What is a rite of passage, and why make one?What do I have to do to prepare, and who will I choose to help me?After accomplishing my goals, how do I create my Celebration?Where will I hold my Celebration, who will I invite? Making a rite of passage is a challenging experience-one you can surely achieve with the help of a few people who are close to you. In this book you will find everything you need to begin."At the moment of stepping through the Gateway, I felt so loved! I felt that every girl should have the opportunity to experience a Gateway Celebration! At thirteen, I took on the three-month challenge of this personal initiation. Through it, I came to understand myself. I understood what it meant to be connected to a great network of strong women.- Now I see that the work I did then has created a life-long root structure for me. I know that, should I need help, all I have to do is reach out to my community."Hilary Melcher Chapman, Girl's Gateway initiate"Frederica Chapman is a woman of creativity, courage, and optimism, and while most of us pay little or no attention to ritual, she believes in the power of ritual to guide our lives." Jane Burdick, Feldenkrais practitioner, and Girl's Gateway mentorAs busy as girls are these days, the author writes, suggesting that they take time out to think about their life as a story, to discover more possibilities, and out of these possibilities to make better choices for themselves. She encourages girls to choose a circle of friends and older women to Celebrate their moment of becoming a young woman.This book supports the tendency of adolescent girls to want to do things differently and more independently. It supports them as they experience the many changes that naturally occur for anyone moving from childhood to young adulthood. It supports their sense of responsibility. With step by step guidance, a girl learns about girls rites of passage from other cultures, about imagining the possible challenges she could set for herself, choosing and working with her mentors, setting a date, creating an invitation, and choosing a location for her Celebration. It includes a chapter on the use of symbols in the planning of her initiation ritual, as well as a complete list of resource materials - books and videos - that pertain to girls' initiations. The book is both informative and fun, inspiring a sense of PLAY throughout the initiation process, and in preparing for the completing Celebration.