Old Medicine Bundles

Stories are some of the oldest healing art forms that exists. Like old medicine bundles woven together, braided and scented with sweetgrass calling us home through waters of remembering, healing and belonging. These old stories, the ones that have wound their way through the crooked creek of time to land at our doorstep and come knocking are especially potent medicine.

Once they enter through the gatekeeper of your ear they gently take root in your soul, growing as you do, flowering as you listen more deeply, reaching with you to new places.

Free Online Storytelling Gatherings:

Winter 2022-2023 Series

This season we offer a series of four old tales as medicine for these times. We invite you to join us around a virtual fire pit to listen, to share, and allow these stories to root down into your soul.

Each live, interactive storytelling gathering will begin with introductions, flowing into the storytelling and ending with audience interaction Q&A, and a call for future gathering.

Participation is free of charge, but registration in advance is required. Space is limited so please do register early. The sessions will be hosted via Zoom, and it is recommended to download their app in advance.

Please Note: These events will be recorded and distributed to all those that register. following the live broadcast. Additional details will be provided upon registration.

Past Storytelling Events:

“The Story of Taliesin: Shapeshifting in Our Time”
Kat Houghton

Thurs. January 12, 2023 - 6:30pm Eastern

The story of Taliesin is wound deep into the fabric of Celtic lore yet relevant to how we move through the world today. A story of magic, deep transformation and finding one’s place. The winding rivers of Taliesin’s story helps us call on different parts of ourselves as our changing times require. 

Facilitated live by Rites of Passage Council Guide Kat Houghton.

“Ceremonial Offerings of Ash and Water: Callings, Severances, Thresholds and Returns”
Kedar S. Brown

Tues. Feb 7, 2023 - 6:30pm Eastern

Join us for this gathering around the winter’s hearth fire to hear a selection of personal stories and poetry from Kedar’s journey as a man who has chosen to walk the path of a ceremonial midwife. 

This evening will be an interactive journey of awakening conversations into your own personal mythologies as navigational road maps toward healing, remembering and belonging. 

“It is said that if you want to become clear about the road ahead you must first allow yourself to become utterly confused. These periods of feeling lost or darkness often become the seeding ground of unimaginable journeys. Do not be seduced on the road by the allure of shiny looking destinations or acquisitions. Always knowing exactly where you are going limits the possibility of awakening to the things you do not know... you don’t know. We must learn to mythologize rather than pathologize these periods of change and awaken ourselves once again to spring and the inspiration of the rising sun” ~Kedar

Facilitated live by Rites of Passage Council Founder & Director Kedar S. Brown.

Vasilisa: Intuition as Initiation
Kallie Brown

Fri. March 3, 2023 - 12pm Eastern

From Romania to Poland and all throughout the Baltic countries comes the story of Vasalisa. There is some evidence to suggest that this story dates back to horse-Goddess cults before classical Greek culture took place. Storytelling carries not only the values and traditions of its time but also the timeless and sacred teachings of initiation. Vasilisa is one such story. 

To be in conversation with our intuition is an essential aspect of initiation into womanhood. To see the unseen, to deepen into our creativity, to be attuned to the life/death cycles of nature- this is the initiated woman. In a culture that often discourages trusting in the unseen, believing in magik, or engaging in the imaginal realm we are left doubting our intuitive wisdom and questioning ourselves. Part of our task in this modern day way of living is to reconnect to our innate wisdom.

Come join us for an afternoon of intuition and magik!

Facilitated live by Rites of Passage Council Guide Kallie Brown.

“The Russian Fairy Tale Ivan and the Grey Wolf”
James Haddad

Fri. March 10, 2023 - 6:30pm Eastern

This mystical, initiatory, and alchemical tale is one of seeking, of loss, and of the courage of the youngest, smallest, most overlooked part of ourselves to find truth, overcome ancient wounds and ancestral trauma, and find union with our darker animal natures in order to discover the deep belonging of our soul. 

Facilitated live by Rites of Passage Council Guide James Haddad

Kedar Brown

Wed. April 6, 2022, 2pm Eastern - 7pm UK

There once was a king who was very sick and was unlikely to survive such an illness. He had three sons who were very sad. They went down to the palace garden and wept. An old man came by and asked them why they were weeping. They told him their father was sick and sure to die, for nothing seemed to cure him. The old man said, “I know of one more remedy: the Water of Life. If he drinks of that, he will get well, but I cannot tell you where to find it.”

The Water of Life is an old Germany fairy tale that was collected by the Brothers Grimm. This is a story that has circulated for decades among men’s initiation circles. How often in these challenging times conscious men find themselves standing on a crumbling foundation of masculine identity defined very narrowly by modernity as either the non-emotional hero male or the ineffective & passive male. Both reside as shadow-forms of the masculine psyche under the limiting scope of the word “patriarchy” where there appears to be nothing desirable or redeemable for these times that men find themselves in. This word offers no clear navigational pathway of identity and belonging; the mentoring of our boys and sustainability of healthy adult relationships.

This story opens a conversation dialogue toward a fuller understanding of healthy masculinity. We share it with you here as a broader invitation to join us later this year for one of two men’s ceremonial gatherings - “The Soil and Soul of the Initiated Masculine.” Come join us for this story telling event!

Please Note: This event will be recorded and distributed to all those who register following the live broadcast. Facilitated live by Rites of Passage Council Founder, Director & Guide Kedar-Brown.

In Person Programs

Rites of Passage Council also offers a wide range of programs focused on community held rituals to assist individuals moving from one phase of life to another; while weaving the community tighter to each other and deeper into the land that sustains them.