The Fire Within 2025

Empowering the Creative Transition from Womanhood to Crone

(Duncan BC)
May 31st-June 1st, June 28th, July 19th, August 23rd, September 19th-21st

(Gabriola Island)
May 17th-18th, June 14th, July 5th, Aug 24th, Sept 12th-14th

“Is it not a magical thing, this life, when just a little ash, cinder, and unclear water can arrange themselves into a beautiful old woman who sways, lifts, kisses, loves, sickens, argues, loses, bears up under it all, and, wrinkling, still lives under all that and yet feeds the Holy in Nature by just the way she moves barefoot down a path?”
- Martín Prechtel

Join the Waiting List to be notified when registration opens for the next 'Fire Within'

NAME

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

About this Series

Join Stephanie MacKay and Cari Burdett as we gather to hold the sacred questions as we transition through the rich and timeless passage through (peri)menopause to Cronedom – in community, in strength, and with the land. This offering is for female-body individuals who have journeyed through many moon cycles of the body, and are now stepping into new realms of what it means to be a woman at this time.

~ For mothers ~
~ For women who wanted to be mothers ~
~ For women who chose to intentionally not be mothers ~
~ The grief and praise, and everything in between ~

We will ask the big questions and look to each other, our own innate wisdom and the messages from the land to guide us on our journey.

Who am I in this phase of life?

What have I been doing and who am I becoming as I live into Crone?

It is said by wise old ones from around the world, this stage of life is our most powerful time as women. Together we will explore song, myth, ceremony, and creating beauty with our hands, to reclaim the strength of our age.

We will touch our deepest longings, disrupt limiting beliefs from the dominant culture, and let our hearts and souls run wild.

Indigenous cultures have always recognized the new creative power that women have access to as they pass through menopause:

“‘As the bleeding stops, the fire goes within,’ Lakota elder Paula Gunn Allen says, noting also that in her tradition, medicine women do not practice until they have reached their menopausal years.” ~Sharon Blackie, Hagitude.

These sessions will be held over the course of 5 months, the first and last sessions are over night camping on Vancouver Island.

The Fire Within

5-Session Series

Session 1: Sat 10am - Sun 4pm

Air & Eagle & Arrows

Connecting to Breath and our ability to soar as Eagle. Initial weekend to meet, connect, set intentions, build containers, create a craft that will be sent off with you on a mission, offerings of prayers and feeding our reciprocity. With a focus on air, we will sing, share stories, connect to our inner fire and unfold our intuitive myth making ways. We will embody and claim our power at this time in our lives with our voice and our prayers, while keeping an eagle eye on the sacred within.

Craft: ceremonial arrow made from obsidian, oceanspray, sinew and feathers

May 31st-June 1st (Duncan, BC)
May 17th-18th (Gabriola Island)

Session 2: Sat 10am - 5pm

Earth & Plant & Medicine

Honoring the earth, where all life comes from, we lay beside her and seek plant allies for support in medicine making. What songs and myths are alive in the mossy forest floor? How does the earth hold us in this time of transformation to the elder and aging self?

Craft: herbal tinctures and salves made with local and indigenous plants

June 28th (Duncan BC)
June 14th (Gabriola Island)

Session 3: Sat 10am - 5pm

Water & Salmon & Skin

Diving deep into the water allies and medicine of the sacred salmon, who swim away and returns home again. What lessons can we learn and where is our home in our body, heart, spirit and soul in this time as women? What skins are we shedding and what are we transforming into? Who are we now? Who are we becoming? What are we releasing? How does the water hold us and change us? What messages are we receiving from the waters as we grow into our crone years.

Craft: processing a salmon skin into richly beautiful leather

July 19th (Duncan BC)
July 5th (Gabriola Island)

Session 4: Sat (Sun on Gabriola) 10am - 5pm

Fire & Bear & Copper

The fire lives within us all. What is burning and wanting to become ash and coal? As a wild animal, how can we embrace and embody the sensual crawl of the bear? What lives inside the magic and beauty of copper? Fire as medicine is potent and life giving, providing answers to our scared questions. Working with alchemical copper invites us into the realms of magic and transformation.

Craft: working with fire and copper, we will craft a copper pendant

August 23rd (Duncan BC)
Aug 24th (Gabriola Island)

Session 5: Fri 6pm - Sun 4pm

Reciprocity & Prayer & Ceremony

Weaving and bringing it all together in an embodied and ceremonial space, we will stand at the threshold of our questions, and go into the wild for a solo quest, bringing with us crafts from previous sessions, animal and plant allies.
Returning to a sacred holding and witnessing of each participant in celebration of the becoming… the accepting, the surrendering, the awakening, the letting go, the renewal, the mystery, and the magic.

Note: this session involves spending up to 24hrs alone on the land

September 19th-21st (Duncan BC)
Sept 12th-14th (Gabriola Island)

The Teachers

Cari is the Founder of the Lila Music Center which seeks to integrate music, nature and community building for the growth and fulfillment of those who are looking for deeper meaning and connection. Cari’s constant personal explorations have added deeper dimensions to her offerings including: Elder Mentored Deep Nature Connection, Wilderness Intensives, Ancestral Lineage and Crafting Skill, Priestess Training, Trauma Work, Family Constellations, Way of Council, Sound Healing, Improv Vocal Work, Anthroposophy and Body Centred explorations through Dance and Alexandra Training.

Cari’s warmth and dedication shines through, as she welcomes these diverse, yet richly connected elements, to the courses she offers on her acreage. Collaborating with Mythologists, Environmentalists, the Spirit of Nature and Respected Elders, Cari’s love of bringing together community to explore, heal and dive deep into the mystical realm, shines brightly.

Stephanie MacKay is the founder of Myth Club and Co-founder and Director of Fianna Wilderness School on Vancouver Island. She specializes in ancestral knowledge, earth-based skills, ceremony and myth. She has a degree in literature, and her work is informed by over 15 years of practice and study through Animas Valley Institute, Haven Institute, Wilderness Awareness School, and 12 years of study with Martín Prechtel.

Stephanie is a fiercely compassionate facilitator, mentor and guide in search of perspectives and practices to deepen the relationship between humanity and the natural world. She is dedicated to uncovering the vestiges of intact cultural origins within the body of old European mythologies, within our own bodies, and within our ancestral memory.

Teacher Greetings

Testimonials for Stephanie MacKay

Stephanie holds space and guides us with expert strength, wisdom, and tenderness, while also offering us the grace to call on our adult, wise, and ancient parts to be escorts through the unexpected and expansive landscapes we travel with each story.

~Robin BW, Victoria

Through my participation in Stephanie's programs, I have been provided the scaffolding for an understanding of my cultural and spiritual roots. With the help of her teachings, I have renegotiated my relationship to nature, the gods and my ancestry. At times strikingly intimate, then expansively vast, Stephanie’s sessions encompass both precious detail and epic themes. Stephanie MacKay is a unique, rare and important voice in the contemporary discussion of mythology.

~CM, Gabriola

Stephanie's events are nothing short of profound!

~AH, Victoria

Testimonials for Cari Burdett

So good to gather around the community fire at this month’s Backyard Sessions with Cari Burdett (and Marie Whimsy and Claudelle Charette) on a beautiful winter morning to connect to our senses, share earth skills, gratitude, song and play. It works every time. I am always so pleased and in awe to see how quickly folks drop in, with the help of these practices and passionate and committed mentors

~Belinda

Cari shared her gift of music and healing with participants at a 9-month monthly nature connection program. Her workshop was one of the stand out experiences for me of the entire program and I continue to carry the healing and connection with me. Through the exploration of voice, tones, and harmony, Cari lovingly brought me closer to myself, to my grief and joy, and to the other participants.

~Scott Lucyk

Cari is a powerful and perceptive facilitator who walks with authenticity and love in all her relationships. She holds deep honour and integrity and will have you laughing, crying and singing in no time - maybe all at once. I'd highly recommend giving yourself the chance to be part of this mentoring journey.

~Alaina Hallett

Course Information

Duncan

DATES (2025):
May 31st-June 1st, June 28th, July 19th, August 23rd, September 19th-21st

WHERE: In the Wild on Vancouver Island and at Lila Music and Nature Centre, Duncan BC

PRICES: Early bird: $1150, Regular $1400

AGE: 40+ (or earlier if you are in or approaching perimenopause)

Gabriola

DATES (2025):
May 17th-18th, June 14th, July 5th, Aug 24th, Sept 12th-14th

WHERE: Overnight sessions on Vancouver Island and day sessions at a local venue on Gabriola

PRICES: Early bird: $1150, Regular $1400

AGE: 40+ (or earlier if you are in or approaching perimenopause)

**Registration is for the whole series. Please contact us if you cannot make all the sessions.

A Sample Day Outline:

10 am – 11:15am : Opening Connection: song, gratitudes, checkins

11:15 – 12:15 : Myth study*

12:15pm – 12:45pm : Lunch

12:45pm – 2:45pm : Crafting*

3pm – 4pm : Wander

4pm – 5pm: Closing : sharing and aftercare

*Myth Study: A collaborative exploration into the hidden layers of knowledge and wisdom held within old European stories.

*Crafting and Handwork: working with different materials and plants to create offerings for the land, deepen our connection to ancestral ways, and strengthen our relationship with the sacred.

Note: Weekend overnight sessions will include longer solo ceremonial time.

* Disclaimer : This program does not offer medical information regarding (peri) menopause. We are not health care practitioners and will not bring medical information on the medical or physiological processes of menopause. This is a gathering to empower women through community and ceremony.

‘The Fire Within’ Refund Policy:

We understand that sometimes people need to cancel. Here is our refund policy. Please read carefully and reach out if you have any questions.

Due to the extensive planning, preparation and supplies required for this unique course, we are unable to offer a full refund.

Please note that the FireWithin course has a $250 non refundable deposit that is included in the total cost for all participants.

Here are our further refunds:

1. Cancelation 15 days or more before the start of your program (up to June 15th): a 50% refund will be offered on the full tuition amount. *If on payment plan, we require remaining payment to equal 50% of total tuition by the second instalment date. Those of you who have paid in full will be refunded half of the tuition you paid.

2. Cancellation 14 days or less before your program start date: There are no refunds. *if on payment plan, we require payment of remaining funds to equal 100% of total tuition and will continue to be collected following the instalment schedule.

** Please reach out if your cancellation is due to medical or family emergencies.

Registration Form