The Great Ballcourt Initiation – Fall Fast
Oct 20th, 2025 - Oct 31st, 2025 | Death Valley, California | Meredith Little, Angelo Joseph Lazenka
Death is the ultimate agent of transformation—be it a physical death or “the little deaths” encountered throughout life. Indigenous cultures developed rituals to aid and guide people through these stages of change and renewal, utilizing the power of death to enhance and intensify these experiences. For the Mayan people this ceremony was played out on the Great Ballcourt. The court, and the ritual game played upon it, were an enactment of the great transformations: from life to death, from the middleworld to the underworld, from humanity to divinity.
Ballplayers would risk their lives so that spirit, light and hope might be renewed—for themselves, yet most of all for their people and community. The Mayans had faith that, through discipline and sacrifice, spirit was renewed, just as winter births new spring. What we can know is that each day of our lives we play on the Great Ballcourt. Each day we die some, each day we are reborn.
And you? Are you willing to risk everything (which ultimately we all must do) that your rebirth might bring you a life purpose strong enough to carry you all the way to your final dance with Death?
We invite you to step onto “the Great Ballcourt,” poised for a time between Death and Life, journeying into the ceremonial Underworld where you will leave behind what you have known, to perform your own dance of purpose, passion and renewal. Dying to your old name, your rules, your belief system, your truths and lies, you will dance alone “between the worlds”, calling in a new life more authentically your own.
Program Overview: We will come together for 12 days: beginning with a final Severance from the old world, stepping across the Threshold into 4 days and nights of fasting and solitude, then returning for our stories of Incorporation. The metaphors we will explore include Decision Road, Death Lodge, Purpose Circle, and the Ballcourt. Our explorations together will be informed both by Mayan teachings that spread to native tribes in the plains of North America and by the lessons of modern-day hospice, learned directly at the bedside of the sick and the dying.
Program Questions Contact: Meredith at [email protected]
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This program is full; however, you may add your name to the Waitlist by clicking the Waitlist button below.
Submit enrollment form
Please fill out and submit the enrollment form and then pay the program deposit below. Before you pay the deposit, please read deposit section below, all deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. After your enrollment form is complete, please submit all health and liability forms.
Pay program deposit
Deposits: This deposit signifies your commitment to the program and is deducted from the tuition balance. All deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. They cover the work of the specific course you signed up for, including all communication involved as well as the fee that guides pay to the school administration for the course accounting.
Additional Deposit: Some programs require a second deposit to help us affirm commitments. Last minute cancellations make it hard to fill openings and incur a loss of income to the School and the guides.
Tuition Balance: Balance of tuition can be paid before or upon arrival. Simply deduct any deposits made from the amount you’ve chosen on the sliding scale.
Additional course details & Materials
PREPARATION: The Ballcourt ceremony is considered an “advanced program” in the Practice of Living & Dying (PLD). We ask that people have already completed a full-length PLD course, or that they have already done a 3-day or 4-day guided solo wilderness fast. We discourage people coming who are simply wanting to “try this out.” The living-and-dying metaphor evoked by the Ballcourt allegory is strong, so it’s important that the theme be right for you. Based on our experience we’d like to emphasize how important it is that people properly prepare for this fast. We encourage people to commit to the ceremony 6 to 12 months in advance, allowing adequate gestation time for their inner and outer preparation. TIME AND LOCATION: Lemoigne Canyon, Death Valley. We will rendezvous at Panamint Springs Resort (http://www.panamintsprings.com/) at 9am on October 20th with our last meeting finishing by mid-day on October 31st. The morning we rendezvous we will caravan to a backcountry site for the 4 days of preparation and the 4 days of the solo fast. For the final 3½ days of incorporation we will be in a group campsite at Panamint Springs Resort. The School makes no provisions for meals or equipment, though we will offer a communal meal the morning you emerge from the threshold. More detailed logistical information will be sent out a few months before the course begins. ADDITIONAL FEES: $30 Park entrance fee & Camping Fees TBD
You will be responsible for bringing your own food and equipment, though we can provide some gear if needed. We ask everyone to come prepared to live self-sufficiently. You will need to bring shelter and clothing suitable for a full range of inclement weather.
All participants must submit the required health questionnaire and liability form.
If you have questions about the enrollment process contact us at [email protected] or call 760-938-3333.
Tüpippüh (also known as Death Valley) is home of the Timbisha people and is the name of their ancestral and contemporary homeland. Miners came to this area in 1849 and the Timbisha’s land was stolen to create Death Valley National Monument in 1933. The Timbisha were allotted a 40 acre reservation in the park and also forced onto other reservations and into towns in the area.
To learn more about our commitment to regenerative relationships please visit Cultural Relations.
