KINDLING WISDOM
Lighting the path to a resilient future
a social permaculture convergence
June 28th - 30th, 2024
AT O.U.R. ECOVILLAGE
Starhawk
Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows)
Hiinahcit (PEtrina DEzALl)
LYDIA VIOLET • NALA WALLA
MORGAN VANDERPOOL • LUX GYPSUM
peeyush kumar • ALIKO WESTE
Join us for a community weekend of rekindling embodied, nature-based, relational wisdom.
In the face of the many ongoing tragedies caused by the unraveling of our political and economic systems, we must still hold the torch for a resilient future. We believe that cultural revival, deep solidarity, and embodied wisdom are essential foundations for our path forward.
Kindling Wisdom is a spark for re-culturing our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the land. Gather with us to re-connect what has been disconnected, to mend what has been torn, and to mourn what has been lost. Together we will weave a rich tapestry of song, story, solidarity, somatic awareness, historical reflection, and earth-based wisdom, as we co-create a future that is resilient, regenerative, and rooted in collective remembrance.
CORE THEMES
Song + story
Community + re-villaging
Decolonizing permaculture
Land-tending + place-making
Communication + conflict skillbuilding
Embodiment + nervous system education
Examining capitalism + identity-based heirarchies
PRESENTERS
STARHAWK
Starhawk is a permaculture designer, teacher, and founder of Earth Activist Training, which teaches regenerative design with a grounding in spirit and a focus on organizing and activism.
She is the author of thirteen books on earth based spirituality and activism, including The Spiral Dance, The Earth Path, and The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, on group dynamics and social permaculture, and her permaculture novels, The Fifth Sacred Thing and City of Refuge. Together with director Donna Read Cooper, she has worked on five major documentaries, including the Goddess Trilogy for the National Film Board of Canada and Permaculture: The Growing Edge.
Starhawk holds a double diploma in design and teaching from the Permaculture Institute of North America. She presently directs Earth Activist Training, teaches internationally, and is a voice for incorporating Social Permaculture into the Permaculture movement.
Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows)
Four Arrows (Wahinkpe Topa) aka Dr. Don Trent Jacobs is faculty in the School of Leadership Studies at Fielding Graduate University. Formerly Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College and tenured Associate Professor at Northern Arizona University. With doctorates in health psychology and in Curriculum and Instruction (with a cognate in Indigenous Worldview) he has authored 21 books and numerous other publications relating to wellness, critical theory, education and Indigenous worldview. His publications have been praised by a number of notable thinkers, including John Pilger, Greg Cajete, Noam Chomsky, Thom Hartman, Henry Giroux, Sam Keen, Bruce Lipton, Dan Millman, Vine Deloris, Jr. and many others.
He is a popular and thought-provoking keynoter and has presented on various topics in Australia, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, South Korea, and Japan and is on the Fulbright list of International Scholars.
HIINAHCIT (PEtrina DEzAlL)
Petrina Dezall is a passionate advocate for traditional knowledge and healing practices, deeply rooted in her Nuu Chah Nulth teachings. Her journey started with hikes alongside her mother, where she learned to read nature and understand life's interconnectedness. These early lessons led her to explore herbal medicine, alchemy, and permaculture, aiming to bring balance to herself, the land, and her community.
She is co-creating a podcast focusing on First Nation's families navigating displacement, and advocating for sovereignty in child welfare through Bill-C 92. Petrina also dedicates herself to revillaging initiatives, land-based learning, and empowering youth to reconnect with nature, drawing from her own experiences raising self-sufficient sons who excel in harvesting and fishing.
Outside of her work, she also delves into her passions for falconry, processing harvests, and research projects, all while working towards reclaiming her traditional territory for future generations. She lives her life in service of "Peace, love, and liberation for all.”
Lydia Violet
Lydia is an Iranian-Armenian-American folk multi-instrumentalist, revolution-bringer, culture-tender, grief-worker, and mischief-maker. In her performances, she weaves together her songwriting, folk standards, Iranian ballads, love of harmonies, fiddle, banjo, and collective singing into an altar of music to lay at our feet. She is the creator behind Singing the Bones, a course with Leah Song of Rising Appalachia, and a music project that brings American artists together to explore and share folk music from their ancestries, encouraging cultural revitalization and diasporic healing. She has engaged in vibrant collaborations with world-renowned artists Climbing PoeTree, Rising Appalachia, MaMuse, and Lyla June. Lydia has also studied dedicatedly with deep ecology elder and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy for the past 15 years, learning how we can metabolize planetary despair, anxiety, and community traumas into energy for resilience, action, and community healing. She founded and runs The School for The Great Turning, which creates access to an education that will empower humanity's life-sustaining legacy. www.schoolforthegreatturning.com
PEEYUSH KUMAR
Peeyush Kumar is a visionary, a scholar and an entrepreneur bringing innovation at the intersection of cultures, technology and economy. He uses a liberatory and an animistic lens to synthesize the complexity of the contemporary experiences in the wake of colonial and hyper-capitalized societies. Animism goes beyond the discrete & numerous manifestations of mundane experiences into a unifying field that binds the plurality of these experiences in a cohesive evolutionary story. Dr. Kumar's logos is that the next wave of liberation will arise though decolonizing our bodies, our relations, and forming coalition networks with equity and sovereignty as guiding principles.
Dr. Kumar has a PhD in intelligent technology & systems from the University of Washington Seattle and is currently pursuing continuing education in Community Liberation & Indigenous Depth Eco-Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He founded Engooden Health, a healthcare technology company, and has multiple patents and publications. Additionally, he serves on the board of Sustainable Seattle, occasionally teaches at universities, and works as a senior researcher at Microsoft.
Morgan Vanderpool
Morgan Vanderpool, LICSW, (they/he) is a bilingual, queer, non-binary, neurospicy, ecologically and intersectionally grounded: collective neuropractor, restorative practice facilitator, neuro-sensitive movement specialist, choreographer and community builder; with 12+ years of experience as a body-based global complex trauma specialist.
They're dedicated to facilitating inclusive, accessible, mycelially-grounded, and somatically abolitionist, restorative embodiment practices- that strengthen our collective capacity to move healthfully with every layer of our badass survivor selves.
So we may co-build thriving nervous and eco-systems- ONE BREATH AT A TIME.
Nala Walla
Nala is director of “The Well, An Oasis for Animist Ritual,” supporting innovative ways of restoring grieving and lamentation culture from around the world. For 25 years, she has been tending the lands and waters of her permaculture homestead, both physically and ritually. Hands in the soil, she is honored to practice a low-tech, ecosomatic lifestyle on an Island beside the Salish Sea, in Washington USA — the traditional lands of the Chimacum and S’Klallam people.
From her handbuilt earthen sanctuary at the edge of the woods, Nala has been cultivating the old-tyme “wisewoman” skills for decades. Weaving Griefwork and Ancestral Healing, Nala moves us beyond the psychological, and into the realm of Ritual. She specializes in helping people who feel rootless, culturally orphaned, and spiritually homeless reclaim our birthright of belonging to our own ancestors. Through a deeply somatic and liberatory approach towards deconstructing whiteness, we become more rooted in relationship with who we come from, and the lands we where we live.
ALIKO WESTE
Born and raised in Seattle Washington to a French ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish mother and Caribbean father, Aliko is a first generation, trans, Blaxk presenting, bilingual Jewish entrepreneur designer, event producer, speaker, coach, mentor and facilitator.
Aliko is the visionary behind several local businesses dedicated to fostering personal and emotional growth among entrepreneurs in the Seattle area and beyond. Through all of his businesses, events, expertise and hobbies, he is able to live out his dedication to carving out spaces for humanity through his work.
Learn more About Aliko’s businesses and work at www.alikoweste.com
Lux Gypsum
Lux Gypsum is a community organizer, relational healer, and cultural visionary who believes that revolution happens at the level of relationship. With over 9 years of facilitation experience and dozens of trainings under their belt, Lux has cultivated a strong capacity to hold potent group containers for interpersonal skill-building and cultural transformation. Lux has an ongoing practice of anti-racism work and is committed to uprooting internalized supremacy culture. They are also becoming more deeply trauma-informed through training in Somatic Experiencing, a well known body-based modality for healing trauma. In addition to holding regular community workshops and events, Lux also supports individuals, couples, and groups to embody the world they long for through their work as a Conflict Mediator, Relationship Coach, and Community Consultant.
You can follow Lux's work and offerings on Instagram @healing.rising and by signing up for their newsletter at www.healingrising.com.
BRANDY GALLAGHER
Brandy Gallagher is a founder and developer of O.U.R. Ecovillage. Her life work has been focused around the development of the ‘Decolonizing of Sustainable Community.’ A designer and educator, she has worked with local and international community builders to create the 25 acres Sustainable Living Demonstration Site and Education Centre.
From ‘Comprehensive Development’ land use re-zoning to incorporating holistic new ownership structures, from governance to building codes, from wastewater to closed-loop systems approval – her commitment has been to ‘Lawful Permaculture’ within the Ecovillage and “re-village” movement.
FILM SCREENING
Ripples of Regeneration
A Documentary film about Youth, Water and Climate Change
“Water is Love” follows a group of young people grappling with the climate crisis while we journey around the world to share inspiring stories of regenerative ecosystem design to create water retention in communities, villages, and regions.
We touch upon traditional ecological knowledge, how water makes climate, and the importance of restoring complete water cycles.
Through inspiring stories from successful projects in India, Kenya, and Portugal, we aim to spark conversations and actions that contribute to a regenerative and resilient world. As we’re facing both the growing devastating impacts of climate disruption and the failure of governments to act, this film points to an often overlooked need and possibility: community-driven decentralized water management as a critical key for surviving — and thriving in — this century.
TICKETS
$180 USD - $290 USD Sliding Scale
Tickets include 3 fresh cooked meals per day + a campsite.
Meals include veggies, herbs, and fruits grown from our 10 acres of farmland and eggs from our chickens. We usually offer vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free options. When you register, you will be sent a survey to share your dietary needs with the kitchen.
This program is offered in the spirit of a Gratitude Culture.
Many people have generously shared their time and energy in reciprocity and abundance to bring this beautiful gathering to life. Please contribute as much as you can financially and bring your gifts, skills, and resources to share with the community.
We intend to be as accessible as possible - if money is a barrier to your participation and you feel a strong call to be here, please fill out this form to request a payment plan or a skill-trade (we want to value you!).
If you can register at a higher tier, you support others who cannot financially contribute to participate.
Please choose your contribution from the Gratitude Culture Scale listed below.
1) Supported Contribution – $180 USD
For those needing financial support to attend.
2) Reciprocal Contribution – $220 USD
For those with sufficient financial resources who can pay at cost per person for the Gathering.
3) Rebalancing Contribution – $290 USD
For those with more than enough financial resources (personal or institutionally supported) and a desire to support access for others to help rebalance systemic inequity.
MEET US AT O.U.R. ECOVILLAGE
Location
O.U.R. Ecovillage
1565 Baldy Mountain Rd, Shawnigan Lake, BC Canada
Located just 45 minutes north of Victoria, and 30 minutes south of Duncan, Shawnigan Lake is a lovely lakeside community offering year-round entertainment.
The area features the incredible and recently restored Kinsol Trestle (the world's tallest wooden trestle bridge), many wineries, high end dining, lake-based activities, hiking, and more.The entire Cowichan Region, of which we are a part, is a breadbasket for the Island and features many amazing wineries and farm-to-table restaurants. Very nearby are opportunities to enjoy farm-produced breads, meats, cheeses, and more.
Shawnigan Lake offers a small grocery store, coffee shop and cafe, restaurant, community center, and other amenities, while nearby Mill Bay is directly located on Hwy 1 and has gas stations, a large grocery store, and chain restaurants. It is very close to the Mill Bay-Brentwood Bay Ferry link which takes passengers to the Saanich Peninsula.
Accommodations
The basic accommodations included with your ticket purchase are a campsite + access to composting toilet.
You can upgrade to:
- dorms
- possibly private & semi-private accommodations
Email events@ourecovillage.org for more information
Transportation
If you are coming from off island, there are US and Canadian ferries which land in Victoria and Nanaimo.
There are also multiple airports on the island including international Victoria Airport (YYJ).
Ride Share self-serve sheet (in case there is interest in using this)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tB8D7CXTdzxYZqzQCzPhGWVNYjbEhNr0MQSdGZNhA0g/edit?usp=sharing
BC Ferries: https://www.bcferries.com/
Vancouver (Tsawwassen) - Victoria (Swartz Bay)
Vancouver (Tsawwassen) - Nanaimo (Duke Point)
Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) - Nanaimo (Departure Bay) https://www.bcferries.com/routes.../schedules/daily/BTW-MIL
Small ferry link short drive/bus ride from Swartz to Mill Bay:
https://www.bcferries.com/routes.../schedules/daily/BTW-MIL
*Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay Ferry gets you closer to OUR Ecovillage if on the Swartz Bay peninsula only
US Ferries:
Port Angles, WA to Victoria, BC
Seattle, WA to Victoria (WALK ON FERRY)
https://www.clippervacations.com/
THIS EVENT IS PRODUCED BY
Lux Gypsum
Aliko Weste
Brandy Gallagher
THIS EVENT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY
KINDLING WISDOM