Schedule

All webcasts are live on Zoom from 3:00 – 4:30 pm EST (USA)

If you are registered for an event, you can request access to the recorded webcast if you are unable to attend or would like to re-watch an episode. Registration is open for all events until Sunday, June 13. 

Childhood’s Seeds for the Future—Sunday, May 16

The Thundering Years of Adolescence—Sunday, May 23

What it Means to be an Adult—Sunday, June 6

The Role of the Elder in Community—Sunday, June 13

For more information

For more information, contact Sherry Boatright at sacredfirelifeways@sacredfire.org

Featuring

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  Barry Williams M.Div., Psy.D. is a Diplomate Jungian Analyst and along with his wife and late child is a mara ákâme (traditional healer) in the tradition of the Huichol people of central Mexico. He lives in the southern Rocky Mountains near Taos, NM. Barry will offer a perspective on eldership that weaves together insights from Swiss psychiatrist and scholar Carl Jung along with what he has learned from various indigenous elders he has been privileged to know.

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  Don David Wiley. In 1996, Don David Wiley’s life was profoundly altered when who would later come to be recognized as the Spirit of Fire, often called Grandfather Fire, appeared before him as an apparition in the garden of a meditation retreat center near Cuernavaca, Mexico. Grandfather sent David to study with 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 in formal medicine and ceremonial apprenticeships in these two ancestrally related shamanic paths. As a result, David received an initiation as a mara’akame – or a shamanic healer, counselor, and ceremonial leader in the Huichol tradition. He was also initiated as a quiapaquiz (caller of the sky-waters, in Nahuatl) or granicero – or weather worker in Spanish, ceremonial leader, and healer from the Nahua path.

  Concurrent with Don David’s immersion in this traditional medicine path work, Grandfather Fire asked David to serve as a traditional spiritual medium, or Axihuatakame, so Grandfather could provide his teachings while speaking through Don David’s body during special gatherings. Over the years, Grandfather Fire inspired Don David and the community growing around Grandfather’s wisdom to spread traditional lifeways worldwide through two nonprofits – Sacred Fire, which trains Sacred Firekeepers and hosts events, and the Blue Deer, a retreat and healing center for nature’s medicine.

  Through all of this, and his experience with elders of these traditions, Don David has developed a comprehensive spiritual perspective on the phenomenon, power, and importance of prayer from the most practical aspects to the spiritual processes that empower this way of engaging life and living.

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  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.

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  Jessica De la O, Ph.D., Egyptian Goddess Lineage Councilor, Plant Spirit Medicine Healer, 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, honest expression, and shared humanity to unfold.

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  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.

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  Sherry Boatright, Sherry practiced as a licensed psychotherapist for 30 years, specializing in working with women and women’s groups. In the late 90’s she answered a calling to an indigenous spiritual path that led to becoming an initiated “weatherworker” or Granicera in the Nahuatl tradition of the highlands of central Mexico. Later when a healing path was opened in the Nahua tradition, she undertook years of pilgrimage and training and was initiated as a Tepahtiani healer. She has a healing practice in Carrollton, GA.

  In 2005 she became a Firekeeper for Sacred Fire. Since 2006 she has served Sacred Fire as Director of LifeWays producing a series of offerings that support community members throughout the natural transitions of the life cycle from birth to elderhood.