Ceremonial Immersion (across 2 years 2025-2026)

Hope is not a word in my vocabulary, I have to tell you. Faith is…There is beauty in erosion. And that has been evolving over time. So I think it takes us to our essence. It may take us to our knees; our consciousness is evolving. And I think it’s not so much about hope as knowing where hope dwells. And I think for me, hope dwells in community. I don’t know about you, but there are moments where I wake up and I think I don’t know if I can get up today, you know? Despair is very real. But that is the limits of my own imagination. Imaginations shared create collaboration; in collaboration, we create community, and in community, anything is possible.

~Terry Tempest Williams 

Our elders say that ceremonies are the way we remember to remember.

~Robin Wall Kimmerer

No matter our ancestry, we are all a part of the lineage of this living planet. And because of this it is in our bones to be called again and again to the land and into ceremony  to “re-member” ourselves  and be emboldened by the entreaties of our earthen communities. To play in discovery, to mourn loss, to contemplate purpose and to celebrate the miracle of simply being alive. When we say yes to this the land ,in relationship with us, flows into our marrow and into the communities we are tethered to or will be in the future.  For though this ceremony is deeply personal it is less about us  and more about what we have to offer this ancient lineage we are intimately connected to. Perhaps now more than ever with so much uncertainty in the midst  we certainly need  all hands on deck but also all ears on deck listening  with the mountains and deserts for what is ours to pick up and  what is ours to let go of.

The Rites of Passage Ceremonial Immersion is a deeper dive into the bare bones of what it means to be whole human beings: alive to our wildest fury, our erotic and blessing power, our grief, our tricksterliness, and our ineffable love. The land, as always, is our guide and teacher; and the heart of all our gatherings will come from sitting with Creosote, listening to the whisperings of soaring Hawk and the cadence of the Chama river, dancing with shadow under the midnight moons. Over the course of two years—in person on the land, in zoom gatherings, and through other forms of communications/councils— our community will create that rare kind of human container that both nourishes the ceremonial spirit in each of us…that feeds the land… and the Ceremony itself.

The school for decades has offered month long immersions. However, as many of us know the return voyage home can sometimes be the hardest. This then is a newer offering  born out of an older way of being in community of coming together not only during the time of the falling leaves but also at a time when the leaves are budding anew. To share in community, over multiple seasons, the trials and tribulations and boons and blessings when we return to our places of origin again and again–of what follows when we receive not only the clarity of who we are and who we are not but also the courage for living out what we have been given. The Rites of Passage Ceremonial Immersion arcs around five ceremonies – the number five referring to the four shields or seasons that we have the capacity to grow into, and the fifth that is born when we have access to all four  and thus a more embodied wholeness.

Each of the five ceremonies is an extended journey into each of the ceremonial aspects of the traditional two-week fast: Beginning and Grounding into Community, Four Shields and Mirroring, Commitment and Intention, Vision Fasting, and Acts of Incorporation. By taking each of these ceremonies one at a time, we will have a chance to explore, expand and deepen into each one—in ways that invites Ceremony to be integrated into our lives more fully than ever before.

The Rite of Passage Ceremonial Immersion is designed for those who have previously completed at least one three or four day vision fast and were deeply inspired— enough to commit to five ceremonies and to the community that forms to enact them. We will meet in person five times as a group as well as engage in a email council and five online zoom gatherings. The first three meetings will lay the groundwork for preparation for a four day fast, which takes place in the fourth gathering. In the fifth and final gathering, we will touch into the reality of incorporation, focusing on both the personal and collective nature of our experiences and how to embody them in our lives. The final Ceremony will be created and directed by the participants. The community we build together will serve as a support and catalyst to help us bring home and into the fullness of our lives and the invitations the land offers us.

Program Overview: The Rite of Passage Ceremonial Immersion is designed for those who have previously completed at least one three or four day vision fast and were deeply inspired— enough to commit to five ceremonies and to the community that forms to enact them. We will meet in person five times as a group as well as engage in a email council and five online zoom gatherings. The first three meetings will lay the groundwork for preparation for a four day fast, which takes place in the fourth gathering. In the fifth and final gathering, we will touch into the reality of incorporation, focusing on both the personal and collective nature of our experiences and how to embody them in our lives. The final Ceremony will be created and directed by the participants. The community we build together will serve as a support and catalyst to help us bring home and into the fullness of our lives the invitations the land offers us.

Because the gestalt of the experience happens from the moment the group comes together to the very moment we are done— your commitment to the entire program is necessary.

 The 5 Gatherings

1. Beginnings and Grounding into Community
   

We begin by coming together and  listening for what is bringing us here at this particular time. This includes forming  the container for ceremony and seeking out what are the things needing to be left out and what are the necessities needing to to put in.  We go out on the land with ears to hear and voices to speak of these things deepening our intentions for why we are here now.

This First Ceremony (6 days) will include an introduction to the Four Shields, an intent circle, a 24 hr fast , the mirroring of stories, council, physical plane guidelines and logistics for the following four ceremonies and mid term zoom sessions. 

Location and Dates: Dragonback Spring Ranch,  Southern Colorado; June 3-8, 2025

2. Four Shields and Mirroring

We come into the world through the mystery of the east, but quickly we become embodied in the senses of the south. Over some years, we arc westward, descending into adolescence and loss and the world of muse and beauty, despair and grief. Somewhere in that loss, we encounter a jewel that wants to be brought forth into the human and  non-human communities of the north– to serve, to grieve, to celebrate, to live. Illumination and inspiration then comes out of the north, ushering itself toward Renewal. Finally, we hear our bones sing in the east, it was all worth it! And so we are thrown back to the south to begin again. We welcome a deepening into the four shields, listening deeper to our own hearts and mirroring back the stories and gifts of our community. 

This Second Ceremony (5 days) is a deep dive into the language of the Four Shields, from both personal and transpersonal perspectives. We will take a solo walk in each shield to explore the collective as well as individual elements, completing the experience with council and mirroring of the stories. Time will be made for questions and ideas of ways to incorporate this work into “life”, and to look at our shields for clues to movement in our lives, visions and intents. We will celebrate together with laughter, food and commitment to our unfolding community.

Logistics for this ceremony will be shared by the group and guides.

Location and Dates: Northern New Mexico; October 15-19, 2025

3. Commitment and Intention

This is a pivotal ceremony where we discover and dare to name and listen to the intentions and commitments of our hearts and lives. As always before, the land is our guide as we not only seek our own intents, but also seek answers to the questions that hold us together as community: How do you listen for intent for your self and others? What is the difference between intention and commitment? Where does intent come from? What does commitment invite? 

This Third Ceremony (5 days) is the powerful foundation and preparation for the Vision Fast at Lost Borders. We will prepare for the four-day fast by taking solo walks with intentions and engaging in a 24 hr fast. We will listen to and mirror the stories and hone our intent as we move toward the four-day fast in our next gathering.

Location and Dates: TBD; March 17-22, 2026

4. Vision Fast
   

Welcome to the threshold time, the doorway, the four-day-and-night Rites of Passage— a culmination of all the work done before. This is the time on the land for receiving and bringing forward, as the land guides you into the story and gifts that are yours to bring back to your people.  

As a group, we will step towards the threshold, cross over, and four days later, we will cross back into a community that knows you and has been praying for you, and will gather in incorporating, storytelling, mirroring and celebration. 

Logistical planning/efficient travel and gear sharing, etc will be coordinated by participants.  

Location and Dates: Dragonback Spring Ranch, Southern Colorado; June 1-9, 2026

5. Acts of Incorporation
   

What we bring back from the land is what we will bring back to the world to test against the trustworthiness of our lives, so we can discover what is true for us at this time. Here we we lay down everything again as we come together for this final Ceremony so we can listen and live out the stories the land sang into us. How do we bring it home? How do we accept that if we are going to go up, we are going to go down. How do we keep letting ourselves move around the four shields? This is a time to ask, what has happened in the last three months since going out onto the land? What do you need and where can you find it? What does the land say to you now? What is returning home with you? How to go forward together/apart as a community?

This Final Ceremony (5 days) will be largely created and directed by the participants (with help from guides as wanted and needed). We will have an opportunity to share our experiences with incorporation of our vision fast into our lives. Day walks and/or a 24 hour fast will be part of this closing ceremony.

Location and Dates:  Northern New Mexico; October 14-18, 2026

*Between each in person meeting we will gather monthly via video conference to digest and integrate the movement and arc of this immersion as well as sharing opportunities/walks amongst the places and people you call home. We will do our best to work with everyone’s needs/schedules to accommodate.

In addition, Topics will include but not be limited to: 

• The theory and foundations of rites of passage
• Inclusivity and intersectionality in wilderness rites of passage
• Cultural appropriateness vs. misappropriation and cultural shadows
• The history and lineage of the School of Lost Borders and its continual evolving
• The role of the guide
• The significance of the symbolic, mythic, and archetypal themes that show up in story, dream, and nature
• The screening and preparation of candidates
• Supporting a candidate’s physical/psychological/mental/spiritual safety
• Variations on traditional and contemporary models of wilderness vision fasts
• Adapting the work to fit various contexts and based on participants interests/calling
• Working with specific populations including youth
• Logistical and legal considerations i.e. land use, permitting, liability insurance

Prerequisite:  Participation in at least one guided 3 or 4 day Vision Fast, within the last 5 years.

How to Enroll: 

• Read over thoroughly logistics letter  (link here)
• Contact Scot, [email protected], and let him know of your interest and if you have fulfilled the pre-requisite and why you are interested in this training.
• Enroll on our website
• Pay the $750 deposit
• Submit health and liability forms.
• Submit letter of intent (not due until April 1^st, 2025).

“…You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet  confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.”

 ~David Whyte

Please note that this is an in depth program – please download the additional information PDF here: Ceremonial Immersion letter

To join this program is to commit to undertaking the full soul journey across the two years- with the necessary accompanying physical/travel, psychological and financial commitments needed to accompany that.

Program Questions Contact: Please reach out before enrolling to Scot Deily at [email protected]