Healing Stories | Lantern Ceremony

At our Healing Justice Retreats, we offer many opportunities for participants to progress on their healing journeys. Our lantern ceremony invites participants to launch a beautiful, glowing lantern into the night sky and symbolically “let go” of feelings and worries they no longer wish to carry. Each participant’s letting go process is personal and often private, but collectively, burdens are released, tensions are relaxed and increments of healing are gained.

In the spring of 2017, we welcomed a retreat participant who was the mother of a wrongfully convicted son who spent two decades in prison before exoneration. She bore burden upon burden, and her countenance reflected the heaviness. 

Throughout the retreat, this mother went from aloof to cautiously engaged to participation. During the lantern ceremony, she had a profound experience, letting go of the pain and anger she had harbored for over 25 years. 

When she returned home, her family barely recognized her. The healing taking place within her was changing her in deep, essential ways. She held herself differently and talked differently because she was thinking differently. She was becoming a new version of herself. Healing. In response, her boyfriend proposed and they were soon married. Now, this precious mother credits the healing that began at a Healing Justice retreat for this new life with her now-husband. 

When she attended her next retreat that fall, she created a piece of art that included 2 shoes, one representing her “before retreat” and one representing her “after retreat.” This expression of the healing change that began in her as she released the lantern at her first retreat was truly beautiful. In honor of this significant new season in their life together, her art project was featured as a centerpiece at their wedding. 

At every Healing Justice retreat, we are conscious of the potential for healing for every participant. Each Letting Go Ceremony, each expressive arts exercise, each group sharing session: each moment contributes to recovery for our guests. We are forever honored to hold this sacred space with them and support their healing journeys.