Eight years ago my sister gave me a rattle from Maui. It was a Kahuna’s type of rattle. I have carried it with me for years and eventually gave it to my spirit son from Hawaii. He left it in his brother’s apartment and thought he had lost it. When he showed it to me [...]
Archive for the ‘Initiation’ Category
911 and the Faerie Princess
Posted in Dreams, Elder Activities, Initiation, Synchronicity, tagged Indigenous, Native American Church, Santo Daime tradition, Sweat Lodge on April 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Ancient Greece was different
Posted in Child/Parent Relationship, Initiation, men's issues, tagged Erotic love, Men's Movement on March 29, 2012 | 2 Comments »
She was my first experience of a Jewish American Princess. We met in graduate school studying depth psychology. She had been an actress in New York City, engaged to a famous Irish film star. She didn’t like him getting all of the attention, so she left him for another Irish Catholic. The second one married [...]
The Hunger Games
Posted in Initiation, Movie Reviews, tagged Myths, Psychology, The Matrix on March 24, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Indigenous initiations into adulthood sometimes ended in death. California Natives disposed of young misfits or “sociopaths” during ritual medicine ceremonies. Matriarchal kinship rules prohibited taking the life of a blood relative, but there are several stories of hiring a “poisoner” or shaman to dispose of unwanted people who could not internalize the culture’s rules of [...]
Living on Cloud Mountain
Posted in Initiation, Peyote Ceremony, sacred ceremonies, tagged Capoeira, Cherokee Nation, Native American Church, Spirituality, Sweat Lodge on November 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Ten years ago my therapist asked me to journey toward my situation in the future. She told me to see myself “10 years from now, where are you? what are your surroundings? what is your space like? the town? the climate?” So I went into a light trance and entered the imaginal world. There I [...]
Pitfalls in Mentoring
Posted in Initiation, men's issues, Mentoring, Psychology, tagged Growth, The Matrix, Wisdom on September 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Mentoring has natural pitfalls built into the relationship. These are illustrated in the legend of Mentor/Telemachos/Odyssos and elaborated by my years of experience. A thumbnail sketch of 7 things of which to be aware and to avoid when possible.
Wrestling with the Angel
Posted in Carl Jung, Initiation, tagged Archetypes, Creativity, Indigenous, Myths, Vision Quest on August 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Sometimes it takes years for stories to come round again. When I was a boy growing up in the wild west of Idaho, Oregon, and Utah, my grandfather would tell me stories of cowboys and Indians. Dad would recite stanzas he learned in Mormon grammar school. I didn’t know where those stories came from at [...]
The River of Life
Posted in gnostic wisdom, Initiation, psyche, sacred ceremonies, Spirituality, tagged Indwelling Spirit, Myths, Wisdom on May 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Who is the guy on the left in the Baptism of Christ? If we are familiar with the basic story, we can tell who the wild guy on the right is by his clothing composed of spotted pelts of wild animals, and the shepherd’s crook. He is John the Baptizer of the Hebrew/Biblical story. The [...]
The Masked Man
Posted in Burning Man, Dreams, Initiation, Mentoring, tagged Coyote, Dreamwork, Eagle, Men's Movement, Spirituality, Sweat Lodge, Synchronicity, Wisdom on April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The Coyote and the False Face Healer showed up at the Mystery School Initiation. Here’s what I made of it.
Embracing Repressed Instincts and Feelings
Posted in Carl Jung, Initiation, men's issues, Mentoring, Spirituality, tagged Feeling, Men's Movement, Shadow on March 5, 2010 | 1 Comment »
The Silence of our Fathers, who weren’t able to initiate us into manhood, is discussed in Absent Fathers, Lost Sons (1991) by Guy Corneau, a French Canadian psychotherapist. After discussing the effects of repressing our instincts and feelings (pushing them into unconsciousness or the Shadow) and graphically illustrating the process with case studies, Corneau summarizes [...]
Become Green “Man”
Posted in Carl Jung, I Ching: Book of Changes, Initiation, men's issues, Mentoring, Psychology, Spirituality, tagged Alchemy, Avatar, Erotic love, Gnostic, Men's Movement, Organic, Wisdom on January 9, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Become a Green Man dedicated to the re-greening of the planet. Start your own group of allies, other men who want to belong to the greenmen’s lodge, the universal brotherhood of man. All indigenous society attempts to live in harmony with the environment. She is the Mother who gives us birth and takes us into herself when we depart for the spirit world. How can we save her right now?
