We’re planning a farewell ritual for one of our Brooklyn Group who is headed to Colorado soon.  She’s a challenge  – she doesn’t really like keepsakes and lives a very uncluttered lifestyle (so, the exact opposite of most of the group!)

As such, we wanted to give her something that wouldn’t take up room in the car on the long drive, but that she could still have as a constant reminder of our love and presence as she starts on this latest leg of her journey.

So we gave her trees!

In the same way that animals have symbolic meaning, so do plants and trees.  I found this lovely little website that gives all the Celtic meanings of the trees.

A few years back Starbucks had a marketing campaign for the holidays centered around ritual.   It was a pretty effective campaign.

Starbucks recognized the need we have deep down in ourselves for special time – time outside of ordinary time, intentional time.  They played on the longing to meet with something more, be it our inner heart or the Divine or deep connections with others.

There’s precious little of that going around these days if we’re looking for it in our coffee chains.

But what if we were to claim that for ourselves?