The Ritual Elder

In traditional tribal cultures, ritual space is held by one or more ritual elders, who have a lifetime of training and a cultural matrix to support them in this role. The role of the elder is a vital one, although it's largely lost in our culture.

Instead, our culture emphasizes youth, with its dynamic vibrant energy. But without the wisdom and steadiness of the elder, there is no way to contain that youth energy. So it runs wild, destroying instead of creating. Many ills of our culture are caused by this lack of elder energy. There are many people who grow old but never mature into the wise elder energy, instead desperately clinging to the frenetic pleasures of youth. Our culture is overrun with "monster boys" in men's bodies, who lust for power without any sense of service. And of course this power never satisfies, only maddens and aggravates, thus perpetuating the addictive cycle.

Youth needs the blessing of the older generation -- not just parents, but the leaders and elders of the wider community. And maturity needs to bless the young. There is no satisfaction as deep as that of mentoring and blessing someone into claiming their own power and beauty.

Elders have lived a long time. They have learned much about life -- when to stand firm, when to bend. Elders are skilled in the arts of survival.

Elders face their own mortality and weakness. This, paradoxically, gives them a power that youth cannot understand -- the power of surrender, of emptying out to make space for the sacred to manifest. Elders are technicians of the sacred, skilled at creating and holding the container that rites of passage depend on.

Though our culture has ignored and belittled the role of the elder, this role is within us all. If you look for it, you will see it there -- within yourself and those around you. Claim your inner elder, make friends with this deep ineradicable part of your truest self. It is a great source of wisdom and healing in life.