We will be doing very little studying of the technological aspects of track and sign. Instead, we are going to immerse ourselves in the feeling and sensing world of the animals. We then find out what life is like for them by living it ourselves.

In order to do that, we need to awaken our own inner animal. We want to relearn how to see and hear, how to smell and taste, how to use our instinct and intuition. To do that, we will be living in another world during our time together. We’ll be leaving much of civilization behind as we simultaneously enter the mind of the tracker and the mind of the animal. Here is what to look forward to during this very special Nature immersion experience:

• Discover how gratitude opens the doorway to awareness.
• Become a good listener, in order to hear the stories the tracks tell.
• Learn how to leave yourself behind and become any animal you want.
• Find how your dreams want to teach you to be a better tracker.
• Learn Wolf language.
• Participate in a Talking Circle with the animals.
• Gain the ability to practice tracking all day long in your regular life.
• Learn how to teach the way of Native tracking.
• Learn why listening for the song of the track is more powerful than reading the track.
• Connect and learn from your distant ancestors, who were expert trackers.
• Hear tracking stories around the evening fire from an Elder Storyteller.
• See how becoming a better tracker makes you better able to serve others.
• Have tracking become your metaphor for conscious living.
• Learn exercises for fine-tuning these skills in your home environment.
• And much more…

In essence, we become the Song of the Track. At the end of the training, we are not just going to be better trackers, but we are going to be better people — more present, more self-knowing, and better able to love. We will notice much more of what is going on around us, and we will be more present in relationships, by our ability to sense another’s thoughts, feelings, and desires. Like magic, life becomes richer and fuller.

Your Guides

Tamarack Song was adopted by a family of Wolves, who taught him their language and way of life. He then lived alone for years in a remote cabin in the Wilds, with the animals as his only companions. During that time, he foraged for much of his food and went without any telephone or media connections. He is the author of the book Entering the Mind of the Tracker: Native Practices for Developing Intuitive Consciousness and Discovering Hidden Nature. German title:  Den Geheimnissen der Natur auf der Spur: Durch intuitives Fährtenlesen zu tieferer Verbundenheit mit Tieren und Pflanzen finden

Lety Seibel is an Elder storyteller who brings alive the magic and mystery of Nature and all her wildling children with the tales she tells around the evening fire. She lived for a year in the wilds of Wisconsin, as participant in the Teaching Drum Outdoor School’s Wilderness Guide Program, and she has been a member of the Program’s guide team for over 20 years. Her Mayan curandera (medicine woman) grandmother passed on to her much about deep listening and using her intuition.

OdeMakwa assists Tamarack and Lety in this Tracking intensive. Her experience spans fifteen years supporting Seekers as part of the guide team for the Teaching Drum Outdoor School’s year-long Wilderness Guide Program. Along with completing the Program herself in 2006, she, along with Lety, are certified trackers with CyberTracker North America.

There can be the desire to listen, but there also needs to be the ability to listen. The Talking Circle process automatically creates a safe listening environment, where everybody’s voice is heard, and everybody’s opinion counts.

In this workshop, you learn how to:

• Take the first big step: transitioning from ego to Circle consciousness.
• Incorporate how other social animals use the Talking Circle.
• Plan and hold a Talking Circle:
  • The best ways to call a Talking Circle
  • Use of the Talking Stick
  • The role of consensus
  • Opening and closing rituals
  • Troubleshooting tips
  • And more

During the workshop, we practice what we are learning by holding Talking Circles to discuss relevant issues in your life, and in the world. And we look at each workshop participants’ unique circumstances, to figure out how the Talking Circle can be best utilized.

Your Instructors

Lety Seibel and Tamarack song learned the Talking Circle Way directly from the Native Elders they apprenticed to for many years. They have participated in talking circles in Native communities, and they have been using the Talking Circle themselves in many contexts over the past 50 years. Tamarack is the author of the definitive book on Talking Circles. Lety and Tamarack are assisted by OdeMakwa, who has been trained by them to use the Talking Circle and has used different shapes of a Talking Circle her entire adult life.

Let’s start by answering the question, “Who is an Elder?”  by clearing up these two myths:

1. A person chooses to become an Elder.

We are all born with our Elder already within us, along with the other four stages in our lives. Becoming an Elder, then, is a natural Blossoming from one stage to the next. The five stages are:

1. 1. Child
   2. Crafter/Builder
   3. Mentor
   4. Elder
   5. Ancestor

2. There is a particular age for becoming an Elder.

Sometimes a younger than average person is called to serve as an Elder out of need. Others who reach typical Elder age are not ready or able to serve as such, so they are not called to do so. Yet they are respected as Elders, even though they may not play the role.

A Description

Serving as an Elder is not a training or a workshop, but rather an awakening to what already exists. We sharpen our skills and abilities to listen and empathize, and to serve our people and our Earth Mother in a new capacity.

We cover three themes during our year together:

1. How Elders function in their communities and/or families, groups, organizations they aree part of
   1. Is there a decided lack of Elders?
   2. How are they regarded in their community?
   3. Do they play a significant role or are they just figureheads?
2. Elders in Traditional cultures
   1. Roles and how they are regarded.
   2. Examples from various cultures.
   3. How Elders play formal roles in traditional spiritual practices, martial arts and wisdom schools.
3. The Power of Story
   1. Hear stories from Native cultures on Elder roles.
   2. Discover and explore the Elder stories from our lineages.
   3. Use stories to educate our people about Elders.

Bridging the Gap

We start off the year with a five-day in-person immersive experience to ground ourselves in relationship with other budding Elders, to prepare the ground and plant the seeds that we will be tending to throughout the following year. Through monthly Zoom gatherings and an ongoing e-group, we work to bridge the gap between where we are and where our people long us to be through exercises, practices, deliberations, and a lot of listening. Here are just a few of the tools and practices we will be using:

• Various ways of nurturing relationship with the Unseen.
• Guest Elders joining us.
• Movement exercises to encourage the body-mind-spirit connection.
• Dreams
• Time communing with in Nature.
• Crafts/skills.
• Meditations and Envisioning.
• Conscious Breathing.
• Truthspeaking/listening.
• Exploring Ritual
  • Ancestor Dish
  • Sun Greeting
  • Other rituals and traditional awakening practices

To Apply

Write a letter of intent.