Overview
Humans have marked puberty rites of passage into adolescence for time immemorial. Becoming a teen is a big deal! This is a formative time, ripe with opportunity for giving teens healthy practices to carry them through one of the most intense developmental seasons in life. In many cultures, rites of passage might be also paired with an initiatory wilderness fast/vision quest. We recommend kids first do a rite of passage into the transitionary years of middle school and early adolescence, and then subsequently take on a longer initiation quest sometime during high school.
Illuman of Washington, along with our partners at Journeymen, are making space for both the rites and the subsequent initiatory quest.
The 4 day, Illuman Rising is for boys entering the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.
The 9 day Teen Quest is for boys aged 15-19.
For those inquiring about kids of other genders, Ekone Ranch offers similar events for girls/young women, and Journeymen, Rites of Passage Journeys and Ekone offer similar experiences for LBGTQ, non-binary, and those for whom these categories do not fit.
About Journeymen.
Since 2016, Journeymen has partnered with 5 different schools in the Puget Sound area to provide weekly in-school mentorship to 150+ boys and welcomed over 100 youth through their Rites of Passage experiences. Journeymen was founded in 2016 by Nicky Wilkes and Alex Craighead. Some in Illuman might have met Nicky when he went through the MROP in 2017 at Skalitude in WA. Others know Mark Timkin, an Animas guide who taught at Soularize in ’19, who is on their board. What we know of Nicky and Alex, and their broader and incredibly gifted and wise community, is that these are two young men whose passion is infectious, wisdom beyond the years, and experience is deep. Their work with youth has been remarkable. Such deep gratitude for how they are moving through the world…and for them partnering with us.
Journeymen shares a great deal with Illuman, except it focuses primarily on youth, offering rites of passage, council, wilderness wanderings, and other similar practices to help youth develop into healthy human beings. Our partnership with Journeymen is making Illuman Rising a reality!
