Rites of Passage Guide Training
and Women's Initiation
May 28-june 1, 2025
and
august 29-September 8th
at Sacred Mountain Waters
near Asheville, NC.
Women’s Initiation and Rites of Passage Guide Training
5-Day & 10-Day
May 28–June 1, 2025 (5-Day)
August 29–September 8, 2025 (10-Day)
Sacred Mountain Waters, near Asheville, NC
A Warm Welcome to You Who Hears the Call
To the women who have felt the ache in their bones for something deeper…
To the village aunties, teachers, doulas of transformation, and guardians of the sacred…
To those who have longed for ceremony, for sisterhood, for a path that remembers…
Welcome home.
This is your invitation to blossom into your own Initiation as a woman, and to receive the sacred training to guide others—our daughters, our sisters, our mothers—across the threshold of initiated womanhood.
I dream of a world where every girl coming of age has access to soul-rooted ceremony, to guidance that affirms her belonging, intuition, power, and purpose. This training is a prayer for that world—and for the women rising to midwife it into being.
About the Rites of Passage Guide Training
This program is an immersive, transformational experience—designed to nourish your own soul journey while equipping you to guide others through the sacred rite of becoming.
You will grow, learn, you will live the ceremonies.
You will enter into the ancient circle of women who remember.
And you will return with the skills, tools, and embodied wisdom to offer powerful Rites of Passage to the girls and women of your community.
The 5-Day vs 10-Day Training: What’s the Difference?
5-Day Women’s Initiation
May 28–June 1, 2025 | Cost: $1,400 A sacred immersion for women at all stages of life—from maiden to mother, maga (autumnal years), and crone. This is your opportunity to receive a deeply personal initiation, reclaim your power, awaken ancestral memory, and fortify your connection to Earth and community.
This experience is focused on your own transformation, not on facilitation training. It’s for women ready to say yes to their next evolution.
Required for those pursuing Rites of Passage Guide certification.
10-Day Women’s Initiation + Rites of Passage Guide Training
August 29–September 8, 2025 | Cost: $2,800 This extended immersion includes the Women’s Initiation element and adds a robust training in the skills, tools, and frameworks needed to guide others through transformational rites.
You will explore ceremonial facilitation, group leadership, youth mentorship, curriculum design, and more.
Required for certification.
Flow of the upcominG 5-Day Women’s Initiation
Each day is a step through the sacred spiral. Our ceremonies follow the rhythms of nature, the elements, and the feminine soul.
Fire & Earth:
Opening Fire Ceremony
Moon Lodge / Temazcal (Sweat Lodge)
Reclaiming the Inner Girl Ceremony
Clay Seed Jar Making & Seed Sharing
Burial Ritual
Grief Tending & Grief Ceremony
Crafting Your Medicine Pouch
Air & Song:
Dawn Chorus Bird Sit
Feather Plume Making
Song Circles & Receiving Songs from the Water
The Art of Council
Moon Time Honorings in the Red Tent (for First and Last Moons)
Water & Spirit:
River Ceremony at Sunset
Pilgrimage to the Confluence of two Rivers for Offerings & Rebirth
Changing Woman Ceremony
Wilderness Solo
Pipe Ceremony
This journey is elemental, sacred, and deeply restorative.
Certification Pathway: Become a Rites of Passage Guide
To receive your full certification, you will complete all four components:
5-Day Women’s Initiation
10-Day Women’s Initiation + Guide Training
Year-Long Online Training ($700 if bundled; normally $1,400)
Apprentice in a Young Women’s Rites of Passage Ceremony (Choose July 7–11 or July 14–18, 2025 | $800)
(Payment plans & trade options available)
Includes organic meals, supplies, ceremonies, and guest teachers.
Calling the village aunties, the teachers, and the guardians
who will hold Nature Based Rites of Passage for the daughters of their communities…
Meet Your Guides
Iya Sangoma Oludoye – Elder & Spiritual Midwife
A traditional Yoruba priest, sacred activist, and founder of the Kindred of Sangoma, Iya Sangoma is a beloved elder, mother of three, grandmother of twelve, and great-grandmother of one. She has served as a ceremonial guide in our Young Women’s Rites of Passage for nine years and in 2024 led our Earth-Shaking, World-Changing Woman Ceremony. Her presence roots us in ancestral wisdom, fierce compassion, and the call to cultural healing.
Lena Eastes – Facilitator & Vision Tender
Founder of Earth Path Education and Weaving Rainbows, Lena has guided women and youth through initiatory journeys for 16 years. Her work blends earth-based spirituality, expressive arts, cultural healing, and feminine leadership. She is devoted to awakening the village and returning rites of passage to our communities.
Cyndy “Snake Dancer” Paige – Wise Guide, Drum Weaver & Sound Keeper
I love my drums. I love circles of women with drums. I am a lover of Spirit and I sing and dance reverently and lightly on the face of our mother, the Earth. I am happiest when I drop into that precious moment of profound connection with … all. That moment when tears stream down my cheeks in heart expansive gratitude for my life and my place in it.
Many years ago, I made a promise to create a container for women to feel safe enough to wildly explore their power and their soul’s purpose. We do this by sitting in the highest vibration of love and sharing our hearts, our original drums. I invite you to come circle with me. To create a drum with me. To share sacred sound and breath with me. And to hold hands and dance with me around the medicine wheel of life.
I honor the amazing teachers, medicine people, and shamans, seen and unseen, who have taught me their ways. I will do my very best to carry them with honor and respect.
My spiritual mission is to sing, dance, drum, and play in the highest vibration of love with all beings. In my humble opinion, as we open our hearts in gratitude and a belief in the oneness of all, we create an opening for Spirit to flow through us. In that space, boundless creation is possible. It is a lifelong dance.
…The time has come to gather in celebration of our belonging and togetherness
to fill our cups and offer spaces that affirm belonging and beauty in the lives of women becoming.
Join us in a life changing Initiation to prepare you to hold Nature Based Rites of Passage in your community.
Have You Had Your Rite of Passage? Women's Initiation May 28-June 1st, 2025
Calling the Village Aunties and Grandmothers,
From Grandma Cyndy Snake Dancer, one of our co-facilitators for the upcoming Women's Initiation:
Back in the 80s, I read a very short but life-changing book – Circle of Stones: Woman’s Journey to Herself by the late Judith Duerk. This book and the wisdom it contains sustained me through both difficult and empowering times in my life. Many decades later, this book inspired the name of my shamanic apprenticeship – A Circle of Stones. Judith began many of the chapters with:
How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you…a place of women, where you were received and affirmed? A place where other women, perhaps somewhat older, had been affirmed before you, each in her time, affirmed, as she struggled to become more truly herself. A place where, after the fires were lighted, and the drumming, and the silence, there would be a hush of expectancy filling the entire chamber…a knowing that each woman there was leaving old conformity to find herself…a sense that all of womanhood stood on a threshold. And if, during the hush, the other women, slightly older, had helped you to trust your own becoming…to trust it and quietly and prayerfully to nurture it. How might your life be different?
Last year, I met Lena Eastes, founder of Earth Path Education, and I very spontaneously answered her call to share wisdom at a 10-day women’s initiation at a beautiful retreat center in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. I heard “women’s initiation,” and I felt the great-grandmother aspect of me opening her arms to embrace the aunties who would circle for this life-changing rite of passage. Some of these soulful aunties were also called to hold these ceremonies for their daughters, nieces, and the young women in their communities.
At first, I thought only of the aunties and the young women they would serve. But to my surprise, I found myself in the presence of three other grandmothers – an African Sangoma, a Lumbee grandmother, and a Cherokee grandmother. I realized that I had stepped into a very needed and powerful multi-generational ceremony. In fact, the grandmothers among us also had profoundly moving initiations. We grandmothers circled with the younger aunties, and we all experienced our very individual and intentional Changing Woman Ceremony.
I never had a woman’s initiation—not when I had my first moontime nor when I had my last. I have created these ceremonies for others but will admit that I never took the time to honor myself! Well, I drove off that mountain feeling like a different woman. My sisters had witnessed my prayers; they supported my transformation; they dried my tears; they laughed with me; and that precious circle of women that I had not previously known continues to support me today.
That is the power of intentional women’s circles. The ripples never die. Each woman touches other girls, women, aunties, and grandmothers.
Rites of passage are needed in every chapter of our lives. I see a world where all generations stand together. We envision and shape the next chapter in our lives by marking and celebrating what we are passing through. We truly hold our unfolding.
🌿 Have you experienced an initiation? If not, come! 🔥 Do you feel a pull in your bones to guide others? If so, come!
How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you, a place of women? A place where other women, somewhat older, had reached out to help you as you rooted yourself in the earth of the ancient feminine…A place where there was a deep understanding of the ways of women to nurture you in every season of your life. A place of women to help you measure your own stature…to help you prepare and know when you were ready.
A place where, after the fires were lighted, and the drumming, and the silence, you would claim, finally, in your Naming, as you spoke slowly into that silence, that the time had come, full circle, for you, also to reach out…reach out as younger women entered into that place…reach out to help them prepare as they struck root in that same timeless earth.
How might your life be different?
Woman, standing on a hillside, peering, Peering into blue space… …what will woman be? …not yet fully seen …not yet fully revealed …but coming …coming …what will woman be?
Imagine a world of Women's Initiation at every stage of life. Imagine.
Join Us in 2025
Step Into Your Calling: Women’s Initiation & Rites of Passage Guide Training
May 28–June 1, 2025 (5-day) August 29–September 8, 2025 (10-day) Sacred Mountain Waters, Near Asheville, NC
A warm welcome to you who hears the call to tend the sacred threshold of womanhood.
Are you ready to step into your own initiation and become a guide for others?
In cultures across time, women have been guided through rites of passage—ceremonies marking the sacred transitions of life. Yet, in our modern world, these initiations are often lost, leaving girls, young women and women without the guidance and affirmation and holding we deeply need. We are here to change that for ourselves and our communities.
This immersive Rites of Passage Guide Training is for women who feel the call to embody their own initiation while also preparing to hold these transformative experiences for the girls and women in their lives, their communities, and beyond.
Through ceremony, nature immersion, deep listening, and hands-on training, you will flower and fruit into your role as an Initiated Woman and Rites of Passage Guide. This is more than a training—it is an initiation into your own soul’s wisdom and an opportunity to join a growing movement of women reclaiming and sharing these ancestral ways.
Who Is This For?
Women longing to experience their own initiation and deepen their connection to the Earth, Spirit, and ancestral ways.
Women who feel a deep call to facilitate meaningful rites of passage for women, girls and young women.
Educators, mentors, village aunties, healers, and community leaders who want to bring Rites of Passage into their lives and communities.
What You Will Experience:
Your Own Initiation: Step into ceremony and emerge with clarity, confidence, and a deepened connection to your purpose.
Ritual & Earth-Based Wisdom: Experience and Learn to carry time-honored rites of passage
Facilitation Training: Develop the skills to lead rites of passage with integrity, cultural awareness, and your own intuition
Wilderness Solo: Experience a profound encounter with nature as you prepare to guide others in this sacred journey.
Hands-On Learning: Craft your own ceremonial tools, receive teachings from Indigenous wisdom keepers, and deepen your ability to hold space.
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Thank you for hearing the call to walk in this world as an initiated adult and to offer Rites of Passage ceremonies for the young women in your life, your community and beyond.
When I was 20 years old and was sitting up on a mountain in the verdant “Valley of the Gods” in Kalalau, Kauai, HI for four days on a Vision Quest and fast, I was clearly given a vision for my life: hold Young Women’s Rites of Passages.
Certainly Spirit must have had the wrong number, how was I- a young woman myself, very much still walking through my own coming of age and womanhood manage to hold a space to initiate and support others? The directive was further shared, keep walking forward all the support needed will be there. And it has been.
This summer we will gather for our 14th year of a 5 day Rites of Passage Ritual called Growing Goddess (ages 11-14) and Moon Mystics (ages 15-18). I stand tall and feel humbled and grateful to be a “Thresholder.” This term came to me recently as I realized that- time and time again I find myself helping to anchor down and celebrate these essential transitions and alchemical opportunities in the arc of a human life. I am here holding the thresholds. Sound familiar to you?
The past 5 years it has become clear to me how necessary Rites of Passages for Young Women is for the health of the Earth and the upliftment of the heart of humanity and how poignant that I share my wisdom around facilitating Rites of Passage ceremonies for young women. We as women are the continuation of our species on Earth, we alone hold the ability to bring life. Our creative birthing be that to children and/or to our visions/callings~ bring the healing, the life, the change that is needed to bring peace, justice and beauty on Earth. I have been called to share everything I’ve learned in the past decade plus of being a Rites of Passage Guide. I am offering a skillful giveaway, teachings, invitations and a set of gifts to support you into fully embodying the mentor, the Village Auntie, the Rites of Passage Guide that you feel called to know.
This is a path of holding, orienting, celebrating and feeding all of life as you tend to the Threshold of Womanhood. I honor your deep knowing for being here, this Earth-based and ancient solution for regenerating our culture and coming into right relationship and balance with creation is dreaming up through many of us right now. I want to offer you a strong foundation of skills and tools, to support your yearnings and callings from the Earth/Spirit to serve as a Rites of Passage Guide for girls and young women.
I see and feel a world where when a girl is blossoming into her womanhood- there is a place she can go (no matter where she lives) to find deep and meaningful connection to herself, to her intuition and to her glimmering authenticity as she comes in touch with her gifts for the world.
In the non-profit I founded and direct Earth Path Education, we cultivate an annual ceremony where girls and young women come together with Indigenous Grandmothers, Village Aunties, and Wise Women Mentors to make true friends with peers and lasting mentoring relationships with adults and elders they trust. Rites of Passage is an Earth-based ritual, it is cross cultural, it is not dead, it lives in the soil, in the waters, in the fire, in the vast blue sky, in the prayers of the ones who came before- to carry us home. When we sing, dance and pray, when we show up to the majesty and mystery of the Earth, transformation-deep initiation is possible.
This is not meant to be a sampler plate, it is an in depth training, designed to offer you what you need to start offering Rites of Passage for young women in your life, community and beyond. This is not a spectator sport, it’s participatory.
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My name is Lena Christine Eastes, and I will be your guide, so that you may guide others. I have been offering this work for 14 years, and am honored for you to join me on this path.
When I was 20 years old, sitting up on a mountain in the verdant “Valley of the Gods”, in Kalalau, Kauai, HI for four days on a Vision Quest, I was clearly given a vision for my life: hold young women’s Rites of Passage. The directive was further shared, keep walking forward; all the support needed will be there. Now I am here, with you.
This summer we will gather for our 14th year of a 5 day Rites of Passage Ritual called Growing Goddess (ages 11-14) and Moon Mystics (ages 15-18) through the non-profit I founded and direct. I stand tall and feel humbled and grateful to be a “Thresholder.” This term came to me recently as I realized that- time and time again I find myself helping to anchor down and celebrate these essential transitions and alchemical opportunities in the arc of a human life. I am here holding the thresholds, and invite you to join me, so that we may uplift ourselves and young women around the world.
i work with women through rites of passage
Lena Eastes
I’m thrilled to extend an invitation to an immersive in-person Rites of Passage training that complements our online Rites of Passage Guide program.
In this journey you’ll encounter the transformative power of ceremonies, stepping into your own Rites of Passage alongside a circle of fellow guides-in-training, supported by the wisdom of the earth.
This training isn't just about learning; it’s about living the experiences you'll later guide others through. You will craft your own drum, birthing it in the drum lodge, and discover how to guide this ritual for others. You’ll embrace a wilderness solo experience while learning to hold this journey in community.
Every aspect listed below will be an immersive encounter within the ritual or offering. You'll not only partake but also absorb the organizational framework and philosophy, balancing both participant and guide perspectives.
The in person guide training puts you in touch with the Earth Path hearth and our Rites of Passage prayer in a deeply transformative, detailed and intimate way.
The online Rites of Passage Guide training provides a vast repository of tools, rituals, songs, and a network of guides worldwide, akin to a magical library supporting your journey.
Upon application, let's delve deeper into how we can best nurture this sacred responsibility within you. Join us to ignite your path as a steward of life’s sacred journey.
Experience an immersion through the realms of:
Facilitation Skills
Fire Walk Ceremony
Arrow Break Ceremony
Wilderness Solo
Changing Woman Ceremony
Art of Wilderness Wander
Medicine of the Flowers: Making Flower Essences and Flower Blessings
Plant Spirit Medicine
Pilgrimage to Appalachian Power Spots
Drum Lodge: Make your own frame drum
Way of Council
Living Animism
Temezcal (Moon Sweat Lodge)
Song Apothecary: Learning Songs for the Rites of Passage
The Art of Receiving Songs
Feeding the Hungry Girl Ghost
Bow drill and hand drill fire by friction
Making your own Bowdrill Kit
Grief Tending Toolkit
Waterfall Adventure
Nature Awareness Games
Affinity Circle
Logistics
We will be hosted in the amazing forested land where the two rivers meet at the gorgeous Sacred Mountain Waters Wellness and Wilderness Center in Marshall NC, near Asheville NC.
Best airports to fly into Asheville and Greenville (pick up and drop off available no need to rent a car)
Other possible airports to fly into: Charlotte NC or Knoxville, TN (car rentals or shuttles will need to be arranged)
*Please confirm acceptance to the program and organize a ride with us before committing to a flight. Please text Lena at 828-775-7174 to coordinate your pick up.
Aligning with the call
“For a mentor with such a wide array of skills and experience to meticulously lay her offerings out for others to learn from is an immense gift. Lena weaves the big ideas of the medicine wheel, earth-based spirituality and permaculture with tangible practices and activities that have been a perfect fit for the direction I am headed as a mentor.
From the start of our year-long journey, I have been able to integrate meaningful practices from the Rites of Passage Guide Training into my own life and my work with students. I feel more grounded, resourced and inspired. I have been able to seamlessly weave into my teaching practice many methods covered in the training, such as council, sit spot, ceremony, songs, games and life skills. Perhaps the greatest treasure of this mentorship has been my own empowerment to step into my gifts more fully and share them with the youth who are fed by them.
The way Lena shows up in full authenticity as a mentor has empowered me to do the same, whereas in the past I was holding back my whole self. I am astounded at the quantity and quality of her offerings for the price, from the detailed video instruction to our intimate monthly gatherings to reflect and share.
I said yes to this journey willing to pay for this immense gift, but just as many other facets of life have aligned for me since stepping into this work, I was delighted to discover I could fund most of this training as professional development through my employer! Embarking on the Rites of Passage Guide journey was just the spark I needed to enliven my teaching practices. Thank you Lena!
— Erika Coyer - Waldorf Teacher - Port Townsend, WA
“Lena-The beauty of your ancient heart shines through, I see you, and I see an old wise grandmother speaking with you, through you, behind you.”
Registration is OPEN for our In Person 2025 training
Our May Women’s Initiation and Rites of Passage Guide Training will run from 3pm on May 28th through 5pm on June 1st.
All initiates in the program will conduct a one on one interview with Earth Path Education Vision Tender and Lead Facilitator, Lena Eastes prior to acceptance.
Sacred Reciprocity
$1,400 for the 5 days and 4 nights Women’s Initiation and Rites of Passage Guide Training.
$2,800 for your 10 day and 9 night Women’s Initiation and Rites of Passage Guide Training
Attend both ceremonies for $3,800.
When you attend an in-person Women’s Initiation and Rites of Passage Guide Training I offer 1/2 off the online course, saving you $700.
Bundle Pricing for the 5 Day and 10 Day Women’s Initiation and Rites of Passage Guide Training and the year long online Rites of Passage Guide Training course: $4,500 (saving you $1,100)
Full Training to be completed in 1-4 years.
Freshly prepared local and organic meals, all craft supplies, and all ceremonies and guest teachers offerings are included in the price.
Initial deposit due upon acceptance to the program, and the full cost of the program is due before the program begins. A non-refundable deposit of $1,500 is needed to reserve your space. Full payment is due before the program begins.
To read more about our reimbursement policy, please click here: Reimbursement Policy
Because I find the online Rites of Passage Guide Training and the In Person Rites of Passage guide training to be deeply synergistic. I want to recommend you completing both trainings and want to give you a $700 discount (on it’s own the online training is $1,400) to support the affordability of both trainings and encourage full access to the teachings and skills I have to offer- in upliftment of your path as a Rites of Passage Guide.
Are You Interested in Becoming a Certified Rites of Passage Guide?
Do you feel called to guide others through life’s transitions? Are you ready to hold space for powerful ceremonies that mark significant stages of growth? Our Rites of Passage Guide Certification will equip you with the tools, knowledge, and community support to lead these transformative journeys for women and young women.
Rites of Passage Guide Certification: A Four-Part Journey
1. Women's Initiations and Rites of Passage Guide Trainings
These in-person immersions are designed to provide a deep, embodied reception of your own Women’s initiation and Soul Satisfying personal Rites of Passage. The two tiers offer different levels of engagement:
5-Day Initiation and Training
Cost: $1,400
A foundational experience, where participants will experience the core elements of a Women's Initiations and Rites of Passage. Through ceremony, nature immersion, and personal reflection, initiates will explore the ancestral and modern tools needed to guide others by first themselves receiving the beauty of the Rites of Passage you’ve longed for.
2. 10-Day Deep Dive
Cost: $2,800
This extended training provides a deeper immersion into advanced techniques of holding space, facilitating transformation, and working with individuals and groups. Participants will gain hands-on experience in ceremony design and leadership.
3. Year-Long Online Rites of Passage Guide Training
Cost: $700 (usually $1,400, receive half off as a part of the certification)
This year-long online course includes 300+ teaching videos and resources that you will have lifetime access to. The course covers the cultural, and psychological aspects of rites of passage, and includes guided exercises for personal growth and leadership development and a tool library for facilitation Rites of Passage. I also cover the 8 Shields model as an ancient and effective organizational and Spiritual tool.
With community forums, virtual meetings, and group check-ins, you'll remain supported throughout your journey.
4. Facilitating Young Women's Rites of Passage (Ages 11-18) Choose either July 7-11 0r July 14-18, 2025
Cost: $800
As part of your certification, you’ll have the opportunity to directly participate in facilitating a young women’s rites of passage ceremony. This hands-on experience will solidify your skills and offer you the chance to work with the next generation of women leaders. You'll be fully supported by senior guides during this practice component.
Upon Certification:
Lead Your Own Rites of Passage: As a certified guide, you will be able to design and lead your own rites of passage ceremonies, supporting others in this critical work of personal and community transformation.
Join a Global Network of Guides: You’ll become part of a vibrant network of certified guides, fostering collaboration and resource sharing.
Access to Global Retreat Centers: Gain access to retreat centers across the country and internationally, expanding your ability to host ceremonies in sacred and supportive spaces. We’ve been offered centers in Bali, Maui, Kauai, California, North Carolina and beyond, for free!
Lifetime Access to Living Libraries: Continue your learning with lifetime access to 300+ teaching videos and resources that will evolve over time as new content is added.
Ongoing Coaching and Support: Personalized coaching is available on an ongoing basis (with additional paid options) to ensure your continued growth and success in your journey as a guide.
Why Expand Rites of Passage?
This is not just a certification—it's a movement. Rites of passage have been central to the human experience for thousands of years, marking transitions from one stage of life to another. However, in many modern societies, these ceremonies have been lost, leaving individuals without meaningful acknowledgment of their growth and change. Or proper orientation of how to participate, belong and contribute in ways that are aligned and make sense.
The re-emergence of these rites is critical for the mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of individuals and communities. By reviving this ancient practice, we offer women and young women a profound opportunity to connect with themselves, each other, and the natural world in a way that fosters healing and transformation.
As we expand these rites, we are participating in a cultural shift—one that honors the deep wisdom of our ancestors while creating a present and future where each transition in life is met with the reverence and support it deserves. This movement is about empowering women, guiding the next generation, and fostering a global community of guides who are bringing these ceremonies back to the forefront of human experience.
Investment
Total Cost of Training and Certification to be completed in 1-4 years: $5,300 for all four components
(5 day Initiation, 10 Day Initiation and Guide Training, Online Guide Training and Apprenticing for our Young Women’s Rites of Passage. Payment plans and trade options may be available.)
