Boulder Mountain Mens Fast

To belong to the way of Man is a matter of no small consequence. What does it mean to be a man in a world where we have almost no role models, no mentors, no helpful guides for a beautiful masculinity in service to Life? What does it mean to be a man in a world where men have done horrible, horrible things to this planet and all her precious creatures for thousands of years? What does it mean to have come into this world with a tremendous capacity for creation and destruction, and no guidance for what to do with this power? What does it mean to be a man in a world where even the concepts of masculinity and femininity are being scrutinized, weighed, tested, and found wanting?

The Boulder Mountain Mens Fast is a space to open up some big questions around what it might mean to be a man in the world and begin to tend the deep wounds that lie therein. This is a ceremony open to anyone willing to take accountability for their experience of masculinity in a community of men. This is an initiation into a wild and beautiful masculinity, one which has the courage to meet our inherited cultural poverty and shame with profound courage and compassion.

No prior experience with fasting or ceremony is necessary, only a sincere desire to take accountability for belonging to the story of masculinity and a willingness to show up as the most courageous version of yourself. 

Layout of the 12-day ceremony
We will be gathering at a basecamp on Boulder Mountain for four days of preparation and working with intention, transition to four days of ceremony in the tradition of the vision fast, and a return to the basecamp for four days of working with the stories that have been born and learning how to integrate them into the fabric of Life. 

For those unfamiliar with the vision fast, it is a pancultural model of initiation that has been remembered, carefully tended, and lovingly offered to our culture by the School of Lost Borders (https://schooloflostborders.org/) over the past forty years. The ceremony will consist of four days of solo time in the wilderness while fasting from food, human companionship, and most everything else you have been using to distract yourself from the deep longing that has been tugging at your chest – the wild call of your soul. 

We will be following backcountry Covid protocols throughout the duration of the ceremony, which unfortunately includes cooking meals individually or in pods of folks who are comfortable sharing physical space.

Dreamwork

Working with the dreamworld is integrated into all Oak and Bone School fasts. In addition to an invitation to begin tracking dreams during the time leading up to the fast, there will be a dream tent available each morning for those who wish to engage in dreamwork.

Reciprocation

The Oak and Bone School operates on a gift economy. For more details on what this means, please follow this link: https://www.theoakandboneschool.com/soul-of-gift
or contact tamarix for more details. 

Participation is limited to eight humans and one cat. Please RSVP by June 1st. 
For questions, details, or to RSVP, please follow this link:
https://www.theoakandboneschool.com/apply-1
or contact tamarix at
thetamarixproject@gmail.com

Tamarix belongs to Boulder Mountain and the waters that course these dense forests and deep canyons; the magic of language; water and shadow; the scent of sagebrush; the feeling of sandstone on bare feet; the Oak-groves; his legendary cat Nithi; Grief, Longing, and Death; as well as Love, Belonging, and Life.  

​Tamarix has been claimed by the traditions of wilderness guiding, bardic poetry, rogue wine-drunk taoism, cat-worship, folk herbalism, and animistic witchcraft, as well as the deep stories of the dark trickster, the hunter, and the death doula.

As a wilderness rites-of-passage guide, tamarix brings his 10+ years experience as a wilderness therapy guide, his intimate relationship with the non-human world, and his deep trust in both the wisdom of wild spaces and the fasting ceremony utilized by the School of Lost Borders.

Tamarix attended the SLB month-long training in 2017, the Animas Valley Institute’s YLSI (yearlong soulcraft intensive) in 2017-18, and has been assisting fasts for the SLB and the Practice of Living and Dying as often as he can. Tamarix established a rites-of-passage program for Legacy Outdoor Adventures and Juniper Canyon Recovery Center for Women utilizing the SLB model, is the senior editor of the Circles on the Mountain journal of the Wilderness Guides Council, founded the Oak and Bone School of Belonging and Remembrance, and is working to create more ways to bring the magic of this ceremony to his people.

Angelo Joseph Lazenka began guiding vision fasts in 1984 and often says that the work grew him up and now he is asking it to grow him down into the rich territory of elderhood.  He began working as a guide with the School of Lost Borders in 1993 and from 2003 – 2018 held a variety of titles including: Guide, Teacher, Director, President, and Board Member. Now, in his late 60’s having left administrative responsibilities, he continues to guide and train while carrying the question of what it truly means to pass the work onto the next generation.