Welcome

Delivered during a Transition Town workshop and adapted by WTR facilitator Silvia di Blasio

We are so honored to welcome you and all you bring to this healing circle. 

We welcome your excitement and your trepidation. We welcome your open hearts and skepticism. You are welcome here. 

Your culture is welcome. Your ethnic origin is welcome. Your race, your skin hue, accent, food preferences, and all of the complexities that make up your cultural identity are welcome here. 

The histories, herstories, and experiences of your ancestors are honored and welcomed. 

We welcome you with all of the connections you bring with you to the children in your lives, your partners, siblings, parents, the animals in your lives, your ancestors and spiritual allies and other loved ones. All your connections are welcome here. 

We welcome your spiritual practice, your religious affiliation, your spiritual walk. However you hold that aspect of your life is welcomed. 

Your love is welcome here. How you love, who you love, and your understanding of what love is, are all welcome. We welcome you in all of the ways your sexuality and gender are unfolding. 

We welcome you in your ignorance. We welcome you in your privilege. We welcome you in your grief. We welcome you in your guilt and shame.  You are welcome if you have been harmed by racism and white privilege or have caused harm to others because of your social conditioning. 

Your quirks and ambiguities are welcome. We welcome your humor and we welcome your silent contemplation. We welcome the parts of yourself that you’re still figuring out. We welcome you in your roles as activists, healers, feelers, intuitives, parents, caretakers, students, artists, witches, diviners, change agents, magicians, educators, and warriors. 

We welcome you at whatever level of mental and physical wellness you are currently functioning. We welcome your introversion and your extroversion. We welcome all of the experiences that led you to this moment. We welcome your wounds and scars. Your emotions, ALL of them, are welcome as well. 

Thank you for bringing your ancestors with you; we welcome them also. Ancestors, please be with us, collaborating with us to anchor the healing and what is most needed in these times. We welcome your sacred connections to the lands on which you were conceived, the lands that hosted your births, and the lands of your ancestors. The lands that you are currently standing upon and all the life that came before you – the animals, the indigenous peoples of the land you stand upon. we now collectively prepare the soil on each of our own lands through our intentions and sow the seeds of our visions for all beings. 

Let your roots sink into this nutrient dense soil, intertwining with the roots of everyone else here, and connecting to the root systems of all of the other living things around here as we collectively build our power to create a healing circle across continents. 

Settle in. 

Welcome.