Abstract

There is a growing awareness of the need for formal initiatory rites in our contemporary Western culture in order to help individuals make and mark the critical transitions in their lives. This study looks at how Westerners, who lack culturally sanctioned rites of passage, experience and make meaning of initiation as it exists across a spectrum of possible forms, ranging from structured ceremonial rites to informal, individual efforts to self-initiate. ;The research strategy---narrative inquiry---analyzed the content of nine participants' initiatory stories using a unique combination of the Four Shields theory, which is an ancient narrative method that has more recently been applied to interpreting human nature and experience, and Joseph Campbell's monomyth, a model for describing the initiatory journey as depicted in mythologies around the world. Integrating these two approaches brings an ancient interpretive tool that has a history of being used to make sense of initiatory stories into a modern form of analysis. In doing so, it contributes new insight into what constitutes meaningful initiation for Westerners by showing how life crises, transitions, and transformations can be initiatory in nature. ;Subsequent thematic analysis looked at issues that influence the success of initiation, such as the role of community, the level of support in making sense of initiation, the integrity of the initiatory container, the degree of closure of the initiatory process, and the relationship between these elements and the duration of initiation. Findings are useful in designing rites of passage experiences that can support and confirm the initiations already taking place within the context of contemporary Westerner's lives. On a more personal level, these initiatory stories can help individual people make sense of their life struggles through the lens of initiation