Family*-Rooted Initiation Initiative

Vision

We are inviting a group of individuals/cohorts from different geographic and cultural backgrounds, to come together and undertake initiatory efforts within their families or communities during 2019. These efforts will be supported by the CCP, as a means of building personal, familial, and community resiliency, and engage in deep healing work toward building a post-colonial world.

These efforts may be small or large, with the intention of engaging initiates, guides, mentors, and community members in what is possible now. Those involved will serve as witnesses and peer support for one another over the course of the project.

Participants will document their journeys in order to share their stories, harvest learnings, and collect resources relevant to a variety of families, and create an easily accessible report/guide available online for families & communities moving forward.

Why a Family-Rooted Initiation Initiative?

We see this process as essential in helping to support those of us that are settlers in understanding our accountability upon indigenous lands. We envision ceremonies accompanied by work to align our families with the leadership provided by indigenous peoples. At the same time, we see this as being ancestrally rooted in our family roots and cultures, and extending throughout how we initiate our youth.

Even for practitioners, bringing passageways to our closest kin can be challenging. If rites of passage are truly going to be accessible and relevant for young people of all backgrounds, we need to develop more models of rites of passage outside of program structures, and within models deeply rooted in healing justice. This project is a step in that direction.

Doing this alone will not work. Kinship–however we understand it–will be the only way to make this a lasting legacy.

Who is this for?

We are imagining a small group will take part in the pilot year of this project, representing a range of geographic locations, ancestral lineages, backgrounds, and interests. Some will be already deeply involved in initiatory work, with Youth Passageways or elsewhere. Others will be brand-new and this will be their introductory exposure to the practices. What the group will share is a commitment to collaborative learning, a curiosity for how to bring initiatory experienced to their families and/or local communities, and a willingness to commit to the process.

Commitment:

Establish a clear beginning, middle, & end of the project, as a way of confirming a commitment to this process
Beginning includes: commitment to this process from each member of the family that is participating
Middle includes: ceremonial marker(s)
End includes: being seen by the broader community, sort of harvesting what folks are taking away from the initiation
Show up for one another in peer support, to share resources
Be willing to engage in transforming the ways that white supremacy, settler colonialism, heteropatriarchy, and capitalism are interwoven in our lives and the lives of our families; centering the voices of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and Person of Color) and other marginalized people in our circle.
Document and offer back the experience.

This process is ongoing. You can engage at any time, and the project only requires the resources you currently have! There is no expectation regarding form. What may evolve will be limited only by imagination.

The intention is that this is a step toward greater resiliency, without the investment of money, experience, or time beyond your capacity. You can share retroactively as well. We recognize that so much innovation comes from need; what has your family needed that you’ve already done?

Curious and want to learn more? Register for an upcoming Informational Call Sunday, March 3rd, 2-3 Pacific.

If you would like to participate, please submit a letter of intent or request an intake interview by contacting sobeyone@gmail.com and darcy.ottey@gmail.com by March 15th, 2019. Our intention is to officially begin on the Full Moon/Vernal Equinox of March 20th.

Facilitator Backgrounds

Sobey Wing is a hapa (mixed racial) Visayan-Iberian, Chinese-French settler living as an uninvited guest in the Unceded Coast Salish Territories of so-called British Columbia. Using he/his/him pronouns Sobey is current president of Kathara Pilipino Indigenous Arts Society and has served over the years on the Board of Directors of Youth Passageways. He is a founding member and co-chair of Youth Passageways Cross-Cultural Protocols think tank. Learn more HERE.

Darcy Ottey (she/her)
Rites of Passage have been part of Darcy’s life since her coming of age journey when she was 13. This path has led her to guide wilderness trips for teens, serve as Executive Director of the program she took part in as a youth, venture to the lands of her ancestors to understand more of her history, and more. Currently, she serves as Co-Director for Youth Passageways. She loves dancing (especially under the full moon), learning to make Slavic folks dolls, and exploring ways to help herself and others with racial, gender, and class privilege understand their history; reclaim ancestral traditions and connections with their bodies and nature, and take responsibility for ongoing injustice. Darcy’s ancestors include early Quaker settlers of Turtle Island from Wales and England, British coal miners, and Ukrainian peasants, and she makes her home now in the Methow Valley in Okanogan County, Washington, the traditional territory of the Mətxʷú people.

Learn more about the Cross-Cultural Protocols & Working Group HERE.