My Ordination Speech

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Hi Friends,

Yesterday I enjoyed another ordination day at CDM. I couldn't believe it has been 6 months since I was up there on stage. Last Spring, I was chosen to speak for my class on Ordination day (after 2 year Clairvoyant training program) and I did it kicking and screaming - but in the end it was a healing and a blessing. I had wanted to share my speech, as a way to give a glimpse of why I am out here in Seattle and how I am investing my life these days. But, my life has been pretty intense since May, mostly for personal/relational reasons, so I didn't get a round tuit.

But, I feel inspired to share it now. The speech is below, if you are interested. I use a lot of lingo, because most everyone I was speaking to uses it - but most of what I say is generally understandable, I think. It was more animated, fun and interesting in person and in context of the whole ceremony - but, hey it is what it is ; )

Since I finished Seminary, I had several weeks off from official training at CDM, then I started the Teaching program in mid-August - where I am continuing my growth and healing, learning to present spiritual information and energetic techniques with neutrality, compassion and amusement, and assistant teaching our basic mediation and healing classes. I expect to be certified to teach our 4 basic classes this June or next January - depending on my work schedule and such - it is usually a 14 month program ; )

Enjoyable blessings in the New Year!
In life, Wendy


Wendy's Ordination Speech for June 26, 2005


Spiritual Freedom

I have been asked to say a few words about being a CDM minister.

Now, defining what it is to be a CDM minister doesn't seem to be a simple thing, so let me start with what it is not. A teacher (Dr Bruce Morgan) who influenced me a lot before coming to CDM, used to say that "Most churches want to make us into cookie-cutter-Christians, who all look alike, talk alike, act alike, and if they have to cut off your arms and legs to fit in the mold - so be it"

Well, thank Gd, here at CDM we are committed to spiritual freedom - I've kind of become attached to my arms and legs, thank you very much. We don't always do it perfectly, but spiritual freedom is our stated goal and direction as a community and individually. This is a huge and wonderful, and usually challenging goal. But the rewards are sweet.

But this made it a challenge for me when asked to say a few words about what it is to be a CDM minister. We are all so different, unique - and that IS the point. So what is it to be a CDM minister?

This was annoying for my analyzer, I will tell you. But, eventually I had to look at the question as spirit - foreign concept, I know. And this is what I noticed about CDM ministers.

We are Spirit

We have a profound experience of ourselves as spirit and others as spirit over an extended period of time. An experience of being responsible for owning and managing our own energy systems, an experience of our connection with the Gd of our heart, an experience of consciously co-creating in our own lives - and watching others do the same.

We actively participate in a process - over an extended period of time - in which we receive all kinds of information and support and modeling and then the opportunity to practice, practice, practice.

Reading

One of the main practices is doing psychic readings.

Now, I did not come to CDM to become a psychic reader - I came to heal.
But, I knew the CDM Clairvoyant program was where I needed to do that - so, I did readings.

I will tell you plainly that I hated it - I really hated it.
I had so much invalidation and doubt and self-judgment and perfect pictures, etc in my space that it was a real drag. I couldn't stand attention - any attention - I was not ok, how I looked was not ok, what I did was not ok. Reading felt like being put in the spotlight - I had to start saying what I saw. How could what I had to say have any value for people? Not fun for Wendy, I'll tell you.

And although, over time, I cleared (and continue to clear) the pain and programming, the invalidation and doubt, the competition and lack of seniority in my own space, the resistance and many other things that made reading so challenging for me, it remained a challenge until almost the end
of the program. People would say, oh you are a great reader, and believe me it helped - but I really didn't believe it. And over time, the joy and energy and healing, the giving and receiving I experienced in readings started to slowly become larger than all the discomfort.

It was sometime the beginning of this year that I started looking forward to reading. For other people I understand this happens A LOT sooner, but it wasn't until my final quarter - almost 2 years into the program - that I really WANTED to read. NOW I understand why people come here to read WHEN THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE TO.

Reading is magic. I walk in an ordinary person and get to participate in a sacred dance - in which everyone there is validated and healed - everyone walks out changed. It is an incredible experience - some readings are more exciting or mundane, confronting or fun than others - but it is an incredible gift to be a part of them now.

And now I love doing student readings, I especially love being a center chair. This is funny because I was so afraid to be center chair - I felt like it was too much responsibility, I wasn't powerful enough or good enough to do it. Every step along the way I fought and resisted - I assumed everything would keep getting harder - who needed that aggravation?

But, now I can tell you it is an honor and a blessing to be center chair. I really enjoy having seniority in the room, making sure it is safe and high energy for everyone. Knowing more and more what is going on in that room and with everyone in it, and increasingly owning my power in a way that makes a positive difference there. I love playing and learning and healing with my side chairs, and enjoying their process and progress along with my own. I won't say I never get nervous or self-conscious anymore, but it is no longer my primary experience - in readings, or in my life.
That's huge.

Practice

So, as CDM ministers, we have the incredible opportunity to look at hundreds of different people over an extended period of time, to validate them as spirit, validate their co-creations and assist them change. We get to see the uniqueness of each spirit and the journey we are each choosing. We also get to see how many things we have in common as humans together on this planet.

As CDM ministers we have the experience of owning healing and change for ourselves and assisting many, many others in their healing journeys, over an extended period of time. We get to practice having our own space while we assist others healing.

When people become black belts or pilots or massage therapists, they have a lot of information and a lot of experience - this is a great accomplishment and some see them as having arrived. But the masters know, they are being validated for mastering the basics and they are getting a license to
continue learning - an opportunity to go out and practice.

Becoming a CDM minister seems similar. We receive an over-abundance of information, support, modeling and a whole lot of opportunity to practice.  We do this over an extended period of time - until it changes our habits, our abilities, our way of seeing and interacting with the world. For
myself, I can say "I am Spirit - a part of Gd, I have a body and I have co-creations in the world" and believe it and act in accordance with that, more and more.

So, as CDM ministers we have been changed over time. We become ministers and enter the next phase of our spiritual journey, like so many before us.  And, every day, every moment we have the choice whether or not to consciously manifest as spirit in the world - as does everyone. That is the whole game. We manifest as spirit in the world. By doing this, we change, the world changes. That is what it means to me to be a CDM minister. Maybe it is simple after all.

Personal Healing

To be more personal, there was some personal healing I absolutely needed in my life. I looked high and low, all over the country for a place to heal myself. When I finally found CDM, it felt like home.  There were 5 things I consciously wanted out of my Seminary experience. There isn't enough time to tell you about these things in depth, but I did want to validate - and I got them and so much more:
* I wanted personal healing, on all levels;
* I wanted to become a healer with good boundaries;
* I wanted to learn to own my own power in a positive way;
* I wanted to receive validation and learn to self-validate;
* and I wanted to increase my havingness and learn to consciously co-create good things in my life.

I have received these things and, of course it is a P word - a process, but the process is in motion and I am proud of the progress.

Being an Adult

Besides the 5 things I consciously wanted out of my seminary experience, I have received so many other gifts and insights and growth and change - I can't begin to tell you.

I can say that for me, going through this program has been about becoming an adult:
* Being able to stand on my own two feet,
* To own my own space and my own reality,
* To appreciate this great body I have and this amazing opportunity for life on this planet,
* to own the life I have co-created and know that I have the opportunity to co-create my future as spirit.

I now have a way of seeing and understanding my life and the world that works for me. This is huge. I have a useful place to stand, to know who I am and what is important in this world is something I always wanted and needed - but never found for any significant period of time. I made myself
miserable in my early life yearning for and searching for the meaning of life and how best to live it. I lived with this lack of useful, cogent world-view for a long time and then learned to live without it. But now, my life makes sense, the world makes sense, my experiences make sense. I have a very firm rock on which to build my life, this is a great comfort and joy.

I wish similar gifts for anyone who wants them, I highly recommend CDM as a path to Center.

Thanks for all the Fish

And so it is with profound gratefulness that I stand before you today as a member of the Church of Divine Man.

On behalf of myself and all the seminary students I would like to thank the board, the staff, the members, and everyone who walks through the door, for everything we have had the opportunity to give and receive here.

I would like to thank my fellow students, past and present, for who you are, and who you are to me, and who you let me be for you.

I would like to thank my partner, my friends and my family for who you are and your love and support of me above and beyond the call of duty.

I would like to thank Gd, as well as myself, for showing up and playing the game.
Blessed Be.