Be Ceremonial

11/10/2026

What does your heart know that words can’t always say? 🕯️

I’m honoured to be the final speaker of 2026 for CreativeMornings/Vancouver, exploring this month’s global theme: gönül, a Turkish word for the heart, the soul and our inner emotional world.

My talk is about how creativity helps us give shape to what we feel but can’t put into words. When language falls short, we create a gesture, a symbol, a small ritual that makes the invisible visible.

I’ll share stories from my work as a celebrant and end-of-life doula surrounding the silent thresholds in our lives, and we’ll co-create a simple community ritual together.

The morning opens with music from the wonderful Wanting Qu 曲婉婷 🎶

🗓️ Friday, December 4th
⏰ 8:15–10:15am (doors close at 8:45)
📍 Vancouver Art Gallery
🎟️ Free, but spots are limited and filling quickly

Reserve your ticket at creativemornings.com/talks/megan-sheldon 🤍

11/05/2026

What are you carrying right now? 🌿

Ritual is a muscle. The more we practice, the more easily we can attune to what we’re holding and feeling inside, and to the changes moving around us. It belongs in the everyday as much as in life’s big thresholds: births and deaths, endings and beginnings, the turning of the seasons.

Community is needed now more than ever. At Be Ceremonial, we craft intimate, brave spaces where you can explore your relationship with ritual, ceremony and rites of passage, alongside others who are asking the same questions.

Swipe to see what’s coming up this winter and spring, from our Closing the Year Ceremony to a new Year of Seasonal Ceremony and the Elements of Ritual training. I’d love to gather with you.

Details and registration at beceremonial.com (link in bio).

10/25/2026

Most of us were never handed a calendar for our lives.

Not the calendar filled with dentist appointments, work meetings, and federal holidays. The old one. The one that told our people when to plant, when to feast, when to harvest, and when to rest.

Megan Sheldon () and I have been exploring this calendar together for the last two years. We've been accompanied by incredibly deep, intuitive, and curious humans that span states and countries.

This series of gatherings has anchored me into a deeper turning of time, an ancient way of remembering how to be a people of place. This way of gathering intentionally through the changing seasons has become one of my favorite parts of life and I am so grateful to be offering this again in 2027.

Each year we take in the feedback and our learnings and we change things (for the better). This year we will have eight seasonal ceremonies, two hours each, hosted via zoom. We will be an intimate and closed group so that we can journey through the year together and get to know each other more closely. We will also have a whatsapp group to keep us connected and inspired between gatherings.

Registration is open.

Learn more here:
https://www.beceremonial.com/courses/a-year-of-seasonal-ceremony

10/19/2026

Yesterday we closed the circle on another round of The Elements of Ritual ~ Ceremonial Training. 🌊🔥🌬️🌱

Eighteen people from all over the world gathered every Sunday for six weeks to learn ritual design and ceremony frameworks. Each week we drew inspiration from a different element and looked for the rituals already alive in our own lives, so we can support others in finding theirs.

Session 6 is always my favourite, because the closing ceremony is co-created by the group, and I get to be a participant. ✨

Five small groups guided us through:
🕯️ An opening ritual
🌒 A ritual for what was
🌕 A ritual for what is
🌘 A ritual for what will be
🕯️ A closing ritual

Everyone brought items connected to their stories, their elements, and the ritual muscles they’ve been building. Watching each person step into leading ceremony was incredibly moving.

What a privilege to be among these budding ceremonialists. The world needs more of you. 🤍

Our next training begins in May. Registration link in bio.

10/15/2026

Three ways to gather with us in 2027 🤍

https://www.beceremonial.com/retreats

Each retreat considers a different threshold: the turn of the year, the dreaming of what’s next, and the quiet art of growing older.

Swipe through to find the one that’s calling you. ➡️

❄️ Wintering ~ A New Year Retreat
January 15–17 · Xenia Retreat Centre, Bowen Island

A weekend to rest and reflect before the new year asks anything of you. We’ll share sea swims and sauna, nourishing food, and a single word to carry into the year ahead. We're more than half full, so book soon!

✨ Visioning ~ A Day of Ritual & Story
January 31 · North Vancouver

While Wintering helps you release the old year, Visioning helps you dream the new one. This is a one-day retreat, with storytelling and vision boarding as a small circle of women, followed by an optional sauna. 4 spots remain.

🌿 The Art of Aging ~ A Ritual Retreat
April 30–May 2 · Loon Lake, Maple Ridge

A circle of women spanning decades, gathered to mark the thresholds of aging that so often go unmarked. We’ll bring ritual and story, with rest by the lake. It’s an hour from Vancouver, with no ferry needed. With special guest Chloe Hunter

Our retreats are small and intimate, so we invite you to apply rather than book. Link in bio, or send me a message to find the right fit for you.

10/13/2026

I’m a proud member of Humanist Canada and love offering deeper dives into the world of ritual and end-of-life.

Join us if you’re curious and looking for stories of inspiration and community connection ✨

Join Megan Sheldon, co-founder of Be Ceremonial, for this unique opportunity to consider the role of ritual and ceremony at the end of life.

During this 3-hour interactive workshop, Megan will introduce you to the essential elements of ceremony and ritual design. She will also explore the visible and invisible moments that surround the end of life, and the many opportunities to weave ceremony into those moments.

Together you will learn how to craft and convene an end-of-life ceremony, while also considering your own relationship with grief and loss rituals.

If you’re a member of Humanist Canada, register to join here: https://tinyurl.com/3pe2teap

If you’re not a member of Humanist Canada, register to join here: https://tinyurl.com/36prd8vw

10/08/2026

Many of us think end-of-life planning happens in a lawyer’s office, often in the middle of a crisis. But we know there's a better way to do this heart-led work.

Your will, power of attorney and advance directive matter ~ but there’s a piece of planning most people skip: the emotional side.

What do the people you love need to know about what matters most to you?

On Sunday, November 22, I’m joining my friend and colleague Christa Ovenell of Christa Ovenell | Death Educator for Head & Heart: End of Life Planning. It’s four virtual hours of learning and reflection, held within a community of care.

Christa brings clarity to the practical side, exploring the systems, choices and opportunities to create meaning at the end of life. I'll invite you to consider the emotional side, including the rituals, senses and stories. Together, we’ll help you create a road map for the people you love.

This is for you if:

🕯 you’ve started thinking about this but don’t know what to do next

🕯 you know there are gaps in your plans

🕯 a diagnosis or a death has made this feel urgent

🕯 you’ve meant to do this for years and need one contained day to begin

You’ll never be asked to share more than you want to. You’ll leave with practical tools, curated resources and clear next steps.

“I thought I was ‘prepared’ with my will, POA and healthcare directive. I realized in this workshop there is SO much more to do.” ~ Past participant

📅 Sun, Nov 22 · 10am–2pm PCT (BC's new time zone)
💻 Online via Zoom
💛 $125 · space is limited

Register at www.beceremonial.com/workshops.

09/28/2026

Yesterday we gathered for week three of The Elements of Ritual, my six-week ceremonial training, with participants joining from all over the world.

🔥This week was fire. We explored its symbolism, its themes, its metaphors and mythology, and the surprising places it shows up in our lives.

I invited everyone to think beyond the flame. Fire isn’t only the candle or the hearth. It’s the heat that rises in your body as you move and sweat. It’s the sun on your face. It’s warmth, transformation, illumination, wherever we find it.

And then, yesterday morning, I looked out into our backyard and there it was. Our katsura tree, ablaze in reds, oranges and golds, holding every colour of the flame from our morning ritual. What a gift it is to see fire everywhere!

Want to explore the elements with me? ✨

🔥 The Elements of Ritual returns in May 2027: six weeks of ceremonial training through earth, air, fire, water and ether.

🌿 Or walk the full year with me and Grief guide & death doula in A Year of Seasonal Ceremony. We’ll gather eight times through 2027 to honour each seasonal turning and the in-between moments, moving together around the wheel of the year.

Details and registration in bio.

Where is fire showing up for you right now? 🔥

07/31/2026

For me, ritual is about stopping, paying attention and creating intention. So when I published a book earlier this summer, I knew I would find small, meaningful moments to stop, pay attention and creating intention!

On August 13th, I'm sitting by the fire with Chloe Hunter at Rivendell Retreat Centre on Bowen Island for an evening of conversation, exploring what it means to build ritual on our own terms.

We'll be asking questions like: Why is ritual needed now more than ever? How can ceremony show up in ordinary life? What becomes possible when a community decides to mark things together?

It's free, it's open to everyone, and no preparation is needed. Copies of Ritual Without Religion will be there if you'd like one signed. Link in bio to RSVP.

~

And for those of you who aren't close by, I'm available for a virtual fireside chat! If you have a book club, an organization, a hospice team, or a community group that wants to explore Ritual Without Religion together, I'd love to join you.

Send me a DM to set something up.

The need to mark our moments with meaning is more important than ever. Let's dive in together. 🔥