"Cheri was able to integrate our families' diverse traditions and beliefs into a meaningful ceremony that we will remember forever."  Abby Harris

Birthdays

Why have a Celebrant officiate at your birthday party when you can just bring on the cake, blow out the candles and listen to “Happy Birthday”? Because Celebrants add more to the party by personalizing it beyond cake and candles. I will create a different kind of event that celebrates your life and enacts rituals that are meaningful to you in your moving from one year to another. It will be special!

Graduations 

Leaving high school or college is a time of transition for the graduate and another perfect time to have a different kind of party, one that is tailored specifically to you. Mark this special event by having me create and officiate in a way that honors you and your achievement. Mark your life’s journey from student to graduate with a ceremony that tells your story of endurance, celebrates your learning and involves your family and friends in more meaningful ways.

House Blessings/ House Warmings

 As we leave old residences and move into new ones, feelings, sometimes conflicting, emerge about these transitions. Having rituals for moving out of our homes and into new houses can be help us to be in mindful by saying good bye to our past and saying hello to future possibilities.

Moving Out- Saying Goodbye: The purpose of having a ceremony to mark moving out is to honor and express gratitude for what has happened in that space, and to mark our feelings of loss for that place and the life lived there. Saying goodbye mindfully with a ceremony or rituals can ease the transition and help with closure on that part of our lives.

 Moving In – Saying Hello: There are good reasons to have a moving in ceremony including clearing out the old energy of the previous inhabitants and preparing for good things to happen in that space. When entering a new house you are literally crossing a threshold into a new life there. Saying hello with a ceremony prepares us to mindfully enter our new space with intentions to live a positive and blessed life there.

 As a Celebrant I can design an individual ritual for these transitions or create a lengthier personalized ceremony that can include family and friends.

 Family Reunions

 Families gather for reunions to reconnect, to find and experience their roots, and to have a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves. Having a Celebrant at your family reunion can transform the get-together from a scattered collection of activities to a coherent, mindful and memorable event. As a Celebrant, I can create a ceremony that welcomes the newest members, honors the elders, celebrates the family's accomplishments and remembers those who have passed on.

Retirement

Retirement is a life change that comes with two major feelings: sadness over the loss of an identity you have had for most of your life, and excitement about your new life without the constrictions of work.

Having a non-traditional retirement party, one in which you can acknowledge both realities-- sadness and excitement -- can be a nod to the past and an opening to the future. I can assist you in marking this passage by creating a ceremony that honors your work accomplishments as well as the joy you feel in creating your new life ahead of you.

 

Dr. Cheri Erdman

Write: cheri@cherierdman.com
Or Phone: 386- 847-2335