About Sacred Way Ceremonies
Many Paths. Many Sacred Ways.
Sacred Way Ceremonies grew naturally from the many paths my own life and work have taken and from a lifelong curiosity about people, place, culture, and the sacred. Those experiences have included teaching geography and anthropology, learning from and working with the natural and living world, offering ministry and ceremony, studying spiritual traditions, experiencing dance as a practice of expression, connection, and healing, and engaging in contemplative practices such as labyrinth walking.
While these pursuits may seem quite different, I have come to understand them as deeply interconnected. Each offers a different way of exploring meaning and cultivating relationship with ourselves, one another, the living world, and the places we inhabit. At the heart of it all is what can happen when we gather, learn, share, and experience these things individually and together.
The Sacred Way
What does “Sacred Way” mean?
The sacred can meet us in many places. We may experience it while walking a labyrinth, standing beside the ocean, participating in ceremony, moving to music, learning an ancient practice, or sharing meaningful time with others.
A sacred way of living, being, and doing, is not one particular tradition, belief, or practice. It is a way of approaching life with reverence, curiosity, and attention. Afterall, the sacred is everywhere. It is up to us to notice it.
Across cultures and generations, people have created practices that help us mark important moments, relate to the living world, gather in community, and engage with questions of meaning. These were often created to set apart something from ordinary time and space, so we really knew fully something important, sacred, special, or meaningful was happening in our subconscious.
Sacred Way Ceremonies honors different perspectives and beliefs while offering opportunities to engage with ancient wisdom and meaningful practices in modern life. There is no expectation that everyone will experience them in the same way. Each person brings their own beliefs, traditions, questions, experiences, and ways of knowing. Each person finds their own way.
Meet Amanda
Hi, I’m Amanda. I’m a geographer, university educator, interfaith minister, and longtime practitioner and teacher of contemplative and embodied practices. My work brings together scholarly inquiry and experiential ways of knowing. I've spent more than two decades exploring relationships among people, place, culture, spirituality, and the living world through both academic and experiential ways of knowing. I approach people, places, and traditions with care while being willing to step onto unfamiliar paths.
My calling to this path began in 2009 when I was Ordained as an Interfaith Minister through EarthStar Spiritual Center in Greensboro, NC while working on my doctorate at UNC-Greensboro. I did not have a plan to serve as a traditional minister at that time, nor did I become Ordained to officiate a friend's wedding. Although I could have begun officiating ceremonies as that was the goal for many who I went through the ordination process with, the only reason I became Ordained, was to be able to offer and teach energy work modalities at that time. My ordination process involved a 9-month program and at the end, I had to write a paper on a spiritual topic from three different religions/perspectives.
My paper “Priestesses and Female Shamans: Spiritual Leaders of the New” tied into my academic studies as well at the time. In addition to going through the ordination process, I was also working on my doctorate in Geography with a focus on Religious Studies as my concentration at UNC-Greensboro. For the Minister Ordination paper, I focused on the Priestess of Sabah and Sarawakin in Borneo known as the Bobohizan; female Shamans in Korea known as Mudongs; and Priestesses/Female Shamans of the Earth based religions such as Wicca, Goddess Spirituality, and European Shamanism such as Heathenry (Nordic) and Celtic Shamanism (pre-Christian Celtic faith).
Background & Timeline as an interfaith minister & spiritual guide.
From 2005-2009, while working on my doctorate, I dived deep into studying shamanism, energy work, and the rituals and ceremonies within those areas. I explored both from an academic perspective and from the experiential spiritual perspective for my own personal healing and growth.
My doctorate research focused on non-secular uses of natural landscapes in the Appalachian Mountains. I interviewed park rangers, locals, and guests at state parks in assessing how people were using public natural areas for baptisms, weddings, meditations, group ceremonies, and memorials. My sites included Amicalolla Falls in Georgia, Red Clay Springs in Tennessee, Mt. Mitchell and Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, and Cumberland Falls in Kentucky.
After completing my doctorate, the Great Recession was impacting academic positions, and I honestly didn't want to stay full time in academia. I returned to work at my father’s veterinary practice. In those years I studied Healing Touch for Animals and TTouch for Horses. My interest in serving animals comes from a connection to the animal health care world through my dad (a veterinarian) as well as my grandfathers. One of which was a horse trainer and the other raised Black Angus Cattle. The first “job” I ever had was at an animal hospital and I’ve returned twice to work at animal hospitals for a “sabbatical from academic teaching”. Although my love of the natural sciences primarily pulled me that direction for my career, animal health care is another passion and why today I offer Reiki and End of Life ceremonies for our companion animals and the families that love them.
From 2011-2017, I taught Reiki, Kahi Loa, Reflexology, and Crystals & Stones Energy work across North Carolina while also working at the animal hospital and as an adjunct for local community colleges. Two of my favorite things in teaching the energy work modalities were bringing people together and the ceremonies involved. During this time I also continued my studies with wisdom keepers from different cultures and learned their perspectives and ceremonies to honor the Earth. I also started traveling frequently to Hawai'i to study with Kumu's (teachers/cultural experts) and Kahu's (priests) to learn about the intersection of Hawaiian natural landscapes, belief practices, and the art of Hawaiian Hula.
Academic Work
Eventually I went back into the academic world in 2020 full time as a Lecturer within an Anthropology and Geography department where my specialty courses I developed included: Spiritual Landscapes; Sacred Spaces, Sacred Paths; and Myth, Ritual, and Magic. During this time, I also became a trained-Veriditas Labyrinth facilitator. The Sacred Spaces, Sacred Paths course includes an experiential hands-on project in which the students build a temporary labyrinth on campus each spring.
Around the start of the pandemic in 2020 I enrolled in a class through the University of Edinburgh on Eco-spirituality which was facilitated by then Associate Chaplain Ali Newell. I was interested in incorporating this topic into my existing academic work around cultures, the natural environment, and spiritual beliefs/practices. That course led me to explore more around Celtic Christianity and Creation Spirituality with Matthew Fox as well as practices within Deep Ecology taught by Joanna Macy. Although I do not resonate personally with the political or activist side to Deep Ecology, there are still great practices and tools within Dr. Macy's work. I have found some of her meditations, visualizations, and experiential personal reflections to be profound. Through these practices we can find new ways to explore our personal relationships, our spirituality and what is sacred to us, and our connection to nature through a spiritual lens.
Funeral Celebrant and Death Doula Training
In 2021, I felt called to dive deeper as a Funeral Celebrant and studied with Olivia Barnham of Sacred Crossings. I also began my journey into the Death Doula/Midwife ministry world the following year with Sacred Crossings. I was navigating my own pending transition through loss of a family member and desire to support them, myself, and my family with tools, knowledge, and heart.
Over the two years I took to complete by Death Midwife training with Sacred Crossings, part of my certification involved volunteering for Hospice during that time. I was also serving as a care partner for my dad. In supporting myself and my family, I also enrolled in Evangeline Hemrick's Sacred Transitions Death Doula Training for a local North Carolina perspective on resources available and options.
As a lifelong student and wanting to always continue to have the best resources and knowledge to share and support others, I've also taken classes with Dr. Sarah Kerr at the Centre for Sacred Deathcare and Suzanne O'Brien, RN with Doulagivers Institute. I can often be found reading books on death, caring for those dying, and rituals and ceremonies around death in other cultures. I am perhaps oddly very interested in how we in the west deal with death as well as the rituals other cultures use around the world do to process something so natural that happens to all of us. My first blog covers my first memory as a child of death and the rainbow bridge.
Although I am not offering Death Doula Services currently, I provide educational opportunities and awareness on topics related to death and rituals/ceremonies for end-of-life training programs in the area. I frequently speak at local events on these topics and write about them. I hope my blogs bring comfort, ideas, and empowerment to you and your family. I also share on Social Media books I'm reading and links to other folks in this industry and what they are sharing that might interest you and support you.
Coming Full Circle
Upon returning back from a trip to Scotland in 2023, I began my 6-month training with Lindy Irving of Aye Do Ceremonies. My time studying with her really brought all the pieces together for me in my both my academic work and spiritual offerings. I personally felt a strong spiritual/ancestral connection with her and the material I was learning. I have much more Scottish DNA than most think, only a tiny percentage Irish!
Many of the ritual items I use today are from Scotland. They carry the energy of thin places. The blessing stone is from the Isle of Lewis and is made of the same rocks as the Callanish Stones. The handfasting fabrics I have available are also embedded with the energy and skilled hands of people on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. The prayers and blessings I can incorporate come from the Isle of Iona and the Holy Island in the UK.
I love bringing Scotland to couples. Especially within the Appalachian Mountains. We really do have mystical landscapes here in North Carolina that are just as special as places in Scotland. As a Geographer for two decades having lived in every physiographic region of our state, I feel deeply connected to the land here and if you do not already have a place in mind in nature, we can work together to see what place speaks to your ideal ceremony.
Integrating it all...
Looking back over my journey I would never have thought that while I was researching other people’s wedding activities in nature and other ceremonies, that I would feel called to one day facilitate weddings and funerals myself. Life is an unfolding surprise if we flow with it.
I have participated in many other types of Earth based/cultural ceremonies over the years including a Peruvian Despacho Ceremony at Mt. Mitchell with elder don Quispe, Aymara Water Ceremony on the Cape Fear River with Silvia Calisaya Chuquimia, and Hawaiian Water Blessings with Dale Stacy in Hawai’i. I’ve also facilitated despacho ceremonies and water blessings for small groups here in NC. For years I've also been called in to do house and office clearings and blessings which I really enjoy doing. Studying Geomancy with Fay Semple in the UK in 2023 added more depth to my understanding of the energies of ancient sites and landscapes.
After two decades of study and teaching about rituals, ceremonies and spiritual landscapes, I knew I wanted to provide even greater depth in rituals and ceremonies. Through weddings, vow renewals, funerals, celebrations of life, and memorials, there is great potential for healing and growth when the intention is there. Teaching these concepts and ideas are good introductions to the possibilities available to us. I hope my blog continues that "teaching" aspect to the public and sharing possibilities and ideas for your own ceremony. Perhaps my personal perspectives on spiritual topics around life, love, and loss you'll also find helpful, insightful, and/or inspiring.
Actively participating, facilitating, and doing ceremonies in beautiful places adds greater joy to my heart these days. Serving and guiding others into deeper spiritual aspects of themselves and supporting them through life changes and transitions, makes me happy and feels aligned with all of my experiences and background. I would be honored to hold the space, provide ideas, and create with you a beautiful sacred way of honoring special moments along your journey.
Where Scholarship & Practice Meet
Early on, I experienced my academic and spiritual lives as entirely separate. For years, I felt pulled between the two and struggled with how to authentically inhabit both worlds. Eventually, I began to recognize that I didn't have to choose. Each offered a different way of understanding and experiencing the world and bringing them together became an important part of my own path.
I am not content with theorizing about the things that fascinate me. I never wanted to be another instructor in the ivory tower with no real-world experience, and for that to be all I knew and did. I wanted to live. This was probably one of the biggest reasons I hesitated to go back into academia. With the things that fascinate me, I not only want to study them and question them, but I also want to experience them, embody them, and understand what happens when we ourselves carry them into everyday life.
Geography taught me to look closely at similarities and differences in relationships among people, culture, landscape, and place. Ministry and more than two decades of contemplative, energetic, and embodied practice taught me to pay attention, remain open to changes and questioning everything, and approach what I think I know with humility. Not everything needs to be rationalized or explained, there is space for the mystical.
Where Scholarship Meets Experience
Geography and academia ask me to investigate, contextualize, analyze, and do. Ministry asks me to experience, listen, wonder, and be. Curiosity moves between them. Both matter.
My doctoral research explored spiritual landscapes in the Appalachian Mountains, and my university teaching continues to examine sacred spaces, cultural landscapes, pilgrimage, and relationships between people and place. Outside the classroom, ceremony, labyrinths, hula, energy practices, and cultural traditions offer opportunities to encounter some of these relationships through lived experience.
Living in the space between these ways of knowing now shapes how I work with others. For those exploring spirituality, I offer grounded perspectives, thoughtful questions, and language for making sense of their experiences. For those who spend much of their lives thinking, analyzing, and doing, I offer embodied practices and experiences that invite another way of knowing through the body, senses, movement, and presence.
I don't ask either world to become the other. I am interested in what becomes possible in the space and dance between them. This space between scholarship and lived experience is where much of my curiosity continues to unfold and where Sacred Way Ceremonies finds its grounding.
Personally, I remain intellectually and practically grounded without requiring everything meaningful to be easily explained and that comes through in my teachings and pilgrimages. I love the unknown, the mystical, and the sacred each of us may experience differently.
Why Place Matters
Place
Place is more than the setting where life happens. Places shape us, and we shape places in return. They hold stories, memories, relationships, histories, traditions, and meanings. The landscapes we inhabit influence how we understand ourselves, one another, and the world around us.
As a geographer, I have spent much of my life exploring relationships among people and place. I am especially interested in what happens when a landscape becomes meaningful or sacred, how those meanings develop across cultures and generations, and how our experiences of place influence the ways we move through the world.
This understanding of place runs throughout Sacred Way Ceremonies. A labyrinth is shaped by where it is built. Ceremony is influenced by the place where it occurs. Hula carries relationships with particular lands, people, histories, and stories. Pilgrimage asks us to move through landscape with attention. Even practices experienced close to home can invite us to notice where we are in a different way.
Place also invites relationship with the living world. Water, stone, plants, animals, weather, seasons, and land are not simply backgrounds to human experience. They are part of the environments and relationships through which our lives unfold.
Three places have become geographic touchstones in my life and work: North Carolina, Scotland, and Hawaiʻi. For more than two decades, I have learned from their landscapes, cultures, traditions, and people, and each continues to shape how I understand and experience place.
I must also briefly acknowledge with places, the importance for myself that of Southwest Virginia. My parents were born and raised there and so I spent many weekends and summers with my grandparents on their farms. My love of nature grew from time spent hiking, hunting, and camping in Grayson County, Virginia.
I grew up in Charlotte, NC a large city in the South, navigating urban life and busy fast-paced energies but I also had opportunities to experience farm life, a slower rhythm with the seasons, and learning directly from the natural world throughout my childhood. I learned early what it felt like to move between very different places, environments, and ways of being in the world. I came to appreciate and value both.
What I've learned is where we are matters. Places shape us and we shape places as residents and as visitors. Sacred Way Ceremonies invites us to pay attention to the places we inhabit, the places we journey through, and the relationships we form with them.
Geographic Threads
North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is home.
North Carolina has taught me about putting down roots while remaining connected to many kinds of places. From mountains and forests to farms and the coast, it is where much of my academic, community, and spiritual work has come together.
Scotland
North Carolina
North Carolina
Scotland is a landscape of study, relationship, and pilgrimage.
Scotland has deepened my understanding of how history, culture, spirituality, and memory remain present in landscape. It has taught me to experience place through layers of story, stone, tradition, and the people who continue to shape it.
Hawai'i
North Carolina
Hawai'i
Hawaiʻi is a place of cultural learning and embodied relationship with place.
Hawaiʻi has taught me to understand place through relationship. Through hula and cultural study, I have experienced how land, story, language, movement, ancestry, community, and cultural practice can remain deeply interconnected.
Traditions, Lineages & Respect
Over the years, I have had the privilege of learning from many teachers, traditions, cultures, and places. Each has reminded me that practices have stories. They come from somewhere. They have been carried by people, shaped by landscapes and cultures, and passed from one person to another.
I try to approach what I learn with curiosity and humility. When I teach or share a practice, I believe in acknowledging its origins and honoring the teachers and lineages through which it came to me. I also recognize that learning never really ends.
Sacred Way Ceremonies is interested in the enduring relevance of ancient traditions in modern life while respecting the people, places, and histories from which those traditions emerge.
I remain both a teacher and a student. I deeply honor what has been carried forward while remaining curious about what can emerge for our future.
Personal Note
I do believe in God.
I believe everything is sacred & God is in everything.
I believe myths have lessons to teach us & archetypes are mirrors for us to learn from.
I believe "thin places" really do exist as the Scottish people do & places in nature have power.
I believe energy, chi/prana/mana, is in all things.
I believe we have spirit guides & ancestors with us.
I believe in fairies & magical realms beyond what we perceive.
I believe in other timelines & realities of existence.
I believe nature is healing.
I believe we all have superpowers & are here to be of service.
I love Chai tea and slow mornings.
I enjoy in my free time laying on the ground or a large rock daydreaming.
I prefer colder climates and thrive when it is below freezing!
I hate socks on my ankles.
I love music. I was named after a song.
I'm beyond grateful for A/C as I really do not like the heat and humidity of the South, even as a native.
I try to avoid highly congested areas of people and cars...although, I love Edinburgh!