Ashes to Gold

Adolescence can be a challenging period for youths, especially in today’s world, where the ancient rites of passage that societies once used to turn their boys into men have disappeared. In an in-depth analysis of the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale “The Devil’s Sooty Brother,” therapists and teachers Brad Fern and Tom Lutz provide a practical and mythic outline for the journey from adolescence to maturity for young men.

Brad Fern is a psychotherapist in private practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been involved in mythopoetic men’s work since 1986. He is the co-author of Ashes to Gold: The Alchemy of Mentoring the Delinquent Boy and Songs of My Families.

Tom Lutz has worked with adolescents and families for thirty-three years. He has been the clinical director of several Minnesota sex-offender programs and correctional institutions. He is in private practice in Hastings, Minnesota.