I invite you to hold your candle and bring it into your focus. To notice the feel of the wax, the weight in your hand, the shape of the circle.
Fire symbolizes energy, spirit, soul. As we bless these candles, I invite you to bring the energy of earth up from your feet and to your candle. To bring down the energy of heaven, through your head and into your heart, to your hands, to the candle you hold. To breathe deeply of the energy all around us, within us, and to gently fill your candle with our collective energy.
Let us bless these candles with our gratitude for this year of life, of love, of joy. Let us bless these candles with the tears of the sorrows of our losses, the bitter weeping in the night, and the tears that we were unable to cry that cling still to our throats and in our chest. Let us bless these candles with our tender hopes for the coming year, and let their fire burn with our holy desire and passion for life. Let us give deeply of ourselves and to ourselves, to our purpose and calling, to share our light with those who join us in this moment in history and shine it forward to those that come after. Let us be the hope of our ancestors as we light these candles, carrying with us their dreams and gifts within the forward walking of our feet. Let us bless these candles with intention and purpose and with the knowing we are one.