My first and most important ROP that i can remember was turning 12 and being able to go deer hunting with the men in my family. Instead of visting “the barn” with my mom in the evenings to see the kill and eat dinner, i got to stay with the men at the “The Shack” a 1970’s trailer parked on a small lake near our hunting grounds. 8 men from 4 differant generations would stay there for 4 days, hunting in the morning and telling stories in the evenings.

Peace,
Thomas

I went back to my lodge during an ordeal weekend last year.
So, sad. The drama of the ceremony is dead, sacrificed on the altar of “Safety.”
The ceremony is now done in broad daylight. Everyone circles under a
picnic shelter. No more bon-fire. No more awesome Indian costumes, just
a whimpy imation of Shawnee tribesmen with frontier shirts. No drumming.
The actors read from a script. The proper torches were replaced by a lame
tiki torch. No more hazing with Arrow necklaces, and the task-master must
remain silent also with the canidates. WOMEN are in the OA now.
I tear up whenever I remember the way things were.
OA is now longer the rite-of-passage for boys in our society.
Women, over-concerned mothers, and “Political Correctness” destroyed it in
the early ’90s. Damn those pediphiles!

If you entered the OA in the early 80’s consider yourselves blessed to
have had a manly rite-of-passage.

Dan The Man

Freemasonry is making a comeback today as the children and grandchildren of the Baby Boomers are rediscovering it, for precisely the reasons cited in this article. They are seeking the very rituals and rites of passage the Boomers rejected.

I suppose my personal rite of passage is still in progress. I’m 18 years old, and I moved out from California (having lived with my dad for the four years of high school) to Rochester, NY. The shift from sunny California to the windswept, frozen lands of upstate NY is part of my transition, as is living in a house with strangers and working fulltime. In a year, I will move to Tokyo, and get my own apartment. I imagine that by that time I’ll have become a man, and will have the skills and temperament to live as a gentleman.

Thus, this year is one of growing. I’m learning how to truly cook, how to play various instruments, and how to speak various languages. I’m refining myself, my style, and my conversational skills. I’m rising in the company I work for (Kodak), and building up my resume. I imagine that the rest of my life will be lived to the fullest, once I have the basics down. The art of manliness, which I just found today, has given me quite a few pointers. Keep it up!

Thanks,
Nelson Pecora

Ginger wrote about The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldgredge. He outlines clearly the different life stages a boy goes through on his journey of becoming a man. The stage most often associated with a Rite of Passage happens around age 12 – 14, moving from Beloved Son (boy) to Cowboy/Ranger (young man). He writes most poignantly and practically about the Rites of Passage he took his own sons through. There is much material there for a father to plan this very necessary and empowering Rite of Passage for his own son/s.

But what about us men today that never had this. As Brett said “Some of you may have missed out on the opportunity to take part in some sort of rite of passage and may feel a bit adrift, in limbo between boyhood and manhood.” It is never too late.

Inspired by the Way of the Wild Heart I went on my own masculine quest (of re-contextualisation and re-interpretation), and wrote the poem below as a manifesto of this. My hope in sharing this is that it may inspire and encourage other adult men.

I am ……. an initiated man

My life has seemed
Like a pinball game
One day after the other
Never knowing what came

Drifting along
With no identity, no plan
Trapped as a boy
In the life of a man

Till the day I discovered
My identity and my name
God is my father!
For my heart he came!

To have a new heart
To know that I am wild
Made in the image of God
I am His beloved child

A fresh start
With my masculinity in place
To continue the journey
To stare life in the face

But looking back
I can now see
The hand of father God
Initiating me

All of my past
Seemingly random and without plan
Has all along been the process
Of initiating the man

What a relief
Oh what a joy
To now see the Father’s hand
At work since I was a boy

Chest out stand tall
I am the beloved son
A cowboy, a warrior, a King
A lover whose heart with beauty has been won

Now I can journey
An initiated man
I have what it takes
I know that I can

Come on men
Come gather around
Let us journey together
Let all our hearts be found

The Lord is a warrior
A warrior is he
We are made in His image
Of all men we are the free