Join us for this five-part programme over 4 months as we explore our relationship to fire and the elements, and prepare for an ancient rite-of-passage known as a Fire Quest.
Spring Programme Dates – Bookings open:
- Part 1- Saturday 9th March 10.30-4pm
- Part 2- Sunday 24th March 10.30-4pm
- Part 3- Sunday 7th April 10.30-4pm
- Part 4- Fire Quest Weekend Friday 26th April – Monday 29th April
- Part 5- Saturday 15th June 10.30-4pm
Additional Zoom Connection Call Dates TBC.
Summer Programme Dates – Bookings open:
- Part 1- Saturday 18th May 10.30-4pm
- Part 2 & 3- Non-residential weekend Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th June 10.30-4pm
- Part 4- Fire Quest Weekend Friday 28th June – Monday 1st July
- Part 5- Saturday 13th July 10.30-4pm
Additional Zoom Connection Call Dates TBC.
Exchange
The cost for the programme is £630
The programme fees are payable by bank transfer as either:
- One installment of £630
- A deposit of £130 followed by 5 payments of £100
~ ANSWER THE CALL ~
REGISTER FOR THE 2024 SPRING PROGRAMME HERE
REGISTER FOR THE 2024 SUMMER PROGRAMME HERE
About the Questing With Fire Programme
Reconnecting to The Magic of Fire
In all cultures across the globe, humans have had a deep and powerful relationship to fire. We relied on it for warmth, light and energy, and in times gone by it would have been at the heart of the community. More than this, fire has been revered as a transformational force with a life and spirit of its own. These days, we might enjoy the sun, share a campfire occasionally, or (if we’re lucky!) have a log burner in our living room, but we no longer have that integral relationship and connection to this magical element.
The Questing With Fire programme is designed to reintroduce us to fire’s transformational force and elemental magic. Through a carefully planned process following the Eight Shields nature connection model (more about this below), we will take questers on a journey to discover their own hearts, minds, bodies and spirits in deep connection to the land and the elements.
What does this Fire Quest Programme involve?
This 5 part programme involves 3 initial day-long retreats during which the group will get to know each other and begin the deepening of connection to fire. We will learn about traditional ways of working with natural materials to make spark and flame, then spend time cultivating our collective and personal relationship to fire through practices and exercises led by the facilitators. As well as practical fire skills the sessions involve song, ceremony and sitting in circle together, sharing stories and exploring our intentions.
This is followed by 3 days together on a Fire Quest weekend where participants will prepare to spend a whole night, from sunset to sunrise, awake with fire on a solo journey in the woods. A group of supporting elders and mentors with tend to the central fire all the while, waiting to welcome the questers back at dawn and hear their stories and insights.
The quest will involve fasting from food and sleep for 24hours.
The final part of the process is to return to the group for a final day of Integration and celebration. This is a core part of the process. Full integration can take months or even years, so this process will introduce the tools and practises that will enable participants to make the most of their experience over time.
What is a Fire Quest?
A Fire Quest is a process that people throughout history would have undertaken at times of challenge or necessity in order to tune into the deeper wisdom of the world and their own intuition. It would have been natural to take ourselves away to sit for the night with a fire when a big decision had to be made, or when a significant event had occurred, such as a death or the beginning of a new stage of life.
A Fire Quest is what we would call a ‘rite of passage’, a process that takes us out of our familiar environment, sends us through a challenge, then reintegrates us into the world transformed in some way, perhaps with more knowledge, insight and wisdom.
In these uncertain times, a Fire Quest is an opportunity to deepen our relationship with ourselves and the more-than-human world so that we can live with greater clarity, connection, creativity and love. People who undertake quests report having transformational experiences that bring them more in touch with their deepest purpose and meaning in life.
The Lineage and origins of this Quest
The fire quest we will share is based on a tradition practiced by a powerful lineage of indigenous peoples of North America. It is also inspired by this land and what facilitators Leonie and Leona feel is needed for our culture and people at this time, based on their own training, personal experiences and visions. More will be shared about this on the programme.
Other commitments and Information
In order to maximise the potential life benefits of the programme, for the course of 3 months and beyond, participants will be encouraged to build in some of the Core Routines of Nature connection into everyday life. These come from the Model of the Eight Shields and will be introduced as part of the programme.
The programme will also include 3 zoom calls interspersed to support and encourage participants to build and maintain the practices in their lives at home and will also help participants to explore and hone the question or purpose of their personal Fire Quest beforehand.
So that we can provide a really supported journey we will accept a maximum of 12 participants to this programme.
Who is this for?
This programme is open to anyone who would like to deepen their relationship to nature and themselves. If you ears pricked up when you heard about the programme, or your heart flutters with nervous excitement to imagine a Fire Quest, then this could be the programme for you.
Likewise, if you work with people in nature, have children, want to learn more about the Eight Shields or are interested in rites of passage then this programme is for you, too. Whatever your experience, we pledge that you will be well supported, and that you will feel differently about life and your relationship to the other-than-human world after this programme.
We are also hoping that people who are interested in being involved in the supporting community for future Fire Quests will join this programme.
About the Eight Shields
The Eight Shields model is a cultural framework developed by Jon Young and the 8 Shields Institute. It takes inspiration from numerous land-based indigenous cultures from around the world, as well as patterns we see in nature.
It was created to organise a collection of design principles, practices and activities for deep nature connection and community building and when implemented helps to create the optimum conditions for meaningful and wholistic connection to life.
Course Leaders
Leona Johnson: Leona’s passion is exploring connection in all its forms.
After 10 years in Social Work with children and families, she was drawn to working in nature to promote more proactive forms of healing and connection. She loves the deeper sense of belonging and community that we feel when we have a strong and healthy relationship with ourselves, each other and the natural world. Leona is trained in Forest School, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), Ecopsychology, Life Initiation and Rites of Passage, Grief Tending, group singing, bushcraft and The Eight Shields model of nature connection – a holistic and earth connected way of living and working for the benefit of all beings.
Leona has witnessed the healing, enlivening and joyful benefits of intentionally building a relationship with nature and believes in the profound impact that this work can have as we move through uncertain times. She currently runs Live Wild CIC and practices privately as an Eco- therapist and mentor with children and adults as well as running singing in nature retreats, grief circles and other connection-based workshops. Leona hosts the Connection Matters Podcast exploring evolutionary lifestyles, mindset, culture, healing and spirituality, as well as many other issues relating to personal growth, community and nature connection.
Email Leona at – connectionmatterspodcast@livewild.org.uk
Follow her on Instagram @connection.matters.leona
Leonie Morris: Leonie is a qualified Bushcraft Instructor and Wild Food Teacher with many years of experience. She is passionate about helping people to connect more deeply with the natural world, and teaches a range of bushcraft skills including foraging and fungi identification, fire making and tending, and natural crafting using hand tools.
Leonie is a skilled facilitator, and passes on knowledge in a patient and nurturing way, seeking to build other’s confidence and competence in the wild as well as grow community. She has participated in and led Fire Quests for several years, and has a passion for fire craft and ancestral fire practices. Leonie brings this insight and experience to the Questing With Fire programme.
Sue Goodwin: Sue is a medicine woman, grandmother, trained herbalist and plant spirit healer, celebrant and teacher. Her life’s passion has been the reclaiming of ancient wisdom and ways of healing body, mind, heart and soul, and her joy lies in sharing this with others. In her life, Sue has had the blessing and honour to study and gather from a number of spiritual wisdom traditions, and is happily alchemising them into her own ‘Medicine Bundle’. Inside the bundle of all she has gathered is a wellspring of knowledge and understanding that supports the healing and transformation of the Sacred Human into wholeness and balance, joy and inner peace.
Sue’s main pathway for the last thirteen years is that of the Delicate Lodge, a Medicine Wheel tradition that travelled from the lands of South and Central America to the North American continent, always taught through experience and memory, always evolving with each person who agrees to pass the tradition along with integrity. Sue studied with the lineage holders of the Delicate Lodge for several years and is authorised to pass on the teachings. She has been sharing them in women’s circles, in person and online. Sue’s joy of learning continues to entice her to expand and grow, to deepen into what she has received, and to bring new riches to her creations. At the moment she is exploring collaborations with other wisdom holders, and the juicy topic of what is hers to do as an ‘elder’.
A note on Exchange and Fire Quest: In many circles, it is understood that ceremony such as Fire Quest is not something that should involve money. Ceremony is a helpful structure and sacred container that engages with intention and with reciprocity with life in unseen ways. This ceremony is intended to be for the benefit of all life and should be available to everyone. The cost for this programme is for the teaching days and facilitation. You will be invited to make an optional donation for the Fire Quest ceremony itself that will go towards the reservation in US where the teachings that inspired this programme originated.
We also have a few bursary places available. Please get in touch with us about those: info@livewild.org.uk
Cancellation policy:
If a booking is cancelled more than two months before the start of the programme: a full refund will be given.
If the booking is cancelled within two months of the course date: a refund will only be given if Live Wild are able to fill the place on the programme. Should we be unable to do so, we cannot offer a refund, neither can we offer a refund once the course has commenced.