
Tree of Life Adulthood Initiation
PLEASE NOTE: TREE OF LIFE LEADERSHIP HAS BEEN IN AN IMPORTANT REST AND RE-ENVISIONING PROCESS OF THESE OFFERINGS. WE PLAN TO BEGIN A NEW COHORT IN THE FALL OF 2025. PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT FUTURE OFFERINGS. YOUR AND OTHER’S INTEREST ABSOLUTELY MOTIVATES US TO BEGIN AGAIN.
In the Tree of Life Initiation we examine what it takes to stand upright on this earth—
as humans and co-creators with life.
In this initiatory process we examine and step into what it takes to stand upright on this earth. We value conscious living and tending to our relationships with gratitude, humility, and an understanding of the give and take of life. We spend time interfacing with our human and non-human relations, from present and past times.
A Letter to You…
The waters in the great cauldron of life are being stirred. The Grandmothers are whispering.
Spirit is calling. We are putting our ears to the ground, our noses to the wind, praying to the
four directions, singing to the moon, warming the ashes in the central fire pit.
The door to Initiation is opening.
This is an invitation into the Tree of Life Adulthood Initiation.
We, who have been down this road and through this portal, understand the grit, the determination, the integrity and devotion to stay connected to your longing that it takes to make it through this journey.
In asking the hard questions, taking the time to sit with deep self inquiry, to clean up the messes from our youth and ancestors, to address what we have taken on that may no longer serve, we learn how to stand upright; to come into alignment with Spirit, with this Earth, and our own Soul.
We aim to bring in lasting grounding, balance, and harmony through deep ally-ship from Spirit.
We delve into our own ancestral connection, working in the landscape of ceremony, creating deep connection to wildness and the still places, and adopting daily practices.
We create support structures with elders, peers, aunties, and anchor systems that cultivate long term relationships which inherently build community.
This is an invitation through a portal; a proposal dropping at your feet. The proposal involves a commitment to a preparation of FOUNDATIONS followed by an INITIATION journey. Reciprocity to the land, spirits, and people who are aiding you, relationship with your ancestors and the land you are sitting on, and a willingness to be in deep ceremony are central to this endeavor.
All the “not readies,” all the “I need time,” are understandable, but only for a short while. The truth is that there is never a “completely ready,” there is never a really “right time.” As with any descent to the unconscious, there comes a time when one simply hopes for the best, pinches one’s nose, and jumps into the abyss.
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Templates as old as humanity will provide a map for the Tree of Life journey. Mentors, elders, and anchors in your community will hold the container for you. Your own individual connection to Spirit will be strengthened and will support your process of truly re-claiming your healthy maiden and claiming your birth rite into initiated adulthood.
Through direct mentoring, ceremony, deep self inquiry, and being held by elders and community, we make this passage. Having those who have gone through this process before, who are aware of the aspects needed to come through this passage, while creating the support structure of elders, aunties, and community, is truly a unique gift in this modern context.
We acknowledge that in our current society, beyond the academic and the work worlds, our youth are left up to their own when it comes to maturing and developing into whole beings. In the places and times of an intact culture, it would be our elders who would be very invested in the journey of the youth, for if they are not consciously led, held, and pulled into adulthood, they may never reach there. Some would say that a young person while in the exploratory and adventuresome phase of adolescence, eventually longs to be in touch with their gifts; gifts that they were born here to offer into the world; so that they may be made truly useful.
Once setting up a solid Foundation through the Foundations Journey, the participant is more prepared to walk toward their gifts. Aha! It is not made so easy! They must cross a "river of grief" in order to get there, they must descend. Claiming their gifts and being able to offer them to the world is a large part of what coming into adulthood is about. The crossing of this "river of grief" is, in essence, a spiritual death; a necessary release of the smaller version of themself, that allows the larger adult-self to emerge. This is not a simple or easy process, for even spiritual death feels all the world like real death.
The Descent journey is a solo journey ~ and~ it is not made to be done alone. It is a significant commitment and is not an easy process. It requires the ability to push life back and to create space for a sort of contained self-absorption of self-examination and inner work. It demands looking within at one’s self honestly and sharing with vulnerability in a circle of witnesses what you find there. It asks one to dissolve what is known of oneself to find what is true when the masks have been identified and stripped away. The Descent invites a peeling back of the conditioning that no longer serves, a transmutation and integrating of the wounds carried from this life and beyond. It isn’t comfortable. It is not easy. And done with compassionate mentoring and guidance in an incredible circle of trust, there is a peculiar joy to the work. The laughter accompanies the tears. And the journey requires a deep commitment and a shift in priorities to choose an encounter with death that transforms and liberates at the level of one’s soul. And even wading through the river of grief shall pass. There is a shore on the other side where others await you, see you, and celebrate you. A place where you are welcomed into adulthood and can live your sovereign life, with an embodied sense of interconnectedness within the web of life that sustains you.
TESTIMONIALS:
“For years I have felt lost and confused, feeling all the external pressure to know who I am and what my path is, how to make a living, and be a producing member of society with some expectation that it would all be clear and immediate as soon as school was done. As I felt those pressures increase I wanted so badly to be able to meet them but only withdrew further and further inward into cloudiness and depression, feeling more disconnected from who I thought I was than ever. I needed mentorship and a safe container to move through the generations of stories that were making life so dark and murky for me, and I couldn’t do it by myself. I found a community of women who I truly look up to as role models of service, adulthood, and womanhood, who not only show me how to live in a good way through their actions, but could teach me how, and guide me through the process of clearing my ancestral lines and personal traumas, building self-generative practices, and unearthing and claiming my gifts to be able to step into selfhood and service. It continues to amaze me that through this process I’ve released self-destructive patterns that I’ve carried my whole life, and now truly feel free from. I am healing my relationship to my family, to my body, and to the emotions that have made it hard for me to show up to life. Today I feel stronger in my sense of self, freer from the shackles and shadows that have kept me in hiding and self-loathing, and energized and inspired to activate in my service and give back to the world that continues to give me so much.”
~previous Tree of Life Initiate
“During this formative time, I met monthly in a circle of women for council and ceremony, received mentoring from older women who I perceive to be incredible change-makers in the world, and learned beautiful and powerful new prayer modalities. Through this work, I have come into myself as a spiritual leader and understand that I walk in the world in an essentially prayerful way; my connection to Spirit is central to who I am. It has been deeply enriching to delve into a ceremonial prayer form that draws strongly from the Kabbalistic Tree of Life while also incorporating more universal and ancient women's ways, modern eco/psycho-spiritual teachings on life cycles and rites-of-passage, and relevant and useful teachings from global spiritual traditions, while also honoring and including what is sacred to indigenous peoples that lived on this land long before we got here.”
~Rebecca Schisler, 2014-15 Initiate, Visual Artist, Writer and Educator
“I left the country and the culture I knew to pursue an alternative and healthier lifestyle in the United States. Although I found a home in the work of environmental education and social justice, the effects of depression and residual childhood trauma still hindered my progress and self confidence and prevented my career success. Through my experience in Tree of Life, I was able to process and move through what was holding me stuck in unhealthy patterning in relationships with people, food, myself and almost immediately after completing my Creation Rites ceremony, I began a path as a Horticultural Therapist working with teens and women in Eating Disorder Recovery. Every day is still a choice and a journey but I now have the tools and a greater understanding to walk into each moment with a clear knowing of myself and curiosity for mending.”
~previous Tree of Life Initiate
What We Provide
Ceremony
Monthly councils, once/season 4 day intensive retreat and one weekend per month supporting fire ceremony
Ceremonial work that promotes cleansing, grief release, & aligning to your true self
Post-Ceremony integration
Culminating 10-12 day Adulthood Rites of Passage Ceremony
Nature & Culture Connection
A spiritually sound container
Being led on a deep nature connection journey
Support in daily routines that promote prayerfulness and peace
Moon Time practices & teachings
Using the Kabbalistic Tree of Life as an archetypal map
Witness, Guidance & Mentoring
Experience of a gift culture
Access to elder support
One-on-one mentoring
Creation of a supportive community & long-term relationships
Being in a long term process with a bonded group of peers
Claiming Adulthood
A path and process to claim oneself as an adult
Resources and somatic practices to support the dismantling of internal systems of Patriarchy
Cultural Connection
Ancestral inquiry & Honoring
Council experience, guided self inquiry, & personal processing
What We Ask in Return
Prerequisite: Completion of the Foundations journey
A Commitment to Adulthood Initiation journey
Full participation
Agreement to a Code of Conduct - based in The Peacemaker Principles
Reciprocity of a monetary value and gifting throughout the journey to TOL Elders & Supporters
Showing up for the Creation Rites (the 2 week adulthood initiation ceremony) in your round and Supporting the round that comes after you.