Across embodied, earth-based cultures and lineages, the practice of fire by friction has always been more than a way to light a flame for cooking or warmth. It is a portal of remembrance — of our ancestors, of the animate earth, the element of fire and of the life force that flows through us all.
In this workshop we gather on the traditional lands of the Peramangk people, guided by fire as our primary mentor.
Kaurna and Narungga man Jack Buckskin will open the space with a traditional smoking ceremony, sharing story and cultural perspectives on the significance of fire. Fire has been tended, honoured, and worked with by First Nations people for tens of thousands of years — as ceremony, spirit, and care for Country. This is a rare and special opportunity to sit down with a well-respected custodian, and to ask questions about his understanding of First Nations cultural relationships with fire.
Then, guided by workshop faciliator and mentor Tiffany Schultz be taken through a process of preparing intetntions, materials and tinder bundles and begin crafting our own fire kits - before trying your hand at the primal practice of fire by friction, in pairs or small groups.
More than a survival skill, this practice is a teacher of flow — inviting us to find balance between effort and release, will and surrender, presence and listening. To bring a coal into being is to enter into relationship with the element itself, and to discover what awakens in you through that connection. Each group will be able to take a firekit home to continue the practice if desired for life.
Morning tea including wild ingredients provided. BYO fixed blade woodcarving or bush knife or similar to carve fire kit from softwood provided, And a small axe if you have one. (Not essentail as there will be a few available) BYO your lunch in reuseable/ takehome packaging, water bottle, weather appropriate/ sun protective attire, personal emergency medications. Check email up to 48 hours beforehand re location (within 1 hour of Adelaide in the hills) and instructions re parking/ allowing adequate time to arrive etc, likely limited mobile phone coverage, See post in Facebook event for carpooling opportunties.
Workshop Facilitator Tiffany Schultz (formerly Conscious Lifestyles) is an ecologist, natural resource manager, and experienced environmental and outdoor education facilitator. She has also apprenticed within an earth-based, animate wisdom lineage — the same ancestral lineage carried in Australia by Gina Chick (winner of Alone Australia Season 1) and Claire Dunn (author of My Year Without Matches), through mentors such as Katie Rydge (Alone America Season 12) and Sam Robertson (Nature Philosophy). Tiffany approaches fire as both student and guide — creating space for others to reconnect with the element as teacher, mirror, and catalyst for deeper belonging.
Together, with ceremony, story, and embodied practice, we will rekindle relationship with fire as both cultural inheritance and living teacher.
