Description
Arrive just as you are.
Arrive here empty,
arrive here full of all the sick and stuck,
with all the love and longing,
all your genius grief and gratitude
thick as your last tantrum…
So begins the opening poem of Trust the Ceremony, F*ck the Ceremony, Trust the Ceremony, an equally mythopoetic and intimate exploration of personal and collective transformation through the framework of wilderness rite-of-passage and the dance of habit and surrender, breakdown and breakthrough, and the trust that subsidizes it all. Ryan uses rich metaphors and personal experiences to bring to life raw vulnerabilities that emerge on the journey toward initiation. Beginning with an invitation to cross the threshold into ceremony (whether that be on the land or the whole of Life) with a simple trust, the poems dive into the uncertainty and often necessary deaths that fuel transformation. With nature as mirror and guide, the poems travel through themes of surrender and the paradox of sacred ritual and messy life. Finally encouraging an embrace of each season of the journey, Trust the Ceremony summons a “Deep Green Trust” that weaves individual renewal with both community and cosmos.
May the poems in Trust the Ceremony inspire your wild nature hearts and be a small part of The Great Turning.
You can download a pdf here or get the Ebook of Trust the Ceremony directly from Bookshop or Amazon.
My name is Ryan Van Lenning, Founder of Wild Nature Heart, and I am an earth-lover with a deep desire to be of service in the work of re-connection, re-membering, and re-inhabiting the animate web of life. I started Wild Nature Heart to support people at a crossroads to re-connect with the wisdom of both inner and outer wild nature, to live their soul callings into the world, and to assist in the work of repairing broken belonging. I am a threshold guide and barbarian poet of the Great Turning (author of several collections of poetry, including Re-Membering, From Inside These Wild Ones, One Bright and Real Caress, An Ambitious Silence, Trust the Ceremony, F*ck the Ceremony, and Trust the Ceremony, Then Yeses Come Bubbling, Within the Cave Something Pulses, Moon Has a Long Memory, Kiss Me A Huckleberry, and High-Cooing Through the Seasons: Haiku From the Forest). I am trained as a rite-of-passage/wilderness ceremony guide through the School of Lost Borders, certified as an Ecotherapist through The Earthbody Institute, where I teach the Level 1-3 ecotherapy courses, and am a Certified Wilderness First Responder through Foster Calm. Prior to moving to California 18 years ago, I taught Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Environmental Ethics at Sinclair College in Ohio. I live among the forest and rivers in northern California, ancestral Wiyot and Yurok land. I like cinnamon ice cream, fantastic fungi, and river ottering.
Testimonials for previous collection Re-Membering:
“Bless Ryan Van Lenning for listening to the wild voices and bringing back the news for those who have lost their way. Bless him for reminding us of our original love affair with the earth and of what we know deep in our souls. His poems give wise counsel: let go of the debris, remember who you are, do not abandon your luminous thread.” —Lorraine Anderson, editor of Sisters of the Earth and Earth & Eros “Ryan’s poetry speaks deeply and clearly to the awakening to our true interconnected nature, which is the only way we can transform our world.” –Molly Young Brown, Author of Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects (co-authored with Joanna Macy), Editor of Deep Times: A Journal of the Work That Reconnects
“Ryan’s poetry sprouts out of him from moist, fertile soil – painting a lush landscape of sensual and philosophical magic. His poems transport you to a way of living in relationship with the earth that is lovingly intimate. Ryan integrates body, spirit, and social commentary into a vision of how to live a nature-inspired life amidst noise and overrun technology. ” Ariana Candell, LMFT, Founder of The Earthbody Institute
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