An Animas Valley Institute event

Sweet Darkness: The Initiatory Gifts of the Shadow, Projections, Subpersonalities, and the Sacred Wound, is Animas Valley Institute’s most intensive short program. Because of this, we require that people have participated in other Animas programs before applying to Sweet

An Animas Valley Institute event

Based on Bill Plotkin’s book, Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, this 5-day intensive is an experiential exploration of our human psyches as unique expressions of the universal forces and patterns of nature.

An Animas Valley Institute event

The Way of Council and the Art of Mirroring are invaluable practices on the descent to soul. Although much of the descent is solitary, gathering with others in council can make all the difference in finding our way.

Please note this event has been postponed.

Have you experienced the electric feeling of creating fire out of just a stick and a piece of wood?

There is a both a science and an art to the hand drill. We will succeed only if we approach the hand drill humbly, in service to learning as much as possible of its magical and mysterious ways.

After a sell-out Melbourne series we are coming to Castlemaine!

Have you experienced the electric feeling of creating fire out of just a stick and a piece of wood?

There is a both a science and an art to the hand drill. We will succeed only if we approach the hand drill humbly, in service to learning as much as possible of its magical and mysterious ways.

Nature's Apprentice is again offering a four-part workshop series to go deeper into this skill.

After a sell-out Autumn term, we are staying in the realm of birds for another term.

Birds: vocal, colourful and abundant even in the city, these charismatic backyard buddies are also powerful guides to the more subtle layers of nature observation. At any moment of the day, bird activity, or lack of it, can expand our awareness out beyond what we can directly see or hear, reaching our ears far across the land, appearing to others like magic.

Birds: vocal, colourful and abundant even in the city, these charismatic backyard buddies are also powerful guides to the more subtle layers of nature observation. At any moment of the day, bird activity, or lack of it, can expand our awareness out beyond what we can directly see or hear, reaching our ears far across the land, appearing to others like magic.

After years of running highly acclaimed bird language retreats in NSW, the time has come for andrewthebirdguy to hit the road and share the campfire with an excitable bunch of nature-loving Southerners. Nature’s Apprentice is delighted to host Andrew in our home territory.

An Animas Valley Institute event - This contemporary Western embodiment of the ancient, pan-cultural vision fast is a dynamic wilderness rite for all who are seeking greater depth and clarity about life purpose and meaning.

The Soulcraft Intensive is Animas Valley Institute’s popular five-day experiential plunge into the wild depths of Soulcraft; a synergistic set of nature-based practices designed to evoke the life-shifting experience of soul encounter.

Join us in coming together in community on the land, crafting with hands and heart as we weave threads of connection to our lives, to community and to our wider web of relations.

We used to ‘know’ our belonging in our bones. As a culture we have grown away from intimacy with the more-than-human world, yet it waits for us…

The old ways are new again for the many now seeking to (re)learn the skills, practices and mindsets of our ancestors – everything from our food to footwear.

Come and reconnect with the cycles of life, death, and the rebirth of ancient knowledge. Processing animal bodies is an ancient art form practised by all cultures around the world for countless generations.

The Rainforest Information Centre presents DEEP ECOLOGY with John Seed, Carly Walker-Smith & Allison Tsao. At Narara Ecovillag. Bring your own tent or campervan or air b&b or you can stay in your own home if you live nearby.

The old ways are new again for the many now seeking to (re)learn the skills, practices and mindsets of our ancestors – everything from our food to footwear.

For as long as humans have existed, we have come to know our place in nature not in isolation but as a community. We accelerate our learning when we share our stories, ask each other questions, and bask in collective awe at nature's mysteries. And so we invite you to come together as a community, like attending a weekly yoga or dance class, and collectively deepen our connection to the natural world.

WE LIVE AT A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN EARTH’S HISTORY, a time of extraordinary challenge and uncertainty in which our precious world — with its endangered creatures and imperilled ecosystems — hangs by a precariously thin thread.

The Soulcraft Intensive is our popular five-day experiential plunge into the wild depths of Soulcraft; a synergistic set of nature-based practices designed to evoke the life-shifting experience of soul encounter.

This ceremony is for those who are ready to step out of their comfort zone and make space for deep listening. We offer this as an alternative to our longer Vision Quest for those who are not ready for a four day fast or are unable to take 11 days out from their other commitments.

We all know the feeling of being out in nature totally absorbed in our experience and suddenly we’re flushed with a feeling of immense joy and happiness, of electricity and vitality in the body and mind. You’re feeling true aliveness - awake to the world and to yourself.

This is such a simple offering that it needs little explanation. Simple but profound. We are inviting you to do what humans have been doing for thousands of generations

Join us for this incredibly special Community Dance Festival for people of all ages and stages. Together we will gather on over 100 acres of bushland to celebrate our dancing community and the interconnectedness we share.

This training draws on the work of pioneers in the field of contemporary wilderness rites of passage and will attend to both the experiential work of learning the skills and approaches to holding initiatory work, as well the theoretical underpinnings of this…

In this 5-day rewilding camp, we will explore simple but time-tested practices to expand our awareness and awaken our innate curiosity and awe for the beings we share this planet with.