What’s the grandest expression of your medicine?
Are you clear that we are all here on the planet with a purpose? And that part of your purpose is helping others discover and live their purpose? Have you faced your own initiations and emerged out the other side with a deeper knowing of who you are and why you are here, with a greater love for humanity and our planet?
Learning how to guide fellow humans through wilderness rites of passage (otherwise know as the initiatory descent of the soul) may be for you.
This 16-month training program will help you unlock a deeper expression of the medicine you carry so you can be part of the transformation process for others (a ceremonial midwife) and be part of the cultural change happening now.
What do Wilderness Rites of Passage Guides do?
That’s up to you! Rites of Passage Council will equip you with the tools and experience you need to safely guide people through wilderness initiatory experiences; the ways you carry that into your community are infinite.
Some of our guides weave this work into work they already do in Wilderness Therapy, Counseling, Coaching or Education. Some of our guides leave their old careers behind to immerse themselves in the world of Wilderness Rites of Passage. Some go on to work directly with Rites of Passage Council, others create their own practices.
But all of us are deeply steeped in the teachings passed down through multiple traditions that facilitate the connection of humans into the natural world and harness that power to facilitate deep personal change.
“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 i.e.: 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 as the fasting prophets of Judaeo-Christianity, the questing ancestors of the Aboriginal Dreamtime, 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. ”
What does the training cover?
This training unfolds over 16 months in the form of six intensive sessions. Five of the sessions are 5-day, 4-night intensives near Asheville, NC, and one session is a 10-day, 9-night trip that includes a Vision Quest at another location in the USA.
Over the six sessions we will cover these topics in depth and much more:
Historical and Cultural Context
Rites of passage ceremonies across the ages. Pan Cultural Rites of Passage ceremonies. Integrity, Impeccability, Ethics of Cultural Appropriation.
The Calling
Indigenous wisdom vs. modernity’s distractions. Bone memory and ancient mythology. Various forms of the calling. Refusing the call or accepting the call.
The Severance Phase
Death Lodge Work / Shadow Work / Dream Work. Medicine Wheel: Tracking & the Four Shields of Initiation. Learning to facilitate accurate and effective ritual prescriptions. Creating a strong container for ceremony. Ceremonies of preparation. Bundling up the prayers of your people. Use of story telling, poetry and song. The gate-keepers at the threshold. Knowing your terrain.
The Threshold Phase
Threshold ceremonies of departure. Fasting and wilderness safety. Four-day and four-night vision fast. Common elements of the threshold phase. What to do if…
Circle of purpose: The tomb and the womb. To cry for a vision so that your people may live. Medicine names: “Follow Your Name”.
The Return
Threshold ceremony of return. The way of council: storytelling & personal myth-making. Give a-way ceremony. Deflation stories & preparation for return. Closing ceremonies.
The Incorporation Phase
Boundaries, Power Differential & your students. Various Models of Rites of Passage Ceremonies. Nuts and bolts of base camp logistics, set up and needs. Site selection: knowing your terrain. Ways to track the psyche of your participants. Screening participants before they are accepted. Taking this work to your community. Where to go from here…
The Other-than-Human World
Not just a metaphor or projection. Intuitive awareness, mindfulness, remote tracking & discernment. The realm of the Dead vs. Ancestral Helping Spirits. Our Elemental Ancestors: Earth my body, Water my blood, Air my breath & Fire my spirit. Deep listening & honoring the Spirits of the land. Making offerings, asking permission and offering gratitude. Prescriptive Rituals: Fire, Water, Earth, Mineral and Nature. Working with your Helping Spirits, Energy awareness & paying attention. Shamanic journeying and remote viewing.
“This is going to deepen you into your bones.”
Ceremonial Guide Certification
Certification as a Ceremonial Rites of Passage Guide is offered through Rites of Passage Council to candidates who:
Have completed a Rites of Passage Council 11-Day Village Encampment & Vision Quest Ceremony as a participant
Have completed all six sessions of the 16-month training program by Rites of Passage Council
Have served as an “Apprentice” for a Rites of Passage Council 11-Day Village Encampment & Vision Quest Ceremony Program
Have served as a “Staff Intern” for a Rites of Passage Council 11-Day Village Encampment & Vision Quest Ceremony Program
Registration, Tuition and Training Dates:
PREREQUISITE TO TRAINING: Completion of the 11-Day Village Encampment & Vision Quest Ceremony is a prerequisite to enrollment in the training.
Important Discount Option: If you register for both programs at the same time you will receive $200 discount off of the Training. This does not apply to those that are apprenticing at a vision quest.
Facilitated by: Our Founder Kedar Brown & other ROPC staff TBA
2023 - 2024 Training Session Dates:
Each training cycle begins on a Wednesday afternoon at 3p EST and ends on a Sunday at 12p EST, held near Asheville, NC, USA. Except for Session 5, which includes a training quest, and is 10 days long; location TBA. Day One and Day Ten for Session 5 are travel days.
Session 1: September 27 to October 1, 2023 Medicine Wheel Spiritual Technology Session 2: November 15-19 Death Lodge Ritual Process Healing
Session 3: April 10-14, 2024 Sacred Site Activation, Ancestors and Shamanic Journying
Session 4: June 26-30, 2024 Elemental Ritual Immersion
Session 5: August 28 to September 6, 2024 (Training Quest - Mt. Shasta, CA)
Session 6: October 16-20, 2024 Give-Away & Drum Making with Elder Zoey Rockingbear Session 7 (Optional) Cowry Shell Divination Training Dates TBD
2024-2025 Training Session Dates:
Each training cycle begins on a Wednesday afternoon at 3p EST and ends on a Sunday at 12p EST, held near Asheville, NC, USA. Except for Session 5, which includes a training quest, and is 10 days long; location TBA. Day One and Day Ten for Session 5 are travel days.
Session 1: October 2-6, 2024 Medicine Wheel Spiritual Technology Session 2: November 6-10, 2024 Death Lodge Ritual Process Healing
Session 3: April 23-27, 2025 Sacred Site Activation, Ancestors and Shamanic Journying
Session 4: June 25-29, 2025 Elemental Ritual Immersion
Session 5: September 4-12, 2025 (Training Quest - Mt. Shasta, CA)
Session 6: November 5-9, 2025 Give-Away & Drum Making with Native Elder Zoey Rockingbear Session 7 (Optional) Cowry Shell Divination Training Dates TBD
2024-2025 Training Program Cost: $6,000
Option1: Pay in full by Aug 7, 2024 = $5,800 (save $200)
Option 2: Monthly Payment Plan:
- Pay $500 Non-Refundable deposit by Aug 7, 2024
- 16 monthly payments of $344 + 3% on the 1st of each month beginning in July. NOTE: If you wish to reduce your monthly payment amount you may contact us at Hello@RitesofPassageCouncil.org to arrange an early payment start date prior to July. Your total monthly payment amount is reduced by $20 for each early payment you make.
Option 3: Pay Per Session NOTE: If you wish to reduce your per session payment amount you may contact us at Hello@RitesofPassageCouncil.org to arrange an early payment start date prior to July.
- Pay $500 Non-Refundable deposit by Aug 7, 2024
- Pay $917 + 3% (online processing fee) on the 1st of each month beginning July 1st
Financial Agreement: I understand and agree that regardless of the payment plan I choose I am financially responsible for the full cost of the training once beginning the training (July 1). All tuition is paid during the training cycle that I am enrolled in. If I miss a training session I can make it up the following year with the next training cycle. If I need to make up a session I will not be charged for the make up session. I will have only one year to make up the missed session.
Options 2 and 3 payment plans require a debit or credit card on file. Payments are automatically scheduled on the dates indicated above. Your tuition cost covers all training materials and two meals a day for sessions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.
Each payment is drafted on the 1st of the month for payment options 2 and 3. Please be aware that there will be a $25 late fee for payments that are more than five days late.
Meals and Travel: For all training sessions except session five we will provide you with Breakfast and Dinner each day. Please bring three lunches and snacks for all sessions except session five. We also provide full kitchen set up with outdoor stoves, coolers for storage and all the fresh water you need. Your travel to and from all training sessions (including session five, the Mt. Shasta quest are not included in your tuition cost. During session five we will share meal cost and cooking among the group during basecamp.
Once you have paid your deposit please contact us to let us know your payment plan choice: Hello@RitesofPassageCouncil.org
