#31: Darcy Ottey - Templates for Change

How Humans Work Podcast

In episode #31, Templates for Change, Darcy Ottey from Youth Passageways joins the show for an extended conversation about her love for Rites of Passage (RoP) work as well as her recent book on the subject: Rites and Responsibilities: A Guide to Growing Up.

With an extensive and deeply personal connection to Rites of Passage practices, Darcy helps us to see how these original cultural technologies offer us templates for negotiating the phases of our lives. In ROP practices, she says, we find the blueprints for helping us to honor the cycles of change with what Darcy calls transition literacy.

We explore the value transition literacy offered her during the COVID-19 lockdown, as well as other stressful periods of change. Along the way we can see how the frames and language of RoP, including Arnold van Gennep’s three-phase of separation, transition and return, support us in learning to be with change more effectively.

In thinking about the function of Rites of Passage in young peoples lives, Darcy not only shares poignant stories about the value of letting the dependencies of childhood die away as a necessary part of development, but she also strongly implores young people to call for their own rites as a birthright for authentic belonging and self-discovery.

With care and honesty, Darcy shows us why a culturally respectful approach to contemporary Rites of Passage is essential. Creating genuine belonging and re-empowered communities without furthering repetitions of ongoing harms of domination-based societies requires such respect. Moreover, we come to see how RoP work itself is a profound way to heal old wounds and violations that got us to a place where meaningful and wise rites have been stolen or scrubbed away.

Finally, Darcy shares hard-earned guidance on the tricky terrain of drugs and sex as part of the coming of age journey. She gives us a sense of how we might consider these issues as young people or for the young people in our lives.

Templates for Change offers a fresh voice to old ways, and as we listen to Darcy share her experiences and considered knowledge, we are reminded how we can all benefit by embracing the technology Rites of Passages, especially in times of stress.