Honoring the Change of Seasons: Sound Journey, Despacho, and Pilgrimage to bhakti mountain
This is our second despacho ritual at Just Love. We did the first one back in February to open and bless our year at the forest. We are now offering this ritual for every solstice and equinox. Each carries a unique focus of the prayer. This one is being offered to one of sacred places, our highest peak, Bhakti Mounain.
As the seasons shift, so too does the rhythm of our lives. This transition calls us into deeper harmony with the cycles of nature and invites us to mark the turning of time with reverence and gratitude. At Just Love Forest, we will gather in community to honor this sacred passage with a ritual that unites sound, prayer, and pilgrimage.
We begin with a sound journey, with crystal singing bowls by Becky Shanks, allowing the vibrations to open our hearts and quiet our minds. Through sound we cross the threshold into the unseen, weaving our intentions together with the living breath of the forest.
Following this, with Robin Guidice, we will create a traditional despacho, a traditional Andean offering bundle. A despacho is a sacred mandala of natural elements, herbs, flowers, seeds, and symbolic items. Each piece is placed with prayer, representing our gratitude, our intentions, and our reciprocity with the Earth. In the Andean tradition, the despacho is both a gift and a bridge: a way of aligning ourselves with the natural and spiritual worlds, and of offering thanks for the balance of life.
Once our despacho has been created, we will begin a pilgrimage to Bhakti Mountain, our most sacred place within the forest. Step by step, we will carry the despacho together up the mountain path, breathing with the land and attuning to its presence. At the summit, overlooking the expanse of creation, we will bury the despacho in the earth, returning our prayers to the mountain and to the spirits of the land. We will being offering some forest bathing along the journey.
This ritual is both a farewell and a welcome, releasing the season that has passed, honoring the gifts it has brought, and opening ourselves to the mystery and blessings of what is to come. In community, in gratitude, and in love, we walk together.
You’re encouraged to a photo or object that represents a nature place that sacred to you to add to the despacho.
The cost for the day is $125+tax and includes an amazing plant-based lunch. We will not be serving dinner.
Email bala@justloveforest.com with questions.
Join us in honoring the seasons! Just Love, always.
