Great Morning Beloved!

White Stone Ceremony

Happy New Year again, to you all. I look forward to another year of sharing Unity’s messages to you all and sharing in that spiritual journey that we all are on, whether we realize it or not!

A new year is a time of new beginnings, if we allow it. As you begin this new year, I invite you to remember the Burning Bowl ceremony, in which many of us participated, when we wrote down that which we wish to release, and we literally burned those concepts, those ideas and situations: we let them go up in smoke and set an intention to rid ourselves of them.
That ceremony was and is a profoundly impactful experience. It helps us release that which no longer serves our soul’s journey, which is very freeing. And when we release, we create an empty space, which needs to be filled with something! This morning, I invite you to consider what will fill that empty space.
Both these Ceremonies, the Burning Bowl and the White Stone, can be transformative…as long as we are patient. We are like the seed that needs time to grow and mature. So be patient with yourself as you progress along your Spiritual Journeyand be so with others too.

You were given a white stone when you came in. We will use the stone in the ceremony to identify your “new name” or your guiding word for this new year.

Today is the day when we set our intentions for the rest of the year. I’m not talking about resolutions, because in the White Stone ceremony, we don’t make a list. Usually, we come up with one or two words which represent the changes we wish to make or what we want to see expressing in our experience.
But first, let’s put this in context. The ceremony is inspired by a quote from the Book of Revelation: chapter 2:17. Consider these thoughts: “Let anyone who has an ear listen: ….To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
This passage refers to a couple of actions and promises:
The first activity is listening: or Meditation
An ear to hear is not an outer ear, but the ear of the soul; the ear that hears the “still, small voice”. We develop this inner listening quality by getting out of our intellect and into our hearts, through meditation. It is a tool to help us quiet our busy mind and listen to the Divine Voice of Wisdom. We open our minds and hearts to a deep intuitive “knowing.”

Another activity or tool is surrender:
The passage says: “To everyone who conquers…” The conquering is not an outer war, but an inner one. To everyone who takes the time to listen to the still, small voice; to everyone who practices release and affirms inner spiritual qualities…. We realize it requires surrendering personal will to Divine Will, and the paradox is that in that surrender of the egoic self is Victory. It is a birthing of the Essential Self, just as Jesus taught and demonstrated.

In this passage there are also 3 Promises:
It said, “To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
The first promise is “Hidden Manna:”
In the days of wandering in the wilderness with Moses, the manna was sent by God. The people only had to go and collect it each day; they did not have to do anything to earn it. If they tried to save it, it spoiled. When we are in “the wilderness” of our spiritual searching, we receive “hidden manna,” not visible to the world. We are given spiritual energy and nourishment that sustains us…. Grace. It nourishes the soul and the body. It benefits the whole being. And we don’t have to earn it! Grace is there for us.

The 2nd promise is a White Stone:
Back when Jesus was teaching, and someone served time in prison or in bondage of any kind, they were given a white stone when they were released. It served as a symbol that they had done their time and they had been given passage to live with all the rights of a free person.
Each of us comes from the bondage of the past…some would call nonsense – false limitations, old beliefs, error thinking that have been a prison of sorts. With a release from bondage, comes a sense of worthiness: we are beloved of God, one with the Divine, free and unlimited!

The 3rd promise is a New Name:
In the Bible, we read of many name changes. For example, Saul – which means personal will – was struck to his knees. He was blind for three days and had to look within. He was given a new name at the time of his awakening. Saul was transformed to Paul, which means enlightened will. Personal will to enlightened will. He is a symbol of human will that surrenders to Divine will, and in that surrender, he claimed Divine Power.

The story of a name change is common in Biblical mythology. The prophet Isaiah wrote in Chapter 62, Verse 2; “The lower consciousness shall see your freedom, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.”

Abram, as he grew in spiritual awareness became Abraham. Sarai, his wife, became Sarah. Jacob was renamed Israel. Simon was renamed Peter.

So, as we awaken to our inner Spirit, we take on a new identity, a new name so to speak. This refers to the new, higher realization of the I AM, a new awareness of our God Self.

And this is where the Ceremony called “White Stone” comes in. In the passage, we are told “I will give a white stone and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
So, I invite you to sit quietly on what you’re being called to in the new year and claim that as your new name.
I invite you NOW to hold your stone in your hands. As you hold it, open your mind to “hearing” your new name.
Allow yourself to ask a question: Who am I or what am I called to be in this coming year? As I let go of my old habits, those I released during the burning bowl ceremony, what is it that I am called to be known as?
This new character Identity that you intend to cultivate in the coming year might be connected to that which you released at the Burning Bowl ceremony.

Let your awareness drop from your head down into your heart and gut: from your intellect and into your deep inner knowing. an awareness of Divine Love and Wisdom. Listen for a moment to your still small voice.
Open your imagination, allow Wisdom to speak, give your ego a few minutes off and let that divine holy Voice in you come through.

Perhaps there is a new career, a new title, or a new quality that Spirit is pressing out through you.
“Hear” a word or phrase that has significance for you as you begin the New Year. This word can be an overall intention…a way of being in the world…something to grow into…something that allows a deeper Truth to express more fully through you.

Give yourself permission to know that as you release that which no longer serves your highest good, you can claim a new quality… a new name.
It may be a title, it may be something like published author…or clean and sober…or grateful….
Sometimes people will write the word peace, love, or presence, …..take on a new essence of who you are becoming.

Silence…

If a name has come to you, remain quiet and allow yourself to ask for a deeper understanding, to ask if there are any steps to take. In this moment allow yourself to simply open to Spirit, to say, “God in me reveals my true essence. God in me reveals my next step. God as me lives a joyous, peaceful, fulfilling life.”
When you have received your message, proceed to the back of the room and write your name or word on your Stone. There are several choices of pens and ink for your use.
If nothing comes to you during this ceremony, keep your stone with you and continue to ask. An answer always comes to those who ask.

Please remain quiet as we give space for the messages to come to you.
PAUSE

Anytime you look at your white stone realize that you have the gift of choice; the gift to live differently, to live a more fulfilling life, to begin again, to connect with God and create with God.
The white stone carries a new name, the spiritual identity and a deeper awareness of your soul’s journey at this time in your life. No one, in the entire universe except your inner wisdom, knows what this new name is. But it has come to your awareness to be lived out, to be expressed, to be embodied as you. It is what your True Self, the Divine is calling you to be or do. It is a whisper from your soul that you are so much more than you have ever let come into expression.

Jesus said, “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you this kingdom.” Accept this consciousness of ever increasing good in your life. I invite you to carry this white stone as a reminder of that promise.

The new year is a blank page…in your heart and in your life. You choose, with the guidance you receive from within, how that page will be filled.

2019 has unlimited possibilities. In creating a space in our consciousness, we open ourselves up to that unlimited possibility, unlimited potential in this new year. You choose what is written….
Let’s take a moment of grateful silence as we conclude this Ceremony.

Namaste.