Schedule

For more information

For more information, contact at sacredfirelifeways@sacredfire.org

Featuring

• 

  Deanna Jenné draws on the wisdom of the natural world to facilitate healing for people and communities. She has a deep interest in the feminine principal and has studied the historical, cultural and innate roles of both the feminine and masculine. Deanna leads the Women’s Initiation ritual staff in guiding young women through a spiritual doorway so they can discover a lifetime path to their rightful place in the world. Her leadership roles have been earned through years of managing and facilitating community programs, ceremonies and rituals that include life transition rites such as baptism, initiation, marriage and funerary rites.

  Following a spiritual calling, Deanna was initiated as a traditional healer in both Nahua and Huichol traditions of Mexico. Her healing practice for more than 30 years has specifically addressed women’s natural cycles, trauma and soul loss. Deanna brings a level of openness, wisdom, knowledge and ability to listen deeply to the Divine and to her people. She holds elder council roles for her Medicine Path Group and the Women’s Initiation Council to maintain the integrity of the medicine traditions and to instill a sense of the mystery, trust and courage for these paths.

  As an initiated Firekeeper for Sacred Fire and her local Western Colorado community, she has a long-standing commitment alongside her husband and community to build a demonstration village and a way of life living in gratitude and ritual, honoring all of God’s creation in accordance with the natural cycles of the world.

• 

  Don David Wiley. In 1996, the Spirit of Fire — known as Grandfather Fire — appeared before David as an apparition in the garden of a meditation retreat center near Mexico City. Grandfather Fire asked David to be his conduit, so that people everywhere could discover their innate connection to spirit and have an experiential relationship with nature and the Divine. It was an encounter that profoundly altered his understanding of what is possible and how to live.

  Grandfather Fire 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 — who began his formal apprenticeship in these two ancestrally related shamanic paths. From the Huichol tradition, he received initiation as a mara’akame — healer, counselor, and ceremonial leader. From the Nahua path, he was initiated as a granicero — weather worker, ceremonial leader, and healer. In 2008, he received initiation as a Huichol tsaurirrakame(elder shaman). On the Nahua path, he became Caporal Mayor — teacher and tradition leader — inheriting Don Lucio’s altar and lineage. As a recognized elder in both traditions, he carries the title of respect: Don David.

  Also beginning in 1996, Grandfather Fire began speaking directly through Don David during special ceremonial gatherings — work that has touched thousands of people across the globe for nearly three decades. Among the Huichol, an axihuatakame is a god-speaker: a conduit who enters a deep trance state so that a divine presence can speak directly through them. A collection of Grandfather Fire’s wisdom was published as Heard Around the Fire in 2010; a second book is in final editing.

  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. He continues to train a dedicated community of students, healers, ceremonial leaders, and firekeepers — ensuring that this wisdom is carried forward.

• 

  This course was created by Sacred Fire Co-Founder Don David Wiley, informed by his more than 25 years of experience as a Nahua and Huichol traditional healer, ceremonial leader, teacher and elder. His comprehensive spiritual perspective on the phenomenon, power, and importance of prayer incorporates both the practical and the spiritual, empowering people to fully engage in their day-to-day lives.

  Read David’s full bio here.

• 

  Gary Weidner was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs but found his passion for connecting to the land after moving to Colorado at the age of eighteen. He began his long career as a bodyworker in 1976 at the Boulder School of Massage. Twelve years later he was trained and certified as a practitioner of Rolfing Structural Integration at the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute in Boulder.
  His life took a turn in 1997 when he met Don Lucio Campos Elizalde during a trip to Morelos, Mexico who told him that he was to be initiated as a Granicero or Nahua weather worker. This was the beginning of a connection to nature in a deeper way that continues to unfold. In 2008 Gary was initiated as a mara ‘akame, a healer and ritual leader in the Huichol tradition.
  Gary lives near Grand Junction in Western Colorado. He serves his local community as a Sacred Fire Firekeeper, continues his Rolfing work, and is currently building a home with his wife Deanna and fellow members of the Mesa Life Community on the Grand Mesa. He also serves on the Men’s Initiation Council.

• 

  Jessica De la O, Ph.D., Egyptian Goddess Lineage Councilor, Plant Spirit Medicine Healer, Sacred Fire Firekeeper

  How well youth transition into adulthood has long been a central focus for Jessica, both in her academic pursuits and in her community work. Since earning her doctorate in education, she has devoted herself to making its wisdom relevant to the needs of today’s youth. Guided by a perspective and deep trust in the spiritual wisdom of initiation, she has served as a ritual leader since 2004, assisting young women with compassion in their self-discovery and guiding them through the sacred doorway into adulthood–a true fulfillment of her life’s calling. Jessica also offers Plant Spirit Medicine healing and serves as a Sacred Fire Firekeeper, holding space for heart connection, deep expression, and shared humanity to unfold.

• 

  Lisa Lichtig, MD, Mara’akame, Firekeeper

  Lisa brings 30 years of experience as a midwife, healer, medical doctor, community leader and mother to the work as a ritual leader for Young Women’ s Initiation into Adulthood.  Lisa is particularly attuned to the feminine and masculine aspects of life having raised two sons who have been initiated into adulthood, having mentored many young women and tended over 800 pregnant women and families throughout her career. As a Mara’akame (healer in the Wixárika tradition) and Firekeeper for Sacred Fire, Lisa also brings awareness, wisdom, perspective, compassion and capacity as a guide for this sacred initiation into adulthood.