INITIATION AS PROCESS

Initiation is not a one-off event that occurs in a particular ceremony, although it can appear as such to our modern eyes. A ceremony may act as a focus, but initiation is essentailly about a new way of being, a new element entering consciousness, around which everything has to be reconfigured, and which generally takes some years to digest and complete.

I see this in astrology readings all the time. An outer planet comes along - which is basically Spirit in one form or another - and the person gets taken through this kind of transition. This is where elders come in in a traditional society, for they can guide us through these testing times; they can help reveal the meaning of what is happening, that we are not going nuts, we are not mentally ill, rather something new and of great significance for our whole life, and indeed of significance for other people too, is being born, which does not fit the usual simple categories that most people need to live by. This does not happen just at puberty, but at any age.

If the poets and such likes are respected voices within society, then we are in with a chance of being helped rather than pathologised. Initiation is something that happens naturally in life. It involves a deep change from one paradigm to another. This is something that a large society, which is inevitably governed by rules rather than relationships, cannot do justice to. In this way, initiatory processes become harder for us, but by the same token demand that we develop a firm belief in ourselves, in order to navigate the simplistic and often negative judgements from our collectives. I like to quote the film American Beauty in this respect, where everyone thinks the main character has gone nuts, but one can see that it is he who has gained some sanity, while everyone else continues to believe in the fantasy of the American Dream.

Above all, do not think that indigenous people who still have their initiation rites necessarily have something you don't. This is a common way we modern shamanic types disempower ourselves. What matters is that we stay at the coal-face at least some of the time during these challenging times, that may go on for years, and find the courage to go with the change that is being asked of us. Not many people can do that. If you have done so, you are the real deal, and you have something to say.