Australia-wide offerings
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Wilderness Rites of Passage
A Rite of Passage is an honouring of a transition from one stage of life to the next. We offer nature-based Rites of Passage ceremonies for all stages of life including Wilderness Vigils (or Vision Quests) in the tradition of the School of Lost Borders. We have guides in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia all based in beautiful wild Country where participants can connect deeply to the land and their own life path.
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Mythopoetic Storytelling
Re-animating the dusty old bones of myth and folklore as an alchemical salve for the soul in these lean times. We offer Mythopoetic storytelling events and training around Australia.
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Way of Council
The Way of Council is an ancient form of group communication, which emphasizes being present in the moment and listening. Its basic form is sitting in circle and using a talking piece.
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The Way of Council is an ancient form of group communication, which emphasizes being present in the moment and listening. Its basic form is sitting in circle and using a talking piece.
There are 4 Intentions of Council (speak from the heart: non-judgemental, I-language, listen from the heart: open minded and naturally curious attitude; be spontaneous: speak with courage; be lean with expression: say what needs to be said and not more, be lean, remember there are many others who would like to speak)
There is one agreement:What is spoken about in circle, stays in circle, take the experience home, but not he content of personal stories
Participation in Way of council is always voluntarily.
The emphasis of these circles are to share story, by sharing story we dare to be vulnerable together and meet at a core human level. We find validation and realize how similar we all are as humans, we get a closer understanding of the human journey in general by sharing and witnessing each other’s stories. The aim is to create spaces for people to share their stories and feel heard. This is done by agreeing on basic intentions and agreements as well as consciously dedicating time, attention and space to the meeting.
Applications are many, they range from simple valuable shared time to conflict resolution, team meetings and decision making processes in groups.
Please follow these links on more on the Way of Council:
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As humans we are, literally, made up of story. What we say about ourselves, our lives and our place in the grand scheme of all things is a woven tapestry of narrative.
If we are serious about redefining our relationships; with ourselves, with each other, with the other-than-human and with the Earth herself, we need in our corner, all the mythic potency, the magic, that can be found in the great tales that humans have told each other for millenia. This is no small thing.
Unpicking some of the stitching in the story that is modernity and creating something new from those loose threads takes work, imagination, creativity and a certain eloquence that is capable of approaching the longing in our hearts to find meaning, purpose and a true home on this good, green earth.
Mythopoetic storytelling is an oral tradition. The stories are not imprisoned and sterilised onto a page. They have been bequeathed to us by our collective ancestors, quite possibly, especially for times such as these. No two tellings are the same and our role, whether as a teller or listener is to re-imagine the old tales, set them loose and let them have their way with us. It is not for the faint-hearted.
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A Rite of Passage is the marking of the transition from one life-phase to another. This can occur at any age and involves a celebration of the end of one stage of life and the recognition of stepping into another.
The main three steps in a ROP are Severance (sever from your former world, separating from previous concerns and remove from contacts in order to see more clearly what aspects of your life and yourself are longing to transform into something new), Threshold (or passage- a time spent in nature with a clear intention, equipped with ideas for self-generated ceremonies where you allow space and mindfulness for this transformation, and Incorporation (‘literally-taking on the body’- your new understanding, your ‘vision’ in how to move forward in life, identity, taking that to your people, your community, starting with the Community you return to, your fellow participants and guides)
In the School of Lost Borders tradition, a Rite of Passage is a ceremony, usually involving a period of fasting alone in nature, which is witnessed and held by community.
We believe that when our individual journeys are recognized as sitting within this bigger picture of nature and community, and not separate from it, our capacity for personal growth and healing during our transition becomes much larger, as does our capacity to facilitate growth and healing in the world.
Please follow the following links we trust on more on Rite of Passage:
Upcoming Experiences
An initiation into the way of story, eloquence and the subtle art of being human. A course in storytelling in the Mythopoetic tradition. Melbourne: April - June 2026
Wanting to start your own Mythopoetic storytelling practice, create a monthly story-circle or just hear some good stories? Ask us about programs to help you follow that golden thread of longing into the otherworld…
20-24 November 2026. A community ritual honouring the sacred power of grief in our lives. On country in regional Victoria. Expressions of interest now open.
Traveller, the path is your tracks
And nothing more.
Traveller, there is no path
The path is made by walking.
- Antonio Machado
Introducing the Wilderness Vigil
The essence of the vigil, is a deep journey into relationship with place/country, to self-knowledge and meaningful connection with the wisdom of our collective unconscious and our spiritual nature.
It is a rite of passage from one life stage to the next, a movement of letting go, and transitioning, into a state of beginning. Once this might have been called an ‘initiation’.
The invitation is to go in solitude without food for four days and nights.
To allow the cosmology of earth, of 'country' to renew itself in us, to be deepened and dignified by the earth itself.
To name and know what is true for us right now, humble and unadorned.
To create real and sincere relationship with the myth-line of our personal lives.
To let go of what no longer serves and make space for what is to come.
To return to our people and live our gifts the vigil has revealed.
As the belly empties, so too does the psyche, leaving space for a conversation with creation, not limited by our previous ways of being.
There is no requirement to be anyone other than who you are.
All that is needed is your courage and sincerity.
Meet the Team
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Simeon Ayres
GUIDE AND STORYTELLER
Sim is a mapmaker, writer and storyteller. He has been involved in men’s work for many years. He was trained as a rites of passage guide by Betsy Perluss of the School of Lost borders in 2013. He worked as a guide with Beyond the Threshold (Perth) and developed
programs in Victoria. bewildernest.com -
Kate Long
GUIDE AND COUNSELLOR
Kate is a counsellor with a generous and seeing heart. She is a storyteller and horsewoman, who studied a year full time with Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling. In her home community she works to reinstate
connection with Country and Ceremony into the everyday. She has trained as a Vision Fast Guide with Beyond the Threshold and Wild Mountain Retreats. -
Maria Temple (she, her, kin)
POTTER, COUNSELLOR, WAY OF COUNCIL FACILITATOR AND RITE OF PASSAGE GUIDE
Wadi Wadi and Dharawhal country
Maria is a part Austrian, part Australian woman with a great love for her family and earth. She believes humans are part of nature, and as such part of all that the big web of timeless creation is.
She is interested in creating spaces that help reconnect humans to this knowledge, themselves and their story in the big story of life
She is a trained as a Counseller, Rite of passage guide and Way of council facilitator.
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Jeff Atkinson
GUIDE AND STORYTELLER
Jeff is a Mythopoetic Storyteller, guide and holder of sacred spaces. He has a background in facilitating men’s gatherings and has trained in storytelling and in Wilderness Rites of Passage in Australia and overseas. Jeff spent twenty years in a career where words were wielded as weapons, eloquence was an instrument of power and the stories were small and mean. He now serves the grander mythic narratives that seek truth and beauty, animate the cosmos and help us understand what it really means to be human in times like these…
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