About
About: Joanne Van Beek
Hello and Welcome to my Website!
Life is filled with stories of wonderful new beginnings, challenging and exciting transitions, and often difficult times of saying goodbye.
For many years, I have listened to people share these types of stories with me. Their stories have taught me how the experience of joy and sorrow, hope and fear bind people together. And, I have come to realize that when these stories are honoured and celebrated through ceremony, they have the potential to deeply transform us and help us to transition through our lives in meaningful ways.
I have witnessed how the power of story and ceremony can give voice to the voiceless, how ceremony can transform women recovering from trauma, how a small ritual can change a social event into a deeply meaningful occasion, how a love story celebrated creatively can set a couple up for success, and how a simple ritual can enable people to release their loved one in peace.
These experiences led me to become a Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant®, through the Celebrant Foundation & Institute, and a Metaphysical Minister with Canadian International Metaphysical Ministries.
As a Celebrant, I am a Ceremony and Ritual Specialist, and as a Minister, I am a Licensed Ceremony Officiant. My mission, through these roles, is to support people to transition through life’s important moments in meaningful ways. This is done through creating ceremonies and rituals that celebrate new beginnings, bring significance to life’s turning points and honour the difficult times of saying farewell.
When not working at Circles and Ceremonies, I can be found visiting with my children and grandchildren, walking, kayaking, playing pickle-ball, reading, supporting my grain-farming husband…or simply enjoying coffee with friends.
Want to learn more?
About: Circles and Ceremonies
The mission of Circles and Ceremonies is to help people transition through life’s important moments in meaningful ways.
If you are about to transition to a new stage of life or if you are marking a special occasion, then Circles and Ceremonies is here to help you.
You may be planning to get married, transitioning through a rite of passage, moving, changing jobs, welcoming a new child, or perhaps saying goodbye to a loved one.
You are looking to mark that special occasion with a meaningful ceremony that is personalized to your own particular values, beliefs and even personality. In essence, you are looking for a one-of-kind ceremony that reflects the spirit of who you are.
If that describes you, then, as a Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant®, I can help you.
A Life-Cycle Celebrant® is someone who has received specialized training in the theory, creation and practise of ceremony and ritual. As such, they are ceremonial specialists who assist people in marking the major changes in their lives with sacred ceremony and ritual.
From the joy of birth to the mystery of death, our lives are marked with important milestones. When we take the time to honour and celebrate these milestones through carefully created ceremony, our experience of life is enhanced, our connection to the sacred is deepened, and our relationships with each other are strengthened.
If you have a milestone that needs celebrating or a story that needs telling, then give Circles and Ceremonies a call. We specialize in bringing people together through creating ceremonies and rituals that commemorate and pay tribute to the cherished stories and sacred events of your life.