Initiation to Adulthood—An Introductory Webinar
Online via Zoom and as a Recorded Event
Sunday, May 15, 2022 | 2:00-3:30 pm EDT (Americas)
Register

Featuring

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  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.

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  Don David Wiley

  While living in Mexico in the mid-90’s Don David Wiley had a transformational experience with the Spirit of Fire that changed his life. From this point he then began the long road of apprenticing and eventual initiation into two living indigenous traditions in Mexico: the Nahua and the Huichol. He would then become a teacher of these traditions and their medicine to those who would be called to these paths. Since then he has welcomed and baptized the newborn, initiated the young into adulthood, provided counseling and healing for others, buried the dead and helped escort their souls to their final resting place. As part of his work, Don David has also helped institute the Sacred Fire Foundation, to provide grants to indigenous groups around the world, and helped establish Sacred Fire, an international community dedicated to reconnecting people to heart, to each other, and the world through the Spirit of Fire and Firekeeping.

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  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.

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  Jessica De la O has been serving youth and young adults since she herself was a young adult. As a collage administrator for 28 years, she guided young adults toward the completion of their college degree. After completing a doctorate in education, she developed and offered a rites of passage program for adolescent girls, then followed guidance from the wisdom of the plants who called her toward a larger dream of service.

  Jessica trained in Plant Spirit Medicine and was inducted as a Lay Spiritual Healer in the Temple of Sacred Fire Healing in 2015, and currently offers plant spirit medicine in Carrollton, Georgia. As a long-time community leader with Sacred Fire, she guides and supports young women through their initiation into adulthood, and she also serves as an initiated Firekeeper who holds space at community fires for people to experience the wisdom and healing that comes from sitting by a sacred fire..

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  A devoted and heartful holistic family physician, midwife and mother for over 25 years, Lisa Lichtig further serves community as a traditional healer and ceremonial leader. After a long apprenticeship under the guidance of tsaurririkame (traditional healer and ritual leader) Eliot Cowan and don Jose Sandoval, Lisa was initiated as a mara’akame of the Huichol healing tradition in 2014. She specializes in helping people feel optimally well and healthy, heal from illness, reconnect with the joy and mystery of life, and find balance in life’s natural cycles. Lisa does this through offering functional medicine, heart-of-birth and parenting consultations, and traditional Huichol healing. Lisa also serves her community as a Firekeeper for Sacred Fire, supporting people’s connection to heart through holding monthly community fires, women’s fires, and specialty fires.  Finally, Lisa serves on the Sacred Fire Community’s Neikame Birthing Council and the Women’s Initiation Council, which offers a formal process to guide adolescent girls and young women into adulthood. She lives on a beautiful knoll in North Carolina with her husband, Patrick and carries the scent of fire wherever she roams.

Price

Registration to participate in the live webinar is $20 USD. This includes receiving a link to view the program at a time more convenient to you.

For more information

For more information, contact at sacredfirelifeways@sacredfire.org