"There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground."
~ Rumi, 13th c. Sufi poet
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Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant , Terry Lilian Segal:
Are you:
• Welcoming/Naming a new baby, adopting, blending families and cultures;
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• Housewarming; Leaving a home/community; Establishing a new life somewhere else;
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• Embracing Retirement from a place of empowerment;
• Getting Married or Renewing your Vows;
• Encouraging healthy, conscious separation or divorce;
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• Entering a new phase of your life – young adulthood, menopause, becoming a Grandparent…;
• Celebrating a 12-Step Milestone or other personal challenge;
• Acknowledging gender identity; orientation;
• Opening a new business, or launching a new creative venture; Honoring a special achievement;
• Fostering changes in your professional environment;
• Healing from illness;
• Celebrating your Life’s accomplishments; creating a legacy piece;
• Honoring Loss:
Memorials and funerals for people and animal companions;
Sustaining and Nurturing Ceremonies/Events:
• Building community in meaningful ways…
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• Creatively and dynamically support Corporate, Community and School-based programs;
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• Receive nourishing support during a pregnancy,
• Strengthen in the midst of coping with/healing from illness,
• Refresh your focus as you work on a long-term creative project,
• Nurture and rebuild you as you devote yourself to caregiving a loved one,
• Empower fresh choices, decisions and realizations;
• Honoring Seasonal and Lunar Cycles…
YOU NAME IT!
Life is a continual opportunity for conscious Celebration and Ceremony
"Who Ya Gonna Call?"
Introducing: Terry Lilian Segal, Life-Cycle Celebrant!
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As a life-Cycle Celebrant, I am uniquely trained and legally qualified to artfully custom-craft and officiate intention-based Ceremonies and rituals, honoring all orientations to life, and the meaningful, formative passages that shape who we are.
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My Commitment to You (see below for a step-by-step guide):
I listen closely to what is important to you as we work together to tailor your experience to be as meaningful, memorable and fulfilling as possible – for any manner of life events. Your Ceremonies specifically tell YOUR story and reflect your personal style and values, and may incorporate symbolic elements that are meaningful to you. This creative experience brings rich depth, authenticity and vitality to your life journey, and provides you with a solid Center of Gravity. After your Ceremony, I shall provide you with a lovely printed keepsake copy to cherish and remind you of your event forever.
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An added bonus: your experience inspires and empowers those who witness your honesty, courage, creative spirit and conviction.
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Why Celebrants?
No boiler plate here!
This is all about YOU. For more than forty years across the globe, more and more people are turning from faith-based ceremonies that may not resonate with their personal style or views, towards creating their own expressions, with the creative support of Life-Cycle Celebrants. Celebrants create ceremonies that reflect your voice. We stand apart from other officiants by custom-crafting an experience that tells your personal story, and includes whatever elements are of personal meaning to you. Each event is unique, written and honed to your satisfaction. You are in complete control of what the event contains, and have the final say before we go “live” with your Special Day!
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How does a Celebrant differ from Clergy?
Celebrants are not affiliated with any religious denomination or practice, and honors all paths and expressions towards living a life of Meaning.
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Can I use a Celebrant if I identify with a particular faith tradition?
YES! Many people observe a particular religion, but might find that the more traditional expressions of ceremony (e.g., weddings, funerals…), may not speak to your personal story and style as you might wish.
Or perhaps you wish to create a ceremony to honor something that your faith tradition does not specifically offer…
And…If you identify with a particular religious faith and would like to incorporate elements that are better suited for a clergymember to officiate, then we can work in tandem to co-create your personal vision.
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What can I expect in preparing for my Ceremony?
Good question!
1) Call me first! (216) 952-0731
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2) Tell me a bit about what you would like to honor through ceremony, and any ideas you may already have in mind.
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3) I shall provide you with some initial information about the scope of my services, and we shall look at possible dates to ensure our mutual availability.
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4) I shall provide you with a detailed email introduction to my work, along with a questionnaire that pertains to your event. You may either complete the questionnaire by hand, or bring it with you to our initial no-obligation interview, so that I can get a good feel for your story and preferences.
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5) Based upon our mutual agreement to move forward, we would negotiate a contract together, a deposit is collected, and the next interview would be scheduled. As we share information, I begin to write and design your Ceremony to ensure that your special event reflects your personal tone and intentions. Upon your approval, I then officiate your experience on the appointed date and location.
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6) Following the Ceremony, I shall present you with a beautiful personalized copy of your ceremony as a powerful momento that you can revisit for the rest of your life, and share with family and friends.
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7) I shall welcome any feedback you may have over time, as to how your life has been touched by honoring your experience with an experience of Conscious Intention and symbolic depth.
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My Qualifications - References available upon request.
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First and foremost: I live with Intention, straight from my Heart, and am devoted to holding a Reverent Presence for Your Story, Dreams, Visions and Intentions. I have great compassion and empathy for the many challenges this sacred life journey can present. I take great inspiration from the courage, strength, wisdom and resilience I witness in others. I love life, story, language, the Arts, and the infinite ways in which we might express all that moves and shapes us. This work is not a "job": it is my True Nature. And it is a deep privilege.
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Since 1992, I have served as an educator in my field, facilitated and hosted a wide array of workshops and presentations, and am a natural-born Communicator. Creative writing, singing and theatrical readings inform my written and verbal skills. My long history as a practitioner further informs my appreciation for the Art of Storytelling, as my clients share deeply from the heart, and our shared humanity is touched and healed. I have collaborated with friends, clients and colleagues for years to ceremonially honor Sacred Turning Points in one another's lives: from honoring pregnancy, to welcoming that new baby into the world. From holding vigil for those in hospice, to paying homage to loved ones at their funeral. Recognizing the rocky and disorienting shifts that can accompany retirement from a career of 40 years -- and then turning with fresh excitement and curiosity towards a liberated future unknown. Honoring the cycles of the Moon, the seasons' peaks at Solstice and Equinox.
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My continuing studies as Celebrant through the www.celebrantinstitute.org richly augment my creative options, skills, knowledge base, and resources.
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I am also Ordained by Universal Life Church Ministries (ecumenical post, providing me with legal status to perform marriages).
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More About Ceremonies
Ceremonies come in all flavors:
A true Rite of Passage is a transformative event that ushers us from one status in our lives, into a new one. This may be done privately, or it may be done in the presence of loving community, who may witness, and support your experience, formally recognize you as you assume your new status in your life, and help you to integrate this new identity as you move forward in your life. Your community is also given the gift of reflection and change by being present to yours. The richness, beauty and power of YOUR ceremony touches the lives of others in profound ways, helping us all to live more meaningfully, and with deeper attention and intention.
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A Rite of Passage -- such as a ceremony to honor a wedding or a divorce, the welcoming of a new baby or an adopted child, the loss of a loved one, transitions in your professional life and identity, or honoring your life’s journey through a celebratory review, or preparing for your funeral or that of another’s -- has three important phases:
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1.) Standing at the Threshold – honoring Separation:
Here, we honor all that has brought you to this momentous turning point in your life. You might choose to release certain things here that no longer serve your Highest Well-being, or to embrace certain teachings to carry forward into your new status.
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2.) Stepping through the Portal: Transition:
Here, you take Pause…a breathing space that gives weight, space and credence to the potent shifts and changes, anticipation and unknowables created by this passage:
(i.e., who am I now that I am: married, divorced, grieving a loss, retired, newly published, healing from seriously illness, a parent, an empty-nester, etc.)
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3.) Stepping Through: Integration/Incorporation:
Here, we step mindfully into our new status, into the supportive arms of loving community, affirmed and empowered to move forward into our lives from a place of deep inner strength, courage and freedom to be our truest selves more richly than ever before.
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Together, we CELEBRATE
Ceremonies & Events
The ceremonies and events that Meaningful Milestones typically works with include:
Arrival of a new baby
Adopting or blending families and cultures
Leaving a home or a hometown
Housewarming
Marriage or renewal of vows
Entering retirement
Separation or divorce
Entering young adulthood
Menopause
Becoming a grandparent
Celebrating a 12-Step milestone
Opening a new business or venture
Celebrating a new or evolving gender identity
Honoring a special achievement
Refreshing the focus during a long-term creative project
Healing from illness
Celebrating the accomplishments of a lifetime
Creating a legacy
Honoring loss—including memorials and funerals for friends, loved ones, and treasured animal companions
OR…another life passage that we haven’t done yet!
Ceremonies come in all flavors:
A true Rite of Passage is a transformative event that ushers us from one status in our lives, into a new one. This may be done privately, or it may be done in the presence of loving community, who may witness, and support your experience, formally recognize you as you assume your new status in your life, and help you to integrate this new identity as you move forward in your life. Your community is also given the gift of reflection and change by being present to yours. The richness, beauty and power of YOUR ceremony touches the lives of others in profound ways, helping us all to live more meaningfully, and with deeper attention and intention.
​
A Rite of Passage -- such as a ceremony to honor a wedding or a divorce, the welcoming of a new baby or an adopted child, the loss of a loved one, transitions in your professional life and identity, or honoring your life’s journey through a celebratory review, or preparing for your funeral or that of another’s -- has three important phases:
​
1.) Standing at the Threshold – honoring Separation:
Here, we honor all that has brought you to this momentous turning point in your life. You might choose to release certain things here that no longer serve your Highest Well-being, or to embrace certain teachings to carry forward into your new status.
​
2.) Stepping through the Portal: Transition:
Here, you take Pause…a breathing space that gives weight, space and credence to the potent shifts and changes, anticipation and unknowables created by this passage:
(i.e., who am I now that I am: married, divorced, grieving a loss, retired, newly published, healing from seriously illness, a parent, an empty-nester, etc.)
​
3.) Stepping Through: Integration/Incorporation:
Here, we step mindfully into our new status, into the supportive arms of loving community, affirmed and empowered to move forward into our lives from a place of deep inner strength, courage and freedom to be our truest selves more richly than ever before.
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Together, we CELEBRATE