Eliane's Speech at Wedding Ceremony

Let me welcome you all and thank you for coming.


You each have a very important role to play today in the making of this event.


[Introduction:]

Five months ago exactly on May 1st, a Danish woman living in New York and an Australian man discovered each other on neutral territory at the United Nations head quarters of Geneva, Switzerland. Today your role is to witness them and co-create a moment in time and space. A moment that will form a signature, a glyph to their union into the physical world.

When Nya asked me to perform her wedding ceremony, I had no intention to do so. I have never married anyone and do not plan on venturing into a career of a priest or priestess. As she persisted, I started to envision a beautiful, yet amazingly simple and authentic ceremony. A ceremony where the participants were playing the main role of witnessing, sealing the pact of love of the groom and bride.
The next day a friend of mine told me the story of his son’s wedding to a Quaker woman. The Quaker community gathered in their town hall. They sat around the future husband and wife in silence for about an hour. At the end of this period different persons got up and gave them their blessings. Finally the groom and bride exchanged their vows to each other. No one was officiating.

Today, we will not have a silent meditation of an hour, nor will we follow a religious event of any tradition. I will first invite into our space the presence of the family members that are geographically far away and unable to be physically present.

Nya: your parents, your two grandparents and your brother.

James: your parents, your two grandparents and your two brothers.

I call in all of your friends from around the globe as well.

We will start with three OMs and end with three OMs as well.


[Laraaji leads the OM chanting meditation….]


[Inviting in the elements and directions:]

Let the moment be fertile.

Let than exact moment meet you.

Turn to the south and welcome the water element, the lake. Feel your heart beat. Follow its pulsations. Enter the flow of the river of life.

Turn to the West and welcome the earth element, its seasonal harvest. Feel you body on the ground and grow your legs like roots of a tree into the earth.

Turn to the North and welcome your mind, let your consciousness expand, breathe the air, feel the vastness of space.

Turn to the East to welcome the fire element. Feel the spirit that moves you, moves through you. Invite the experience of renewal, of constant rebirth.


Now that we are connected with the four directions and with our four elements, let us feel the presence of each other. Offer your breath to your surroundings, become Central Park, Turtle Island… Manhattan, North America. Offer your heart to the group’s heart and let us surround our groom and bride with our love. Feed yourself and feed them with the group energy, with the energy of the invisible worlds. Let the moment be fertile in silence.

[A moment of silence]


Alan, I invite you to come forward and give your blessings to the beloved.


[Alan speaks and reads poem from the Book of Psalms <AlanPoem.htm> ]


I invite others to come forth and participate.


….


[Namaste ritual]

[James and Nya’s vows/poems]

….


Alan, would you bring me the rings?

[First her ring, then his]

James, do you embrace Nya as your wife ?

Nya, do you embrace James as your husband ?


I join you in union of body, mind and spirit!

We declare you husband and wife! Amen, amen, amen...



[petals, OMs and singing]

[exit of couple]