Out on the land
Spirit Walks through the day and Spirit Circles through the night.
Every day we hold takes the shape of the Four Altars. We greet the directions and open each altar in turn: Gratitude, Clarity, Unity, Love. What is prayed in the circle is prayed for all our relations.
Our practice
We arrive in the wilderness in the morning and spend the whole day out there, or we gather at dusk around the fire and stay with it until morning. The first altar opens the day and the fourth closes it.
Everything in between is held by the Four Altars. The shape is the same in every weather and for every circle. It is the tradition as it was handed to us.
The Four AltarsTwo forms
We gather in two ways. Both come out of one lineage and hold the same four prayers.
Spirit Walk
Spirit Circle
A full day
We spend the whole day out on the mountain, in whatever weather it brings, and pray from the morning on until the light goes.
A full night
The fire is lit at dusk and tended without break until morning. The staff and the rattle pass around the circle, and every person in it prays aloud in their turn.
Every time
The shape of a day with us does not change.
Who holds it
Whoever holds the space does not tell anybody what their experience means. Everything they do is in service of the people who came.
Ground Support stays awake through the night, so that nobody who is praying has to think about the fire, the water or the weather.
What the circle is for
A place where people can let go and open themselves, and feel safe and held by the group, because we are holding space for each other.
Everything you bring
People arrive frightened, or angry, or grieving, or carrying something they have not said aloud to anybody. All of it is welcome.
Nobody is made to speak for longer than they want to, and what is said in the circle stays in it.
Both ask something of the body. One is a whole day out on the mountain. The other is a night awake until dawn.
That is why everyone is screened before the circle. Tell us plainly what your body can do.
