Rites of Passage, Initiations, 13 Moons

You have long stepped away from the safety and security of your childhood home. You've picked up provisions and let go of baggage along the way. You've walked long and hard to find your way Here - to this place and to this time. Your journey has taken you through deep forests, dark with mythic energy, across open plains in the light of the full moon, and over mountains of glory and of peril.

And finally, here you are.

Standing on the steps of a great hall surrounded by marsh and mist.

Your very own feet brought you here - your choices, actions, even your dreams. Even still, you may not have a clear notion of what lies beyond the huge oak doors.

That's as it should be. If we could see and know every single thing about our journey in these skins on this earth in this time...well, most of us would race trembling back to our mother's womb! So, you don't know. Everything. But perhaps you sense....

Challenge.

Potential.

Growth.

Healing.

Transformation.

And that's enough.

Take the great shining knocker, shaped like the Grey Heron, by the way, in your hand, and knock 3 times. I promise the door will open.

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My interest in rites of passage (or tests of strength, fortitude, resilience, willingness, and creativity) and initiations goes back to my days as a budding cultural anthropology student. Way back then I was interested in how human beings move from one state of being to another and how various cultures define, ritually support and challenge, and ultimately celebrate these shifts in being and the shifters themselves. I have been interested in the life events themselves, the challenges of strength, and the rituals that surround developmental change across cultures.

On a more personal note, I have longed for and discovered ways to understand my own life and in that life, my own transformation. Where does trauma fit in? What about the journey of severe mental illness? Where does the loss of a parent, a lover, a best friend fit, and most importantly how do I find meaning in these spaces and events? How do they change me?

I have learned to define these events and the moments, days, months, and years that surround them as tests, as rites of passage, and as initiations into new ways of being. Fortunately, for me, I've spent large amounts of time in my adult life in community with others who look at milestones in similar ways. Women, who both see the things that happen to them in their lives as rites of passage and initiations and who deliberately seek out and create the tests and quests, the teachers and healers, and the rituals of healing, challenge, and transformation, have been my companions for many years. Together, we have created space to challenge our beliefs and ways of being. Together we have ritually celebrated and honored the transitions and initiations.

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13 Moons: The Journey to the Goddess Within is a creative translation. It is a sped-up developmental journey. There are 13 challenges, 13 individual rites of passage, each of them offered by a different Norse Goddess. The completion of that 13th challenge, the challenge of Frigg, also represents an initiation - the initiation to a more integrated way of Being - the initiation of a Priestess if you will.

A Priestess of What?

A Priestess of Your Whole, Multi-Faceted, Sacred Self.

13 Moons: A Journey to the Goddess Within begins on January 2nd, 2022. Registration is open now.