The Raven Training
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The Raven Training is an age appropriate experiential weekend adventure for boys ages 9 to 12 that takes place in a natural out of doors setting. Boys who have participated in the weekend talk about how much fun it was, and how great it is to be respected for who they are by elders, men and young men for an entire weekend.
Mentors create a story or song or poem or…. about each boy’s gifts, and shares it with the group in a celebration feast at the very end of the weekend. What a powerful blessing that moment must be for each of the boys.
Boys also learn basic survival skills such as the art of camouflage, and how to build a forest shelter.
The Raven Training affirms the boy’s sense of rightful place; affirming that we each have a unique gift for our community.
It activates a boy’s emotional literacy by inviting them to speak what is true for them, and speak of their own story. Teaching stories are told by the elders on the weekend. One story takes the whole weekend to unfold.
Caring mentors of all ages model emotional literacy and what men look like when they enjoy their feelings and each other.
Because boys are becoming aware of their own mortality, they discuss the interconnectedness of all stages of life. While this occurs in a variety of ways, in one process the staff men share what it is like to be living at the various ages that are present on the weekend. This usually spans the ages of 11 through 75 years of age. They hear from men what to expect about growing into manhood and to becoming an elder.
The idea of starting with boys of this age is not new. That’s how it has been for centuries in tribal cultures. That way, young boys have a support system of healthy mature masculine models to go to as they enter the spicy teen age years; a natural continuation of the mentoring they have been getting. The more developmentally advanced Journeyman weekend is offered to the teen boys as the second training we offer boys and young men.
When it’s time for the more serious initiation of crossing into manhood, around seventeen or eighteen, men have many years of connection with the boy as a foundation to support them in the work needed for initiation into manhood; the third training we offer in Southern Oregon.