Fire Speaks UK – Coming Home to the Hearth
Penny Brohn Centre, Ham Green House | Bristol, UK
Friday to Sunday, 19th-21st June, 2026
Register early, accommodations limited
FIRE HAS GUIDED HUMANITY FOR 800,000 YEARS.
For over 800,000 years, Grandfather Fire has been humanity’s teacher, counselor, and friend. Known as Tatewari to the indigenous Huichol people of Mexico, this ancient elemental being offers His guidance to those who have the courage to listen.
And yet, three decades ago, in a loving act of generosity, Grandfather Fire offered to speak directly to our people through a “God speaker man”. In this ancient and yet timeless ceremony, he encourages us to remember and be guided by ancient wisdom, in this time of crisis and turmoil.
At these ceremonial gatherings called Fire Speaks, Grandfather Fire has been speaking directly through the body of Don David Wiley, a respected elder in two living indigenous traditions in Mexico- the Huichol (Wixarika) and the Nahua.
In a world growing increasingly disconnected from its roots, a primordial voice still speaks.
THE PHENOMENON OF THE
AXIHUATAKAME: “GOD-SPEAKER MAN”
In the Huichol tradition, an axihuatakame is a “god-speaker man”—a traditional spiritual conduit who enters a coma-like state allowing a deity to physically interact with humans.
This is not channeling as it’s commonly understood in New Age contexts. This is an ancient, recognized ceremonial role within indigenous traditions—now made accessible to people in need of wisdom in our modern, disconnected world.
Why is Grandfather Fire here in these times for our people?
Grandfather Fire began speaking to public audiences around the world about the Five antidotes which are Wisdom, Tradition, Ceremony, Tending Fire and the special emotions of Gratitude, Courage, Grief, Humour and Awe. For thousands of generations, these antidotes have supported humans to balance the vast wisdom of the heart with the creative independence of the mind, and to deepen connection within ourselves, with each other and the Living World.
We welcome you to a weekend of community and ritual space to share together and on the weekend of the Summer Solstice!
This event will be a special opportunity to reignite your heart through love and fire. During our time we will co-create the essence of being in community by connecting to the ancient ways of sitting around the fire. It is a sacred time to be fully present with where you are and to share with others in a safe and sacred space.
We are delighted to be hosting this event in a new location! Set in four acres of therapeutically designed gardens, Ham Green House has a long history as a healing centre. Its name, from Old English, means “green home” ~ making this gathering feel like a true homecoming, returning once again around the hearth.
Schedule
Friday 19th June 2026
- 5-6pm Arrival & Check In
- 7-8pm Dinner
- 8:00-10:30pm Social Fire
Saturday 20th June 2026
- 8-9am Breakfast
- 10:00am Welcome
- 10:30am Consecrate the Fire
- 11:30am Orientation: the Story of Fire and Humans, and Q and A.
- 12:30pm Lunch
- 2:00pm Market, Huichol Art & Cake Sales (cash only)
- 4:00pm Community Ceilidh
- 6-7pm Evening meal
- 8:00pm Gather around the fire and find your seat
- 8:30pm Warm up and get ready to welcome Grandfather Fire- bring your songs, jokes, music and drums! 🙂 *And cigar for Grandfather
Sunday 21st June 2026
- 9:00am Breakfast *Please make sure you have vacated your bedroom by 9am
- 10:00 am Weaving Fire’s Widsom- Gather around the fire once more to share what we received from Grandfather Fire’s Teachings
- 12:00 pm Departure
Price
- $185 – registration fee (to secure your place!)
Please note that this does not include food and accommodation, which you will be asked to pay separately after registration, in the local Sterling currency:
Food and lodging (all meals included, rooms are en-suite)
- Single room: £375
- Shared room: £300 (per person) — SOLD OUT
For ease and clarity, accommodation costs will be handled in the local currency. If opting for a shared room, please specify your preferred roommate when completing your registration.
For more information
For more information, contact Sylvia Edwards at sylvia.edwards@sacredfire.org
Hosting Firekeeper(s): Julie F Decarroux, Carole Nomessin & Sylvia Edwards
Featuring
-
Don David Wiley, traditional conduit for the Spirit of Fire
David Wiley’s perspective on what is possible and how to live life was profoundly altered in 1996, when the Spirit of Fire, often called Grandfather Fire, appeared before him as an apparition in the garden of a meditation retreat center near Mexico City. Grandfather Fire asked David to be his conduit, so people everywhere could discover their innate connection to spirit and have an experiential relationship with nature and Divine. Grandfather sent David to find two indigenous elders, Don Lupe Ríos Gonzales of the Wixárika (Huichol) tradition of Mexico’s Sierra Madres and Don Lucio Campos Elizalde of the Nahua tradition of the central highlands. At Grandfather Fire’s request, these two elders began David’s formal medicine and ceremonial apprenticeship in these two ancestrally related shamanic paths.
From the Huichol tradition, David received initiations as a mara’akame, a healer, counselor, and ceremonial leader; from the Nahua path, he was initiated as a granicero, a weather worker, ceremonial leader, and healer. After years of service and leadership, he received permission to teach these two traditions to those called to these shamanic paths. After Don Lupe’s passing in 2003 and under the support of mara’akame Don José Sandoval de la Cruz, David received initiation as a Huichol tsaurirrakame (elder shaman) in 2008. On the Nahua path, David became a Caporal Mayor (teacher-tradition leader) when he inherited Don Lucio’s altar and the responsibility for his Nahua weather working lineage after Don Lucio’s passing in 2004. As a recognized elder in these two traditions, he has received the title of respect, Don David.
Concurrent with Don David’s immersion in this traditional medicine path work, starting in 1996, Grandfather Fire began speaking through Don David’s body during special gatherings. This has been some of the most impactful of Don David’s work, touching thousands of people. Among the Huichol, an axihuatakame is a “god-speaker man,” a traditional spiritual conduit who enters a coma-like state so that a deity can physically interact directly with humans. A collection of Grandfather Fire’s wisdom was published as Heard Around the Fire in 2010; a second book is in final editing. An archive of teachings can be found on sacredfire.org as Grandfather Fire’s Wisdom. Over the years, Grandfather Fire inspired Don David and the community growing around Grandfather’s wisdom to spread traditional lifeways through the world. This lead to the founding of nonprofits Sacred Fire, which began training Sacred Firekeepers and hosting events and programs in 2004; Blue Deer Center, a Sacred Place in the Catskill Mountains of NY, a spiritual retreat of healing and transformation in nature which opened in 2005, and Sacred Fire Foundation, a charitable organization founded to promote and protect traditional indigenous lifeways in 2009.