The Story of Jumping Mouse

This recording of a live online storytelling features Daniel Simmons, a Rites of Passage Council guide. Thank you to all of the participants!

The Story of Jumping Mouse

Rites of passages initiations are deeply inscribed into our mythological consciousness; across distant time and lands. The fasting prophets of Judeo-Christianity, the pilgrimages of the Buddha and Mohammed, the walkabout of the aboriginal dreamtime, the great matriarchal deities, and the vision quests ceremonies of many Native Americans.

Over the ages we have experienced a decline in many of the meaningful rites of passage and initiation practices in our culture. The once sacred and transformative ceremonies and rituals that informed early cultures with a sense of personal vision, community responsibility and deeply rooted connection to earth and the sacred have often been replaced by “pseudo initiations”. These do not facilitate the shift in consciousness required to enter into new life stations and responsibilities.

With the absence of such initiatory practices many unconsciously abandon their own personal wisdom and truth, adopting instead the values and stories of a larger culture informed by a spiritually devoid mythology of consumerism and economic advancement at the expense of our children and elders of all species. Our youth often become lost in self-initiations through alcohol, drugs, sex, eating disorders, isolation, violence, depression and anxiety in an unconscious response. Our elders, uninitiated themselves, are many times at a loss of knowing what to do as they quietly struggle in isolation with their own challenges.

We would like to share this old Native American Story of Jumping Mouse as a reminder that you are more then what you think you are and the journey of re-membering is one of deep listening to that which is calling you in your life.