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At Alternative Whole-Life Services, Rev. Ari will work with you to design a personal and meaningful celebration or ritual to honor your important life moments and transitions. From birth to death, and virtually everything in between, Rev. Ari can help you throughout your whole life to mark those occasions that make your life whole. The following are the various services currently offered by Rev. Ari at Alternative Whole-Life Services. If you do not see what a particular service you are looking for, please email Rev. Ari with your request. You can click on the following headings to go directly to that category, or simply scroll down through each of them.
 A Baby Blessing, Naming or Welcoming Ceremony is a very special way of celebrating the birth of your child and welcoming the new arrival into the family as well as introducing them to your wider circle of friends and relatives.It is also ideally suited to celebrate an older child into the family, (as in the case of second marriages/step children) and also works very well to welcome and celebrate an adoptive child into the family.  In ancient times and tribal cultures, the time of puberty for a young woman was something to be celebrated and honored. This age is an important turning point for a young girl, signifying her passage from childhood into adolescence and marking the beginning steps of her journey into womanhood. In today's society, Coming-of-Age celebrations are virtually unheard of, or so watered down as to be ineffective. Young girls are barraged with unrealistic and unhealthy images of beauty and body size/shape. Without guidance from female mentors around them, many develop poor self esteem and sometimes even shame about their "femaleness."At AWS, Rev. Ari will assist you, the parent, in creating a memorable and meaningful Coming-of-Age ceremony and/or celebration for your young woman during this most important transition of her life. Rev. Ari will provide ideas and suggestions for talking with your daughter about many different topics, and help you find the best way to guide her through this exciting time. • New Mother Blessing  The transition to motherhood is one of life's biggest milestones, but in our culture, this transition is rarely celebrated...the mother-to-be, rarely honored. Baby showers are the closest that modern western society has come to honoring the mother and baby, but these are primarily an occasion to gift parents with all the material things they might need. While happy and practical occasions, they do little to prepare a woman emotionally or spiritually for the work that lies ahead of her as she nears birthing and motherhood. Without such preparation it can be very difficult for a mother-to-be to fully welcome both the process of labor and the new being who is coming through her.Whereas a baby shower focuses primarily on the baby and its needs, a New Mother Blessing focuses on the mother and her journey towards birth and motherhood. This joyous occasion serves to welcome the mother into her new role, celebrate her new status, and can also be used to start building a circle of support.This celebration is also known as a Blessingway, a Mother Blessing,a Birthblessing or a Bellyblessing.  With the oldest baby boomers well into their 50's now, many women are evaluating what it means to stand on the threshold of "old age." In today's youth obsessed society, these women, now entering their older, wiser years, are challenging the bias by celebrating their age--with croning ceremonies.While most cultures have ceremonies for birth, adolescence, marriage and death -- the other significant rites of passage in life -- getting older is not typically honored by our society. A croning ceremony honors and celebrates the power of women in the "third cycle" of their lives. It represents their journey thus far and acknowledges the dignity and maturity that comes with their years. Each croning ceremony is as individual as the women who experience them. Rev. Ari can help you design just the right expression of your life, your journey, and your passage into this next, exciting phase of your life. • Memorials and Funerals  Just as we have rituals for other passages of life, such as graduations and weddings, we need a ritual for death--one of the most significant passage of all. But funerals shouldn't just recognize that a life has ended. They should honor and celebrate the life that was lived. At AWS, Rev. Ari will help you design a funeral or memorial service that allows the survivors the opportunity to gather and recall those things that mattered to them about the deceased's life; their accomplishments, friendship, guidance and love.• House (or apartment) Blessing  Moving into a new dwelling is a turning point; a rite of passage if you will, marking the beginning of a new phase in our life.Most cultures have some sort of tradition for "warming" or blessing a new home, which typically involves prayers, blessings or offerings meant to ensure peace, safety and prosperity for the owners. In addition, the act of blessing a house, apartment or condo before occupation can ease the stress of moving, make the new dwelling seem more like "ours," and can set the tone and intention for the new life/lives that will be lived there. Whether you want to incorporate old world traditions, feng shui concepts, or Native American practices, Rev. Ari can help create a house blessing ceremony that marks this most important event in a personal and meaningful way.  |
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Women's Rites Memorials/Funerals House Blessings Weddings |
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