Global Rites of Passage

Wilderness Guides Council 2009 Guides Gathering
April 12 -13, 2009

The Wilderness Guides Council will hold their 2009 Gathering immediately before the 4th International Gathering.  This abbreviated 24 hour event will allow the WGC to take care of internal business before moving into their role as one of the co-sponsors of the 4th International Gathering.

Pre - Gathering Events and Workshops:

April 9 - 11, 2009
Yoeme (Yaqui) Easter Celebrations

In the early 1600's the Yoeme (Yaqui) Indians of what is now northwestern Mexico, incorporated into their indigenous cosmology a version of the Roman Catholic Passion Play, as shared with them by Jesuit missionaries. After the Jesuits were removed from Mexico by order of the Vatican in the early 1700's, the Yoemem continued perfecting according to their traditional knowledge and performing these ceremonies, which continue to be observed and celebrated throughout Yoeme communities in Mexico and the United States. Naturally, the culmination of the Yoeme Lenten season takes place during Holy Week.

For over twenty years, Wilderness Ranger and Wilderness Guides Council member Jim Mahoney has been a welcomed observer to Yoeme Easter celebrations in Mexico and the United States. Beginning Thursday, April 9th through Saturday, April 11th, Mahoney is offering to serve as guide to the Yoeme Easter experience for participants and visitors to the 2009 International Wilderness Guides Gathering. Engage yourselves first-hand, in the history and culture of actual "Yaqui" cross-cultural religion, religious music and dance, symbolism and spirituality, during the final days of the Yaqui Easter ceremony in Tucson, Arizona.

This pre-Gathering offering will be limited to 12 individuals on a first-come, first-served basis. A suggested reference list will be sent to participants. There is no fee for this offering, however lodging, local travel, and meal expenses will have to be paid for by participants.

For further information please contact Jim at: eclecticelt@gmail.com and (520) 366-1176.

APRIL 5 - 11, 2009
IN THE LIFE LODGE: Forgiveness, Apology and Reconciliation

Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona
Guides: Meredith Little and Scott Eberle

Imagine you live in a community that has its own "Death Lodge," a place where a dying person can rest and receive the visitors who come to say goodbye. This is the natural place of "making it good" with your people so you can cleanly move on, and they can let you go in the fullness of completion. One of the great challenges we all face in life is to do this work now, when it is most needed, rather than waiting until the last days of our dying. Call this the work of "the Life Lodge."

This seven day program focuses on healing the wounds of a troubled relationship. Day by day, participants move through "the four shields of the Life Lodge," looking to restore a personal and communal balance that embraces the wounds of the past without becoming mired in them. Each person is encouraged to stay in the present moment of what is arising, trusting that healing happens when we embrace the truth of our moment-to-moment experience.

If you listen, today more than ever, you can hear a cry for this kind of healing-be it in the lives of individual friends, or in the biggest stories of our time. That cry is calling for each of us to do the wrenching work of self-reflection and personal healing, which evokes the deeper levels of our humanity, offering the possibility of a reconciliation with self and others that is sacred, humbling, and ultimately life-changing.

For further information, full write up, and enrollment, please go to The School of Lost Borders website, or contact Meredith and Scott directly.

Meredith: lostbrdrs@cebridge.net Scott: seberle@sbcglobal.net

April 20 - 27, 2009
Renewal Fasts: A Vision Quest for guides ( limited spaces available)

Five years ago the WGC "Ranger Council" began offering a Renewal Fast for our membership who are Guides. It has had a great response and serves us well. Immediately following the International Gathering in Arizona we would like to invite you to participate in a Renewal Fast for Guides in "Apache Country" of Arizona.

We are offering this as a Give-Away. Our location will be near the site of the Gathering and will be the week following.

We will be holding a space to allow each of you to spend 4 days and nights alone, and then return to base camp and share stories. We will provide our base camp kitchen and food. Water will need to be filtered from a nearby stream.

A packet of information will be sent to each person that signs up. Please notify us if you have any special needs. We are not sure how many will want to participate but we are planning accommodate all who desire to fast.

For information contact: Tom Quinton tomquinton@earthlink.net

April 21 - 25, 2009
Training Program on Nature-Based Shadow Work

Car-camping on wildlands (exact location to be announced) in southern or central AZ
Guides: Bill Plotkin and Dianne Timberlake

This training is for guides working in the settings of wilderness, rites of passage, soul initiation, psychotherapy, coaching, etc. We will develop our skills in working with:

• overpowering emotional charges triggered by other people and by encounters in the natural world
• projections and transferences
• shadow work: strategies for spotting, unmasking, and assimilating those dark shapes
• loyal soldiers: the sub-personalities that have been keeping us "safe" since early childhood by keeping us small
• our sacred wounds -- our core vulnerabilities -- that have kept us stuck in the Old Story, but that also provide the priceless opportunity, when we are ready, to remythologize our lives.

More information at www.animas.org or soulcraft@animas.org or 1-800-451-6327.