Rites of Passage

Crossing the Tasman glacier moraine one very hot February day, my then partner said it was a "rite of passage". We arrived at Ball Hut as darkness fell into the mountains. We leaned our packs with ski gear, ropes and equipment for the last week against the wall. Sweat steamed off our tshirts and started to freeze as we grovelled in our bags for down jackets and hats. The billy boiled and the three of us sat down to the best cup of tea ever, in silence.

The moraine was a series of endless hills and valleys of rock and gravel, the sound of water tinkling below was unreachable, no cell phone signal, snow in the shaddow of rocks and scorching heat in the sun. No signs, no track worn by others, no way of knowing where the one and only safe place of getting out of the moraine valley and onto the terrace was. At one point I dropped behind the two guys feeling utterly exhausted and thought if I died nobody would find me and wondered if anyone would care. I curled up in the cold shade of a rock, took a mouthful of snow and cried.

I decided I would never do anything called a "rite of passage" again.

Now my studies lead me to understanding what a rite of passage actually is:

In 1909 Arnold van Gennep wrote The Rites of Passage in French which was translated to English in 1960. Van Gennep identified a rite of passage as a rite or ceremonial process where a person goes through a change of place, state, social position or age (Turner 1967:94). Victor Turner elaborated on van Gennep’s theories with liminality being a key to defining a rite of passage, liminality is a time of transition or change. Douglas Davies describes a rite of passage as “a theory for interpreting changes of status in human society” (Davies 1994:3).

I find the cirles of life fascinating. In returning to themes we discover new meaning. I am just back from coaching in a rite of passage at the Institute of Somatic Sexology training in Australia. I LOVE rites of passage as they support and celebrate growth.

It is unlikely I will ski tour the Tasman glacier in the year ahead, but I am certainly entering another rite of passage with my studies in psychology. I wonder, what is your growth area this year and what will you do to support and celebrate that?

Lots of love,

Sonia.

Photo: Hazel Phillips, Wilderness Magazine, De la Beche ridge and the Tasman Glacier curving away to the right.