History of the Wilderness Guide Program

The Founding Vision

Wolf taught our Ancestors how to be more fully Human. In that long-ago time, the Wolf People and Human People were brother and sister—either could go and live or hunt with the other whenever they wished.

Such was the story of Tamarack Song, who liberated a family of Wolves from a zoo when he first left home, and they in turn adopted him into their family. It was his rite of passage into adulthood. As with our forebears, Wolf instructed him in the skills of deep listening, speaking from the heart, and moving like a shadow. He got vital training in the three archetypes: Guardian, Nurturer, and Voice.

But that came to a crashing end when his Wolf family got wiped out. There he stood—a Lone Wolf—with a torn-out heart and a gut-wrenching trauma memory from witnessing the deaths of those he loved most. But life goes on, and Tamarack was left with a deep longing for a Pack, this time made up of fellow Humans who knew and lived the way of our Ancestors—the Way of the Wolf.

Thus was the inspiration for the Wilderness Guide Program. Tamarack wanted to give others the opportunity to live in the Wilds where the Spirit of Wolf is strong. There, they could be inspired by the example of Wolf to run and hunt and love and feast as a Pack, just as he did. He knew it would bring their Ancestral Memories back, so that they could once again become fully Human—fully kin to Wolf and all the other plant and animal relations.

From Humble Beginnings

For much of the 1980s, Tamarack lived as a Lone Wolf, in a remote Northwoods cabin without electricity and little contact with other Humans. He needed time for healing from the trauma of his Wolf family’s demise. And, like all Lone Wolves, he had to venture forth and prove himself. In doing so, he would develop the resilience and gain the wisdom to bring a new Pack to life, this time with fellow Humans.

At the same time, he realized that prospective Pack members needed to go through the same rite of passage as he did. By 1990, he was ready to facilitate that, and the Wilderness Guide Program was born. Significantly, the beginning of the WGP coincided with the birth of Tamarack’s son, Wabineshi (Ojibwe for Little Morning Bird).

A rendezvous site was needed for the Pack. After a futile search, Tamarack’s Animal Guide, Owl, appeared and led him to an idyllic Forest clearing on the shore of a quiet Lake adjacent to Wisconsin’s Headwaters Wilderness. There he built a birchbark wigwam, then invited Wolf Clan Menominee Elder Paul Askinette to come and visit. Paul listened to Tamarack’s Vision and gave it his blessing. He named the budding camp Nishnajida—Camp where the Old Way Returns.

Coming of Age

Visions typically go through ten-year growth stages on their way to maturity. The Wilderness Guide Program (WGP) is now on its fourth and final stage, each of which was guided and empowered by one of the Four Sacred Directions:

Phase 1: Birth – 1990s

Throughout the decade, a fellow Guardian Lone Wolf would come from time to time to join Tamarack at Nishnajida. They paved the way for Nurturers and Voices to come and join with the Guardians to form Packs. To guide that process, Tamarack published what he learned from Wolf and the Elders in Journey to the Ancestral Self.

The Wilderness Guide Program has three textbooks:

East, the Direction of Inspiration, empowered this growth phase. Owl came from the East to guide Tamarack Westward to the Nishnajida clearing.

Phase 2: Youth – 2000s

“The time of the Lone Wolf is over,” stated the Hopi Elders’ Prophecy in 2000. “Gather yourselves! You are the ones you’ve been waiting for. Create your community. Do not look outside yourself for your leader.” Tamarack had fulfilled his Lone Wolf role, and the first couple of Packs arrived. They were made up of just a few courageous Pathfinders, but by the middle of the decade people were waiting in line to come to Nishnajida. Abel (with Animal Guide Eagle) joined with Tamarack to guide the WGP. Shortly after, Lety (also with Eagle as Animal Guide) joined as Tamarack’s mate and fellow Elder. Rounding out the Guide Pack were OdeMakwa (or Bear Heart, with Animal Guide Hawk) as Guide Pack Voice/program coordinator, and Susan (with Animal Guide Blue Jay) as Guide Pack Nurturer.

Example is the greatest teacher, which is one reason the WGP Guide Team functions like the Wolf model of a coordinated Pack, rather than by our typical civilized pyramid organizational structure, with a leader at the top.  

South, the Direction of Nurturance, brought this phase the caring support it needed to root itself and begin growing.

Phase 3: Adolescence – 2010s

With a television special, a feature-length documentary, numerous magazine articles and interviews, and a number of new books from Tamarack, word of the WGP spread far and wide. As many Europeans as Americans were participating. In 2012, forty-two people joined together at Nishnajida for a special Family Wilderness Guide Program. There were seventeen children, and adults ranging up to seventy-five years of age. That was followed by a year-long Wilderness Guardian Training and an eighty-day Wilderness Guardian Intensive, to begin preparing Lone Wolves to usher in the final growth phase of the WGP.

West, the Direction of Elder Wisdom, brought the level of maturation that supported the transition from I-consciousness to the we-consciousness of a Pack.

Phase 4: Maturity – 2020s

With Abel and Susan having spread their wings to follow new Visions, Lety, Tamarack, and OdeMakwa put up the howl to expand the Guide Pack to eight. They are now bringing about the full blossoming of the Wilderness Guide Program Vision. Along with a new Pack arriving annually with the Melting of the Snows, Nishnajida again welcomes Lone Wolves, just as it did in its birth stage in the 1990s. The way Lone Wolves paved the way for the birth of the WGP, they are now paving the way for its full maturation. The coming and going of Lone Wolves makes the WGP an even more authentic Pack and Primal Human experience, and Nishnajida more than ever a gateway to the World of the Wolf.

North, the Realm of the Inner Journey, brings the trauma reclaiming and visionary guidance needed for the blossoming into full maturity.