Rites of Passage
Rites of passage are a keystone practice in human cultures: many other elements of cultural health depend on meaningful, relevant, and intentional transition rituals to mark the cycles and seasons of our lives. When such practices are lost or destroyed, everyone suffers. When they are restored, the whole community can flourish.
Through these processes of initiation, individuals shed what has become too small for them, and are challenged and supported in developing the inner resources and understandings to bring their unique gifts forward – into a world that urgently needs what they have to offer. In the absence of widespread understanding of the importance of rites of passage, all people need tools to support their own initiatory journey.
Men’s Rite of Passage
School of Lost Borders
Sept 14th- 25th, 2026 | Inyo Mountains, Payahuunadü, CA
with Scott Davidson and Nick LaHaise
The world is changing fast… and we must do our best to keep up. We now face unprecedented waves of transformation. The blossoming and decay of our modern ways is calling attention to fundamental questions about who we are and how we relate — to ourselves, each other, and the world we're part of. As we balance on the precipice, it's crucial that we take steps towards the sense of belonging that is our birthright while attending to the legacies of harm, hurt or trauma that are ours to heal. What those steps are is a mystery for each of us to enter, to seek, and say yes to if we dare. Where this takes us is the story that can carry us forward – filling our lives with meaning, with guidance, and a new sense of who we are and what's possible.
Wild Wanders through the Seasons
Ceremonially Marking the Cycles & Seasons of Our Lives
Nov 1st 2026, Feb 7th 2027, May 2nd 2027, August 1st 2027
All wanders will take place in the Methow Valley watershed
Fall Wander: November 1st, 2026, at 9 AM
All wanders will take place in the Methow Valley watershed, exact location shared upon registration.
In the spirit of attuning ourselves to the seasons of both our valley and our lives, we invite you to join one or more of a series of communally-held solo wanders.
These seasonal, ceremonial walks offer solo journeys with community support to intentionally orient and mark the cycles of our season ahead, perhaps as preparation or integration for a bigger life transition, to mark a particular moment, or as a practice of ongoing renewal.
We will begin each Wild Wander as a small circle of community, to check-in, orient, clarify intentions, and finalize preparations for a safe journey alone. Greeting the sunrise, sunset, or perhaps the coming dark of night, you will cross a threshold (a small circle of stones, a line in the sand, or the space between two trees) to mark the beginning and ending of your walk. You will sit or wander with a question, intention, or prayer while fasting from the common comforts of food, shelter, and human company as sacrifices to sanctify this meaningful time. Upon your return, we will welcome you back, share a simple meal, and hear your stories from the Wild Wander before you return home.
Simple. Grounded. And much needed in these times.
WHAT: A ceremonial solo time in the wilds with your own intentions, questions, and prayers, held and witnessed in community.
WHERE: Locations are TBD each season, depending on current conditions; they will always be in the Methow Valley watershed.
WHEN: Sundays for up to 8 hours of the day, sometimes into the night, depending on the season. These Wild Wanders are scheduled for Nov 1st, 2026, Feb 7th, 2027, May 2nd, 2027 and August 1st, 2027.
COST: There is no cost to participate in these wild wanders, and we welcome your support! You can make a gift here – please select ‘Rites and Responsibilities’ in the drop down menu when gifting. Contributions from our community make it possible for Rites and Responsibilities to make events like this possible free of charge. Right now, we are raising $30K to cover our expenses for 2026, which include website improvements, outreach efforts, basic office infrastructure, and a modest stipend for Scott & Darcy. Here is more information on our way with money.
Questions? Contact darcy@nourishing-futures.org
This event is hosted by Rites & Responsibilities, a core project of Nourishing Futures. Learn more here.
CA Spring Vision Fast
School of Lost Borders
April 5th - 16th, 2027 | Payahuunadü and Death Valley, CA, USA
with Scott Davidson and Petra Lentz-Snow
Life transitions, like entering adulthood, midlife or elderhood are DNA invitations to go out on the land. The need to shed and decompose what is no longer true so that we can become anew is planted deeply into our ancestral bones because it was (and is) crucial for the survival of the community that we let go of what no longer serves and enter the calling of our new becoming.
Significant changes in our life, inflection points like marriage, parenthood, change in work status and sometimes traumatic events, call in a deeper conversation with our lives and thus often lead the way to the ceremony. At other times, the longing for change may be harder to name, but is equally important. It may be an unnamed sense of separateness from one’s inner being while our outward life seems picture perfect, or a disconnect with one’s life purpose or heart’s desire.
So you go alone, with an empty belly and a bare minimum of equipment, into the heart of the wilderness, for four days and nights. There you live with yourself, in perfect solitude. You surrender to the mirror of your wild environment, and to memory, the looks-within-place. You enter the mansions of nature’s soul, perhaps to find some of the big questions waiting: “Who am I?” “Who are my people?” and “What is mine to do now?” You wander the precincts of loneliness, where vision lies waiting. You drink at the springs of your soul and are filled with self-recognition. What is not important falls away so that you can become anew.
1-on-1 Mentorship
60 minute and 90 minute sessions available, as a stand-alone session or bundled consistently for a season or more
Ceremonial support in preparation for your ceremony and/or incorporation after
Daylong Wild Wander: severance, threshold, incorporation
Seasonal Bundle of weekly to monthly renewal sessions
Long-term Mentorship across 13 Moons / Sons Rising to attune your life with Life
Connect with me for more info or a free 30-minute consultation. My rates are not fixed. See the Work With Scott page for more info. All are welcome.
Methow Valley Ceremonial Offerings
through the seasons in the Methow Valley in North Central WA
with Scott Davidson and Darcy Ottey
Small groups of people with deep connection to the Methow Valley WA, coming together in land-based ceremony to honor and mark the cycles and seasons of our lives.
For the last four summers, we've been gifted to help co-create a space for small circles here, beautiful experiences that many of you supported in a variety of ways. The intention for this ceremonial time is to step out of our daily rhythms and into more intimate relationship with the beings and forces with which we share the world: ancestors, birds, plants, animals, stars, moon, water, soil, sun, wind, and more - to invite in support, guidance, thanksgiving, whatever we need to be our full selves in service to the greater whole.
The Invitation to a 4-Day Solo Vigil