Latest / The Observatory | Discovery of Consciousness & Awareness / Primitive Skills Gatherings | Scott & LaRae Wright on Ancestral Skills, Nature Connection & Community

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Primitive Skills Gatherings | Scott & LaRae Wright on Ancestral Skills, Nature Connection & Community · The Observatory | Discovery of Consciousness & Awareness

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Observatory Podcast.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: With your hosts Scott and Loray Wright.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Join us each week as we explore living life from
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the inside out. Welcome back to the Observatory Podcast. Today,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: we're going to have a little conversation with Ray and
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I talking about what we is known as primitive skills gathering.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: So you've heard us call it that. We're going to
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: go into what that is, what it means, what they
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: do when they are where they are, and give you
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: an invitation to check them out. They've been very transformational
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: in my life and I've watched it transform other people's
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: lives as well. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: conversation today on the Observatory about Primitive skills gatherings. Welcome
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: back to the Observatory podcast. Ray and I are sitting
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: here in our living room today and there's a topic
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: we want to address and we've got two perspectives of this,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and one is that something that I participate in a lot,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and that is what are called the primitive skills gatherings.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Right, it's we're entering the season of gatherings. Yes, they
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: happened throughout the summer.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: This week is the week that I leave to go
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: to the first gathering of this year that I attend,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and it's called Fire to Fire and it's held in
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: tabi Ona, Utah. The others coming up later in the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: summer in August.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: First of all, and that's always in June.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Always in June.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Well, it's kind of for people who are listening, it's
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: the one is always in June.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Yes. The next one, Elkhorn.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Elk Corn, is in August early August. Fire to Fire
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: is usually the week before the summer solstice. And then
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: in August second through eighth, I believe, is the Elkhorn Gathering,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: and that's in Bolder, Utah. And then the granddaddy of
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the is rabbit Stick. That's the one that started it
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: all for me, and that's up near Rexburg, Idaho, and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: that's the granddad it's been going for I think this
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: is the thirty seventh year.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: And that's usually mid September, mid September on.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: That one, Yeah, it's the second week of September usually.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: So we've had some people from those spaces on the podcast.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Before we had Dave Wescott who runs the rabbit Stick
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Gathering on, and we've had David Holiday on. These were
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: all early podcasts kind of in the beginning. I think
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: it was in the first year that we were on
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: doing this, and there's others that will continue to have on.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: But this actually was Ray's idea to come and talk
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: about this because you know, when I talk about it,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: when I mentioned it, when I say the gatherings or
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Primitive Skills gathering, sometimes people curious about what that is.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to talk about what they are. But also,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: you know what kind of an impact it's had on
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: my own life and how I've seen it have impacts
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: on other people. So do you have any questions you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: want to ask or do you just want me to here?
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: No, I think it'll be good if I ask you
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: a few questions sure to kind of lead. First of all,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: the reason I think a lot of people are curious
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: about these environments not only to learn skills that they
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: may need, but also because it's a unique opportunity to
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: meet community. And I especially feel during the time right now,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: people are seeking community definitely, and they are definitely family friendly.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: People bring their children. They have events for children as
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: well as adults.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Classes.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: They actually have what they call kids camp, So it's
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: a it's a separate, separately, run from because everyone's taking classes,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: So the adults are taking their own class classes and
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: then having the kids class gives an opportunity for the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: adults to be able to concentrate on what they're doing
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and learn the skills they need to do. And then
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: they have classes where they the kids learn skills, they
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: play games, they do lots of really fun stuff.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so kind of share the different types of people
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: that are drawn to these because people are coming for
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: different reasons. You know, it isn't that you have to
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: you don't have to be of one sort. There's a
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: lot of different types of people that are coming for
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: a variety of reasons. So what are those types.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a wide variety of people that come, and
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you know, they have different kinds of focuses in their
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: lives and what they're there for. A lot of people
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: come to learn the skills. They're focused on the skills
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and what those skills are. So maybe i'd just kind
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: of mentioned what kind of skills I'm talking about when
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I say primitive skills, it's things like making fire with
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: a hand drill or a bow drill, weaving baskets with
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: like cattails that are on the property and harvesting different
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: kinds of medicinal and edible plants, processing animals. They'll sometimes
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: butcher an animal on site. The things that we used
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: to be involved in when we were hunter gathered under gatherers, yes,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: back in the beginning times of humanity. So these old
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: traditions that have come through time that that it's they
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: call them it a primitive technology because it is what
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: sustained us, what helped us to live and survive during
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: those years when we things weren't quite as abundant easily
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: accessible as they are now.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's some that are pottery. The one in
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Alcorn is predominantly pottery, Yeah.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Because Kelly Magilby runs that and she is a master potter.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: She does things in the old style. So they actually
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: go gather their own clay and the just go in
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the bottom of a creek bed or wash the gather
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: the clay, they bring it in and they clean it.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Up and use natural dyes.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Natural dyes. Everything's natural and done in the old ways.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: And you create yourself a cup or a pot or
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: bowl or whatever.
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  Speaker 2: And then there's a variety of people who are doing
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: herbal like herbalists teaching about plants and not only what
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: they are and how to recognize them, but then how
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: to harvest them and make either tinctures or balms or
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of becoming more aware of the medicinal
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: properties of plants.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: And then there's I'm thinking of some of the classes
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: that I've taken. We made canteens from gourds. I learned
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: to whittle a spoon, yes, and so you know, all
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: of those things that that you may never use, but
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: it's still well one. It's enjoyable to learn, and you're
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: learning in a community of people that everyone's a learner.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: So that's what I like. Most people are learning, Yes,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And there's great teachers that are teaching.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And all the teachers are volunteers, so they come
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: to be there as the community. They're not there to
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: make money. There is a fee, usually they differ. They
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: range somewhere around for adults around three hundred three fifty
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: four hundred. Maybe I've never paid for one because I'm
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: a teacher, but that's the range for adults. And then
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the children are lessons, and I think they may do
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: family discounts and that kind of thing at some of them,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: but I mean it's the best money, in my opinion,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that you can spend because it's such an opportunity, especially
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: for children to be able to you know, kind of
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: play like a like a bit of wild play, running
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: around like we did when we were.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Kids, playing in the grasses and in the pond, you know,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: the kind of the different parts of the camp. Yes,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: now there's also preppers people who come that are you know,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: into that kind of prepping for a some sort of catastrophe.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Right, people that are preparing for you know, when when
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the proverbial shit hits the fan? What what can I
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: do to survive that?
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: Right?
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  Speaker 2: And then speaking of that, there's also people who are survivalists.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Survivalists like the people that you see on the shows.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Some of them even kind of like there's a lot
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: of people that have they actually from rabbit Stick especially,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: they kind of tap into the people that are there
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: from for some of the shows like Alive Alone Alone
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Not Alive Alone, which is a really really good show.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's a lot more authentic, I think than some
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: of them, And so that's a good one. We've had,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: you know, other we've had people from the Alone show
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: on our podcast as well. So it's a realm that
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I I kind of found out about when I was Oh,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: and I should mention you know, there are a lot
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: of people that just come because they're curious. They just
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: want to see these skills. And also musicians. There's a
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: lot of musicians that come because there's a lot of
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: music at all of these gatherings, so that that part
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: of it's really cool and that's what draws me. But
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I can't remember what I was going to say. Glass
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: my train of thought here for a second.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: There's also it's a really great environment for just community.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: So they they you see how community self organizes, how
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: they organize in the morning for announcements, kind of the
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: flow of that organization. Different people have different camps doing
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: different things. People stroll sometimes from camp to camp at night,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: fire to fire, yeah, and sit and chat for a
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: while and then move on the next one. And or
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: they congregate at one specific one if they know that
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: they're going to be playing music there doing other things.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: So and they have people that come and give presentations,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: like some of the cast members from Alone have given presentations,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and one of my favorite ones, George Bauman comes from
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Yellowstone and he gives a talk on animal communication.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: That's and we've had him on the podcast.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm on the podcast. So it's it's an environment
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: of learning, and it's it's things that aren't taught in
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: very many places. But there are these types of gatherings
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: all over the country everyone, and even in other countries.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: There's one that was kind of born out of the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: ones here, rabbit Stick especially that's in Israel. So you
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: can find them if you look for them. So if
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: if you just get on your Google and look up
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: primitive skills gathering, skills gatherings, there's one site of one
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: of the volunteer teachers that comes that he's got them
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: all listed and where they are, when they are and
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: all that kind of thing. We'll put the link to
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: that in our show notes on this, so you can
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: look that up and see if you've got one near
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: where you are.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: And the link to the ones that you attend. But
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: people come from all over.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: All over the place.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they come from all over and it's a great
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: way to again build this community, build this sense of
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: connection back to nature, connection back to you know, our
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: ancestors in many ways and what they may have experienced
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: or what they were doing, and have a real sense
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: of appreciation for the technology they lived with and the
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: technology that we live with, and how to find balance
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: between the two.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Yes, and it's connecting back to those ancestral roots that
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: we all have encoded in our DNA somewhere about what
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: it was like back in those times to sit around
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the fire, play music, tell stories, communicate and cook our food.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: It's just an amazing thing I should I should mention
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: along with that that they do. Some of them provide meals.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Most of them have gone away from doing anything other
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: than dinner for most of them. That they do, some
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of them don't do them. It just depends. So that's
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: something to look into. It's a camping environment, so you'll
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: be sleeping in whatever way you want.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: They do much that's a tend or a trailer or whatever.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, trailers and RVs are allowed, and they have a
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: specific spot to put those those and they kind of
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: camp in their own place. They try to keep things
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: as primitive as they can. That's why they put the
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: RVs in the trailers kind of away because if people
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: are using generators and things like that during the day,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: they want to they want those to kind of be
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: away from where they're teaching. Class and that kind of thing,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: but a lot of people bring tepees and yurts and
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: different old style ways of living, and it's it's just
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: kind of like a time capsule, going back in time
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: and experiencing that, and it's for me personally, it's it's
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: been transformative, this will be this will be my fifteenth
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: year of doing it. So I've attended a number of them.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I didn't start teaching until, you know, I'd been going
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: for several years before I got to the point where
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I could do that. And that all came out of
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: what was the first trans really transformative experience for me,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: which was experiencing a huge bonfire with about three hundred
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: people around it and drumming right. That was incredible. That
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: was your first experience, first time I experienced that was
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: just mind blowing. My brother Paul had invited me to
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: come and I experienced it. I'm circle for the first time.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: I really didn't have an inkling as to why I
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: really should go, but he just kept encouraging me, and
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: finally one year I said yes. And that was right
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: after you and I we've been together about a year
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: right when that happened for the first time, So it
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: was very transformative to experience that.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: And a couple of things that they also do. I'd
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: like you to talk about. There's a tent that because
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: some of these people also constantly make things. They make soaps,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: they make pottery, so there is a tent and they
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: call that tent the.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: MRK until they call it. They have different names for it.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: It's like a little shop that they set up where
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: you can go in and sell your wares. And they
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: also do a what they call a barter fair at
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: least one of those, and a lot of it is
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the people that are teaching there. A lot of them
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: live off grid. They sustain themselves by the things that
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: they make and sell, whether it's jewelry or our good
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: friend Candice who's been on the podcast, does her artwork
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: on the stickers and sells the stickers. They're all so amazing,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: but knives, knives, all sorts of different things in that realm.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: A lot of artists are there and they're selling art
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: different in however, different ways that's made and clothing, textiles, soap,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: et cetera. But the barter fair just kind of happens
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: just out around the fire, sitting on the ground and
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: you can just walk around and check out what's there.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: But then they also have two most of them have
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: two what they call trade blankets.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: Yes, talk about the trade blanket.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Trade blanket is I didn't go for a while because
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I really didn't realize how cool it was. And Paul,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: my brother, is the facilitator of those a lot of times,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: and he's the guy in charge, and there's a few
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: rules around how it's done, but basically what happened is
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: someone has something to trade, so they go out there
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: and they put it on this big blanket and you're
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: all sitting in a circle around it so you can
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: see what it is, and they can present it, tell
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: you what it is, and they encourage it to be
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: handmade or something along that line, something you've created or
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: something you've obtained that has been created by someone else,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: and put that out there, and then people will offer
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: something in trade. So you at once the person has
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: presented it, you go up there and you can put
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: something down on the blanket and that's your offer to
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: trade for it. Then once everyone has put their offer out,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: the person who's trading stands up, goes takes a look
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: at each thing, sees what it is, and then they
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: can choose from those, or they can opt to not
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: choose from any of them if it doesn't meet the
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: standard of what they think they want. So that's a
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: very traditional thing. It used to happen with the mountain
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Man rendezvous and those kinds of things back in the
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: early days of the Pine years and such. They used
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: to do that a lot. And so that's something that's
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: incorporated and all the ones I have attended, and it's
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of fun. I've got a lot of stuff.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it is fun.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: And and then you know, the thing is because it
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: happens annually. Each of these are annually, and like I said,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: we're entering the season where you're busy with the three
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: that you attend. But it just is almost like a
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: reunion atmosphere for sure, because it typically is a lot
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: of repeat people coming back for the same events.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Especially the the volunteer teachers. You know, we're all just
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: like a big happy family, and we see each other
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: at all of the different gatherings, and sometimes someone won't
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: make it and and that which you know, you always
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: feel the lack of that person not being there, but
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: it's once you've come to them. One of the gatherings
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: you kind of get the bug and then you'll just
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: keep going and going and going, and the family just
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: keeps growing and getting bigger. I should mention the number
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: of people that go in at ten depends on the gathering,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: but usually it's somewhere around three to four hundred for
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the bigger gatherings, and some of the smaller ones are
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: one to two hundred, so it just kind of depends.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I've noticed. I've talked to Brad Wade, who runs the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Fire to Fire event, and they usually, especially right around
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: COVID and just after COVID, they would sell out immediately.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: He even did two one year COVID year. He did two,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: one in June and one in August, and they both
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: sold out, and that's, you know, kind of a unique thing.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: But you know, economy is a little tough, and it
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: seems that they're not selling out so fast there and
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: having a few less attendees. I think even at rabbit
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Stick they're having a few less attendees, so there is
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: space for people the joins. One of the reasons I
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: wanted to talk about this because it's so valuable. I mean,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: you can't even put a price on the kind of
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: education that you're going to receive at those at these things,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: and if you're curious at all about any of these things,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I would encourage you to check it out.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: And there's a couple of key roles too that are
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: again it's very much a community, so it's almost like
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: living in a little community for a week. And they
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: have maybe talk a little bit about camp Mom. And
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: then they also have a kind of a wellness tent
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: for anyone who's gets sick it's a bug bite, they've.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Got a medical tent there. They've got different people in
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the leadership roles that are taking care of logistics, whether
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: that's cooks or you know, getting wood to bring in
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: so that they've got wood for the fires, Hauling water
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: they have water access to water at all the events,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: and making sure that everyone has that everyone has what
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: they need. She mentioned camp mom, So camp Mom is
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: kind of a role that's played by certain people, and
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: it's it's like each one kind of has a person
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: or maybe even a group of people that kind of
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: handle that. But that's like when you're a newcomer and
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: you need some guidance and you want to know what's
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: going on. They have a little meeting for those who
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: that they're there for the first time and so that
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: they can understand what's going on and don't feel lost.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: And and when you're there, everyone is so willing to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: help you or give you information, so you can stop
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: by really any camp that's there, that's people that have
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: been there before and they are more than willing to
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: help you and guide you and show you anything that
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: walk around the camp with you and help you. And
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: everyone's so passionate about it. That's really cool.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So those are those are some key roles that
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: again help build that community environment and make it really
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: safe for both you know, yourself, your family to come
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: and feel really comfortable with it, being very open hearted,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: open kids run around and play.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: It's just especially for people who are maybe living in
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: big cities or you know, communities where things are not
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: as open. It's a really different environment for people to experience.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Definitely, you can feel the difference because it's it's like
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: checking out of all of those those day to day
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: things that we experience, like traffic and being on your
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: phone and social media and the news, and it's just
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to check out of all that stuff and
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: take a break.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: And they also have some skills and some providers that
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: are there giving what I would call maybe alternative wellness
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: or spiritual wellness. Talk a little bit about those.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's several well especially herbalists that like you were
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: talking about before that they teach classes on herbs. Like
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Nicole Appellian is somewhat well known because she's been on
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: The Alone Show and she's also out there in social
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: media with this uten several books. I've written a few
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: books about different kinds of medicinal plants and such. But
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: she's not the only one. There are numerous that that
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: are involved in that. Kat Farnaman has been one who's
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: done it, but she's starting to get a little bit older.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: It's a little bit tougher for them to travel and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: get out. But there's it's interesting how as the older
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: generation kind of slows down, but there are others that
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: come in and replace, like Kelly Magilby as an example.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: John Olsen used to be the one who he was
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: the pottery expert, and then he kind of took Kelly
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: ander his wing, probably fifteen years ago, I don't know
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: how long it was, and started to eat her. And
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: then she and a couple of others Jake Hartner is
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: another one who works with the pottery, and it's this
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: ongoing cycle of the elders getting older and not doing
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: it anymore or passing away. John passed away, and you know,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: it's hard to see those elders moving moving on. The
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: ones who started everything are starting to get to the
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: age now where we're losing a lot of them. So
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: but it is beautiful to see the youth and the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: younger people that have taken that mantle and are continuing
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: to do right.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And talk about some of the other things like the
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: sound bowls or the gong healing sessions and.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that fire a fire. My friend Josh comes
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: from Arizona and he's the gong master, so he brings
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: all of his gongs and his singing bowls. He sets
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: up this big canopy where you can go under it
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and he does sound basts by the pond and it's
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: pretty amazing stuff. He and I are I think going
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: to collaborate it Fire to Fire this year and do
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: a little bit, so that'll be fun. A lot of
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the different kinds of healing arts show up there. I've
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: attended to a few where there's been someone there that's
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: talked about plant medicine, some reiki, a lot of body work,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: somatic and somatic and breath work. All of those things
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: are included there. And it's if if maybe you're getting
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: a concept in your mind that it's something like Burning
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Man or it's something like you know, the Rainbow gatherings,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: it's it's not like that at all. This is it's
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: not not like those events. It's much more I would
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: say family oriented, because there's so many kids that.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Are there and skilled driven and.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Skilled driven, and that's what it's about, is the skills.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Dave Wescott emphasizes that he he does this gathering because
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: he wants all these these teachers to have a place
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to come and all get together and see each other.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: And that's what he's there for. And they're there to teach,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and the people that come to witness what's going on
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: and to learn it's they're the beneficiaries of the fact
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: that there's this gathering of all these friends and teachers
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: that have known each other for decades and they get
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: to witness that and be part of it and learn
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: something at the same time.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: And now we recently had Darren Perry on the show
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: and Darren's also going to be coming to Fire to
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Fire for an evening. He is and giving again, you know,
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: sharing some wisdom, some indigenous wisdom with the group. And
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: our friend Jeff Olsen often comes and also is an
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: evening speaker, So they bring speakers in that also in
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: part wisdom and you know, just perspectives that could really
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: open them up and continue to broaden their perspective.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, we've had people come in and build sweat lodges.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: We had an indigenous man and I think he's going
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: to be there again this year at Fire to Fire
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: who came in with his family and they made a
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: sweat lodge and they were helping people experience that. You know,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that's a sacred rite and it's amazing. I've done it
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: many many times, and it's great to have those kinds
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: of things there for people to experience, and lots of
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: different kinds of things. And it's never the same. It's
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: not that everything gets repeated the same. Every time people
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: bring new skills and different things that they teach. I
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: normally always teach flute playing and drum making, So I
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: teach people how to play the flute, and then I
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: teach them the frame drum, hoop drum type of drums
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: we make, and that's always been a lot of fun.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Enjoy that.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: And then you also give presentations or conversations I should say,
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: kind of fireside conversations around how to be present.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, presence in nature and how to use nature for that,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: because that's really where I learned some skills, that's.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: Where you learned allies owllys.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I was just going to say that the practice of
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: owlys is so actually a bird watching technique where you
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: watch for birds, but you look at something off in
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: the distance and then open your vision up to everything,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: so you're looking at it for just looking and paying
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: attention to your peripheral vision instead of your focused vision,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: and you can see movement and track birds that way.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: But it's also a really cool way to meditate.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we'll share those links in the show notes,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: and maybe some of them have social media accounts in
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: both Facebook and Instagram, so that if you're interested, if
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: this sounds like something that may be an experience that
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: you want to have yourself, you want to have with
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: a partner, you want to have with your family, that
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: you know it's really something. It's summertime, the kids are
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: out of school. It's a great vacation and they typically
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: always last a week. Yeah, they start on typically Sunday
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: right and go until Friday or Saturday.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: And again, the date for Elkhorn would be the next
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: one coming up after Fire to Fire, because that starts tomorrow,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: well starts Sunday, so by the time this comes out,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: it'll be over. And the next one is going to
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: be August second through eighth in Boulder, Utah, not Colorado,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: and go online and check it out. Elkhorn Gathering dot
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Com is that and we'll have a link to that
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: in the show notes. But feel free to reach out
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: to me personally too if you have any specific questions
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: or if I can guide you to the right person
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: to talk to or help in any way, I'm happy
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to do that.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So how do you feel.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: I feel great. I'm excited.
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can tell you're excited.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: It's it's like I said, it's very much a reunion.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: It's the reason I play music today.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: It's what prompted you for in the most positive way,
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: for you to step into that with drumming, and then
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: there are other things that came along and supported it,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: but it definitely had the Uh, it was a door opener.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: It opened the door for sure. Yeah. So I was
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: with David Holiday down in Boulder last week when we
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: were there, and I told him he was one of
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the people that opened the door for me. So yeah,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: that's true. That was around the drumming, drumming, drumming, drumming.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So check it out. It's a gathering season, so
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: find one that you like and consider it.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: I hope to see the all there. Yeah, all right,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: so let us know if you have any questions, and
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: we look forward to talking to you again soon. So
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: until next time.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: Bye.
• 30:02
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• 30:07
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• 30:18
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• 30:21
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• 30:25
  Speaker 1: in the world today. There's been so much separation and
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: we want to find a way to create conversations where
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: we can come together, not divide so much as we
• 30:34
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• 30:42
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