This book has grown like a tree, like a fire; it has developed from a seed, a spark...

  Many years ago, in a circle of trees, a fire was lit. It led many men and women to its flame of truth and council. A movement was started and a program for young people was seeded. People travelled from far and wide to share their stories and to learn and heal. They began to notice that an ancient and natural process was being rediscovered, re-memebered;
Rites of Passage.

   Through the conscious processes of sharing true stories, being acknowledged and marking the changes from an old to a new stage of life, these men and women began to re-create the traditional framework of tribal culture in a modern context. They also realised that a lot of their stories had common threads, common questions. Who am I?  

What is my story?  What do I believe?  Who do I belong to?
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Where do I come from? Where am I going?

What comes next after being a parent?

What is my new role in my family (community)?

Who am I as an older woman?

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From these times a program for young people began to form. We looked around the world for others doing this work and began to create connections and networks, meet mentors and teachers. One of the resources we came across was a book called 'Marking Lifes Stages' by Don Bowak.  Some years after Don passed away in 2008 we contacted his family and asked if we could republish his book. This has now led us to the book that is nearly fives times the size and includes over 17 significant people.

This book details the stories of the people and the program that has now helped hundreds of young people and their families. 
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From the Book...

Introduction by Jim Horton

My one main assumption in publishing this book is my belief that fathers and mothers want their children to grow into whole and healthy adults and to become a powerful force for good in our communities. 

​If you are one of these parents or people searching for ways to achieve these outcomes then this resource is for you.  In this book, through the medium of ancient and modern critical processes which have been proven down the years we offer:

• The true stories of the people who have been instrumental in developing a preventative program, a Rite of Passage (initiation) process for boys and girls.
  
  
• We open up and describe our program for your understanding of the process and to make it available for your employment to celebrate the coming of age of your children.

• There are chapters from authors whose work has inspired us and became a part of our program.

• I have re-published ‘Marking Life’s Stages’, a seminal work in its own right by Don Bowak, one of my mentors and teachers as a part of this book.

• Lastly we offer our programs of Rites of Passage (ROP) for your children under the auspices of ‘The Rites of Passage Foundation’  (Tracks for boys and Tides for girls as they enter their teens).  Our New Zealand based foundation offers one week long ROP events, weekend training programs for men and women and an introductory weekend for boys 8-10 years of age called ‘Rising Sons’.  Our website is www.ropf.org.nz.