The Oak and Bone School – Village Fast
September 4-15, 2021
Tamarix and Rachel Juth
reciprocity through gift – details below
The Village Fast is a fasting ceremony in the tradition of the School of Lost Borders, in an expanded container. The Village Fast is open to any human called to the ceremony in an intergenerational, community-supported container. Families, children, and elders are welcome and will be present throughout our time together, as well as members of the Oak and Bone School community.
What will we be doing?
The first four days of the gathering will consist of community games, activities, and meals, as well as deepening into the practice of ceremony and the craft of creating an intention. The fasting ceremony will take place over three days, as children, elders, guides, and other village members hold the intention of the ceremony in the center. During the final four days, we will welcome the returning ones from their time in the Desert, witness and celebrate the stories that are emerging into the world, and work with the deep magic of integration – embodying the most courageous parts of ourselves who are struggling to emerge into this terrifying world.
The fast will take place in the sandstone foothills of Boulder Mountain, in the Grand-Staircase-Escalante National Monument. While the days will be warm, expect the temperature to drop into the 40’s at night.
Who is this for?
Participation is open to any human courageous enough to confront their inherited cultural poverty and take accountability for their story through the mediums of ceremony and community. No prior experience with ceremony or fasting is necessary. Families, elders, and children are welcome, and a container is present for children and others to remain in basecamp during the fasting portion.
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 August 1st.
For questions, details, or to RSVP, please follow this link: https://www.theoakandboneschool.com/apply-1
or contact tamarix at
thetamarixproject@gmail.com
or Rachel at
racheljuth8@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, founded the Oak and Bone School of Belonging and Remembrance, is the senior editor of the Circles on the Mountain journal of the Wilderness Guides Council, and is working to create more ways to bring the magic of this ceremony to his people.
Rachel did her first vision quest in 2017 with Cascadia Quest in the desert of Southern Oregon. It was during that time on the land that a deep knowing arose that called her to follow a path that led her deeper into this work. In 2018 and 2019 she apprenticed with Cascadia Quest and then found herself as a wilderness guide in Southern Utah. She has attended multiple mirroring trainings and is currently leading ceremony and guiding young adults on wilderness adventures in southern Utah.
the tamarix project 