Page 2 - Creating New Rituals
P. 2
a bit of background
Growing need to mark life events with bespoke
ceremonies
Some twenty years ago, Thomas Wegmüller and Klaus Beeler
founded the Fachschule für Rituale. Together with Susanna Meier
and Susanna Maeder, they pioneered training in ritual accompani-
ment in the German-speaking regions of Europe. At the same time,
unaware of the work of her Swiss-German colleagues, Jeltje Gordon-
Lennox set up the Ashoka Association and began offering non-
religious ceremonies in the French-speaking parts of Europe, notably
in Switzerland and France.
Between 2000 and 2012, the Fachschule für Rituale organised five
three-year training courses and trained around 50 people. In
October 2015, Susanna Maeder re-launched the Fachschule für
Rituale with a new concept and an updated formula that focuses on
counselling in ritual and accompanying people throughout their lives.
During this same time period, Jeltje trained some 30 celebrants using
a different programme. She too set up an association for ritual
professionals, similar to that of the Fachschule für Rituale group, and
called it celebrants.pro, now known as celebrants.ch.
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