The Wild Conversation
A contemporary exploration of earth-based ceremony
14-16 August, Clunes, Victoria
image by Max Roux
Is there a wild beating heart inside of you longing to connect with the heart of the world? Have you felt the need to join in heartfelt community to explore your place in the wider ‘family of things’?
Since ancient times, humans have held ceremony. We have paused to honour the sun, moon, land, waters, seasons and cycles of life and death. Taking to mountains and deserts and oceans we have cried out for clarity and taken solace in the beauty of the universe.
Knowing the intricate interwovenness of our own existence with that of the wild, we have held ceremonies to offer our love to the world and also to allow the wisdom of nature to lead us towards greater human wholeness.
Ceremony as an ancient technology has been central to all earth-based cultures. It is humans’ way of speaking back to the Mystery, honouring that from which we have come and daring to ask for that which we deeply long for.
Image by Max Roux
Too many today have forgotten this language of ceremony, so vital for us and the wild earth alike. In an age of disconnection, how do we relearn how to be good conversationalists with the wild world?
We invite you to a weekend to explore the art of self-designed ceremony, and the techniques that enable us to speak this mysterious imaginal language of sign and symbol.
Over two days and two nights, alone and together, we will reawaken the imagination, court wild mysteries, seek personal clarity and offer our devotion to the earth and beings on which our lives inextricably depend.
Through practices of ceremony, song, council, crafting, ancestral skills, storytelling, dreamwork and solo nature immersion we will seek to empty out and restore the balance of how humans were meant to live: alive, awake and in reverence to the greatest teachers we will ever need - earth, air, water, fire, frog, boulder, hawk, bone.
We will explore:
earth-based ceremonial work that has relevance and integrity for these times
the natural world as our mirror, ally and guide in understanding our own psyche
natural crafts and traditional earth skills such as fire-by-friction and cordage, including crafting of ceremonial items
practices cultivating sensitivity to the land such as sit spots
practices to re-enter the imagination and dreamworld
the way of council
solo wandering and conversation across species boundaries
Who is this program for?
This program is for anyone and everyone (age 17 plus) who seeks nourishing time on the land in community honouring the wild - outside and in. Whether you are brand new to earth-based ceremony or a seasoned ceremonialist, you are warmly welcomed into our fire circle.
Email emily@naturesapprentice.com.au with any questions.
Facilitators:
Yonke van Geloven
Yonke is a farmer, permaculturalist, and passionate nature connection facilitator and vision quest guide based on Dja Dja Wurrung Country, central Victoria. As a single mother of three, she stewards a 20-acre permaculture property where she weaves together regenerative land practices, storytelling, and community ritual. Her work invites others into deeper relationship with the land and their own wild selves.
Yonke’s facilitation style is grounded, playful, and deeply intuitive. She completed Nature’s Apprentice Nature-Based Leadership Training in 2021 and brings a wealth of lived experience in bushcraft, fibre arts, and earth-based ceremony. She is especially passionate about guiding others to reconnect with ancestral skills and the rhythms of the natural world, inviting people to slow down, listen, and remember their place in the great web of life. Yonke was a participant on season 3 of Alone Australia.
Emily Coats
Emily is a facilitator of deep nature connection practices, ancestral skills and soulcentric nature-based ceremony. Recently returned from seven months alone in the wild, she feels the world is always speaking to us, if only we have the capacity to listen. With an innate empathy for other humans and wild nature, and one ear attuned to what Stephen Harrod Buhner calls the 'metaphysical background of the world', Emily has found her passion in guiding others into deeper conversation with the mysteries of wild nature and the wild terrain of their own soul.
Alongside studies in transpersonal counselling and vision quest guiding, Emily's most potent training has been the opportunity since 2021 to work alongside Claire at Nature's Apprentice. Emily lives on Wurundjeri Country, having returned in 2018 to her birth lands after a decade in the UK. Before joining Nature’s Apprentice Emily spun magic with numbers and data as an environmental policy analyst and wove force fields against big oil as an activist and campaigner.
Testimonials from previous programs facilitated by Yonke and Emily
“It was one of THE most beautifully held, guided, connected, reverence-full programs I have ever been a part of. Each facilitator brought such depth to everything they spoke, consciousness to all they did and so much care to each of the participants.
The ceremonies brought me to tears and each facilitator felt so present and integral each time.”
“The experience was beyond transformative. We were so well held by our incredible team of guides that offered infinite wisdom and presence that allowed deep trust in the process... Returning with a deep sense of wholeness and gratitude. ”
Image by @_Ella_Ellington_ biomi Photography
Program info:
Location: Clunes, 1.75 hours west of Melbourne.
Arrival: 3pm Friday 14th August
Departure: 2pm Sunday 16th August
Dinners, tea and coffee will be provided.
Please BYO breakfast, lunch and snacks.
Accommodation is camping. BYO tent and bedding, etc.
We will have access to warm cosy spaces, open fires and wild forests.
Email emily@naturesapprentice.com.au with any questions.
Cost:
Concession card holders: $445
Low income: $495
Average/upper income: $545
$200 deposit to register with remainder due by 31st July.
If these prices are prohibitive please reach out.
Since ancient times, humans have held ceremony. We have paused to honour the sun, moon, land, waters, seasons and cycles of life and death. Taking to mountains and deserts and oceans we have cried out for clarity and taken solace in the beauty of the universe.
We invite you to a weekend to explore the art of self-designed ceremony, and the techniques that enable us to speak this mysterious imaginal language of sign and symbol.
Over two days and two nights, alone and together, we will reawaken the imagination, court wild mysteries, seek personal clarity and offer our devotion to the earth and beings on which our lives inextricably depend.
“I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to explore and share some of my inner most desires and soulful knowings in such beautifully held councils with such incredible humans. I felt totally open and free to be myself and to speak from my heart, which is not something I feel safe enough to do in the mainstream world I inhabit. Thank you.”
Image by @LensofOrion
Cancellation Policy
A) If you cancel more than 14 days before the event, we will refund you, minus a $25 admin fee.
B) If you cancel between 5 and 14 days before program start, and:
we can fill your place, we will similarly refund the program fee minus a $25 admin fee
we can’t fill your place, we will not be able to refund any of the amount.
C) If you cancel fewer than 5 days before program start, we will not be able to refund any of the amount.
“This experience for me really is a gift that keeps on giving, and I’m sure it can only ripple out in positive ways outside of myself. I look forward to continue being part of this kind of community of wild nature loving people. Thank you.”
image by Max Roux
Since ancient times, humans have held ceremony. We have paused to honour the sun, moon, land, waters, seasons and cycles of life and death. Taking to mountains and deserts and oceans we have cried out for clarity and taken solace in the beauty of the universe.
We invite you to a weekend to explore the art of self-designed ceremony, and the techniques that enable us to speak this mysterious imaginal language of sign and symbol.
Over two days and two nights, alone and together, we will reawaken the imagination, court wild mysteries, seek personal clarity and offer our devotion to the earth and beings on which our lives inextricably depend.