Becoming and Belonging 2024:
A threshold initiation for young adults (ages 18-30)
Overview:
Becoming and Belonging (the flagship program of Blue Ridge Rites of Passage) is an initiatory journey for young adults (ages 18-30) and a response to the troubled times we are living through. The program consists of four main components: group council, 1-on-1 coaching/mentoring, medicine walks, and a multi-day vision fast. The curriculum guides participants through a deep inquiry into personal and collective cosmologies, immerses them in the depths of the living world, supports them in asking deep questions about what matters – all of which helps disclose gifts, passions and heartfelt aspirations. The most important element is that this is all held within a nourishing and supportive community context, helping to liberate the integrity and courage to live into what is seen, heard, felt and discovered.
The cohort will be limited to 12 participants. Acceptance into the program will follow a short application and interview process.
Structure (May — October 2024):
We will have 3-4 Zoom meetings with our full cohort prior to the vision fast to begin building community and to prepare for our time together on the land.
The program centers around the in-person vision fast, which will take place on private land in Pilot, Virginia, from May 25 — June 2. To learn more about the vision fast, visit the FAQ page.
After the vision fast (the time period known as incorporation), participants will receive 1-on-1 coaching/mentoring from one of the guides (typically 1x/month). We will also continue to meet in council as a full cohort (typically 1x/month). This ongoing support will foster deeper integration and embodiment of the gifts received during the vision fast. Guides may also invite participants to go out on medicine walks or suggest other integrating experiments. The total time requirement will be roughly 4 hours per month.
Benefits of the Blue Ridge Rites of Passage program include:
A deepened sense of belonging, wholeness, and connection to community.
The opportunity to clarify values that can act as a guiding star or life philosophy.
A strengthened kinship with the Living Earth.
Awakened leadership capacities.
An education in the practice of council and “bare bones ceremony.”
Embodied confidence, activated potential, and an engaged, self-authoring sense of possibility.
A profound experience that informs future pathways.
Cost:
The program is offered on a sliding scale of $1,000 - $2,000.
Participants are responsible for getting themselves to the in-person vision fast in late May (we can offer transport to/from the nearest airport in Roanoke, VA).
We have a limited number of scholarships available. Please inquire if even the low end of the sliding scale is prohibitive. We are committed to making this program accessible to those who feel deeply called to it!
“What you knew in your childhood is true; the Otherworld of magic and enchantment is real, sometimes terribly real — and certainly more real than the factual reality which our culture has built up, brick by brick, to shut out colour and light and prevent us from flying.”