Blessings in the Smoke: Remembering Your Loved Ones

A Mind Oasis Winter Solstice Ritual of Love and Restoration

“Where the smoke goes up the blessings rain down.”

Give a gift to Mind Oasis in honor or memory of a loved one this season and receive a blessing ritual kit for both honoring the past and welcoming the future on this Winter Solstice. Let’s bring in all of our loved ones, living in this realm and beyond as we march toward the end of 2024.

With each gift you make to Mind Oasis, we’ll send you a ritual kit in honor or memory of a loved one. On 21 December, at the Winter Solstice, we’ll come together with a cup of hot cocoa or mulled wine to color our ritual cards, talk about the person that we are honoring, and to engage in the highest Tibetan Buddhist practice of all, the fire puja!

The winter solstice represents the shortest day and longest night of the year. It is a time for rebirth, renewal, and the return of the light. As days start to grow longer again, it is often seen as a time of hope and new beginnings. Our community fire puja will be a wonderful way to usher in the return to light!

How does it work?

1. Make a donation to Mind Oasis in honor or in memory of a person you love. Suggested amount is $27, $54, or $108.*
2. You will receive via email a mandala created by Mind Oasis artist DeeDee DeForest.
3. Print the mandala off to color, write about the person, add poetry, etc. This is your creation!
4. Join us on the Winter Solstice to gather in ritual. At the end there will be a fire puja where you can burn the card in honor or memory of your loved one. Thereby sealing your intention (remembrance, good health, prosperity, etc.). 

Individually, for example, if you have children, you might make a donation for each of them. Arrive with your mandala on the 21st. You can color with the group and share what it is that you wish for them in 2025 (perhaps prosperity). During the fire puja, Kelly Marie will guide you in a ritual blessing and you will light their cards up with the rest of the group, sending your intentions up into the flame as the blessings rain down on your loved ones.

Another example could be for someone in your life who is having a difficult time. You would infuse the mandala with exactly what they need: good health if they are ill, feelings of love and belonging if they are sad, etc.

Or if you are creating a memorial, you might bring some objects and pictures to the gathering. Stories are most welcome to be shared. As you light a candle in their memory, you can burn the memorial as a way to send smoke into the air, reminding your loved ones who are gone that they are never forgotten.

Collectively, this will bring your friends and family energetically into our community.

We’ve got big plans for 2025 at Mind Oasis, including two IRL retreats and a Mindful 5k footrace in beautiful Boulder, CO. Your support ensures that we can continue to grow and expand in this post-pandemic world.

Honor your peeps and help keep this nonprofit thriving this holiday season.

Can’t make it live on the 21st? Don’t worry. Kelly Marie will record a “how to fire puja” for you and will send it out prior to the Solstice so that you can perform the ritual on your own!

Blessings in Smoke Event Details

21 December, Winter Solstice

Online at Mind Oasis

Opening Circle: 5pm CT

Fire Puja: 6:30pm CT

Celebration afterwards

Fire pujas are powerful ways to remove obstacles, heal illness and disease, increase prosperity. They can also purify negative karma and bring clarity into your life and the lives of those you love. What better way to improve your spiritual practice and to wipe the slate clean as we move toward 2025!

*Any amount you can offer is wonderful!