RITES OF PASSAGE
Uncovering the abundance that comes through understanding
and moving into harmony with the Rhythms of Your Life.
ONLINE COURSE 1, February 25 - March 24, 2010
"Stepping Into the Unknown"
Rites of passage, what are they and why are they so important in our lives? Every culture on earth has observed them in some form, yet they are as little understood in our world as Mother Earth, herself, and they no longer generate the harmony and self-confidence in living that they once did.
In its truest form, a rite of passage is a way of helping you move through any major change in your life in a way that helps you to understand what is happening to you, what your role in it is and how you successfully move forward into the new world that the upheaval has created. If it is a true rite of passage, it also includes an observance or celebration of what you have accomplished by moving through the transition. How many times have you ever truly celebrated what you have accomplished in life?
In the way of my teachers, a rite of passage necessarily includes a period of separation and instruction, where you step outside of the role that has suddenly changed for you so that you can look carefully at who you were when the upheaval happened and what it is that must change within you going forward, and you receive guidance and instruction from the elders on moving through the transition and what will be expected of you in your new role. After this period of introspection and taking stock, your passage is made complete by a “rite,” a sacred ceremony or celebration of what you have accomplished and what you will be seeking to accomplish in your new role – hence, rite of passage.
There are many passages in each of our lives, some of them major. When you have the opportunity to experience a passage through a major upheaval in the traditional shamanic way, it gives you a guidepost for handling the other life-changing experiences you are going to encounter in life. So many people say to me, “Lynn, I am at a real crossroads in my life and I don’t trust myself to make these next decisions. I have chosen wrong so many times in the past, and I am tired of spending my life trying to make up for really bad choices that seemed to make sense at the time.” It is time to change that.
It is true that the choices we make on our journey shape our lives. It is true that most of us have gone through life making choices without the benefit of much guidance and support. It is also true that it is never to late to learn, to change and to grow. As Winston Churchill said, “Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm!” (which he did often, before becoming a distinguished world statesman at the age of 66).
So it is never too late to look at the significant passages of your life through the eyes of shamanic vision, to learn from the wisdom of the ancients and celebrate yourself for your tremendous accomplishments in surviving the hardships you have survived to get to where you are today. Why let another moment of your life go unacknowledged?
Rites of passage are always based on the rhythms of the First Mother. As you utilize these rites to work through a major change in your life, or perhaps an earlier unresolved or poorly resolved change, you learn to resonate with the rhythms of nature. Pieces of confusion drop away and you begin to celebrate who you truly are and not just who the world wants you to be. You find a wellspring of creativity and power within you that you never saw before.
There is a beauty and a power and a balance within each of us, but so few of us seem to know how to access that aesthetic and present it into our lives as part of our wholeness.
This year will be a full year of experiencing rites of passage from as many different vantage points as possible in an endeavor to create a beautiful bridge between the way your life has unfolded without them and a new future for yourself that is based on the wisdom and understanding they give to you.
In each life, we all go through passages that are age-related, passages that are socially based, and passages that are the result of individual upheavals in our lives that may be very different from what the world around us is experiencing.
You will have an opportunity, if you would like, to revisit old passages that perhaps didn’t work out so well so that you can re-imprint your consciousness and your spirit shield with new understanding and move forward from a new place of empowerment.
You will learn to look at the age-based passages of puberty and adolescence, adulthood, elderhood and the approach of old age through different eyes, through eyes that understand what lies ahead as a reflection of the spirit you carry within you. And you will revitalize that spirit so that it is coming from the place of beauty and power and balance. Some of you will have gone through some
of these passages already, some of you will be going through them now. All of you deal every day with
people who are going through them in their own lives. As you get a better understanding of what a true life passage is, you will know intuitively how to approach those around you in a better way. One of the things that rites of passage give to society is that they help others learn to treat you in new ways that are more appropriate to the passage you have gone through. When you give the world around you the gift of your own enlightenment, everybody grows.
In a sense, this will be a year that is all about reinventing yourself so that you become the person you’ve always meant to be.
We are living in a time of new astrological influences, new stresses, new opportunities and possibilities that the world has never known before. Our whole world is changing. How we move through these changes will determine in every respect the direction for our entire planet. Through understanding your movement through these changes as a rite of passage, you will build a new foundation
for living, one that is based on spiritual abundance and how that translates to abundance in every aspect
of your life. How do you find the opportunities that are there waiting for you? Isn’t it time to learn?
What is it that is truly your dream for your life, do you really know? How do you handle death, rebirth and transformation … of anything: divorce, loss of a job or cherished relationship, children growing up and going out on their own; outgrowing the role you’ve been playing for so long; the need to take a major new step in life?
How have you evolved spiritually, what spiritual passages do you need to honor and complete as you move forward in life? What mental passages have you experienced that you could do a little better next time around? That next time around is happening right now. Do you really sit down with the Old Wise One and ask for guidance? We are living through a great heyoka time in our world,
where it seems that everything is coming as a surprise. How do you relate to the heyoka and the incredible wisdom
and abundance that are found in humor?
2010 is a year that is all about health. What passages have you gone through or are you going through right now that are health-related? Isn’t it time to find balance between the physical and the spiritual world with regard to your health?
Finally, it is all about boundaries, how you set and enforce (or don’t enforce) them, how you push up against the boundaries that the world sets. It is about wandering with intent, about living like an arrow and not like a target.
How do you find those hidden trails of comfort and balance within your own soul? Rites of passage are an ancient and powerful way of finding your own identity and guiding your walkabout through the physical world. They are a way of celebrating you at the same time that you are held accountable for where you have been and where you are going next in life.
Lashika, the She-Wolf, a magnificent alpha wolf, will make these journeys with you. She will witness the ceremonies you create and she will witness your new birth, the birth of a new kind of existence and life force, the birth of a teacher into the world of wisdom with the courage to move through the world like she does, gathering knowledge and bringing it home to your brothers and sisters, to your children, so that they might also live in harmony and sacred witness on Mother Earth.
We have let traditional rites of passage go out of our modern world, with their emphasis on all three of the stages of a major transition, and it hasn’t worked very well. Today when people think of a 'rite of passage,' they think of a birthday party, perhaps a graduation ceremony or a wedding or retirement party. It’s all about the party with very little about the passage, and we aren’t learning from our experiences … kind of like eating three meals a day on the fast food line and then wondering why we aren’t getting healthy.
It is time to change that now. When you experience a full rite of passage through the major transitions of your life, it rejuvenates your point of view and kindles anew the fires of creativity within you. You have accomplished much in your life. You have seen much. You have been down many trails. Now it is time for you to make choices for yourself, for your own fulfillment, for your own wisdom and your own creativity on any level that you choose.
| Come and journey with me through 2010 as we dream alive the rites of passage that will carry you into a life of spiritual abundance and personal fulfillment. There are four courses in this series. *They are tentatively scheduled for: ONLINE COURSE 1, February 25 – March 24, 2010
ONLINE COURSE 2, May 6 – June 2, 2010 ONLINE COURSE 3, August 12 – September 8, 2010 ONLINE COURSE 4, October 28 – November 24, 2010 (Schedule is subject to possible change). |
I look forward to dreaming, creating and celebrating your rites of passage with you.
In love and spirit, 
*Registration for each Course will begin approximately one month before the Course is scheduled to go live, and detailed information on the first Course will be posted shortly.
*Each Course in the series is designed to stand on its own and be complete within its own teachings, and you do not have to take an earlier Course in order to get the optimum benefit from any later Course.
*Participation in all four Courses, however, will make you eligible to join my Dream Talkers’ Circle.
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2. There are two one-hour live teleconferences with Lynn and all of your classmates which are part of this Course. The projected schedule of teleconferences will be posted when registration opens. You do not need to be on these teleconferences to complete the work of this course and have your questions answered. 3. This Course is an intensive 4-week course of independent study which includes:
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1. Access to a computer and an email address are required to download the Course Manual and audio meditation(s); receive ongoing information about the Course; participate in discussions with the Moderators and other Course participants on a private section of Lynn’s Sacred Forum; and receive ongoing feedback from Lynn.
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Fee for Regular Tuition: $260 ($220 for students currently enrolled in LACSAT and KS). Fees for CE Credit:
These fees include a $50 non-refundable deposit. Seven days prior to the beginning of the course the entire fee will become non-refundable.
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Suggested additional materials* will be available from Lynn's Online Store. Each Online Course will have supplemental material updated when the Online Course is open for registration.
* These materials are not required; they are suggested as aids, only. All teachings for this Course will be contained within the Course Handbook, audio meditation(s) and supplemental materials made available through the Online Course Forum once the Course goes live.
For detailed information, please check the Continuing Education Credit information page. Click on the button below to go directly to the Online Course section.
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