SCHOOL OF LOST BORDERS
July, 2013
Summer Newsletter
Summer is brimming with life in the Owen's Valley! Guides are weaving in and out for various fasts and training programs that are happening simultaneously and in between handing out permits and shuffling gear we are blessed to hear some 'nuggets' of the wisdom arising in the field at this time.  New program participants come into our yard to borrow tarps, chairs or water bottles, curious and maybe a tad apprehensive about this crazy thing we call vision fast, only to return the gear a few days later, covered in dirt and dust and glowing wildly in post ceremonial expansion. 
 
Everyone loves the new truck, a 2002 Ford Expedition, that we were able to purchase, just days before the summer program craze started.  Our new people mover has braved the wild "off road" terrain twice already and has proven its great 4-wheel drive versatility.  Right now it is in the field with the CA summer fast and next week it will carry our youth up the mountain.  With a past of being a Bay Area 'city boy', he seems to enjoy getting dirty almost as much as we do when we get out onto the land. 
 
A humongous THANK YOU goes out to all of you that have made this purchase possible, for the manifold donations of all shapes and sizes, and the notes, cards and stories that came along with them!  How befitting that the new 'people mover vehicle' has emerged from the support of the very community that it will serve for many years to come - what a gift all the way around.

We hope this finds you well and in the midst of summer abundance, whatever that may look like for you.  In our Big Pine yard, the tiny seeds we so carefully laid out in the spring have turned into vigorous plants bearing their heavy fruit,urging us to eat whatever we can, and to sun dry, freeze or can the extra bounty, for a later treat on colder days, when summer's sweetness has long faded into memory.

 

With a full heart,


Petra Lentz-Snow
School of Lost Borders
Branching out:  The Queer Fast
by Pedro McMillan
 

In the Grateful Dead song 'Cassidy' you hear the lines:

"What you are, and what you're meant to be".

 

When these two things come together, there is a wholeness in a person that is both felt and seen. This wholeness is our natural state, our birthright.

 

In today's culture, being 'queer' (identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or intersexed) is more acceptable than at any time in history. Even so, there is still a divide that inhibits. "Should I come out to this person?", "When is a good time to talk about my identity?", "Who am I as a sexual being?". Anyone who carries a secret knows what this is like. Who is open or not. You never know who will be accepting and supportive and who may be offended. Who simply doesn't understand and says hurtful things without thinking or who needs education around the issues involved. So 'who you are and who you're meant to be' have to be put on hold.

 

When it comes to a vision fast, many queer people have no issue participating, but the issue of their gender or sexual identity may be a piece they hold back, at least until safety and a supportive environment are clear. Once out, there is a great opportunity for healing both for the queer participant and the others in the circle. Yet, it's this hesitation, and this obstacle to overcome that is simply there for the queer participant, even if they come to deal with other issues or claim unrelated gifts.
 

This is why I think it was so important for the School to offer the LGBTQ Fast, now simply called the Queer Fast. The first Queer Fast was recently held in Colorado and it quickly became clear to everyone involved that this offering was needed and special. 

 

When we all arrived at Dragonback Springs Ranch, the safe and supportive environment around orientation and identity was a given. No one had to explain or defend who they are or who they are meant to be. We simply were ourselves in sacred time and space, maybe for the first time in our lives. We can be ourselves in a lot of places, but it's incredibly rare to be ourselves in sacred time and space. The discussions about gender identity and being lesbian or gay or bisexual were deep and thoughtful. Barriers within the queer community fell and the healing went deep into our beings. This was good and needed stuff!

IncorporationA few brief comments  
 
The question of incorporation support is vibrating strongly, both in the school and in the world of rites of passage.

 

The simple truth is that listening and witnessing each others stories of living the edge of our ongoing incorporation is where beauty, intimacy, compassion and love can be stirred and evoked. I believe that there are forms, practices and ways that can help hold a container for the expression of incorporation and I also know in my heart that there is often fear and risk involved. 

 

We are all living our stories of incorporation.  Life does not really give us any choice in this. It's the risk, the creative tension of  living the paradox of pain and blessing that touches us so, that helps us to realize what it is to be fully human.

 
And may it be, may it come to pass that opportunities and invitations continue to arise for us to offer our stories to ourselves and our people.   Certainly the School would welcome them and would share them with others who are hearing the call.


Feel the winds of change
 blowing the superficiality of your life away.
~Neil Douglas-Klotz
In This Issue
Our New Ride


To date we have received $7,000 in donations for the new vehicle fund drive and we purchased the 2002 Ford, with just under 70,000 miles for a total of $8,500.  

With less cargo space than the suburban contenders the Ford turned out to be more affordable while still offering the same passenger capacity of 8.  The third row is a bit smaller but does hold 3 people - tiny people to the back, please....      


Month-Long Training
 
The 2013 month-long training just ended a couple of weeks ago.  The 5th training of its kind, this year's group had participants from Austria,  Germany, France, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland and the US.  
 
Despite the inherent complexity in coordinating a number of wildly busy globe trotter staff schedules, the unique month-long training format continues to produce a particularly fertile field for participants as well as the guides involved and we are looking forward to continue to see this offering evolve in 2014 and beyond.

 
Checks can be sent to School of Lost Borders, PO Box 796, Big Pine CA. 93513 (Please note 'New Vehicle Fund' in the memo section.)

Credit card payments can be made through Network for Good. Under Program Designation simply select,
'New Vehicle Fund'

       
Meredith reporting from her recent trip to South Africa

These people move me with their enormous hearts, passion, and devotion to making a difference in their troubled land.  And they break my heart with their painful stories, and the level of despair, violence, fear, and hopelessness that is also in the air.  I asked a young Xhosa man what the difference was between the violence that we find in our cities here in the States, and what is happening in S. Africa.  He said that in Africa life isn't worth anything and so they kill easily, even when unnecessary.

One day in the Dying as a Rite of Passage seminar I suggested that on their solo time that afternoon they sit in their Death Lodge and see if they can bring healing to some of the unfinished forgiveness/apology relationships in their life.  That afternoon I saw a large Zulu woman who had been very quiet so far, return early.  I walked to her and asked if she'd like to talk.  We sat in the shade and she told me that she had gone out and tried everything she could to NOT think about the pain and anger that she carried, and the huge wounding experiences that she could not forgive, and that burdened her to the point of feeling suicidal.  If it weren't for her two young children, she said her deep sadness would have led her to end her life.  Out poured a story of betrayal, abuse and lies from her family all the way into her childhood, and a husband who had shot her seven times.  He had stolen the children then, and finally she was able to steal them back. Betrayal and the story of being unable to trust anyone, was the story of her life.  And in her community nobody talked about things like this.  Ever.

And this a woman who gives her life to orphaned children of parents who have died of violence or AIDS.  She loves these children with all her heart.  They too have kept her alive.

I can't express the change that came over this beautiful woman when she had the chance to tell her story with no one judging or trying to "make her feel happy again".  But respecting her pain.  She opened like a child in love.  She began to tell her story to everyone, and each night in the small mirroring circles the story evolved and began to show healing as everyone listened and loved her.  She began singing, smiling, and asked me if she could learn how to do this work to bring to other people so they too could begin to heal.

The month in South Africa was a lot of "showing up" for the little introvert that I am, and all so worth it.  I left feeling that I'd been able to create week-long experiences that had enough room, enough non-judgement, enough nature and ceremony, for these people to drop deep and touch some of their most painful places and their most joyful places, that brought healing to their lives.  It speaks to their enormous resiliency.

School of Lost Borders                                             P.O. Box 796, Big Pine, CA 93513

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