We are calling all members of Weaving the Rainbow—including your friends, families, and your communities to come together for a weekend Grief Ritual in Flint, MI April 20-22. Our hope is to have as many people attend this event as possible—the larger the group the more collective healing power we can harness and bring to ourselves, our larger Rebel Family, and the greater Flint area. We have selected Flint, MI to bring healing to this community due to the water crisis and the myriad of resulting challenges. Any profits from this ritual will go towards community organizations in the Flint, MI area.

The weekend Grief Ritual is a NON-PSYCHEDELIC healing ritual that comes from the Dagara peoples of West Africa, in the lineage of Sobonfu Somé. Dagara rituals are about healing, acknowledgment of people and their gifts, and making spirit tangible by preparing mind, body and soul to receive the spirituality that is around us. With regular use of ritual, we find our way back to wholeness, peace and acceptance of self and others. In many Indigenous cultures around the world, communities come together to grieve and to support each other in the grieving process. The Grief Ritual is about expressing our grief, numbness, confusion, pain, heartaches, all forms of loss, disappointments, healing from addictive behaviors, and fully expressing grief around the pain in our world such as the water crisis, destruction of the earth etc. When we grieve as a community, we do not only grieve for ourselves alone, but for our communities, our ancestors, and our greater world.

“We experience conflicts, loved ones die or suffer, illnesses occur, relationships break up, and there are unexpected natural disasters. The Grief Ritual is a soul-cleansing rite that can clear away lingering clouds and festering wounds from abandonment, divorce, death and the loss of dreams. It is so important to have ways to release those pains to keep clearing ourselves. Hanging on to old pain just makes it grow until it smothers our creativity, our joy, and our ability to connect with others. It may even kill us. Often my community uses grief rituals to heal wounds and open us to spirit’s call.” ~Sobonfu Somé

The specifics: We will gather on Friday April 20 from 6-9 pm to share, and work together on the Grief Ritual. Saturday we will conduct the ritual from 9 am until 6 pm, with a lunch break. Sunday we will go from 9 am until 4 pm, with a lunch break. The Grief Ritual will end with a celebratory dance.

The cost for this weekend event is sliding scale between $75 and $200, with scholarships available for anyone needing financial assistance. Anyone flying in for this event can attend for free and we will do our best to find you local housing. Due to space limitations, we request everyone formally sign up for the event.