Exploring Practical Wisdom for Daily Life
A Virtual Teaching Fire with Don David Wiley
May 30, 2026
Register Here
Exploring Practical Wisdom for Daily Life
A Virtual Teaching Fire with Don David Wiley
Most of us are navigating life without the kind of wisdom that once shaped how our ancestors lived — the counsel of elders, the guidance of living tradition. Don David Wiley has been walking two of those living traditions — the Huichol (Wixarika) and the Nahua of Mexico — for over two decades, initiated and recognized as an elder in both. In this virtual gathering, he brings that depth to the questions you're living with. What to expect: This is an open Q&A. Don David will offer perspective and insight on the questions you're carrying in your heart, drawing upon his long relationship with Grandfather Fire and the divine living world, and decades of working with people navigating real challenges of modern life. Bring whatever is alive for you. Who this is for: Anyone navigating the ordinary difficulties of being human. No prior experience with these traditions is required.Registration
Registration is open. Register HereSchedule
Virtual Teaching Fire Saturday May 30, 2026- 4:00-5:30 pm EDT
- 9:00-10:30 pm BST
- 1:00- 2:30 pm PDT
- 6:00- 7:30 am AEST Melbourne
Price
Cost: This gathering is offered on a sliding scale — proceeds support the work of Sacred Fire. Please choose the amount that reflects your current means. Can't make it live? Everyone who registers will receive a link to the recording — though if you can join us in real time, we hope you will.- $10
- $25
- $50
For more information
For more information, contact Sacred Fire Events Director Linda Azar at lazar@sacredfire.org
Featuring
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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.