Handprints of the Ancestors:

A Women's Path to Initiation Through Reclamation

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear of falling down or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
~ by Dawna Markova

The women come. They come one by one; they come in droves, reaching out their hands, striding through the grasses, up the long hills, over the paths worn smooth by those who came before them. They come with their joys and sorrows, their woundings and their healings, their questions, their wisdom. Young ones come and those who stand on the edge of elderhood and all the ones in between. They bring their stories, their children, their loves, their mothers and grandmothers, their fathers and grandfathers, their birthings and dyings, all these cached in the places around their hearts, in the warmth of their wombs. And all of them exude their longing; it glints from their eyes, rises like morning steam as they pass the trees of the valleys.

The longing is to know they belong: to the earth, to wildness, to their sisters, to their own bodies and selves, to those who came before them. Often these women have learned to be small and have lived with the smoldering outrage their psyches sing of in the darkness of the night when they are unable to sleep. In still, deep water, they have seen their largeness, recognized themselves and they march up the mountains to reclaim what is their birthright.

And so initiation among the women of Wisdom Bridge came about out of this longing to be more, bigger, more whole, to experience belonging and to take all of this into their bodies so as to turn and take it out into the world.

Because there is no initiation process at puberty in our society, we at Wisdom Bridge begin the process with adult women. These women arrive with their lives already much lived. And by the time they arrive, much has been lopped off, torn, and broken. Likewise, there is much beauty, strength and wisdom. This is the stuff of adult initiation, looking at all of it, picking up the pieces of what has been broken off in the process of growing up, reclaiming what is precious, sorting for what has fed healing and growth, recognizing the gifts that have flowed, naming, tending.

Handprints of the Ancestors' initiation is a ten month process in which eight women meet weekly with skilled facilitators to explore. The process is one of honoring what has been and what is to become. Through group work, teachings, discussion, reading, journaling, and ritual each woman in each initiation group makes discoveries about herself and her journey in life, how to realize her larger self and what gifts she has to bring to the world. The group coalesces into a community of women who are bonded and able to support each other in deep discovery work and in everyday life. In addition to the weekly meetings, the group meets over the course of four weekends to further deepen connection to nature, self, each other, the ancestors (both biological and spiritual) and to sisterhood, building a container of trust and belonging that provides the strength and support for the five day initiation process that happens in October. And thereafter, these women are blessed with a community of sisters that remains precious, that offers support. It is remarkable to live in this society and have a circle of women that knows the stories, has seen each woman at her most vulnerable and at her very best and who continues to see her, witness and support her. The circle provides remembrance of her origins and of whom she has become.

If you are interested in women's initiation, you can contact Sashana Proctor at sashanap@juno.com or you can call her at 707 546-9668.