I originally wrote this for the Fifth World Design Diary in April, but its combination of anthropological topics, oral tradition, and practical storyjamming techniques means that it probably has a lot of interest to readers of this blog, as well. This piece originally introduced a series; I present it here with links to the rest of the series on the Fifth World Design Diary.

Arnold van Gennep worked as an ethnographer and folklorist at the turn of the last century in France. He gets credit for founding folklore as a field in that country, but most today remember him for his 1909 work, Rites of Passage. In it, van Gennep described three phases to any rite of passage:

Jon Young emphasizes the idea of a “sit spot” in a tracker’s education: a spot where you go, daily if possible, to spend time observing. You see how things change according to time of day and time of year; you learn to sit still and observe the world closely; you become intimately familiar with one spot and begin to understand the different relationships and encounters that go on there. I could go on forever—in fact, Jon has often said that your sit spot will become your best tracking teacher, and that nothing will teach you more about the more-than-human world.