America's Stonehenge

Vernal Equinox Ceremony 2024

"Expanding a state of coherence"

Sunday, March 17 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Facilitated by Katja Esser.

Gathering time for the ritual is 12:45 pm. Please leave ample time to get yourself to the ritual site. We will be at the Gathering Space, at the top of the hill just beyond the main complex.

There is some preparation involved that we request you do at home in the weeks leading up to the ritual. Please see below on preparation and what to bring and take some time with it. The preparations are part of the feeding of the spirit world and deepen the work we do so we can reap the most benefits from it as well. It also shows a commitment to walking a different path as it takes some effort, which is noticed in the other world.

A clay bowl sits on a carpet of green grass. The bowls inside walls have been painted in a mandala pattern using pale pink, light yellow, and white. The mandala is reminiscent of a flower.

The increasing bright light from our radiant star infuses mother's dulled skirt. Little frays of her winter gown light up her tattered muted look. A restless dream time where water's blossom barely created the dramatic sculptural glaze that used to solidify her babbling veins. The warmth and light increase each day and Mother begins to stir preparing to transition into her labor process as she contracts and expands, hardens and softens. Saps are rising, snowdrop are up, and bulbs begin to push their core up and out. Winter will not give up easily as its frigid bite will challenge the unfurling life in the months to come before the spring air establishes itself and life resurrects at its fullest.

We are in a very exciting and tumultuous time right now. All the eyes have been pointing to this time and this particular year for great shifts to occur. We are dismantling and birthing. Laying down the tight skins we have outgrown, breaking out of the smothering oppression within and without to set ourselves free. As the waters become cloudier confusion sets in. The mountain view with its far-reaching visions is swallowed in the clouds; the future is unknown. Our roots stand in murky stagnant water, decomposing as legacy burdens fuel wars and conflicts. The surface waters sweeping up, express turbulence. In all of this we long for peace in community and try to figure out how we go about relating to one another as we live in a universe of relationships Our belief systems get shaken as we wake up to truths, we are unwilling to face but, must get out into the world. What carries us through is our consciousness, our connection to our higher mind, and the unseen world. In the eye of the storm, we find peace. As fire creates agitation at the hearth and burns in nature, it also aligns us to the beings of light and our inner divine fire. It may take some work to not let ourselves be lead astray because of outer world appearances and keep that inner fire going to stay connected to the bigger picture and our higher consciousness. The other world stands by and awaits our request for help. Spring time is creative time and nature is the realm of creativity. Tend to the seed/vision we are growing, expand our creative abilities and our 6 senses utilizing the frequency of love and coherence as we are here to co-create the patterns of perfection of the New Earth. We are living in a feeling world. Remember our true-identity, as ‘the presence of God we are,’ spend time in nature that models the laws of the universe and brings us to our authenticity. Beliefs, concepts, and ideas will shift as new information comes in allowing us to see how much power we must shift consciousness on this earth and create a different collective reality. This will allow us to clear out the old and heal our wounds with self and community. This summarizes my shell inquiry as we prepare to move through the Equinox portal.

The Vernal Equinox is rapidly approaching which is always a powerful gateway where the sun rises opposite from where it sets, where night and day, matter and spirit, yin and yang create a short-lived moment of balance. It announces the return of Spring, the awakening of nature, and resurrection of life. It is the season of activation, change, and transformation as a quickening propels life forward in rapid succession, following coherent patterns of fractals that create a predictable outcome with a unique expression based on the information it received. It is a vulnerable time in which the young life endures the challenges of potential late frosts, imbalances of moisture, and temperatures which have become a reality in the last couple of years. It is for this reason that ceremonies have been done to midwife and protect the young life to ensure that life can express and procreate to provide a food body we all can partake in and can continue forever. It also allows us to come into alignment with nature, be stewards of this precious life, and have a relationship with the living world around us.

Also, we benefit from these portals, if we utilize and call upon these energies to assist us which is crucial today as the Earth has ascended in the Spring Equinox of 2023 to now participate in the higher frequencies of love and light available from our Grand Central Sun. With this influx of energy from the highest realms of light things will accelerate rapidly as new information comes in that we cannot comprehend at this time but soon will. Be ready to be a conduit for these energies to express themselves through us to assist us to move up the spiral of evolution and go home to the heart of our beloved Father/Mother God.

Following the cosmology of the Dagara people of West Africa we have entered now into a mineral year. The wheel is universal as it reflects the energy patterns of technology, memory, story, purpose. It is also the year where Pluto almost fully has entered Aquarius. From September to November, it will drop briefly back into Capricorn where we will see the last vestiges of the old-world order being played out. What we create this year will decide how we move forward. It is about reclaiming our freedom within and without, de-centralization, empowered communities, acceleration, innovation, tons of new information, and technology. Uranus is in Taurus for the next 2 years creating a lot of unexpected seismic activities and geomagnetic energy events. Awakenings and shake-ups are to be expected. Remember that mountains get formed by earthquakes, diamonds get formed by intense heat and pressure, and metals are forged through heat and pounding. It takes tempering to become durable and resilient. All is conspiring to catapult us into higher frequencies of light and love.

The intention:
Everything will accelerate and holding our center, meditate, breathe, spend lots of time in nature, see the big picture, and focus on a vision for the world we like to see are essential. We are birthing a new world and shake off the old. We remember our true-identity and that we are ONE in the body of God/Creator/Source. Here is a profound quote: ‘Small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the system to a higher order’ by Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine. This is the power of love and there are many examples of that in nature. Coherence, creativity, and freedom become core pieces for our focus this year as we move through the dismantling process and stay focused on the world we like to see. Energy follows attention. An exciting new world awaits us, becoming tangible as we dream it.

Preparation and what to gather:

Katja Esser guides you through this very participatory ritual. In the spirit of co-creating in our own evolution, the ritual grows to new heights when you bring your items and participation to it. The rituals go deeper each year as they are built on each previous one. The unfolding of the ritual creates the sacred space, in which we give more meaning to the details of the ritual. What you bring creates the magnificence of this ritual as each contribution makes up the whole. Please make sure to do your best to bring your items, but do not be deterred from coming if you do not complete them. Some people may bring some extra materials. Come early if you still need time to work on your items.

Cost:
In addition to the general admission at America's Stonehenge, there is a suggested $8.00 donation at the ritual to support the continuation of this sacred work.

Filming and photography:
We ask you not to film or photograph during the ceremony. You can take pictures before or after the ceremony. Some things belong to the spirit world. Thank you for understanding.

Make sure you leave enough time to hike to the site (10-15 min.) so we can start the ritual on time.

Who to call:
Kindly respond if you plan to attend. Please contact Katja Esser on Facebook or through e-mail at katjacreates@ritualexpressions.com. She needs to have a sense of the number of people coming so as to adjust the ceremony for the number of people that are present, and it also allows her to notify guests if there are last minute unexpected changes. You can find more info on Katja by visiting her website.

In the case of extreme weather, the ceremony will be moved to online.

Katja Esser smiling joyfully at the camera. Katja Esser creates a container of a particular energy frequency that allows people to awaken and express their ancient sacred connection to the infinite universe. As a multi-disciplinary artist, ceremonialist, teacher, performer, and healer who inspires through self-expression, she assists people that are ready to come into a participatory relationship with themselves, the living Earth, and the unseen world around them to live a sacred eco-centered, magical, and connected life.

Katja has been running annual seasonal rituals since 1992, of which Summer Solstice at America’s Stonehenge is most well-known. Her singing and her extraordinary elaborate masks and costumes bring forth beings from another world. Katja has facilitated drumming circles, workshops in sound, continuum-based movement, ritual, and maskmaking. She studied with Emily Conrad, Malidoma Somé, Alisa Starkweather, Eric Bornstein, Martin Prechtel, Saruah Benson, Tim Kelley, and various healing modalities to facilitate a shift in consciousness. She performs with the Theater Behind The Mask in schools through Young Audiences and has appeared at First Night Boston for a number of years. Katja facilitates grief rituals, sacred sound circles, ancestral rituals, and performances. Katja's focus is now on video production, combining her music, poetry, and images of water in praise of the living world around us, to bring awareness to our participation to keep the earth alive. She also focuses on sacred geometry and no-till gardening, contributing to eating local and having a relationship with the living beings that feed us. Katja has an extensive website at which her work can be viewed.

Testimonials

"Thank you Katja for a beautiful, powerful, and healing Equinox ritual at America's Stonehenge! Your "work as path" is a soulful, rich, and beautiful gift, from which we deeply benefit and which we greatly appreciate. Thank you!"
~ Margaret, David, and Abigail

"Dearest Katja,
We thank you deeply for the ceremony today. It was wonderful. The words you speak are like water to a dry mouth. You are truly a blessing for sharing this with us all…… Your coyote was fantastic!!"

~ Ann, Eric, Ezekiel, Obadiah and Gary

"Thank-you, Katja Esser, for the beauty and vision you bring to the world. It was so lovely to be together and to remember that a new old way is possible here now. So grateful."
~ Nicole, winter solstice 2022

"Once again, thank you for hosting the ceremony. After the ceremony, I immediately felt more positive with a sense of joy that I haven't felt for a long time. Thank you."
~ Ka

"I simply want to thank you sincerely for the awesome rituals and ceremony for Summer Solstice on Sunday. I loved every minute of it, and I listened closely to your words. I was also honored to be able to participate in the ancestors part of the ceremony, placing the two pronged branch into the earth. I know I speak with gratitude for my two friends, as well.
Again, you provided a wonderful experience which as my friends and discussed on our way home, will certainly have unseen but real effects for each participant, our Mother, and all people we come into contact with.
Thank you so much for your valuable and deep work…so needed at this time."

~ Pam