In a despacho ceremony, an intention or prayer bundle is created that holds both the intentions of the ceremony participants and offerings of gratitude. It is a sacred ceremony created in joy.

One layer of the beautiful Despacho for “My Loved One Shines On!”

When I decided to have our book, “My Loved One Shines On! A Gift from Beyond” blessed, I turned to my long time kindred spirit Trina Zaragoza. I knew she would perform a touching, unique ceremony which took place on July 8th, 2015. This beautiful heart-felt celebration was held in our backyard next to a gorgeous garden that we played in with my grandsons.

Trina and her equally gifted daughter Caree, came over to bless the 2000 copies of our book. In attendance was my husband Bill, daughter Ashley, myself, Disa Van Orman and my little dog Zelda running around next to our colorful garden. In addition to her duties, Caree was gracious enough to record the ceremony for us as my daughter Aisha, son-in-law Aaron and my grandson Hayden were out of town at Boy Scout Camp but would appreciate the ability to attend it later. Bill took on the role of still pictures because I knew we would want this moment to be recorded and shared later and we take picture of everything!

Trina and I each had our separate alters that we set up. (More on my altar in a different blog). She was guided to present a Despacho Ceremony to honor and bless Dylan and Dylan’s and my book. A despacho is an act of love and a reminder of the connections we share with all beings, elements, spirits, and sacred places through symbols. A large number of small items were added one at a time to symbolically representing many aspects of Dylan.

Trina named each object for us to place on the colored paper and told us the significance. Red and white roses-for love, jasmine-to forgive ourselves for the anger towards our loss, star fish-for his love for the water, chocolate kisses-his love for chocolate and real kisses, palo santo stick-healing and sun energy, rainbow thread-to always know how connected we are and how much he loves us and many other items all representing a special quality. Layered colored sheets of paper also had a significance.

Trina asked us to choose a fresh sunflower they had picked that morning and whisper a message to Dylan into it. It was at this intimate moment that she said, “Look, it’s a hawk.” We all turned around and flying low and in our yard was a beautiful hawk that has always represented Dylan since the day after his passing. With his quick reflexes my husband astonishingly was able to capture a photograph of our amazing gift from Dylan as it flew away. It was as if he had been listening and taken our loving words with him. As we turned back to the alter, a yellow butterfly appeared like the kind we release for him every year at the Rowan Tree Foundation yearly release for children who have passed. Yellow is his favorite color. Two zebra dragonflies played over the water next to us during the ceremony. All of these creatures are in our book!

When we were finished adding all the items to the despacho, we wrapped it up like a beautiful gift. Bill lit a fire and the stunning despacho was place into it as Trina read the book out loud. We all drank a shot of NingXia Red with a drop of Christmas Spirit, Dylan’s request at his 6th birthday, in his favorite red solo cups. The hawk returned to make a few circles over our head. It was an amazing blessing. Once again, My Loved One Shines On!

For more information about Trina Zaragoza and her many talents please check out www.AlteredHaven.com

Hawk during despacho book blessing of My Loved One Shines On!

Reacquainting you with your hope, joy and laughter.