Sacred Separations: The Divorce Ritual Handbook (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781466480780)

Laura Collins is the mother of a delightfully irritating teenager, the daughter of a stubbornly independent octogenarian, and the owner of Sacred Separations Coaching and Workshops. Once upon a time, not so long ago, she moved to a new town without a job, left a beloved two-decade career and found herself separated from her husband of 14 years, all in the span of six months. It was not her best year. Out of the darkness and loneliness of that time, she began to envision how she could move forward into a future full of love and gratitude and joy. Drawing on her decades of training and experience in counseling, spiritual practices, and the art of ceremony, she invited her former husband to work with her to create a ritual to mark the change in their relationship. Even though she was already a believer in the possibility of forgiveness and the power of ritual, the palpable energetic shift that they experienced came as a surprise. As she began to tell people the story of her own divorce ritual and the astounding transformation that followed, Laura discovered an aching need for others to experience this gift. And thus was born this workbook and Laura's work as a coach and workshop leader. Drawing deeply on her own divorce experience and pulling from her lifetime of learning about how we work through grief and guilt and anger to find peace, Laura put together these exercises as a way to guide others into healthy relationships after a divorce. Laura now writes, counsels and leads retreats from her home in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountain town of Asheville, NC. Some of Laura's life ventures include serving as a pastor in several congregations, being a live-in house parent for ex-offenders in a halfway house, providing care and education to women in prostitution, developing and leading a drama group for inner-city youth, working for environmental justice, and leading a retreat center for spirituality and creativity. Drawn to many spiritual traditions, she has attended Quaker Meeting, danced to the Sufi poets, practiced yoga, meditated in the Buddhist tradition, and enjoyed various religious liturgies around the world. She combines a deep ecological understanding of our connection to the earth with her background as a Presbyterian minister to create her own authentic approach to life, with loving openness and appreciation for other ways of seeing and experiencing the world.