The Alchemy of Initiation: Soul Work and the Art of Ripening
How do we become seasoned adults, a true human being? Clearly, this is not a given. Traditionally this was the work of culture. Through the long labors of multiple initiations, individuals were gradually crafted into persons of substance and gravity. The process yielded someone more attuned to responsibilities than rights, more aware of multiple entanglements than entitlements. They were initiated into a vast sea of intimacies; with the village, star clusters and gnarled old oaks, the pool of ancestors and the scented earth. Through the sustained attention of culture, individuals were ripened into adults capable of sustaining their culture: A marvelous symmetry.
The great and immediate need of our time is for ripened and seasoned adult human beings to take their place in our communities; individuals who carry a deep and abiding fidelity to the living body of this benevolent earth, to beauty and to their own souls. Traditionally, these were the ones who had successfully crossed a series of initiatory thresholds and had come through as protectors and carriers of the communal soul. We live in a society, however, that has all but abandoned rituals of initiation. Consequently, we are languishing from the absence of mature and robust adults.
Crossing the threshold from adolescence into adulthood requires an ordeal, a tempering of the individual that begins the process of ripening. There is no easy passage. How are we to navigate these border crossings between youth into adulthood when the culturally sustained practices have gone silent? Further, what are the consequences of this loss of ritual literacy?
We are meant to cross many thresholds in our lifetime, each a further embodiment of the soul's innate character. Yet for many of us, the failure to complete the first crossing continues to affect our ability to fully show up in our lives. Many of us carry the uncomfortable thought that we are unsure of our place in the world, still anxious about our sense of value and our right to be here. The unfinished business of adolescence haunts us and makes it hard to engage the larger arc our life longs to engage.
This series will offer ways to see the circumstances of our lives as the raw material necessary for the movement across the threshold into our adult lives. From a mythic perspective, these are the very conditions that can cook the soul, bringing us closer to the mystery of the sacred and our own singular incarnation. Initiation is not optional. Every one of us must find our way through the lingering sediment of adolescence into a seasoned adulthood. We must be able to feel our loyalties to watersheds, migratory pathways, marginalized communities, and the soul of the world. We must feel the bedrock of our aliveness, and the reality of our wild and exuberant life. Initiation tempers the soul, drawing out its hidden essence and calls forth the marrow of medicine we came to offer this stunning world.
Join us for five compelling evenings of exploration into the essential realm of initiation. Each night will explore how psyche/soul persists in taking us to the edge of our own maturation even in the absence of culturally held rituals of initiation. Drawing from the rich lineages of psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy and poetic traditions, these evenings will offer multiple pathways into our ripened lives.
March 7. Cooking the Soul: The Alchemy of Ripening
March 14. Fire in the Voice: Facing the Predator
March 21. Rough Initiations: When the Bough Breaks
March 27. Baptized by Dark Waters: The Call of Soul into the Underworld (Wednesday)
April 4. Love's Fierce Embrace: The Great Inducement to Ripen
Where: Ner Shalom. 85 La Plaza, Cotati, CA When: Thursday evenings: 7:00 - 9:00. Session 4 will be on Wednesday night. Cost: $100 registration through 1/31/19. $125 after or $20/night. Live webcast: $100 advanced registration through 1/31/19. $125 after. A special offer will be available to register along with the purchase of the audio series.
Registration will begin in November.
The great and immediate need of our time is for ripened and seasoned adult human beings to take their place in our communities; individuals who carry a deep and abiding fidelity to the living body of this benevolent earth, to beauty and to their own souls. Traditionally, these were the ones who had successfully crossed a series of initiatory thresholds and had come through as protectors and carriers of the communal soul. We live in a society, however, that has all but abandoned rituals of initiation. Consequently, we are languishing from the absence of mature and robust adults.
Crossing the threshold from adolescence into adulthood requires an ordeal, a tempering of the individual that begins the process of ripening. There is no easy passage. How are we to navigate these border crossings between youth into adulthood when the culturally sustained practices have gone silent? Further, what are the consequences of this loss of ritual literacy?
We are meant to cross many thresholds in our lifetime, each a further embodiment of the soul's innate character. Yet for many of us, the failure to complete the first crossing continues to affect our ability to fully show up in our lives. Many of us carry the uncomfortable thought that we are unsure of our place in the world, still anxious about our sense of value and our right to be here. The unfinished business of adolescence haunts us and makes it hard to engage the larger arc our life longs to engage.
This series will offer ways to see the circumstances of our lives as the raw material necessary for the movement across the threshold into our adult lives. From a mythic perspective, these are the very conditions that can cook the soul, bringing us closer to the mystery of the sacred and our own singular incarnation. Initiation is not optional. Every one of us must find our way through the lingering sediment of adolescence into a seasoned adulthood. We must be able to feel our loyalties to watersheds, migratory pathways, marginalized communities, and the soul of the world. We must feel the bedrock of our aliveness, and the reality of our wild and exuberant life. Initiation tempers the soul, drawing out its hidden essence and calls forth the marrow of medicine we came to offer this stunning world.
Join us for five compelling evenings of exploration into the essential realm of initiation. Each night will explore how psyche/soul persists in taking us to the edge of our own maturation even in the absence of culturally held rituals of initiation. Drawing from the rich lineages of psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy and poetic traditions, these evenings will offer multiple pathways into our ripened lives.
March 7. Cooking the Soul: The Alchemy of Ripening
March 14. Fire in the Voice: Facing the Predator
March 21. Rough Initiations: When the Bough Breaks
March 27. Baptized by Dark Waters: The Call of Soul into the Underworld (Wednesday)
April 4. Love's Fierce Embrace: The Great Inducement to Ripen
Where: Ner Shalom. 85 La Plaza, Cotati, CA When: Thursday evenings: 7:00 - 9:00. Session 4 will be on Wednesday night. Cost: $100 registration through 1/31/19. $125 after or $20/night. Live webcast: $100 advanced registration through 1/31/19. $125 after. A special offer will be available to register along with the purchase of the audio series.
Registration will begin in November.