Long ago, the Elders dreamed of this time of gathering darkness that would cause the ocean waters to rise and engulf their beloved island home. From their dwindling shores, a beautiful rainbow would rise, carrying the essence of their ancient wisdom to the outside world to light a pathway of unity, peace, and happiness for future generations.
About Julie Vance
Julie Vance, MA returns to the Pacific Northwest from a twelve-year sailing journey in the pristine islets of Micronesia to fulfill the Elders’ vision of the Rainbow Bridge. With one foot firmly planted in each world, she has learned to live in the balance. Holding the wisdom that has been entrusted to her while remaining steady in the task of imparting it to others, is the essence of her lifework. Drawing upon a wealth of sacred experiencing, as well as over twenty years of counseling and teaching work, she has honed her gift of guiding individuals and groups along the path of awakening. Leading by example, her presence is a powerful catalyst for transformation and change.
Her Journey
Julie has always been a seeker. In 1969, at age 17, she embarked on a five-year journey that took her backpacking throughout Europe, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and Western Australia. Longing for the moss-covered forests of cedar and fir, she returned to her native Pacific Northwest, gravitating to the wilderness of the Queen Charlotte Islands in northern British Columbia, then later to a small island in Puget Sound, Washington. When marriage and children slowed her outer world explorations, she delved inward. Inspired by several spiritually-based authors, and under the tutelage of a Native American teacher, she constructed a series of medicine shields and drums. Julie then embarked on the first of four vision quests in the Black Hills of South Dakota, opening the doorway to a deeper intimacy with Spirit. During this time, she attended university and earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology. Seeking to balance the academic with the experiential, she cultivated a professional style that blended contemporary psychotherapy with traditional earth-based wisdom. As an adjunct to her clinical practice, she organized and guided wilderness quests to offer clients the opportunity to step outside their comfort zone and experience something greater.
In 1997, her children grown, Julie and her husband Tom packed up their forty-foot sailboat and set off for the South Pacific with dreams of sailing around the world. Two years later, seeking a safe haven in cyclone season, they sailed into a remote atoll of the equatorial region of Micronesia. On this tiny ribbon of sand and coral, they found a people living a life of almost unimaginable simplicity. Theirs was an ancient culture of awareness whose highest values were humility, respect, devotion, unity, strength, and happiness. A deep recognition on both sides kept them rising together despite their obvious and seemingly immutable differences. In time, Julie and Tom were adopted by wise Elders, and slowly initiated into the timeless wisdom of their Ancestors. It is a journey of transformation that continues to this day.
Julie and Tom divide their time between Micronesia, where Tom works with local governments on solutions to critical water shortage and purification problems brought about by global warming, and the Pacific Northwest, where Julie counsels individuals and couples, leads groups, and conducts workshops, bridging the wisdom of the Elders. They visit their hosting villages regularly, inspiring the youth to seek the balance of the old with the new during this time of rapid cultural and climatic change.