04/17/2026
🌸 Facilitator Spotlight 🌸
We’re honored to welcome Doug Van Houten to this year’s Beltane Gathering at Buck Creek Sanctuary.
🌿 Innocence, Initiation & the Practice of Praise
In this 90-minute session at Growing Home: Beltane Gathering, we’ll explore what it means to go through “initiation” in a human life, through both a short teaching and a simple practice in the land.
We’ll begin with a brief introduction to Bill Plotkin’s Soulcentric Developmental Wheel, a map that describes eight stages of human development in relationship with nature and psyche. We’ll focus especially on Stage Four, often understood as a kind of initiation—when the way we see ourselves begins to shift, and a deeper sense of meaning or direction can start to emerge.
From there, we’ll move into a guided “Praise Wander” at the East—the direction of dawn, spring, and new beginnings. This is a slow, simple walking practice of noticing and appreciating the living world around us. It’s not about doing it right, but about being present and letting attention become a form of gratitude and connection.
The session will include a bit of teaching, reflection, and time wandering outdoors together. It’s designed to be accessible, grounded, and open to anyone curious about the themes of life transition, nature connection, and simple presence.
Doug Van Houten is a guide, mentor, and facilitator devoted to supporting human development toward wholeness, ecological belonging, and a mature participation in the ongoing life of the Earth. His work is rooted in soulcentric and nature-based traditions, drawing on dreamwork, deep imagery, somatic awareness, poetry, and creative expression within wild and ceremonial learning spaces. He is influenced by teachers and inspirators including Bill Plotkin and the Animas Valley Institute, Joanna Macy, David Whyte, Mary Oliver, Matthew Fox, and Brian Swimme, among others.
At the heart of his practice is a devotion to what Thomas Berry called “The Great Work”—the transformation of human consciousness into a mutually enhancing relationship with the Earth and the wider universe. Doug supports others in descending into the depths of imagination, grief, and gift, and returning with their unique offerings in service to life. Alongside his guiding and mentoring, he expresses his own path through visual art, wandering, dream tracking, beekeeping, heart-centered activism, and embodied movement practices.
We’re grateful to have Doug sharing this offering with our community.
You are invited to join the celebration by bringing your family and friends, exploring volunteer opportunities, or securing your entry through the link in our comments.
In the spirit of reverence, we gather to honor the turning of the season and the sacred threads that connect us.
