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Men's Monthly
Wilderness Rites
Once a month, we invite you to step out of time… step out of this century altogether of technology, politics, and the ever ongoing need to keep life afloat and enter a more ancestral way of connecting and being of the Earth… to remember our belonging to an undomesticated presence ever whispering just beneath the surface of our being.
For some, these yearnings are almost too painful to contemplate… for others it’s been so long we’ve forgotten how to connect. There’s grief here and a longing to bridge the gap.
These Wilderness Rites are immeasurably ancient and a way our ancestors tuned their hearts to the deeper emanations within them. It’s a way they found their center.
Here amongst the Central Cascade Mountains, we invite you to seek what they sought.
What we’re doing here is restoring a more ancestral way men come together. To gather around the fire, to adventure into forest and have a felt sense of being breathed in by the wild, to listen into the mythic stories and dialogue as we lean into the deeper invitations our life is offering us.
We gather around the council fire... we adventure amongst wilderness.. You reconnect with yourself and the experience of being alive.
The What & How
In this monthly wilderness outings we weave together adventure, nature skills, mythic storytelling and dialogue, ritual and carefully crafted experiences to bring you into direct contact with the Deep Self and your connection to life.
We meet at our base camp along Lake Wenatchee or other wilderness area where we gather around the fire.
We begin in the traditional ways with drumming and movement to brush off the road dust of life.
We then journey into wilderness where we follow the animal trails and through games, alone time and themed adventures we come into direct experience with the mythic themes and archetypal presence in our life.
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We trail what are called the “unteachable learnings” which are those learnings that only come available to you through the direct experience within nature who’s ever revealing hidden teachings.
Each month we leave the human realm behind. Here, it’s the old bones of the Mountain as teacher… the swift flight of Raven as guide. We trail the invisible paths to the unteachable learnings
Details:
Where
We offer two locations.
1. For the Tacoma/Seattle area we meet in Carbon Glacial entrance of Mt Rainier.
2. For Portland/Vancouver area we meet in Oxbow Regional State Park
When:
Tacoma/Seattle Nov 10th 10am to 2pm
Portland/Vancouver Nov 18th 10am to 2pm
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What to wear & bring:
We'll be maneuvering off trail, through ancient ferns, across moss covered logs, alongside rivers and through a variety of vegetation.
Wear clothes you like to get dirty in and can get wet in. Bring a pack and ensure you have rain pants/jacket, insulators, or change into warm clothes. You want to wear clothes you're comfortably moving in and one's you'll be warm while we sit and practice sense meditations on the forest floor. So bring layers.
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Also bring
Your Own Lunch
Water bottle (with water in it)
Snacks
Knife
Three days worth of food in case you get lost (just kidding) I'll know where you are. :)
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COST: $75
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HOW TO SIGN UP
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Email us at Learning@TreeOfTotems.com Let us know you're interested in the Men's Wildy Gathering and why you'd like to attend. We'll then schedule a 20 minute phone call to connect with you and ensure this is the right experience for you. This is an invite only class.
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LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE: ONLY 8 PARTICIPANTS.
About Your Host
Your host, Chivito (Chee-Vee-Toe) is a Wilderness First Aide Responder, has been guiding others in Ayurveda and Shamanic journeys for over 13 years. He’s a professional wilderness guide and teaches primitive survival skills for at-risks youth and guides both youth and adults through wilderness rites of passages… guiding 8 to 24 day immersion in the backcountry of Colorado Rocky Mountains, Utah Deserts and the Olympic & Cascade Mountains of WA.
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Click Here to Learn More about Chivito
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Click Here to see picture of previous retreats
The wilderness vigil is something immeasurably ancient, and the way our ancestors tuned their ear to the furry emanations of the living earth.
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The wilderness vigil is a moment when the grinding of your ambitions and your griefs settle into the ground of something far deeper. This is always the place we have gone to mark transition – from one stage of life to another. Tribal folk have always known it was where you go to die and get born. A place where big questions get asked, things bend their heads to die and green shoots spring up.