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Fire Sit Out

April 26 @ 3:00 pm - April 28 @ 4:00 pm

An invitation to a Fire sit out and two-days in the woods.

Gathering together on the afternoon of Friday 26th April until – afternoon of Sunday 28 April 2024 

House at the Edge invites you to a very special event with the Swedish tracker and ceremonialist Miki Dedijer in a small ancient woodland in Clanfield, Hampshire.

In this dawning of bluebells, this fullness of spring and with summer on the horizon, we find ourselves in a time of new beginnings, fertility and birth. It’s a subtle verdant threshold between equinox and solstice when the day is lengthening, the night not yet fully shortened.

In the old days, after a long winter in the barns, when the meadows were rich and green again, this is when the herders drove their livestock out beyond stale domesticity, to feed and fatten among the bluebells, to calf beneath the coppice, and give milk on the commons.

It was a time of great excitement and expectation anchored to considered caution. The season of coupling and of birth comes with the hard-earned understanding that all tender new life needs attentive care and protection.

In the cacophony and the ravages of perpetual growth that is eroding the foundations of what we hold dear along with everything wise that we might depend on in the harder times to come, we gather under the waning dark and the waxing light to remember the miracle of fertility and the beauty of life arising under a nurturing sun.

With music at our centre and prayers in our hearts, we draw together to ask what is about to be born, and what is required of us that it grow to its fullness. Through the shortening night, seated each on our own by a solitary fire, we will fan the spark of inspiration, listening for the quiet voice in the woods that is echoed by the chambers of our hearts, and lovingly tend the embers towards a new dawn.

You will arrive in Clanfield on Friday afternoon and we will spend a communal night around the fire sharing food and hearing some stories. The next day you will have time to prepare for the night ahead, to locate your site, receive general teachings about fire and gather good wood. At dusk on Saturday you will head out and spend the night till sunrise on your own tending a fire.

The next morning we will return to the big fire to share the wisdom of the flame’s whispers and to bear witness to the treasures your faithful wakefulness has borne.

For any questions or to be put on our mailing list for future events, please contact us here: info@houseattheedge.com

With Miki Dedijer, Felicity Hollow and Emma Collins

About your guides:

Miki Dedijer is an ecologist of the soul lending an ear to the whispers beyond the village boundaries, where the seemingly insignificant can be of great consequence in revitalizing the everyday. With an education in evolution and behaviour from Princeton University, he draws much of his work from a lifelong immersion in the wilds. A Swedish naturalist, gardener, and teacher of the art of tracking, he explores personal initiation and cultural transformation through ritual experimentation.

We will be joined at the central fire by Felicity Hollow, a talented and passionate drummer and voice coach with a delightfully strong collaborative spirit. https://www.therhythmsofgrace.co.uk/

Emma is a hedge witch, a storyteller, and a grief whisperer. She lives in a beautiful house at the edge of the woods with a kitchen that is always preparing for a feast. She gathers people, nettles, and stories and weaves them into beautiful tapestries of community, ceremony, and rooted living. She spends her days collecting treasure from the forest floor and medicine from the hedgerows. You can mostly find her outside tending the vegetables and herbs in the garden, walking the woods, conjuring blessings from the joys and heartaches of life and making offerings to the moon, the ancestors and forgotten stories of this land. She knows her magic is real and her spells are conjured from remembered fragments of place-based folk magic and the medicine of her ancestors.

When?

3pm on the 26th April –  4pm on the 28th April 2024

Where?

Private woodland near Clanfield, Hampshire, UK.

Costs?

£180

FAQ

Frequently asked questions and what you need to bring:

How do I get to the woods?

We would like to arrange as much car sharing as possible so nearer the time we will be connecting you all and asking for coordination around lifts.

The woodland is near to Clanfield in Hampshire and the nearest train stations are either Petersfield or Portsmouth. We can support you in arranging lifts from either station.

When your booking is confirmed we will send you precise directions for driving to the woods.

What time can I arrive from?

Arrival time on Friday is between 3pm and 6pm. Our first meal is at 7.30pm followed by a fire and a story or two. Please send us your estimated arrival time and stay in touch on the day by phone for any changes.

What about ticks?

There are ticks in the woods although not usually so early in the year. Please wear long trousers and closed in shoes if you are worried about being bitten. Please also bring some insect repellent that works for your skin.

Are there any bathrooms?

Well…. 🙂 no. There is one compost loo and lots of trees. We will have water for washing but all our water has to be bought in by hand so we ask you to be sparing with how it is used. This is a wild camping experience!

This means no electricity too right?

Exactly. Bring a torch and a battery charger if you want to charge your phone before leaving. We will ask you to switch your phone off and enjoy a couple of days offline.

Food & Water

Please bring 4 litres of water and breakfasts and lunches for two days. We will have other water supplies but it helps us enormously if you bring two litres of drinking water for each day. We will also provide evening meals on Friday and a forest feast on Saturday.

Bedding and Canvas

Please bring bedding and a tent or hammock to sleep in and something like a yoga mat to make the ground comfortable. You will be sitting up all night on Saturday so please bring enough warm clothing to make this comfortable.

What if I am coming by train from afar? How ill I carry all this stuff?

Please contact us for support. We might be able to help with spare tents and other things if you are travelling long distances and don’t have baggage allowances that enable you to bring all that you need.

What else do I need to bring?

Bring what you need to stay, eat and sleep outdoors from Friday to Sunday, such as shelter/tarp, sleeping bag, toiletries, sit mat, a woollen blanket, clothes for all possible seasonal weather conditions, journal/notebook.

Waterproofs are a very good bet and a hot water bottle if you get cold at night. If the weather is very wet an umbrella may be helpful.

Please do contact us if you have any other questions.

Details

Start:
April 26 @ 3:00 pm
End:
April 28 @ 4:00 pm