Deep Dreaming and Soul Encounter

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Greetings on this winter solstice week. I truly thought the sun was not going to rise on the weekend, still dark well after 7am on the southern slope of a mountain outside Melbourne. I took myself out in the half-light to roam the forest, and was treated to the display of the Bulen-Bulen, the Superb Lyrebird  fanning its tail and singing its entire medley of bird calls, in a bid to attract a mate. This male Lyrebird display is one of the hallmarks of this Wuring (Wombat) season, signalling the beginning of its courtship. 

It’s also a time that I tend more the inner world, my own, and those who I support. One way I have been doing this is writing my soul story - my personal myth - the way I came to know myself over a 12 year initiatory period through numinous encounter and deep imagery. Including in a dream.

In the spirit of this deep dreaming season, I'm sharing a key dream on this journey, one I know as ‘The Farm.’

I am standing on one side of a cast iron gate. It is humble and yet elegant, cursive writing spelling out ‘The Farm.'  It seems a name that is intentionally deceptive in its humility. On the other side of the gate, is land that is both deeply alluring to me, and also somehow familiar. It is wild and beautiful, sovereign in its beingness, but also cultivated in a way that enhances the wildness of the place. It is purposeful land. Intentional. I know that this is a place that people come to for initiation. A voice in the dream tells me that ‘this is the place of my true inheritance’. I know that I am meant to inhabit that place, and be part of its purpose. It is actually the place of my physical and spiritual home. I prepare myself to walk through the gate.

Tears fell as I woke to this dream, as I realised the significance. I knew already that my task was to guide people through Initiation but here was an image and a felt sense, like a psychospiritual ecological niche, that spoke to the specific kind of inner landscape that I occupy as a guide. Here was the 'place of my true inheritance’, the dream-maker borrowing a line from one of my favourite David Whyte poems. 

Could The Farm also be an actual physical place that I might one day find and guide in? I hold that longing close.  

I share this dream to inspire us all to recommit to that dream journal, to dream tracking, especially at this time of year. You don’t want to miss the dream of a lifetime.

Vision Quest is a powerful place to dream into the deepest authenticity one might embody. I have just released dates for the Autumn Quest for next year. I’m guiding with Mitch Stent who has been apprenticing with us for some years, and brings deep poetic wisdom and the fire of truth telling to the guide role. Welcome Mitch! 

In another new collaboration this Spring I am cooking up a treat of wildcrafting, herbal crafting, nature connection, singing, cooking, storytelling and ceremony with good mates Siobhan Delaney and Skye Fior in HearthFire Fridays. 

And wanted to mention, I'm going to be sharing a myth or two, including a long cherished myth about initiation that always stirs the cauldron of longing, on July 20 at Remembering Story Medicine. Love the community that is cooking here. 

So many more offerings smouldering away. Take a look down below.  

Dream wild and deep friends, 

With love, 

Claire 

P.S Did I mention that the Nature Based Leadership Training is back to its year long format for 2026? Sign up now if you don’t want to miss out.

Autumn Vision Quest 2026

This full 11 day initiatory journey, including 4 days and nights of solo fasting is an invitation to remember what we deeply belong to, what we have always belonged to.
Stepping into your vision quest circle, you step out of your everyday reality and into the vast unknown. By doing so, you offer a clear invitation to the mysteries of life – yours, and the greater life of we are a part – to greet you.

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28th Feb - 10th March, 2026 | Central Victoria

Wild Threshold Crossing - A 48-Hour Solo Fast

 Join us for this shorter 6 day program including a two days and two nights fasting in nature in solo ceremony. This journey will be divided into the three classic phases of a passage rite: Preparation, Threshold and Incorporation. Efficient - yes. Powerful - definitely!

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November 24th - 30th, 2025 | ~ 4H of Melbourne

Nature Based Leadership Training 2026

 Over 12 months together we will tap back into your own wild wisdom, learn the essential survival skills of shelter and and fire making, find belonging in nature through your senses  by reading landscapes, tracking, and bird languages. You will learn to create a culture of connection through art and storytelling, develop mentoring and group facilitation skills and explore your ‘ecological niche’. This is life changing. Join us!
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13th Feb - 10th December 2026
Melbourne | Online | Wild retreats

Hearth Fire Fridays

Together, we gather to rekindle this ancestral memory of connection, to remember with our hands, hearts and souls. We tend and build skills of connection and community through story, song, crafting, and deep listening.
Come, sit at the hearth of your own wildness—tending the threads that weave soul into everyday life.

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Fridays 9:30 am–2:30 pm
17th October – 21st November 2025
Kalorama | Warrandyte | Wild Location

WildCrafting Winter Weekend

This gathering is an invitation to step away from the speed and noise of the modern world and come home to slowness, stillness, and soul. Across three days, we’ll sit in intimate community around the fire — learning traditional skills by hand, sharing nourishing food, singing, talking, and wandering the volcanic landscape beneath wide skies and stars.

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August 15-19, 2025 | Clunes, Victoria

Introduction to Eco-Psychotherapy

The field of eco-psychotherapy is emerging as a modality of therapy and mentoring that includes the more-than-human-world in the enquiry. I am excited to be collaborating with my good friend Sean O’Carroll from the Wild Mind Institute for this 7 day training, designed for counsellors, psychologists and other mental health professionals. Includes a 7-Day IN-PERSON catered Retreat.

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22nd - 28th Nov, 2025
Limited EARLY BIRD PLACES AVAILABLE