People often ask me what initiation feels like, and I always struggle to find the right words. The closest I can come is this: imagine setting down a heavy bundle you didn’t even know you were carrying, and then walking forward with empty hands and a full heart. That’s what it feels like. You go into that sacred space as one person, and you come out as someone renewed—someone who has touched something ancient and been changed by it. It isn’t dramatic or frightening. It’s quiet. It’s gentle. It’s like coming home to a part of yourself you never knew existed.
I still remember my own initiation like it was yesterday. My elders didn’t lecture me or fill my head with rules. They told me stories, sang to me, sat with me in silence, and let the ancestors do the rest. The wisdom I received wasn’t written down anywhere—it was planted in me like a seed, and it has grown slowly over the years. When I train others now, I try to do the same. I don’t rush them. I don’t overwhelm them. I just create the space, and I trust that what needs to awaken in them will awaken in its own time. Initiation isn’t something you earn. It’s something you’re given, and all you can do is receive it with gratitude.
The Sacred Journey of Initiation, Emerging Renewed