“Without cultural containers to give meaning to the death and rebirth cycles in the psyche, we can either be dragged like squealing pigs to the slaughter by the fate we bitterly resist, or we can try to understand the cycles as they manifest in our dreams. ‘Only what is really oneself,’ writes Jung, ‘has the power to heal.’ Enclosure, metamorphosis and emergence are natural cyclic phases in the individuation process. The psyche is like a rose bud that pedal by pedal unfolds into full blossom.”

— Marianne Woodman

Though we might not need the precise (not to mention dramatic) image of squealing pigs headed to slaughter to illustrate the importance of cultural containers, this quote by Marianne Woodman does well to stress how we need to find a way to replace the bygone cultural traditions that once helped us as people, transition between stages of the life cycle.

A "container" here, is a term used to describe an institution, space or practice devoted to hosting a specific act. These containers can be rituals or ceremonies, or the very space the ritual takes place in. A container may well be a therapy session or one's relationship with a mentor. No matter the instance, a container's purpose is to help us manage the phases through which we all pass, without allowing the side effects of these phases to “leak” out and disturb other aspects of our lives.

Unfortunately for us, many of the already few cultural containers that remain are ill-equipped to handle what they are tasked to oversee. That, or their influence has waned considerably. You can see both of these play out in a Gallup poll, which found that only 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque in 2020. This is the first time in over eight decades of polling that Gallup has found attendance at religious institutions below half. Spiritual rites were once a major aspect of our fundamental growth, but now, after a long and, let’s just say complicated history, these institutions are increasingly out-of-touch with their congregants, creating a chasm between a spiritual life and the life of a typical American.

Despite your thoughts on organized religion and its subsequent institutions—after all, it is just one way of enacting transition—there is an innate and now critical need for acts of initiation. As Woodman wrote, without this practice we lack meaning or clear understanding of our own natural cycles and this can cause us to lose direction. Without said understanding, many of us end up tossed as children, ignorant and unprepared, into the utter confusion of adulthood, left to find the purpose of the collective, and personal unconscious without any guidance whatsoever.

Joseph Campbell also spoke eloquently on the subject of these rituals. From an interview he gave on the subject of adulthood transitions, Campbell said “what dies [in the process] is the infantile ego. [As children] we are utterly dependent on our parents and on our society, […] so a psychology of dependency is developed; a psychology of submission—asking for approval, expecting reproof. But how are we going to break out of that psychological bondage into self-responsible authority? Courage for what our thoughts are and our life? This is the problem of killing our infantile ego and coming into the mature ego of authority.”

Squealing pigs and dying infantile egos, all sounds so heavy. But not every transition or change is as dramatic as the “deathing process” might make it sound. It’s important to remember that this is a naturally occurring pattern which eventually leads us back to rebirth, much in the same way that day ends in night, and night returns us to day. The cycle of beginnings and ends was at one point personified by cultural events that cultivated, and in fact required, communal effort. One is always guided, whether by force (think squealing pigs) or tutelage (think mentorship), through the threshold. These rites allowed the initiant to “break passed the image as fact and understand the image as metaphor”, as Campbell once said, allowing one to shed their ego gained earlier in the cycle and grow into the next one that is awaiting us in the following phase.

What we are missing most these days, is tutelage, as we have plenty of the forceful kind of guidance in the world. Sure, people still find mentors, teachers and spiritual leaders, but unfortunately this has become less common in the wider culture, and must be sought on the individual level because it is no longer “baked in” as a norm. What we are left with then, is that guiding force described so frighteningly well by Woodman and less of that gentle leadership of those who came before us.

Without rites of passage, many overstay their welcome in more comfortable parts of their cycles, with nothing to push or pull them along. This kind of elemental change is hard, it’s no wonder it’s stuck with a name like “deathing cycle”. But that foundational shift is made all the more difficult without the proper tension or pressure to compel us through.

Accountability is one such way to create that pressure for ourselves. But it has got to be healthy and productive. One reason (if only minor) for why we’ve lost these traditions in the first place is the fading of responsible stewardship of these containers. We've lost faith in those claiming the roles of initiators, or they have been reshaped into drill sergeants. I’m sure we all have examples of being pushed too hard only to be driven away from a passion or interest rather than towards it.

Accountability must have compassion and respect at its core, or we’ve missed the mark entirely. We are looking, ultimately, for inspiration, and though fear and pain can inspire quick, and even lasting change, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that this is good enough. The taproot of change must be authentic, capital “L” love or we will not see each other through. Even if it is only latent in our initiation ceremonies and rituals, it must be at the heart. Because pain and fear are not enough to compel a proper leap of faith, which is such a large part of this process and requires complete surrender to fulfill. Our spiritual surrender ought to come from humility, not from pain, and love, not from fear. The differences here can be nuanced, especially when differentiating between pain and humility, but they are worlds apart when we consider them at the intention setting stage.

Journal Prompts

Do you know where you are in your cycle?

Have you stagnated in comfort or been enabled in some way to refuse the natural arc of growth?

What awaits you through the next threshold? What scares you about the threshold itself?

Do you go willingly or must you be dragged?

We can work together to break through these “images as fact”, these stories, and find the metaphor meant to teach us, that waits behind the mask so we might move into the next ego and accept what is only cyclic.

~ Inner Vision

002: The Inner Child

Journal Prompts

003: Initiation

001: The Future Self