In addition to traditional sage smudging, Grandmother Penny from Michigan offered us a blessing of the Sacred Ashes upon entry into the Beckwith chapel for the Opening Ceremony in past years.
A smudge of sacred ashes is often performed before ceremonial rituals to remember and honor those who have come before us, and to acknowledge they are with us and blessing us during our time together.
Penny shared with us that the Sacred Ashes she brought are believed to have been ashes from ceremonial fires saved and passed down from generation to generation, for over 10,000 years, as homage to the women who tended fires that provided warmth, fuel for food and ceremony circles.
Penny has been the keeper of the ashes now for over 10 years and before her, Terry Bourne kept the ashes for about 10 years as well. Terry received them from Grandmother Crystal (Donna) Johnson who had them for over 20 years.
We were given the choice to accept this blessing in one of four locations:
Third eye (for wisdom)
Throat (for vocalization)
Heart (for love)
Feet (for movement/dance).
𝙒𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚.
