RECLAIMING INITIATION
Since the resurgence of the so-called psychedelic renaissance, sacred plant medicine has increasingly been framed through the lens of Western therapy, personal growth, and wellness. While these frameworks offer certain forms of relief, they often miss something essential: initiation is not primarily about healing, insight, or self-improvement, though these are byproducts of its process. At its core, it’s about irreversible change, obligation, and a reorganization of how one must live.
In indigenous cultures, profound disruption was not interpreted as pathology or crisis, but recognized as the call of initiation. What modern culture names trauma, burnout, loss, or identity confusion was understood as evidence that an old life could no longer hold. The response was not interpretation or repair, but structure.
Drawing from indigenous traditions, anthropology, and long-term dieta practice, Reclaiming Initiation introduces initiation theory as the root for understanding deep change—particularly in relation to sacred medicine. Initiation theory names a cross-cultural pattern for how humans are transformed when ordinary coping fails, moving through three necessary phases: separation, liminality, and incorporation. Where modern culture reliably falters is not in opening experience, but in holding these phases to completion.
This talk emphasizes discernment over experience. It explores how initiation reorganizes identity, why trauma can be understood as uncompleted initiation, and why containment, rigor, and closure matter more than insight, catharsis, or meaning-making. It addresses common distortions in contemporary plant medicine culture, including prolonged liminality, over-processing, identity inflation, and the near-total loss of incorporation.
Rather than centering peak experiences or personal narratives, this work returns to older values: responsibility over revelation, discipline over indulgence, service over consumerism, and community over self-definition. Influences such as Hannah Arendt, Carl Jung, and Joseph Campbell’s greatest inspiration, Arnold van Gennep, will be referenced not as theory, but as lenses that illuminate what indigenous cultures have long practiced.
Rather than centering peak experiences or personal narratives, this work returns to older values: responsibility over revelation, discipline over indulgence, service over consumerism, and community over self-definition. Influences such as Hannah Arendt, Carl Jung, and Joseph Campbell’s greatest inspiration, Arnold van Gennep, will be referenced not as theory, but as lenses that illuminate what indigenous cultures have long practiced.
As we enter a new year—a natural initiation—this talk offers:
- grounding in indigenous initiation principles as they apply to plant medicine
- clarity around the structural rigor required to hold medicine spaces with integrity
- an honest examination of the challenges facing non-indigenous practitioners and participants as this work continues to spread
This 90-minute talk is a condensed version of a longer series, focused on what initiation actually requires once the visions fade and life resumes—and on what is needed to allow the process to finish.
Public Rate: $35, sliding scale available – Buy Now
Reciprocal Contribution:
Offered by contribution for retreat participants and annual subscribers.
Feedback Round (Optional):
The final 30 minutes will be a structured feedback round offered in service of the work. This is a listening space, not a processing or teaching segment. A small number of participants will be invited to speak aloud, while all others are welcome to share their reflections in the chat. Reflections are focused on what stayed with you, where you felt confusion or wanted more, and what questions you hope this work might explore next.
