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It's Time To Provide Our Youth A Place of Belonging
Let me paint a picture of what's happening with our youth...
Reviving A Time Honored Tradition ​
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From the days of old, across the world and across traditions, we’ve always had an honored process of helping our son’s transition from boyhood into manhood… to become part of the circle of men.
Cultures worldwide once had a wilderness vigil we sent our youth on where they journey into the wild places to deepen their connection with themselves, discover how they're part of the whole and gain the tools to conquer their fears, discover their strengths, and become aware of their weaknesses so they would honor them.
Through this they found their unique gift and voice they’re meant to bring into the world and gained vision with how to do so. When they returned to the village, the people would gather around them, see them in the "new now" and acknowledge their transition... that they are now not who they were, and honor their place amongst the people.
We had mentors and elders they could go to, who would help guide them and empower them to find their unique truth and voice.
The old way of thinking was that the mistakes and mishaps our children experienced were not wrong. Instead, they revealed what to teach and how to guide them. Here life becomes a "living" classroom.
Somewhere in our becoming a modern age however, we’ve lost these time honored traditions, ceremonies, and methods of initiating our youth. As a result, we and our youth, have had to search out our own way to become initiated and too often we’ve looked to ways that have brought pain to ourselves and our families. They miss out on the experiences that gives them tools to be in discomfort and so our children instead retreat into video games, drugs, their technological devices and alcohol.
And because as most men have not gone through this process of initiation themselves, they do not know how to offer this to our sons and so the wound we unknowingly received we unknowingly give to them.
When we leave our son’s un-initiated, they must find their own way to discover who they are.
Without these processes of learning… without mentors and elders… we have lost our sense of belonging and feel alone in the world. Our youth feel they do not have a voice, that it’s unsafe to express the unique song wanting to express through them, and they question our life’s meaning wondering how they fit into the Great Hoop of Life.
Joining an inspired group of men, mentors and elders
Tree of Totems is committed to building a village where we bring in the elders, inspire our youth, and create a community structure where we can gather together and celebrate the cycles of the seasons and of our lives.
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Click Here to learn details of "Inviting Our Son's Into The Circle of Men"
