CEREMONIAL OFFERING

HOSTED BY
THE OAK & BONE SCHOOL

BEHOLDING
THE HUMAN STORY
a ceremonial remembrance &
mirroring training

MAY 22 - MAY 28, 2022 | BOULDER, UT

WITH RACHEL JUTH, NICHOLAS WASIERSKI

& TAMARIX
AS A RAVENS WING IMPLIES THE EXPANSIVENESS OF AN OPEN
SKY, A TROUTS SLIPPERY SKIN IMPLIES A COLD MOUNTAIN
CREEK, AND AN ACORN IMPLIES AN OAK TREE, SO DO THE
PARTICULAR TEXTURES, NUANCES, AND ABSURDITIES OF THE
HUMAN EXPERIENCE IMPLY A WORLD OF SENSUAL PLAY,
PROFOUND MYSTERY, AND ECSTATIC WONDER.

WHAT IF THERE WAS A WORLD IN WHICH THE STORY OF

HUMAN MADE SENSE? WHAT IF THERE WAS A WORLD IN WHICH
YOU - YOUR BODY, YOUR WONDROUS SENSES, YOUR FEARS
AND JOYS, YOUR ODDITIES AND ECCENTRICITIES, THE OUTER
BOUNDS AND INNER LIMITS OF YOUR HUMAN EXPERIENCE -
MADE SENSE? WHAT A WONDROUS THING. AND NOT ONLY
THAT, BUT WHAT IF SUCH A WORLD WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO
WITNESS THE STORIES OF THOSE WHOM YOU SHARE THIS
WORLD WITH - TO BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD - AND
BE WITNESSED IN TURN?

WE CAME INTO THIS WORLD EXPECTING TO BE MET WITH DEEP

CONNECTION AND INTIMACY, TO FALL IN LOVE WITH LIFE, TO
BE CELEBRATED FOR OUR GIFTS, OUR ART, AND BE ASKED TO
GIVE OUR ART BACK TO THE WORLD. BEHOLDING THE HUMAN
STORY IS A CEREMONIAL REMEMBRANCE INTO A WORLD
WHERE OUR STORIES BELONG TO THE WORLD THAT BIRTHED
US AND WHERE OUR CAPACITY TO FALL IN LOVE WITH AND
BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF OTHER BEINGS - HUMAN AND
NONHUMAN ALIKE - IS RADICALLY IMPORTANT TO OUR SOULS
AND TO THE SOUL OF THE WORLD.
WHO IS THIS FOR?

This ceremony is designed to be accessible to all varieties of

Human. No prior experience with ceremony is necessary. We
only ask for a willingness to show up with the most courageous
and compassionate parts of yourself. All other parts of you are
welcome as well.

WHAT WILL WE BE DOING?

We will be gathering, camping, and cooking together at a

basecamp on Boulder Mountain, and venture into the
surrounding wilderness for several ceremonial walks into the
land. Upon return, we will share our stories with our community,
as well as learning to trust our own ways of witnessing the
stories of others.

Nature awareness/embodiment activities such as tracking, bird

language, and night-walks will be integrated into the week.

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM A MIRRORING TRAINING?

Beholding the Human Story is our way of inviting folks into the
magical and wondrous terrain of ceremony and the particular
way of holding stories known as “Mirroring” to folks coming
from the Vision Fast lineage. Our offering differs from a
Mirroring Training in a few ways - rather than rooting our
teachings in the “Four Shields” cosmology which is traditional to
this teaching, we are working from the assumption that the
magic of Mirroring/Beholding is innate to all humans, and each
human has their own way of tracking this intelligence - of
bearing witness to and falling in love with the world. Our way of
guiding others into this terrain is also inextricably somatic - we
will be tracking, dancing, singing, and embodying our way
through the week.

For those unfamiliar with this term, Mirroring is an essential

part of a rite-of-passage ceremony, a way of witnessing,
celebrating, and midwifing stories into the world. Mirroring is
tending the rich soils of death and life - compassionately holding
the hand of that which is dying, as well as welcoming the
impossibly beautiful creature which is struggling to emerge into
this strange and terrifying world and tenderly weaving it into
the fabric of Life.
WHAT ABOUT RECIPROCITY?

The Oak and Bone School operates on a gift economy. For more
details on what this means, please follow this link:
https://www.theoakandboneschool.com/soul-of-gift
or contact tamarix for more details.

Participation is limited to ten humans.

Please RSVP by March 1st.

For questions, details, or to RSVP, please follow this link:

https://www.theoakandboneschool.com/apply-1

or contact tamarix at: tamarix@theoakandboneschool.com

 MEET YOUR GUIDES
Tamarix
Tamarix belongs to Boulder
Mountain and the waters that
course these dense forests and
deep canyons; the magic of
language; water and shadow; the
scent of sagebrush; the feeling
of sandstone on bare feet; the
Oak-groves; his woman Brianna;
Grief, Longing, and Death; as
well as Love, Belonging, and
Life.

Tamarix has been claimed by the

traditions of wilderness guiding,
bardic poetry, rogue wine-drunk
taoism, cat-worship, folk
herbalism, and animistic
witchcraft, as well as the deep
stories of the dark trickster, the
hunter, and the death doula.

As a wilderness rites-of-passage guide, Tamarix brings his 10+ years

experience as a wilderness therapy guide, his intimate relationship with
the non-human world, and his deep trust in both the wisdom of wild
spaces and the fasting ceremony utilized by the School of Lost Borders.

Tamarix attended the SLB month-long training in 2017, the Animas

Valley Institute’s YLSI (yearlong soulcraft intensive) in 2017-18, and has
been assisting fasts for the SLB and the Practice of Living and Dying as
often as he can. Tamarix established a rites-of-passage program for
Legacy Outdoor Adventures and Juniper Canyon Recovery Center for
Women utilizing the SLB model, is the senior editor of the Circles on the
Mountain journal of the Wilderness Guides Council, founded the Oak
and Bone School of Belonging and Remembrance, and is working to
create more ways to bring the magic of this ceremony to his people.
MEET YOUR GUIDES

Rachel
Rachel did her first vision
quest in 2017 with Cascadia
Quest in the desert of
Southern Oregon.

It was during that time on

the land that a deep
knowing arose that called
her to follow a path that led
her deeper into this work.

In 2018 and 2019 she

apprenticed with Cascadia
Quest and then found
herself as a wilderness
guide in Southern Utah. She
has attended multiple
mirroring trainings and is
currently leading ceremony
and guiding young adults on
wilderness adventures in
southern Utah.
 MEET YOUR GUIDES
Nicholas
Born in a winter storm
on the Kuskokwim
River in a small town in
Western Alaska,
Nicholas grew up
steeped in the wisdom
of knowing where his
food comes from -
catching salmon,
gathering berries in the
summer, and hunting
Caribou and Moose in
the fall and winter

Working and studying with organizations such as Wilderness Awareness

School, Journeymen, Cascadia Quest, School of Lost Borders and The
Oak and Bone School of Belonging and Remembrance, he has found a
home on Boulder Mountain where he currently lives.

Nicholas is claimed by myth, poetry and the bardic ways of calling rain
down from the sky with words of honey. He is an avid meditator, will
fish until the fish bite, pick flowers at odd hours, and is a roamer of all
lands. He is currently studying holistic health and integrative movement
through the Chek Institute as he learns to help people live pain free
holistic lives. He continues to learn, deeply listen, be humbled by his
human mediocrities and practice unconditional love.
.