AKASHA LONSDALE

Simply Divine Ceremonies, South WEST England

Interfaith minister offering gay weddings, civil partnerships and other ceremonies in South West England

NAME	Akasha Lonsdale
LOCATION	WILTSHIRE, Calne, SN11
AREAS COVERED	Wiltshire, Hampshire, Avon, Somerset, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, South West France and other locations as requested.
WILLING TO TRAVEL	Yes - as above
TEL	01249 813188
MOBILE	07836 796215
EMAIL	akasha@simplydivineceremonies.com
WEBSITE	Simply Divine Ceremonies, South West UK
WEDDINGS	Weddings - Civil Partnerships - Namings - Vow Renewals - Funerals
UNIQUE/UNUSUAL REQUESTS	Separation and Divorce, House and Business Blessings, Yacht / Boat Blessings
SPIRITUAL COUNSELLING	Yes
MISCELLANEOUS	Psychotherapy and Spiritual Life Mentoring. I also lead Universal Worship Services.

More About Akasha

Interfaith minister offering ceremonies in South West England My journey to Ministry started early on at the age of four from within an agnostic household and culminated a mere fifty years later in my ordination as an Interfaith Minister in 2006. I won’t list everything that took place along the way to lead me to that point but what spoke to my heart about Interfaith Ministry is the inclusivity and respect for all sacred traditions which is reflected in its core tenet of “Many Ways, One Truth”.

Since ordination, it has been my pleasure and privilege to create and conduct wedding ceremonies, civil partnerships, baby blessings/naming, house blessings and funerals, and as a qualified psychotherapist to be a source of support when needed. Here are a small selection of some of the kind comments I’ve received:

Civil Partnership:

“My partner Julie and I had set the date of our civil partnership, but really wanted the occasion to be a bit more special than a guest appearance in a registry office. We decided that after the legalities were over, we would indulge ourselves in a blessing in our beautiful back garden in front of all our family and friends. Sounds easy? Imagine how difficult the task of searching thousands of internet sites to find someone to do our blessing. I can tell you, it was extremely frustrating and soul destroying but after 4 days, we found Akasha at Simply Divine Ceremonies. If ever there were three little words to encapsulate our special day, Simply Divine Ceremonies are those three words. Julie and I will remain eternally grateful to Akasha for her unfailing ability to spread her warm and calming influence on our day, which would otherwise undoubtedly have led to chaos.”

Hindu/Christian wedding:

"We cannot thank you enough for all you did for us at the exciting but rather stressful time of arranging our wedding - not only were you a spiritual and emotional pillar for us (and our families) throughout but you also created the most wonderful and personalised ceremony we could have wished for, particularly given our circumstances of coming from two different religious and cultural backgrounds. To have such a unique ceremony (with aspects of both religion's traditions and symbolisms intertwined) that was deeply meaningful to us and our families, as well as being enjoyable for all present, was just brilliant. It was certainly no easy task but we were so delighted and relieved to find you and realise our dream could become a reality."

Baby Blessing/Naming:

"Thank you for the wonderful day we had yesterday. Many people commented that the ceremony was beautiful and we had lots of enquiries as to where we had found you! Having planned the day so intensively for four weeks, it was great that it was everything we hoped for and the blessing just flowed naturally and smoothly. Thank you for all your guidance and support - we really appreciated your attention to detail, your bright uplifting manner and your humour!"

Funeral:

"Dear Akasha, my wife and I would like to thank you so much for the effort you put in today at the funeral of Olive Archer and in the past few weeks attempting to locate family and friends. Without you and your selfless effort Olive would have been cremated, and gone on her last journey alone. We are MOST grateful to you for bringing the family and friends of Olive together for this final tribute to her life. The service was a very tender and loving goodbye. Your kindness will remain with us always, thank you so much."

Rituals are like anchors, somehow deepening a ceremony of commitment between two people, the welcoming of a new soul to family or the passing of a loved one. Family and friends gather together and through the presence of Grace an invisible bond is created, with people often reporting the experience of a deep love, great joy or shared sorrow. Rituals unite and add a richness that lingers long after the event has passed and if you feel I could be of service to you, I would love to hear from you.

An additional resource:

Akasha Lonsdale - Do I kneel or bow? “Do I Kneel or Do I Bow?: What You Need to Know When Attending Religious Occasions” (Kuperard, 2010)

I also feel very blessed to have been asked to write this multi-faith book, which not only allowed me to deepen my own understanding and knowledge of the major faith traditions but is offered as a practical, easy-to-read guide for guests at an unfamiliar faith ceremony.

So for example if you are a Hindu invited to a Jewish Bar Mitzvah, you can turn to the chapter on Jewish Ceremonies, go straight to the section on Coming of Age, read what will be happening during the ceremony, and what you need to do, or not do as a guest. Then if that stimulates your interest, the rest of the chapter tells you what Jews believe, their sacred writings and the branches of Judaism. It describes their place of worship and outlines the content of a regular service, as well as explaining all the festivals/holy days together with how they are celebrated or commemorated, and again what you need to know as an invited guest for the other ceremonies of birth, marriage and death.

This structure is repeated for Western Christianity, which is divided into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism; Orthodox Christianity; Islam; Hinduism; Sikhism and Buddhism. Every chapter is supported by meaningful photos and some useful words and phrases.

Interfaith Ministers offering Civil Partnerships - Lesbian and Gay Marriage Ceremonies

Akasha Lonsdale offers gay wedding ceremonies in Wiltshire, South West England and civil partnership ceremonies in South West England and South West France.