home-making with fire

Sunday, October 8, 2023

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

with jiordi rosales

Over a century of fire suppression has changed California from a fire-ecology to a fire-climate; meaning its continued suppression and the fear it generates makes up the atmosphere we live in, the air (or smoke) we breathe. Inevitably, the fear inherent to climate catastrophe and impending wildfire evacuation impacts our ability to place-make and form the long-term relationships necessary for resilience. While growing numbers make the exodus out of the West to escape the smoke, we ask: What is right relationship to fire? How do we stay with the smoke and how do we orient to the timescape it is truly asking of us?

This session will cover an introduction to the rematriation of cultural fire practices back to the land, while grappling with the complexities of mixed communities of practice. What it means for indigenous knowledge systems to be utilized by both indigenous and non-indigenous fire practitioners — or what I call inter-diasporic communities of collapse. We will learn about 'Fire Eyes' (ways of seeing how fire will move through a geography), preparing our homes and neighborhoods for wildfire, herbs and medicines to accompany us through times of fire, and how these ancient knowledge forms shape our senses and relationships to home. We will close with potential learning streams for deeper study and practice.

The prayer is that participants will leave with a more intact understanding of right relationship with fire and the medicine it carries -- and how to better prepare oneself for the deepening fire crisis as it defines the ecologies and times we live within.