Having a child is overwhelming and beautiful at the same time. It can be difficult to wrap your mind around planning and executing events such as baptisms when your child is still an infant. However, you might also feel the urge to avoid disappointing your community of friends and family when they ask you to baptize your child. If you struggle with traditional baptism ceremonies because they lack meaning or connection to your modern lifestyle, there are ways you can embrace the unconventional. Here are some simple ways you can update a traditional baptism with Pagan flair.
Include Plants, Stones, and Crystals
Nothing speaks more to Pagan spirituality than Mother Nature, and you can enhance your child's baptism with a bit of this spirit by including plants, stones, and crystals. There are a few different ways you can do this, starting with acknowledging the season in which you're holding the event. For example, if the baptism takes place in the spring, gather spring buds and fresh wildflowers to decorate the event space. If your baptism is in the winter, you can choose evergreen bows and winter berries.
Stones and crystals hold special meanings in Pagan spirituality because people believe they channel divine energies. If you are interested in using crystals and stones at your child's baptism, you might choose from one of these:
- Amethyst
- Moonstone
- Rose quartz
- Tiger's eye
- Your child's birthstone
Make a Community Altar
Another great way to update a traditional baptism is by creating a community altar. Altars are considered sacred in many different types of religions, and you can ask your community for help with designing one for your event. You can make an altar as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You can ask community members to bring pictures of loved ones, both living and deceased, and you can light candles to honor the gifts that your ancestors are passing on to your little one.
Altars typically feature photos of loved ones and sacred objects, but you can also choose to create a symbolic altar, such as one that only has candles or only plants and stones. You should adapt this practice to suit your tastes and your connection to the spirits and the spirit world.
Choose a Sacred Place in Nature
Giving your child's baptism an unconventional Pagan flair is as easy as holding it outside in a sacred place in nature. Mother Nature is the cornerstone of animistic and Pagan spiritual practices. Connecting with Mother Nature in a natural environment is one of the best ways to introduce alternative spirituality in a very gentle way that won't offend anyone in your community.
You don't have to travel far to hold your baptism in a sacred space. Even if you live in an urban landscape, you can have the ceremony in a local park near a big tree or stone. If you live near water, this becomes even easier. Water is life-giving, so baptizing your child near a lake, stream, river, or seashore will make the event even more meaningful.
Plant a Tree or Symbolic Flower
If you want to embrace the celebration of new life in an even more literal way, you can plant a tree or a symbolic flower. This is a great option if you have family members who are more traditional and would feel uncomfortable with Pagan spiritual practices such as altars, smudging, and crystals. In that case, you can have a conventional baptism and then follow it up with a tree-planting ceremony in a park or even in your yard. Choose native and indigenous species of plants to make this option even more environmentally friendly.
As a parent, your preferences and spiritual practices matter. Even with something as traditional as a baptism, there are ways you can modify the event to include Pagan updates and modern flair.