Queer Embodied Grief & Prayer Ritual DATE CHANGE 1/5

Name: Queer Embodied Grief & Prayer Ritual *DATE CHANGE* 1/5
Start: 2025-01-05T13:45:00-05:00
End: 2025-01-05T16:00:00-05:00
Location: The Heart Rose Club, a Center for the Arts and Wellness

Schedule

Sun Jan 05 2025 at 01:45 pm to 04:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

The Heart Rose Club, a Center for the Arts and Wellness | Brattleboro, VT

Queer Embodied Grief & Prayer Ritual
DATE CHANGE! Sunday January 5th 1:45pm-4pm
facilitated by Leela Kelley
Register here: https://heartroseclub.com/queer-grief%2Fprayer-ritual
Times are wild and we need more spaces for collective grief and collective prayer. Our bodies hold it all; our grief, our sorrow, our joy, our love, our pain, our fear, our anger, our courage, our compassion. When we make space for our grief, we make space for our joy. When we grieve in community, we remember our interconnected belonging and that in itself is powerful medicine - we amplify and uplift each others prayers, we push back against isolation, we situate ourselves in the collective fabric and remember that we were never meant to hold these things alone. This ritual space centers queerness and uplifts queer and trans lives; allies are welcome to join.
*STRUCTURE OF THE RITUAL*
This embodied ritual will begin with grounding practices & calling in our more-than-human supports (directions, elements, well ancestors, land spirits, etc). Together we will create a grief altar and name into the space (briefly) some of our griefs and prayers. Then we will enter into a structure/score that allows for different ways to be in the space; through sitting/meditation, walking, free movement, and prayer. There is a circular element to this ritual, with the grief and prayer altar in the center of the space. This will allow the energy to move, transmute, and transform.
There will be a care corner for those who may want to receive more support in the form of touch or gentle co-regulation (sitting back to back, breathing together, etc). A few amazing practitioner-angels - Em Megas Russell & Ced Clearwater (and maybe some others), will be supporting that.
Creating a trauma-informed space is really important to me and its important to remember and center that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. If a grief ritual or group grieving is new to you, please know that there will be a lot of support and structure to hold you in that unknown place. The ritual will end with some singing together. There will be no touching unless you wish to receive touch, and you will not be asked to share/speak unless you choose to when there is time to share.
If you have any questions at all, please reach out to me at [email protected]
*ABOUT THE FACILITATOR*
Leela Kelley (she/they)
I’m a somatic therapist, embodiment facilitator, energy worker, queer witch, animist, and ritualist. I’ve been in community grief ritual practice for many years now - moving from participant, to assistant, to facilitator and I’m so grateful for all my teachers and those who I have learned from. I have a masters degree in dance/movement therapy and counseling and am a long time embodiment practitioner weaving from different modalities including yoga, authentic movement, contact improvisation, body-mind centering, clown, and somatic movement.
I've offered this ritual at earthdannce and touch&play festival and have been wanting to bring it to Brattleboro....after the election, it felt like the right/ripe/necessary time do it.
I am grateful to Sobonfu Some, Malidoma Some, Mama Lula Christopher, and the Dagara tribe of Burkino Faso. As white person who is not initiated into that tradition, this ritual is not at all a Dagara grief ritual, but it feels very important to name these teachers since I have learned so much through Dagara grief rituals. I am influenced by and grateful for Frances Weller, Joanna Macy, Hazel Turrone, Taina Lyons, and Chaya Leia Aronson. I have been deeply influenced by the land at Earthdance in so-called Plainfield, Mass, and I continue to be guided by the land & cosmos and what emerges through the portals of our more-than-human-kin.
You can learn more about on my website www.leelakelley.net or
IG 5th.house.venus
*EXCHANGE*
$20-$40 sliding scale
NOTAFLOF
2 free spots for trans and/or BIPOC folks - please email me at [email protected]

*ACCESSIBILITY & COVID*
Heart Rose is not handicap accessible- there are multiple stairways and no elevator.
Masks not required but of course welcome. Please covid test beforehand - I will have some tests available.
Please don't come if you're sick.
Please refrain from synthetic scents.
Wear warm clothes since this a big space and can be drafty.
There will be sounds of grief and also music will be playing - if you are sensitive to sounds, please bring earplugs.
If you have any accessibility needs, please reach out to me directly, [email protected]