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For more information

For more information, contact at sacredfirelifeways@sacredfire.org

Featuring

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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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  Lawrence Messerman has been an avid student of Grandfather Fire for 25 years. He is a mara’akame (initiated healer and ritual leader in the Huichol tradition from Mexico) and has been involved with Sacred Fire in various capacities: as an initiated Firekeeper and an organizer of several core LifeWays programs, including the initiation and mentoring of young adults and Ukilái: A Gathering of Men. He is a past Executive Director of Sacred Fire and currently serves as its Speaker. He and his wife Jessica hold community fires along with their friend Sherry Boatright in Carrollton, GA.

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  Lee Skinner is a husband, a father, a son, a brother, manager of a small business, and, last but not least, he has been walking the path of a Quiapaquiz from the Nahua tradition for the last 20 years. As a father to two young children and the Vice President of a local business he spends much of his days attempting to learn to juggle home and work in a more balanced way. As a Quiapaquiz, or Weather Worker in the English language, he is a tradition holder who acts as an emissary for his community in relation to the divine forces of weather.