Trust the Ceremony, F*ck Ceremony

Trust the Ceremony, F*ck the Ceremony, Trust the Ceremony is an equally mythopoetic and intimate exploration of personal and collective transformation through the framework of wilderness rite-of-passage and the dance of habit and surrender, breakdown and breakthrough, and the trust that subsidizes it all. Van Lenning uses rich metaphors and personal experiences to bring to life raw vulnerabilities that emerge on the transformational journey. Beginning with an invitation to cross the threshold into ceremony (whether that be on the land or the whole of Life) with a simple trust, the poems dive into uncertainty and the often necessary deaths that fuel shapeshifting. With nature as mirror and guide, the poems travel through themes of surrender and the paradox of sacred ritual and the messiness of life. Finally encouraging an embrace of each season of the journey, Trust the Ceremony suggests a "Deep Green Trust" that weaves individual renewal with both community and cosmos.