“Almost every culture throughout history has traditions involving the initiations or rites of passage in the wilderness by which individuals confirm the attainment of new life stations e.g. manhood, womanhood, or elder years and other important life decisions. The wonder year, the pilgrimage, the vision quest and the underworld journey are typical of such initiatory experiences.
“Rites of passage are deeply embedded in mythological consciousness as well–the fasting prophets of Judaeo-Christianity, the questing ancestors of the Aboriginal Dream-time, the pilgrimages of the Buddha and Mohammed, the medieval knights and their quest for the holy grail, the underworld journey of the great matriarchal deities, and Native Americans such as Crazy Horse, Black Elk and countless others.” –Foster and Little, The Book of the Vision Quest.
Over the ages we have experienced a decline in many of the meaningful rites of passage and initiation practices for our people. The once sacred and transformative ceremonies and rituals that informed early cultures with a sense of personal vision, community responsibility and deeply rooted connection to earth and spirit have often been replaced by “pseudo initiations” that do not facilitate or support the needed shift in consciousness required to enter into new life stations and responsibilities such as conception, graduation, baptism, confirmation, marriage, divorce, change in career, times of psychological or spiritual crisis, and developmental life passages