Celebrant Officated Family Ceremonies


	Honor Your Voice Stacy Willhoit, Certified Celebrant

Family Ceremonies are wide ranging and highly under-rated (or even ignored altogether) in American society today. In many cultures, the stages of family life and togetherness are celebrated with great passion and an understanding of the depth of connectedness that the meaning of "Family" encompasses.

Regardless of your background, culture, and/or spiritual beliefs, your Family is the tribal group in which you find belonging, love, and acceptance or rejection. Whether you classify your family as those who share your same genetic bonds, those whom you have chosen to walk the path of life with as more than friends, or a blending of the two, your family is a compilation of the persons (and sometimes animal companions) who bring meaning to your life and are unique to your life path.

Because of the myriad stages of life and the transitions and transformations that occur within this unique group, Family Ceremonies are an important aspect of life that are, sadly, often over-looked in today's hectic American world-view. I believe that our world will become a better place when we take the responsibility to slow down this pace and remember to honor the cyclic changes that naturally occur within our family life and as a Celebrant I am commited to assisting you along this path.

From Tales of Gitanjali

The same stream of life that
runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances
in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth in number-
less blades of grass and breaks into
tumultuous waves of leaves and
flowers.

It is the same life that rocked in
the ocean cradle of birth and death,
in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life. And
my pride is from the life-throb of ages
dancing in my blood at this moment.

Tagore

In American society, fewer and fewer families remember what it means to honor the voice that is uniquely theirs as a tribal group. Celebrations are often created to focus on the individual while leaving out the connection to the whole. In a Celebrant planned Family Ceremony, this connection is also celebrated and honored and a voice is given to the transitional stage that the individual is experiencing as well as to the family as a group.

There are many times of transition in family life that you might wish to consider honoring with a ceremony:

Giving a Child a Name
Adoption of a Child
Coming of Age~Puberty Rites of Passage
Adoption of an Adult as your Sibling
A Divorce Ceremony for Healing & Transition
Illness Survivor Ceremonies
Elder Honoring
Blessing of Your Home
Celebration of a Lasting Marriage Union

These times, and others not listed here, are moments in your family life that deserve to be honored through ceremonial acknowledgement of the changes that are occurring. If you would like to discuss the possibilites for honoring a time of transition in your family, please call or email me to discuss your needs.


	A Rate Schedule for most of the ceremonies listed here can be found on the FAQs page if you would like more information on cost before you call. Please do not hesitate to contact me for a quote for any Family Ceremony that you would like to create that is not listed or is unique to your tribe!


	If you are interested in a free consultation to determine whether or not you would like Celebrant Stacy Willhoit to create a Family Ceremony for you, you can contact Stacy directly by phone at her new number: 417-838-1206 or by email at


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	In Christian legend, the carnation, especially a pink carnation, symbolizes a mother's undying love. The story is that the Virgin Mary was weeping during the cruxifiction of Jesus. As her tears spilled to the ground, pink carnations sprouted from the ground.


	Except where otherwise noted, the flower stories on this site come from: The Flower Niche