Rites of Passage

The initiatory process, the creative process and the therapeutic process all have a tremendous amount in common. They are all rites of passage.

The archetypal structure of a rite of passage (which is used for initiation and for transitions in life) is threefold. The first phase is a separation -- a breaking away from the normal workaday world and entry into ritual space (also known as sacred space or, more technically, liminal space). Once within the ritual container, the second phase is the ordeal -- the confrontation with personal and archetypal materials that need to be integrated for the rite of passage to succeed. Once the ordeal has been successfully navigated, the third phase is the return, where the initiate is blessed and received back into the larger culture, with a changed identity and all the gifts the initiate received during the process.

This may sound archaic and daunting, until you learn to spot variants of this process. For instance, the creative process follows this same pattern. The artist goes to the studio, wrestles with the creative process, and returns with a new creation. Therapy also follows the same structure -- the client enters the therapeutic realm in relationship with the therapist, confronts and integrates painful material, and emerges with healing and greater inner resources. Likewise, when we go to the movies or read a novel, we enter another reality, are swept along with the struggles of the characters, and we emerge transformed, or at least entertained.

It is a universal process that we all experience over and over again -- though usually it is done unconsciously. In fact, we go to the arts precisely because they create (or mimic) this pattern.