Ceremony 5: How to Make a Vision Board

This week I had the opportunity to dream with a circle of amazing women, to vision the future year.  We made vision boards, an activity that has many variations, but I want to present it here as I have learned it, as a ceremony with creative release. “Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings.  Not all things are blest, but the seeds of all things are blest. The blessing is in the seed.”     -- Muriel Rukeyser, Elegy in Joy

Gather Your Materials:  
Ms. S showed up to the potluck with a suitcase on roller wheels filled with magazines, calendars and greeting cards, gold leaf, scissors and glue.  The backing can be cardboard, a box, a paper bag.

Light a candle, ground and center.  
In the divine light of Ms. C's attic room we sorted image and color.  The trick with vision is to allow.  This is an activity for the unconscious to rise.  What are you attracted to, what repels you?  Let the images, shapes and colors that speak to you mass in a pile.  I like to rip the pages free, cutting at this point reduces the rhythm and flow.

A note on words.
Notice if words help or hinder your process.  Sometimes I like words to balance and focus the images I choose.  Sometimes I feel like they are an impediment.

Let the images, colors and patterns guide you.
Allow the vision to express itself.  As your symbols and colors coalesce, you will begin to notice themes.  Don't worry about making something "pretty" or "good".  The nature of your vision is coming through you.  Release expectations and focus on opening your breath, your body, your heart.
You will know when your vision is complete.
When you are done, you will know and feel the change.  Close the creating ceremony with a prayer or phrase.  I like to use, "and so it is," sweet, simple and positive.

Place your vision in an area where it is highly visible, a bookshelf, a bedroom wall, in the bathroom, over the kitchen sink.   Make offerings to your vision, meditate on it and with it.  Dream with it at night.

Leave the vision exposed for a period of time.  
A month.  A moon cycle.  A season.  Then, when it is time, prepare the release. Burn it.
When your time period is up, prepare to burn the vision board.  This release is an exercise in trust, in letting go of desires and believing that the vision is alive within you, within the world.  If it feels uncomfortable to burn something you have lovingly created, sit with that a while.  Know that you can always create more, and that each expression will define a new beauty for your experience.

Make the burning a ritual.  Choose a time where you can be alone or are in a supportive environment.  Choose a method of burning appropriate to the vision, a fireplace to represent the heath of the heart, a pit at the beach for infinite abundance.  Have fun with the symbolism.

As you light the flames, speak words of affirmation and blessing to your vision.  Love the vision, love the release.