A Mentor’s Manual
For Women 30 to 100
In the middle of a winter journey, I discover that my life work in Soul Stories and Nine Passages looks more like an introduction. I dreamed of helping women initiate, yes that’s the right word, initiate into our lives. Since my friends were mostly Elders, we began doing ceremonies through our Passages, remembered. As it turned out the remembering of each life Passage is cathartic, very healing. Women who find Soul Stories and who take a 6 or 9 or 12 months journey, alone or in small groups, form bonds like we have never experienced before. Nine Passages was a work in progress for more than a dozen years. I call it a Mentor’s Manual, I wanted to call it a Fieldguide for Mentors. I say to women who hold it in their hands, find yourself first. The Life Spiral is fantastic for imagining our lives from Birth to Death, the tiny circles between the Passage symbols, this is where Mentoring is needed. I come from the edges of the Nature Connection world, much of my life has been lived on the edge.
Sharing the Dreams of the Grandmothers
The old ones say the women will lead the way,
Healing among the tribes;
Inside them are the powers of love and strength,
Given by Luna and Gaia
The Moon and Earth.
I give thanks for these words, Janis Monaco Clark, heart-rock and editor of Turtle Moon Publishing!
Rita’s tale, Petals From a Rose, is an ancestral story of love and kindness woven around lives spiced with prejudice and deception. For Turtle Moon Publishing, this book provides the example we need to offer this invitation: We will be writing our own tales of our ancestors and invite you to join us. Rita was 95 in 2016, the year she published with us!
We couldn’t be more proud to introduce this book written by Mother, edited by Daughter and we wonder … there really must be a million such stories.
Our Ancestor Legacy Series asks readers this question:
What is the gift you wish to give to your Mother or Grandmother?
Perhaps Legacy comes from you to your Grandchildren …
Is it truly memoir, truly fiction, truly a blend?
Ask Gail Burkett @ gail@ninepassages.com for more information.
“Learn about the Life Spiral and you will find yourself.”
~~Gail Burkett
Welcome to Nine Passages, a soulful place for women and girls, a place to begin dreaming in ritual and ceremony. Here we learn from one another, the conversation is always juicy and edgy. We are bringing Rites of Passage back to the culture, one woman, one girl at a time by bundling the stories of our lives. Stories make us who we are, we have dreamed and nourished our stories, we hold them in love and keep them safe. When the time is right for us to face a Threshold of change, a ritual is needed. We pray there is a Mentor nearby.
We must separate from our usual life and routine, enter a quiet away place, the liminal, for time apart from our usual life. This space is individually designed, a walk-about, a vision quest, a retreat. After this space shapes us, we gather a circle of helping hands and enter into a simple, elegant ceremony with water, fire and some mix of earth and air. Flowers, please, music, drums, love in abundance.
This is Rites of Passage, special in every way, sacred as our very lives. Enter the Passage Library and read about each of these terms, read about me and my free expressions, share my free teachings. Turn the spotlight back to you, what ceremony do you need, which Passages are you facing?
Both books of ritual and ceremony, of mentoring and the life-span from Birth to Death are available from Turtle Moon books at Amazon.com! Click here to look inside and purchase.
“I love the book, and the pictures and the graceful way you honor the ways of Rites of Passage for women and know the importance of ritual and ceremony and communication. As women read this book, they will surely come to know you and feel a deep connection with YOU, THEMSELVES, their CULTURE and their community. You will have imprinted and quickened sooooooo many…. Thank you for doing that and for the gift you are to this world! My life is truly rich because of YOU!” –Kathleen Bjorkman Wilson, Rites of Passage and Wilderness Guide
“In Soul Stories Gail Burkett has created a guide that will deeply affect the lives of whoever decides to pick it up. These stories of passages and initiations create new understanding, awareness, honor and respect for all that we have been, are now and are becoming. This must be the missing piece in our culture, the piece that is disappearing – we must start a spark, then fan the flames. Thank you so much for sharing this wise, ripe gift!” –Nancy Smith, Elder & Mentor
Both books offer opportunities to know your Soul as the Divine Feminine inside of you.
Let me know how I can support you: gail@ninepassages.com