 | | | | |
The facilitators at E.S.P. believe that all personal, social and ecological imbalance are at root a spiritual malady: the result of our learned separation from authentic self, Earth and Spirit. Whether we're working with groups or individuals the emphasis is on reengagement with our aware creature bodies, the reawakening of instinct and intuition, and the deepening of our personal relationship with the larger universe and this living planet whole. Participants are offered the skills to get beyond personal illusion and denial, and to develop heightened sensitivity, mindfulness and response. Facilitators teach the dynamic, ecology and values of wildness, as well as explaining how to open up to the direct instruction of nature. There are no charges per se for our work, though we are totally dependent on your gifts, services and support.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Enchanted Gila Wildland Retreats A retreat is time for solitude or communing, introspection and reconnection, long walks and magical moments.... enjoying a lovely riverside cabin and wonderful meals here in the enchanted Sweet Medicine Canyon. We are not only a learning center but a USFWS affiliated wildlife refuge and restored river ecosystem located in the Gila wildlands four hours Southwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico... and there's nowhere else in the world quite like it! Coming here for our group events and workshops offers one a chance to interact and learn from other like-hearted people. On the other hand a solo or couple's retreat is often preferable for deep personal work or a quieted mind, or for self-nourishing and Earth-healing. Optional personal counsel is available. Our main requirement is simply your commitment to open to the gifts of this particular place of power, inspiration and beauty. The suggested donation is 75. per person per day. Pictures of the sanctuary and our guest cabin, "The Gifting Lodge," can be found on our Place page. We look forward to hearing from you!
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“What you are creating, protecting and sharing has an immense loving impetus and I pray for those who come in contact with you to remain touched, moved and inspired even when they are afar from you. I’m one of them.”
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The way we relate to each other reflects and effects our relationship with both our selves and our world. Those relationships worth investing in are those can serve the needs, spirits, expression and purpose of both people involved, and we can only truly know that through our hearts. Rather than teaching mechanisms for coping with situations and patterns that don’t serve our spirits, here we counsel a mutual standard of clarity, reciprocity and shared vision. The most empowering relationships are those founded in utter honesty, honoring self and other, and dedicated to a mutual greater purpose. It can be difficult for us to see outside our expectations and preconceptions when a great deal of time and emotion is involved. This canyon on its own has the effect of dispelling illusion and encouraging self love and expression, and Jesse Wolf Hardin and Kiva Rose team up to bring out the tools and commitments that can make the difference. Generally couples are first seen together, then counseled separately, followed by walking or sitting apart from each other... and then reuniting for a final forward looking session. At that point each person voices not only their commitment to their personal understanding, needs and hopes, but also to the needs and dreams of their partner. Follow up counsel and support remain available afterwards, through letters or email, as we seek to nurture a deepening of relationship where everyone is made more their selves.... where love is ascendant, and destiny fulfilled. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The medicine sweat is a 1 to 2 day opportunity to hush the worrisome mind and reawaken the sentient, emotive, intuitive and instinctual being within. In the process we're stripped down to our essential authentic selves, in intimate relationship to all that is. Our most frivolous fears, staunch denials and persistent illusions soon succumb to the enchantments of the lodge. They're replaced by the immediate experience of hiss and steam, Earth, truth and oneness-- by this beingness, this place, this always precious and magical moment. A sweat is a voluntary contract of connection, celebration and commitment between the inspirited Earth and the multiracial, multicultural seekers who come from all over to deepen their lives and missions. If there are any similarities between our sweats and any known Native American and Indo-European rites, it is only because we are listening directly to the same universal source for our direction and instruction. Every htmlect is specifically as it is and has been revealed to us here in this special river canyon. A sweat here involves up to four separate rounds in the lodge with more rocks added each time, and with the seekers plunging into the cool river between. Crawling out of the dampness and heat is like the passage from the uterus into a world made new again. Every sight and color seems freshened, every smell brightened. The once cluttered mind shines as transparent as an opened window, and as glad as a child. The sensate body is ascendant, and the giving heart reigns. Medicine sweats are recommended for rites of passage such as the onset of puberty, marriages and handfastings, and when taking on the responsibilities of elder or crone. They are also particularly powerful whenever you are at a point of crux or flux, when the old ways of being or doing don't seem to work anymore and one must make healthy decisions about relationships and careers, life and purpose. And for everyone it is an experience of healing: of becoming more whole and fulfilled. Having exceeded our imagined limitations, everything appears infinitely meaningful.... nothing impossible. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Since the time of the Paleolithic seekers of insight, purpose and power have made sacred quests in wild and enchanted places. Intentionally removing themselves from the comfort of the familiar... from supportive family and tribe... they set out to encounter truth and Spirit, to be challenged and tested, stripped of every illusion and comfort that ever held them back. They sought alliance and the personal power or medicine needed to do what is right. And they went in hopes of a gift: an omen or sign, an essential lesson, a revealing of dormant skills.... and always, a deeper vision of their self, their role and purpose. Many of us never think about doing anything like a retreat or quest until we’ve barely survived a disease that could have killed us, or until we’ve had a series of failed romances or aborted careers that leave us confused and wanting. Certainly those who are most susceptible, and most ready, are often the few who are at the point of breakdown and rebirth. But there is no one alive who couldn’t benefit from a soul affirming quest for truth and being, at any time. And the survival of our kind— as well as the survival of so many other species and the ecosystems that support them— may depend on each and every one of us making repeated forays into the unfamiliar regions of self and place. Only when we’ve regained the sense of self-love and personal assignment common to the rest of Earthen life, can we hope to have the clarity to repair our lives and heal our world. The Quest Defined The Site Anywhere we go, we are likely standing on ground that was once consecrated by the aboriginal peoples who preceded us, and through this awareness we can align ourselves with the sensibilities of those Seekers who came before. Stepping where the Goths once stepped, dancing where the Aztec danced, we are pressed to the same level of sensitivity and awe, to the same depths of humility and respect. And the forms of the landscape and the vagaries of watersheds that brought the ancients to these places, continue to act like a magnet for the attuned Seeker of today. High storm swept peaks, unusual rock formations and the confluence of rivers are typically places of power and visitation. As are any womb-like caves, the furthest projections of land into the pounding ocean swells, and the places where artesian springs bubble forth from their crest of fertile ground. The canyon where we host our Quests is filled with the abandoned house sites of the Sweet Medicine People, also called the “Mogollon,” and the Sanctuary itself is home to the largest ceremonial kiva site in the region— further indication of its spiritual significance to those who preceded us. And to this day, a place of seldom equaled beauty and inescapable truths. For our canyon questers, there are a number of stunning pink and purple cliffs to choose from, pock marked with rain sculpted depressions, and featuring rocks that look like animals or like faces looking back at us. For shade there are alligator bark junipers and majestic pines, some draped with wild grape arbors glinting emerald in the first morning light. In a way, making it here to the canyon is a quest in itself. Because of its distance in miles from any city or airport and the busy schedules that everyone keeps, it requires unusual determination to make the long trip from wherever. In addition, a potential quester can usually feel the power of the revelations that await them, and sense the implications and responsibilities they bring. Coming to the canyon for medicine work is an act of uncommon vision and courage. The Fast The Medicine Sweat Clues •Staying awake without sleeping is another hard test, but the more sleepy we get the more we can slip into a shamanic twilight state, open to the revelations and sights that are sent. •Don’t quest to have a certain question answered, so much as to drop all your ideas and anxieties and just open up to what is given. •Sense the ways in which you connect through the wind and ground to the trees and birds, and then imagine how that connects you to the entire living world and all people and things on it. •Your quest will be about letting go as much as taking on something new. It’s not a test of endurance or strength, but rather a test of our ability to surrender to the forces we are a magickal part of. •Don’t expect the clouds to part and a voice to call to you from out of the sky. Every feeling you have is important, everything that happens contains a lesson in it that you won’t fully understand until later, and every plant and animal you see is there to contribute to your epiphany. •It’s easy to imagine that we’ve failed our quest, having been trained by society to doubt ourselves and question our worth from an early age. But in the this quest there is no such thing as “failure.” Even if we come down early, we are marked by a depth of experience that we can compare every other htmlect of our lives to. •A quest is something we can expect to do more than once. Our search doesn’t begin or end with a single quest. Each quest is an encounter with power that takes us further into ourselves and what we are meant to do, and each one leads us always to the next. Effect & Commitment Oddly enough, it’s often by questing by ourselves that we learn the ways in which we are never really alone. The quest connects us to a lineage of questers and seekers, and to every other constituent of this living dancing matrix. To the distant past and hopeful future, and to the irreplaceable present tense. The quester is gifted with heightened awareness, and with it comes the responsibility to act. For every gift: a commitment! We end each quest with new and deeper commitments to ourselves, our families and communities, and to the planet itself.... commitments we pledge to follow through on! We are emptied, enrolled and fulfilled.... in this ancient quest for true being and most meaningful purpose. And connected to all there is, to all that we can be. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
August 19-21 (individuals and families) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
September 23-25 (Women Only) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stream Restoration: Write for dates (For Men, Women, Families) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wild Mamas Weekend:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Wild Women's Gathering: Medicine Woman Intensive
One full moon each Summer sisters of all ages are invited to a week long gathering in New Mexico's enchanted Gila mountains. Come join us as we explore the depths of selfhood and sisterhood on a truly sacred place of power. You can be a part of a small group of powerful women celebrating our connection to our own wild and beautiful beings, to each other, and to the inspirited Earth! Wild beings mind their true needs, obey their animal instincts and extrasensory insights. Wildness is connecting through ritual and laughter, dance and play. We learn to experience life through heightened senses- through extreme vision, sound and smell, touch and taste. We're filled with awareness and gratitude, responsibility and celebration, magic and love! space please include a statement of your background and personal intent. One can fly to the Albuquerque airport and rent a car for the 250 mile drive, or to El Paso, and take an inexpensive shuttle to Silver City, then to Reserve and the sanctuary. From where we park vehicles it's a 1 mile walk in (your gear and supplies can be ferried in by truck, and those with physical limitations will be driven into the site). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Our Gaian internships are special residencies here at the Sweet Medicine Wildlife Sanctuary, in the isolated Gila mountains of S.W. New Mexico.... combining Gaian (ecospiritual) teachings and hands-on experience. Activities include practicing presence, studying the Canyon writings, going on medicine walks, planting willows and other native trees and plants, preparing and preserving wild foods, home and kitchen tasks, transcribing talks, helping with seekers and guests, asking questions and applying the answers in exciting new ways in one’s life. Interns tent camp on the Sanctuary in a beautiful spot, but may also have use of a cabin when it’s not needed for visiting students and questers. We depend on donations for our existence and work, so all guests and interns are asked to donate as much as possible on arrival, or to send tithings later as they can afford. No one is ever turned away for lack of funds! Both interns and apprentices have full access to us and any programs and gatherings that take place during their stay. Apprenticeships differ in that they are lengthy or lifetime studentships involving substantially increased expectations and long term commitments. An apprentice needs to make periods of deep time and medicine work in the Canyon a priority, and to drop everything to come either when they most need it.... or when the land and Project most needs them. Unless they end up living here full time, apprentices donate some of their income while out working, and are expected to continue their studies, do outreach for the Project, and apply what they’ve learned in affecting everyone they meet. A typical apprenticeship might include pursuing one’s personal Gaian vision out in the world, along with seasonal sojourns back to the Canyon. An apprentice is someone making more intense and lasting commitments to the teachings, to us and to the land here. And they’re each in their own way learning to be teachers themselves. While all interns leave here empowered to follow their dreams, an apprentice has a vision to choose this work and teaching as a central part of their life and purpose. What we offer is all that we are and know, and this most magical place of power, clarity and love! Our years of study and practice, and opening up to our hearts and the will of the living Earth, have blessed us with much to give. Spirit/Gaia speaks to all of us when we stop long enough to listen, and we get the privilege of encouraging that sacred conversation again and again.... here, where the living land speaks loudest. For texts we use the intuitive Canyon Testaments, Sister Tribe, Gaia Eros and other Canyon-Informed books, but much of our practice involves wordlessness, communion and bliss! We use mindfulness and sentience, wild foods gathering and feasting, song and dance, ecology and spirituality- as ways of reinhabiting vital self, place and present time. The insights and truths have to be applied, and maximized, if they’re going to be made truly real for each person. And if they’re really to help this world. Like a marriage to self and Earth, our relationship would be a matter of reciprocity and pledges. In exchange for time here and every gift and lesson, interns and apprentices are asked to apply themselves wholly to the assignments, and to study and practice for so long as they are working with us. To be open, to feel, and to act on those feelings for the good of the greater self: Gaia. To give to the land by helping financially whenever possible, by helping to restore it, and by honoring and celebrating it. Apprentices additionally commit to a life of integrity.... and pledge to the long term well being and resacramenting of this Sanctuary, its ministry and gifts- when here or afar. If you are interested in coming, please send a letter of intention with your age, experience, fears, needs, dreams and hopes.... possible length of stay, and dates you might like to arrive. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |