What is a Rite of Passage?
Rite of Passage. The term seems to carry a weight of assumptions with it as it leaves our lips. Images and associations come to mind without prompting.
What are they?
How do they feel in your body?
Are they familiar? Are they foreign?
Noticing these associations and our relationship to them can be an important part of embarking upon this path. They are an invitation to dig into ourselves and our experiences of socialization in the world to better understand our feelings on the topic.
Now, let’s look a bit closer:
The term itself was popularized by French ethnographer Arnold van Gennep in 1909, and has been used widely by anthropologists and other disciplines since, but the practices themselves are as old as humans living in community and Gennep had nothing to do with their invention or discovery. He simply offered a name for a pan-cultural practice.
Rites of passage ceremonies are still very much alive to varying degrees in cultures throughout the world. While some cultures and communities very consciously practice rites of passage, others may not realize what they are actually participating in. Common ceremonies and experiences in colonial Western cultures such as baptisms, graduation commencements, birth, death, communions, and marriage could all be considered a rite of passage; however, how conscious folks are about their participation in them, fluctuates tremendously.
So what does a rite of passage ceremony consist of?
While there are many forms of these ceremonies, for our purposes, we will focus on a basic examination of a so-called “wilderness” rite of passage (we will be including a blog post soon regarding the term “wilderness” and its usage as a form of erasure of human relationship to land, especially indigenous peoples. We will link it here). Because of this problematic languaging, for our purposes, let’s call it a land-based rite of passage. This is the practice that we engage in here at Crone Collective. And, while there are many different forms of this ceremony, the phases examined here can be applied similarly to many of them.
Simply stated, a rite of passage can be envisioned in three phases: Separation/Severance, Threshold, and Incorporation. At their most basic, these phases can be considered the archetypal building blocks of a rite of passage. While much can be added to the ceremony, these pieces will remain at the core of it.
Separation/Severance
If we were to expand outward, the Separation and Severance portion could be broken into two phases. But fundamentally, they both refer to stepping out of a current way of living, and into the threshold toward something new. The separation portion considers how we leave our daily world to move toward this ceremony and is incredibly important. The way we leave our lives to embark upon this ceremony will impact the lives we step back into post-ceremony. This is the time to ask questions of how we wish to leave our physical space, our relationships, etc. Asking ourselves, “Are there things left undone that must be tended to before I go?” can be a helpful point of entry into this work. This is also the place of examining relationship with parts of self (behaviors, practices, beliefs, etc.) and how they are or are not serving the person we are becoming.
The severance portion is very literally, the leaving portion. This is the place where we sever ourselves from our known world. We leave behind our family, our community, our home, to enter the liminal, unknown world of the threshold.
Threshold
The liminal threshold is the in-between space. You have left your familiar world, but not yet stepped into the next. This period can last moments, hours, days, months, or even years depending upon the ceremony. In our case, this portion of the ceremony is the four days spent alone on the land.
Incorporation
Lastly, the Incorporation phase. This is the time that you step back into your world to assimilate the change that has taken place throughout the liminal phase (and in the time leading up to the ceremony). At times, we may be actively practicing incorporation. One of the times that this is true in a land-based rite of passage is at story council. This is the time where our stories are born. We tell them through words, movement, melody, or something entirely different, and it is the moment the threshold experience and the mundane collide. This is the story of incorporation. We root the mythical and sometimes magical experiences of the threshold in the mundane of our day-to-day.
Our expereinces in the threshold and the stories contained within them are tender when we return from the threshold. But just as a newborn grows stronger, so does our story and our conviction of the person we have become. Our re-born selves will begin to show-up differently, our gifts be shared more openly, we must simply get out of the way.
In incorporation, the ceremony lives through us. It shows up in unexpected places and invites us further into authenticity when we least expect it. All we have to do is pay attention, keep saying yes, and continue to tend our stories.
How can you know if it might be time to participate in a rite of passage ceremony?
If you are reading this, chances are you have been feeling a pull already. You know something is shifting. You may even know what is shifting, and you know you are being asked to honor this change. Or you maybe have no idea, but something is calling you in. There is a longing for something more. A longing for something deeper and more authentic.
First of all, know that the ceremony has already begun. You are already on the path. The rite of passage will happen regardless of ceremony, but it is the marking of that rite of passage that emboldens us to live in this new way in a conscious manner.
Consciousness is the key. By intentionally choosing in and saying “yes” to these shifts and movements in our lives, we empower ourselves toward authenticity. It is in this authenticity that we move toward belonging in ourselves and in our communities.
What are some things you can do if you think you are being invited into a rite of passage ceremony?
Journal about it. Start writing about your experience. Chances are, you actually possess some of the answers and clarity you are seeking around this.
Pay attention to your dreams. Start keeping a dream journal and tracking the progression of your dreams. What are some themes that might be emerging? How do you feel upon waking? What are the emotions or body sensations that you can recall from your dreams? Are there any images that stand out?
Walk with the feeling. Set aside an hour, a few hours, a whole day, whatever you can, to walk with questions like, “What am I moving into and what is moving into me?” or “What is no longer serving me?” or “What is my longing?” or “What gifts am I being asked to offer myself and my community?”. Mark the beginning of the walk with a threshold and cross it. Notice how your experience might feel different since you crossed that threshold while holding your question. When you are finished, move back across your threshold and back into your everyday world. Consider journaling about this experience, or telling your story to someone you trust to hold it.
Talk with people in your community. Connect with others. Perhaps they are, or have experienced something similar and can offer companionship or guidance.
Send us an email to schedule a time to connect! We would love to talk with you.
We are so grateful to be on this journey with you. May your wounding be a door and your longing a window into these ceremonies.
- Crone Collective