1. Grief or Grievance?
The thing you want for your son, that he deserves, is almost certainly not available to you or to him.
He will not get what you read about in Martın Prechtel’s books. The village, the seasoned elders, the ritual prowess, the cultural continuity, is not available to most of us.
If you are willing to face the grief of such cultural poverties, your son will be well served. If you have a sense of grievance about it instead, the rite of passage will be a compensation for what is lost, rather than a redemption. No matter what, it will not be good enough, and your son will be on the receiving end of such dismay.
Are you willing to face the grief with honesty? Then I will work with you.
2. Is it too late?
Sometimes in the relentless demands of day-to-day parenting we leave things too long. It’s a hard thing to bear, and it can make us feel guilty, remiss, or inadequate.
Reaching out for help to guide our boy across the threshold to adolescence can be such a thing. Your son may be too old.
As gardeners know, there is a time for seeding, and a time when the seed won’t root and grow before the season has passed. It’s too late.
Is your son 15 years or older? It will likely be very hard to engage him in a process that requires 12 months or more to come to fruition.
Is your son of age, close to adolescence, but you cannot think of a single man outside of the family who might be able or willing to guide your son? It takes time to build relationships. You may not be able to before your son has matured beyond your influence.
Is your son still young enough for the Initiatory Path? Then I will work with you.
3. Do you have the time?
What you long for, and the help you ask for, isn’t a quick fix. It takes time to set into motion, it takes time to see it through.
It ought not to be rushed. It’s hard to say specifically how much time it will ask of you, but it takes a year to move through.
It will require the slow work of building relationships. It will require conversations and wondering and engagement with a creative process of deepening communal ties.
Do you have the time to devote to the Initiatory Path, and are you willing to find a way to stay with it for the duration and see it through, come what may? Then I will work with you.