time keeping the balance of work and daily life...

Not long after hearing, we chose to offer a despacho ceremony... to offer our gratitude for the time we have had here in this beautiful space and community... and to offer our intentions of what and where we wish to land in our new home - wherever that will be...

There are many types of despachos offered in the Andean cosmology and daily life...

The 'despacho gift' we chose to create in ceremony was an ayni/gratitude gift for our blessed earth mother, Pachamama.... (see our photo above).

Flowers, leaves and combustible ingredients like grains, aromatic dried plants and sweets are added in layers on top of a piece of wrapping paper.

Every item is 'prayed through' and holds meaning as it is placed mindfully in mandala form.
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When the despacho is complete, it is wrapped up, just like a gift, tied with a ribbon and then offered to a sacred fire for transformation to the light - to be freely given away to the helping spirits and mother earth - to give thanks in right relationship (ayni)...

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the fire drummers drummed for us+ the flames danced along with their rjythym...

We lovingly created our despacho andplaced it in our sacred fire  in the hearth to burn.

We turned our backs in respect to allow the spirits to 'consume' our prayer-gift.... as our gift burned, i offered some soft drumming to hold space... to honour our sweet spirit-helpers doing this work on our behalf...

When we knew it had been fully burnt, we turned to sit on the couch together to watch the fire continue to burn... A few minutes later, we both realized that we were hearing soft drums drumming from what seemed a distance away...

At first, we thought perhaps the drummers were outside somewhere...
Though we soon realized that the drums drumming were actually coming right from the fire! ...The flames were actually dancing to the rhythm of the spirit drums drumming...

We sat in complete awe for quite some time listening to the 'fire drummers' drumming for us - knowing on a deep level that our heart-gift had been accepted and acknowledged in such a beautiful way... that, we were receiving such a blessed gift from our helpers who were supporting us...

Our hearts were opened and we felt so blessed in much joy!!!... a moment we shall never forget and hold so dear in our hearts confirming that we are never alone...

We thank you fire drummers for your wonderful support and for the gift of 'hearing' your sacred healing rhythms of love and light... wow!

We still don't know where we're going to land as of yet - though we trust that the best new home is awaiting for us as we prepare to move for April 1st...

With much love + light... in ayni and deep munay... 
weaver x (((o)))

• above photos by carol weaver © copyright 2016 - all rights reserved

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