My guest today is Miki Dedijer, a writer, ecologist, and mentor devoted to the ancestral arts of belonging, fatherhood, and grassroots initiation.

In our conversation, Miki invites us to look at the crisis facing young men and the absence of meaningful adulthood in our time. He speaks to the ecological and emotional consequences of failing to initiate the young, how untempered fire in boys becomes turmoil in families, and how communities have lost their memory of what it means to guide the next generation.

Together we explore initiation not as an event, but a cultural responsibility. Miki shares how rites of passage serve life itself, how they awaken responsibility in parents and mentors, and how inviting others to help mature a child becomes its own act of initiation.

We touch on the longing that erupts when boys are unmet, the loneliness of a culture without elders, and the courage required to guide a child into a larger story.

Miki reminds us that initiation is not about control. It is about stewarding a young man’s genius back into the world. It is a return to the village, a remembering of our place in the weave of life, and an invitation to rebuild the cultural vessels that once shaped humans capable of serving a cosmos greater than ourselves.

Register for an upcoming webinar: FROM SCREENS TO SOUL: Raising Embodied Young Men (Dec 2)

You’ll learn how to help steward your sons toward this deeper connection — how to anchor them in their bodies, nurture their love of the living world, and prepare them for future relationships that are grounded, heartfelt, and capable of holding real intimacy. This webinar offers parents and mentors a way to guide boys toward a young manhood shaped not by algorithms, but by aliveness.

LINKS

* Miki’s Official Website

SHOW NOTES

* 00:09 Miki describes where he is and the seasonal mood on the west coast of Sweden.

* 02:52 His early work as an environmental journalist and the shift toward quieter, place-based stories.

* 04:38 Moving from grand narratives of saving the world into intimate, relational, land-rooted life.

* 12:28 The pine tree story and how tending the land taught him the meaning of belonging.

* 17:04 Entering fatherhood later in life and wanting his sons to grow up rooted in place.

* 18:24 Burnout as a turning point that reopened childhood vitality and led to cultural mentorship.

* 21:39 The guiding question: how do we steward children well through life’s stages?

* 24:07 Recognizing and honoring childhood stages long before adolescence arrives.

* 26:32 Why initiating teenagers may be the most ecologically responsible act we can take.

* 27:15 How asking others to help mature a child initiates the adults themselves.

* 31:05 What happens when a culture fails to initiate its boys.

* 37:15 The tensions Miki encountered guiding his own sons and how conflict became tempering.

* 54:04 Why integration after a rite of passage is essential for families and community.

ADDITIONAL EPISODES

I’m pleased to share this #mini episode with Maria Souza, a Comparative Mythologist, Poet, and Educator, and founder of Women & Mythology.

As we name in the conversation, we’ve known about each other for some time and appreciated each others’ work from afar. Just as Robert Bly’s ‘Iron John’ is the book that ignited the mythopoetic men’s movement, so too, does Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s book ‘Women Who Run With The Wolves’ occupy that position for women.

Maria shares how her journey with myth began has evolved into her podcast, along with courses that bring mythopoetic depth into the lived experience of women today. We touch on iconic stories like La Loba, Seal Skin/Soul Skin, and La Llorona—each a mirror of feminine initiation, creativity, and soul recovery.

In this tradition, myth isn’t escape - it’s a way of waking up, a path to gather the scattered bones of the psyche (and culture) and sing them back to life.

LINKS

* Women & Mythology Website

* Women & Mythology on Instagram

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SHOW NOTES

* 0:00 — Ian welcomes Maria and introduces a dialogue on Women Who Run With the Wolves as a counterpart to Iron John in the mythopoetic tradition.

* 1:17 — Maria recalls her studies with Martin Shaw and her search for stories that speak directly to women’s initiatory paths.

* 2:41 — Early book study circles evolved into her first myth-based teaching course.

* 4:46 — Contextualizing Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ book: a 30-year creation published in 1990, still resonant due to its timeless archetypal themes.

* 7:13 — The book quickly became a global bestseller, sparking women’s groups and soulful discussion circles.

* 10:01 — Myth gives women a language to “wake up” to their inner and outer experiences, offering deep recognition and practical insight.

* 11:49 — Stories like Seal Skin/Soul Skin, Baba Yaga, and La Llorona reveal key initiations around creativity, intuition, and integration.

* 21:15 — Ian reflects on the power of La Loba’s “singing over the bones” as a metaphor for enlivening the psyche.

* 29:48 — Maria describes her “Year of Myths” immersion—one myth a month as a practice of ongoing maturation.

* 34:36 — She shares her next creative focus: introducing Brazilian myths and under-told folktales to her community.