Grief, Trauma & Adult Rites of Passage with John Wolfstone - Unedited

Through the Dark Woods of Grief

Note: I chose to leave this episode unedited even though I had a moment of going completely blank in the beginning :) Truth: I'm a perfectionist, and so leaving this unedited is an act of allowing that part of me to take a vacation :) I also wanted to give you, listener, the opportunity to see me in a moment of vulnerability and how our "mis-takes" when held with compassion become a part of the fabric of the beauty we weave.

In this episode we discuss adult rites of passage, rough initiation vs. being initiated in the village, and how grief & trauma work connects through the layers of all of it. We talk about the art of building a village around us - not physical houses but through the web of connections - elders, mentors, allies & anchors.

John Wolfstone is a filmmaker, ritualist, wilderness rites-of-passage guide, emergence facilitator and sacred clown focused on the work of cultural redemption. Over the past 15 years, he has wielded these tools in service to restorative justice, ancestral healing and peace building in conflict zones from rural Guatemalan villages, to Middle Eastern refugee camps and inner cities in the U.S. He has studied intensively the 8 Shields Cultural Regeneration model, been a scholar at the Orphan Wisdom School, trained with Weaving Earth Relational Education, and been a long-term student, and trainee of the Tamera Love School and Healing Biotope Education. He has four times been awarded Moishe House grants to facilitate Jewish community gatherings on Ancestry, Love, and recollecting the Village. In addition, he has been producing new paradigm films and events through his media collaborative, Re/Culture Media.