Ep 13: The Birthday Ritual

Today is my birthday, so I'm sharing something really special with you:

My birthday ritual. It's a gentle, embodied space to meet yourself at the threshold of another year.

This is an invitation to pause, soften and return to what is real within you.

Listen to this as if you are sitting in ceremony with your own life.

Inside this episode, you are guided through:

•  An opening arrival into your body and space 
•  A short inner journey to meet your deeper self 
•  Reflective journaling prompts for truth and clarity 
•  A release practice to let go of what has completed 
•  A closing devotion to anchor your next becoming 

This is not about fixing, planning or becoming better.

It is about remembering who you are when you come back into rhythm with yourself.

Let this be a quiet moment just for you, a pause between what has been and what is beginning to emerge.

BIRTHDAY OFFER:

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Journey to the Womb is an 8 months journey to return to your body, your womb and your rhythm  so you can hear yourself clearly and trust what you hear. 

Find out more: https://jenanthony.com/journey-to-the-womb/

Pay in Full: £190 https://book.stripe.com/cNidR84Vta8d2Ki2GqbAs0W

Pay in 8: £23.75 https://buy.stripe.com/cNi28qafN6W1fx41CmbAs0X 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to today's episode of Off Silk and Soil. I am so grateful for you to be here, and I have got something like really special for you today. When you are if you're listening to this, when this episode comes out on Tuesday, this is actually my birthday. So I thought for today we're just gonna be doing a like lovely birthday ritual that you can do anytime when you when it's your birthday, when you just want like a little bit of a like review or looking ahead, so something like New Year's whenever you celebrate New Year's, um that kind of like new energy feeling, and you don't I'm keeping this like very very simple and you don't need lots for this, but what you will need is something to write because we're going to be journaling, and we're also going to do like a little ritual further towards the end, um, for which you will need like a piece piece of paper, so that can be a journal page, but it needs to be like a piece of paper essentially, and maybe a tea or a cacao or your favourite drink, whatever it is. Um, I definitely suggest to have some water nearby because I'm also going to be taking you through a little journey in a moment. But what you can do now is just pause it and get all of the things together that you want to have with this ritual. So I would also suggest to if you because it's just a nice thing to do, have a candle nearby, and by candle it can be a tea light, I'm more of a tea light girl than rear candles. Not that tea lights are not real candles, but you know what I mean. Um if you want to have like any flowers, any crystals, any anything that you just want to have with you for this ritual, just pause this podcast now and just get that all together. Okay, so now that you are here, you've got all of the things that you need, let us just like really arrive in the space. So if you have a candle, just take a moment now. If you haven't already done so, and just light that candle and then just place one one hand on your womb space and one hand onto your heart. Taking a deep inhale in here and exhale it out through the mouth, and then I want you to repeat after me either out loud or quietly or in your head. I am here to meet myself, and then just sit here for a few breaths without trying to shift anything, just really arrive in this space, in this ritual that we are creating together here, and then I want to start with a short visual visualization, like a lovely guided inner journey. So closing your eyes here, you can keep your hands where they are, or just release them, just be comfortable, be in a comfortable position. So you can lay down for this if you want to, or you can stay seated. If you're seated, just bring your head over your heart, heart, over your pelvis, and then closing your eyes, and just taking a few deep breaths here, just letting anything go that's not serving you right in this moment. And then I want you to imagine that you are standing at a threshold. Maybe that presents itself as a doorway made of light. Maybe they're flowers, plants, trees, wildlife, maybe stones. There is no right or wrong here. Just notice what wants to come up. And I just sense that on the other side of this threshold is a version of you, a deeper rhythm beneath everything. So that really deep knowing that gnosis that lives inside of you, and just breathe into this knowing that you are there, that this gnosis is there, and then when you're ready, just stepping through that threshold, slowly walking forward through it, and just notice the parts of you that have been waiting to be seen. Notice the places in your body that softened even in silence and notice the wisdom that didn't need words now that you've crossed this threshold and just notice all of these things, just have a look around and have a look what space you're in. Is it structure? Is it nature? Again, there is no right or wrong here, just let come up whatever needs to come up. Maybe it's a space that doesn't have any words, maybe it's just a blank space, and all of that is perfectly fine. I just want you to notice. You see a version of you your true version who is allowed to be who she truly is. She simply says I'm already inside what you've been looking for. I'm already inside of you. I'm here to access whenever you need to. And then you take a seat next to her and just be in her presence. Just notice how it feels to sit next to her and what impact she has on you. Any advice that you may be looking for. Stand back up. Maybe she gives you a hug and whispers into your ear that she is inside of you. And then when you're ready, you start walking back to the door, taking maybe parts of her, maybe all of her, with you as you step back through that threshold and step back into your body, bringing your awareness back gently into the body, into the space that you're in. Maybe bringing some movement into your fingers, into your toes, deepening your breath again, and then taking as much time here as you need before gently opening your eyes and coming back into your full awareness into the room. Whatever came up. Because it doesn't, even if it doesn't make sense, and especially if it doesn't make sense right now, because not everything that we get wisdom-wise, what I call downloads, is it it doesn't have to make sense right now, but it will make sense eventually, which is why it's so so so important to write these things down, and then I invite you just to take a sip of drink before we go into the journaling part of the ritual. Now I will the the way that I'll be doing going through this, I'll be reading the questions slowly. I'll probably repeat them twice slowly, and then I give you like a little bit of space, not very much. So just pause the podcast after every question and just really feel into the answers. It's these answers are nothing to be figured out, especially not thought through. I want them to be felt to just come out, and if there is something that as soon as I say the question, there's something that springs to your head, comes to mind, just write that down without thinking about it, just write it down, okay? So let's start off with who am I right now? And this is a question that we don't, I think, often ask ourselves. We often look ahead where we've been, where we're going, but who am I right now? This is such an important and like really opening question, and it's not just a question in the sense of like I want you to journal around that, but I also want you to celebrate who you are right now, and again, this is nothing to think about. I want you to feel into this, and then the next journaling prompt is how far have I come this year? How far have I come this year? And if this is a little bit too much of an abstract question, you can reword this into what have I achieved in this last year. So how far have I come? And then the next prompt is What has softened in me this year that I haven't fully acknowledged What has softened in me this year that I haven't fully acknowledged and then the next journal prompt is Where in my life have I grown who I've been pretending to be? Now that's a juicy one, so repeat that a couple more times. Where in my life have I outgrown who I've been pretending to be? And if this is especially like this is a really big one, so I encourage you to really sit with this. Where in my life have I outgrown who I've been pretending to be? And then the next journaling prompt is if my body could speak without fear, what would it ask for next? And really feel into this, and if there's something that comes up like straight away, write it down. So if my body could speak without fear, what would it ask for next? And then I want you to start thinking about like the year ahead, and in like I guess, whatever form that come wants to come out, really think like how you want to feel what you want to do more of what you want to experience, really like taking some time to think about no, not think about feel, feel your way into what you want that next year to look like, and don't let like your head and your thoughts, especially your limiting thoughts, pull you in, just go really big. Like, if if this was your last year on this earth, what would you want to be doing? How would you want to be feeling? Who would you want to be spending it with? And just really like pause this podcast. Just really take some real time just to feel into it and really paint that vision and get lost in the rabbit holes that come up because in those rabbit holes that's where like that vision wants to go and just really bringing it all together, and as I said, there is no right or wrong way how to do this. That could be a list of things that could be a picture, that could be a mind map of some way or form, any way that feels right for you. So just taking like pausing this podcast and just really going into what you want this next year to look like, how you want to feel, what you want to experience, who you want to be spending it with, what do you want to be doing, all of these things. Okay, now that we've finished the journaling part of this ritual, I actually want to do like a release ritual now with you, and you don't need anything fancy for this. So all you need is a piece of paper that is separate from anything else. So make sure that you've got like nothing else written on it that you want to keep because we are going to be destroying it afterwards. That sounds like a very big word, but there are different ways we can do this. So um this destroying is gonna be the easiest way. So on your piece of paper, and again, you'll have to pause this podcast in a minute. On this piece of paper, I want you to write down what you are ready to release, and that can be identities, patterns, expectations, roles, stories you've been telling yourself, stories that other people have been told, have been telling you, conditioning, um, limiting beliefs, anything and absolutely everything. So just on this piece of paper, write down what you are ready to release. Then pause this podcast and then come back. Don't do anything with it. So once you've finished writing everything down, come back to this podcast and then we do the rest of the ritual together. And now that you've written down all of the things that you are ready to release, especially like for this new year coming up, we now have to destroy it. As I say, this is a big word, but you have got two ways of doing this. Either you can burn it safely, and I say it's safely, so you don't just get a lighter and burn it in your house, please. So do it safely. So go outside, burn it, or if you have like a fireproof bowl inside, depending on the size of the piece of paper, you know what is safe. So to be fair personally, I always if I burn anything, I go outside. I'm paranoid about that. Um, the other way to release this is to tear the piece of paper into small pieces and then place it in water because that will then cleanse it and clear it away. And regardless of how you do it, what I want you to say whilst you do it, whilst you're destroying it, is I want you to say I no longer carry what is complete. I no longer carry what is complete. So you can pause this podcast now and do the ritual to destroy it, or you can do it afterwards or tonight, or you can have like your almost like your own little ritual about the destroying part as well. Just make sure that you either burn it or rip it up and put it into um water. And then for the next part, I we're nearly done by the way. We I want you to it's like a little like devotion and what you're calling into the next year, and I so I want you to place both hands onto your womb space, and then I want you to speak after me and finish the sentences and if possible out loud and there are three things that we're three sentences that we're doing, and the first one is this next year I choose this next year I choose and then the next one is I am available for I am available for and then finish the sentence. And then the last one is I will no longer abandon myself in I will no longer abandon myself in and just keeping your hands on your lower belly on your wimb space, and then I'm just gonna um give you a little closing invocation really, so you can just listen to this, and if you want to, um afterwards you can just uh write it down as well, I guess, and put it somewhere as a reminder for your next year. And this closing invocation is I am not arriving anywhere new, only deeper into what has always been here. The woman I was becoming has been walking beside me quietly, waiting for me to turn and recognize her. Today I do not reinvent myself I remember myself t and in that remembering k I return home again maybe taking a deep inhale here and saying it all out now. This is the end of this like birthday ritual that you can come back to anytime whenever it feels right. Not it's not just for birthdays, it's especially powerful for birthdays because this is where this is what's what what I've created it for. Um and thank you for joining me for this like lovely ritual today. And if you want to dive deeper into this, like really connect with yourself, with your body, your rhythm, then I have got a special birthday offer on for Journey to the Womb, which is 43% off um at the moment for my birthday period. Um, I will put all of the details in the description below, but it is it is super, it's an absolute steal. Um prices start from£23, I believe it was for the monthly payments. So it's super affordable for you to jump into the life ceremonies every month. I would love to have you there, but for the moment, thank you so much for joining me today, and I will see you next week.