Month Long Intensive

Guides:  Ruth Wharton, Joseph (Angelo) Lazenka, Petra Lentz-Snow, Pedro McMillan, Ramon Parish, Darcy Ottey 

Contact: ruth@lostborders.org

Who: This month-long intensive is designed for those who seek to explore and develop their vocation as wilderness guides within the tradition of the School and beyond. Here, participants are given the opportunity and mentorship to fully immerse themselves in the ceremonial and practical aspects of modern day wilderness rites of passage that have evolved throughout our years of practice and have been passed down through the teaching of our elders. It is a beneficial training for those who plan to work with either adults or youth, and who desire to gain a solid foundation in the Vision Fast ceremony.

Since 2010 we have expanded the comprehensiveness of this training while maintaining its grounded, experiential base. Covering a wide range of relevant themes throughout the month, the essence of the teaching will emerge from our relationships with the soul and body of the land, where the eternal wisdom of pan-cultural rites of passage arises, reflecting the underlying wisdom and dynamism of all life.

Logistics: The group will camp together for a month in the heights of the beautiful Rocky Mountains surrounded by high mountain vistas, meadows abundant with wildflowers, Aspen groves, and the wild creatures who call this place home. We will blend as a community of diverse individuals as well as entering the community of this wild land. Most afternoons will be spent in focused and ceremonial solo time, experientially exploring the themes of the day. The apprentice-trainee must play two roles: that of initiate and that of field therapist, naïve participant and knowing professional. The experiences of daily initiatory activity in the wilderness will inform and illumine the subject matter of the teaching.

Trainees will have the opportunity to learn from a rotating team of highly experienced guides and teachers from Lost Borders throughout the month, culminating in a four-day personal vision fast.

Topics will include but not be limited to:

• the theory and foundations of rites of passage and their pan-cultural universality

• the four shields of human nature

• the nature of self-generated ceremony and the role of threshold-crossing

• the place of nature in ecotherapy

• nature as mirror and the practice of “mirroring” stories

• council practice

• providing a safe and inclusive container to diverse individuals and communities

• dynamics of power and privilege in guiding

• cultural misappropriation

• empowerment in the elder’s council

•  rites of passage as dying practice

• what a guide is and is not

• the dynamics of fasting and use of “taboos”

• specific practices such as the Death Lodge, Purpose Circle, and other pan-culturalsymbols and practices

• the screening and preparation of candidates

• shaping and honing of intent as a foundation for threshold experiences

• maintaining a candidate’s physical/psychological/mental/spiritual safety

• variations on traditional models of wilderness vision fasts (such as one-day formats and the use of nearby natural areas)

• working with youth, elders, and special populations, and

• the all-important topic of incorporation and appropriateness of this work to the challenges of our world today