Take fire. You hike thru the desert until you find firesticks at their sweet spot, bring them back to camp and prepare them, and learn the technique. Then you spin an ember with your hands and blow life into flame with your breath. By this time you have formed a deep and lasting relationship with the land and the plants, with fire and air. And, you have learned to channel vital energy.   Because if you don't have a clear mind and humble presence when you try to spin fire, the night's gonna be a long, cold one. Besides cooking and heating, one can use the sticks to start ceremonial fires. Then, like a rock tossed into still waters the eternal flame of our indigenous spirit is kept burning in ever expanding circles for many generations to come....<+>

 Above:  sunset at our Sonoran desert camp / sanctuary (click on photo to zoom in)
     
We are a non-profit organization dedicated to handing down native arts and ways.  

About your guide:  danny running bear august

began learning herbalism from his curandera mother in the mountains nearly 50 years ago. He has since worked with many indigenous and other elders and medicine persons in the United States, Mexico, and India, including a 10-year apprenticeship with a Chocktaw-Tsalagi man of knowledge. He has been handing down these ancient ways for more than 25 years to humans of all ages and walks of life. For five years danny led becoming-adult wilderness initiations for troubled teens in the high desert canyonlands and mountains of south central Utah.  He has performed and recorded extensively on didgeridoo, djembe, Native American flute, vocals, and other indigenous instruments. His writing has appeared in local and national periodicals, and he has written a self-published book entitled The Medicine of the Wilderness, reflecting his time leading boy-to-man wilderness rites of passage. He is currently working on his second book, which deals with how native language can expand our awareness. He taught writing at the University of Arizona for two years. He speaks English and Castellano (Spanish). He is currently on a four-year desert retreat. Danny created Fifth World Gifting Circle in response to a vision to carry on the old ways in order for the humans to continue and to restore beauty to mother earth....

se habla Castellano

<+> walk in beauty.... <+>

Useful plants of the Sonoran desert <+> firemaking <+> pottery from local clay <+> didgeridoo and spirit-callers <+> native writing, storytelling and language <+> youth-to-adult initiation <+> the way of the nomad <+> tracking <+>

inipi <+> backstrap weaving <+>Eating the Desert <+> Stepping out of Time <+> Himdag, a Path with Heart <+> Direct Energy<+> Planting the Seeds of Knowledge
Controlled Folly is a term used by Toltecs (lineage of sages of ancient Mexico) to express an alternate way of seeing the world.  In this way of perceiving reality, we understand that we have a choice to control our folly, and be free from self-created drama and suffering
    All of the physical native arts we teach are rooted in this expanded awareness.

We are a group of artists, musicians, and others, who do this through classes, workshops, writings, and other media and venues.