Basecamp for Men E86: The Path of Initiation

E86: The Path of Initiation with Special Guest Hunter Toran

 

E86 Introduciton

In episode #83, The Myth of the Grail, I brought forth some of the initiatory themes that lie at the heart of the Grail. Living a life that is marked by initiation is one that allows a person to grow “slowly wise” to use the words of Wolfram Von Eschenbach.

In every persons life, there are countless small initiations and usually a few big ones. The big ones are marked with a big “BEFORE” and “AFTER” signs in your soul’s journey.

It can be a good exercise to take out a notebook and mark out your initiations large and small. It can help you see your Hero’s Journey with more clarity.  I like to mark the initiation in one column and what you learned or how you are different now in the other column. And then ask yourself, what initiations still await my arrival?

To broaden your scope on this, a list of initiations might include things like getting your drivers license or having your parents get divorced when you were young. It definitely would include leaving home for good or the first time you fell in love. Something like military bootcamp is clearly an initiation. Moving to a strange city or country is also an initiation. Anything that marks a clear before and after for the soul qualifies as you will learn much about yourself and where you are going through these trials and tribulations.

I have spoken of my big initiations from time to time but I will mention a few of them again here. Like I said,  it is good to know your own. To know when your Soul found a deeper, more truthful song for you.

For me, moving to NYC was an initiation. I had never even been there when I arrived and had grown up my whole life in the PNW. New York was a strange, powerful, scary new land where I would find new parts of myself that I didn‘t know I had. I became gutsier and more confident because of it.

Another big initiation, as you all know,  was doing the Mankind Projects New Warrior Training. This was a clear “before Tony” and “after Tony”. I came out with a chestful of new tools: a mission I created (and then lived), knowledge of the male archetypes and how to access them, a deep appreciation of the tribe of men and my place in it. MKP gave me a Warrior’s fire and a container to express it. I would never go back to the overly nice, people-pleaser I was when I was younger. Between NYC and the New Warrior Training, I was finding all sorts of newfound inner power as a man.

The next big initiation was becoming a father. I was scared shitless waiting for Lucas to be born. All new fathers feel this (although few will admit it). It is an absolutely awesome, terrifying initiation to be brought into. My son arrived like some tiny force of nature. Divine, powerful, full of raw feeling and powerful vocal chords. He let me know, in no uncertain terms, that my old life was over. It has been a big, incredible initiation. One that I am grateful for every day.

My sobriety was another initiation for me. I know this is true for any addict or alcoholic who has taken on his or her recovery. Quitting drinking 8 years ago changed me. It was an initiation that I was never quite sure I was up to until one day it just happened. I stopped and I didn‘t die. And in my soul, I could feel the excitement that accompanied this new me. I knew it would lead to a hundred new great things if I could just stay with it. And it has! You’re listening to one of the gifts that was awaiting me once I crossed that threshold.

And my marriage to Lisa has certainly been an initiation. In a long-term relationship, you don‘t have anywhere to hide. Oh, you can try and I certainly do. But a life partner or soul mate will bring your love to a new level. It often won’t look the way you would like it to look but the alchemy of a long-term relationship is undeniable. You bring your strengths and your short-comings (we all have them) and you ride life’s ups and downs together, learning the whole way.

What initiations still await me? I can see as men grow older, we are forced to deal with loss. Becoming an empty nester, when your last child leaves the house is certainly an initiation. And losing your parents and other loved ones and friends will be a series of painful initiations as we grieve for what is passing. This all helps to bring us to our final initiation (at least in this body and in this dimension). Our own passing.

If we have grown slowly wise, as Parzival did, then each initiation will ripen and prepare us. We will arrive at our final initiation full of wisdom and grace, rather than regret and fear.  Through all of the changes and passing seasons and lessons and wisdom and grace granted, we will come to our own death with a recognition of what does not change. God bless you on this journey my listener. I am happy to be on this journey with you.

Hunter Toran Bio

Hunter Toran is a Somatic Educator and Therapist within the discipline of Spacial Dynamics and other Somatic practices. Hunter performs individual therapeutic sessions and  group workshops on the entirety of the human experience through conscious movement here in Seattle.  Most recently Hunter has begun to dive deeply into ‘men’s work’ to support containers that see the evolution of the divine masculine as imperative to the survival and development of humankind.

E86 Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed my interview with Hunter Toran. To book a session for one of this excellent Spacial Dynamic sessions or to find out more about Hunter’s workshops, go to www.levitytherapeutics.com

Basecamp for Men E85: Cultivating Curiosity

Person in meditation

E85: Cultivating Curiosity with Special Guest Jim Willis   E85 Introduction We seem to be collectively suffering from cultural amnesia. We tend to get boxed in by one perspective on so many important topics: our…

Basecamp for Men E84: Health as Your Foundation

Wood background

E84: Health as Your Foundation with Special Guest Janell Hartman   E84 Introduction I hope you are all well. I wanted to start off by saying that I loved what Howard Ferguson said at the…

Basecamp for Men E83: Fireside Chat with Howard Ferguson

E83: Fireside Chat with Howard Ferguson

 

E83 Introduction-

As a show that is assisting in the awakening of humanity and attempting to do our part using myth, Gnosis or spiritual knowing, and an unflinching stand for what is true I see roughly three groups right now. There is the group that is having one epiphany after another, this is the group that are the meditators, truthers, , the seers and the Gnostics.  This group is excited. For these are the early adopters in this huge shift in consciousness. They are seeing more and more of the pattern.

There is a middle group where things have begun to stir. They are sensing that things may not be what they thought and perhaps the MSM is not telling them the truth about what is happening.

Maybe they took one or two of the red pills and things are shifting.  Or some of what we are talking about mythically is starting to resonate with them. Things are expanding for this group but cognitive dissonance may still be the order of the day as they try to discern the pattern that is emerging. This group is neither early adopters nor the laggards. This group is starting to right-size the ego and so not be as entrenched in their old ways of seeing and categorizing reality. They are starting to sense that we are at a tipping point and that THEY might have something to do with the outcome.

The final group does not appear to be stirring nor awakening and that is fine as well. They are perhaps too entrenched or invested in the old reality. They seem to believe that anyone  that does not think and talk as they do are crazy.

For this group there does not seem to be enough inner resources to either right-size the ego nor prepare themselves for the massive amount of information that will need to be downloaded and integrated into our tribe in the coming weeks and months.

I know a lot of people in each of these three groups: friends and former friends, collegues, family members, people I know in the community. I am fine with whatever group you find yourself in although my sense of the third group is that nobody is going to put themselves in that final group. The ego won’t allow it. Such is the way of things. My focus is on helping those that are showing the unmistakable spark to find some footing and participate in a growing tribe during these strange shifting sands we find ourselves on.

What follows is another red-pill episode.  Part of a series of episodes we have done and will do sprinkled throughout season three. Think of it as two friends sitting around the fire talking about the pattern they are seeing right now.

And make no mistake, these red-pill episodes are for the middle group, the one that is starting to make sense of things. If we can help fill in the picture a bit more clearly or you take something you heard and investigate it for yourself, then Howard and I will have succeeded.

Whether you confirm our findings as true or not is not really the point. Not ultimately anyways.  Your honest inquiry and ability to throw aside the mainstream media’s disinformation campaign and propaganda and discern for yourself is what will further your awakening. I wish you Godspeed listeners. We are, as they say, at the precipice.

Howard Ferguson Bio-

My guest today is a friend, entrepreneur, restaurateur, and fellow seeker of Truth. Howard Ferguson is a man known as straight shooter, a truth teller, and someone who is able to integrate new information and form it into a collective vision of what is happening and where we might be going.

Here is my interview with Howard Ferguson.

E83 Final Thoughts-

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Howard Ferguson.  One resource that both Howard and I love is the writing of Martin Geddes. Martin is really good at giving you a birds-eye view on much of this stuff. I highly recommend you check out his latest book Open Your Mind to Change: The Guidebook to The Great Awakening.

The website is at www.openmindschange.com. I promise you that you will pull a bunch of things out of there that you weren’t aware of. I also promise you that you will feel more optimistic and more empowered about what is unfolding than you did before you picked up the book.

Basecamp E82: The Myth of the Grail with Tony Rezac

E82: The Myth of the Grail with Tony Rezac

 

E82 Introduction-

Why does the myth of the Grail still enchant us? What is it about it? Its instruction, its hidden meanings, its mystery? As you begin to engage with this myth, something starts to stir in you. If myths carry information and transformative images over time and generations, then this one packs a punch.  You can tell as soon as you start to step into it.

I found this episode to be a daunting task. This myth is mighty and commands my respect. I sense all the powerful beings that are connected to this story. My best option, and the one I took, is to approach it like Parzival, the innocent fool who becomes the hero of the story. Step into the myth in an unsophisticated way and allow it to shape this communication with you.

We must remember that a myth is a living entity and exists within every person. You will get the true, living form of the myth if you can see it as it spins away inside yourself. When working with a myth, it is good to keep in mind that the characters are representatives of all the various levels of consciousness or parts of ourselves as we seek to put ourselves back together. The boundaries between literal and psychological, inner and outer, symbolic and actual, part and whole, microcosm and macrocosm- become very fluid and porous…..

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Tony