Designing Everyday Rituals for Extraordinary Times with Betty Ray
Update 10/10/26: Unfortunately, due a last-minute emergency, our guest Betty Ray is not able to make the workshop on 10/11. We will reschedule the workshop to a later date and offer refunds for those who cannot make it.
For those who are still interested in an informal discussion on the topic, we will host a free gathering instead at the original time (Oct 11, 2pm at the Commons) to discuss the role of everyday rituals in our lives.
Sending a good thought to Betty and hope to see you soon either way!
How do we give meaningful shape to the moments and transitions that matter in our lives?
Join us for an interactive Flamekeeper Workshop with Betty Ray, founder of the Center for Ritual Design, exploring how we can create rituals that help us honor important experiences, transitions, and intentions.
Ritual doesn’t have to be religious, elaborate, or handed down to us. Drawing from her work in human-centered ritual design, Betty will help us explore how simple, intentional words, actions, symbols, and gatherings can create meaning, connection, and a sense of transition.
Together, we’ll apply these ideas to concrete moments in our own lives and communities—exploring how we might design rituals for the people and spaces we care for, as well as how ritual can help the Contemplarium honor the human journeys of our neighbors.
Through conversation, reflection, and hands-on exercises, we’ll practice creating rituals that bring deeper meaning to moments that deserve to be marked.
Betty Ray is an educator, facilitator, and founder of the Center for Ritual Design. A 2020 Mira Fellow and former Director of Innovation at the George Lucas Educational Foundation, she has developed human-centered approaches to helping individuals, communities, and organizations create meaningful rituals and rites of passage.
This session is part of the Flamekeeper Workshop series and will be moderated by Seanan Fong, Founding Director of the SF Contemplarium.