Tamarack Song - Training to Serve as an Elder

Organizer : Natur- und Wildnisschule Teutoburger Wald (Natur- und Wildnisschule Teutoburger Wald GmbH)

Preview image of class Tamarack Song - Training to Serve as an Elder

About this Course

For Everybody

A one-year preparation for stepping into the role of Elder by awakening to your Inner Elder and attuning to the voices of your Ancestral Elders.


There is something missing in our culture—a gap that leaves us without vital guidance, and without connection to the wisdom of our lineage. We have a name for what is missing: Elders, but we don’t always have the example to inspire and guide us, or to know how to step up and serve in the role when the time comes. So people are left asking, “Where are our Elders?” “Why are we not honoring them?”

Let’s start by answering the question, “Who is an Elder?”  by clearing up these two myths:

  1.  A person chooses to become an Elder.

We are all born with our Elder already within us, along with the other four stages in our lives. Becoming an Elder, then, is a natural Blossoming from one stage to the next. The five stages are:

  1. Child
  2. Crafter/Builder
  3. Mentor
  4. Elder
  5. Ancestor
  6.  There is a particular age for becoming an Elder.

Sometimes a younger than average person is called to serve as an Elder out of need. Others who reach typical Elder age are not ready or able to serve as such, so they are not called to do so. Yet they are respected as Elders, even though they may not play the role.

A Description

Serving as an Elder is not a training or a workshop, but rather an awakening to what already exists. We sharpen our skills and abilities to listen and empathize, and to serve our people and our Earth Mother in a new capacity.

We cover three themes during our year together:

  1. How Elders function in their communities and/or families, groups, organizations they aree part of 
    1. Is there a decided lack of Elders?
    2. How are they regarded in their community?
    3. Do they play a significant role or are they just figureheads?
  2. Elders in Traditional cultures
    1. Roles and how they are regarded.
    2. Examples from various cultures.
    3. How Elders play formal roles in traditional spiritual practices, martial arts and wisdom schools.
  3. The Power of Story
    1. Hear stories from Native cultures on Elder roles.
    2. Discover and explore the Elder stories from our lineages.
    3. Use stories to educate our people about Elders.

Bridging the Gap

We start off the year with a five-day in-person immersive experience to ground ourselves in relationship with other budding Elders, to prepare the ground and plant the seeds that we will be tending to throughout the following year. Through monthly Zoom gatherings and an ongoing e-group, we work to bridge the gap between where we are and where our people long us to be through exercises, practices, deliberations, and a lot of listening.

Contents

  • Various ways of nurturing relationship with the Unseen.
  • Guest Elders joining us.
  • Movement exercises to encourage the body-mind-spirit connection.
  • Time communing with in Nature.
  • Crafts/skills.
  • Meditations and Envisioning.
  • Conscious Breathing.
  • Truthspeaking/listening.
  • Exploring Ritual 
    • Ancestor Dish
    • Sun Greeting
    • Other rituals and traditional awakening practices


Structure

First Week - Initiation:

  • Intro: What is an Elder?
  • Embracing the calling and spirit of Elderhood.
  • Exploring roles of Elders in traditional cultures.
  • When and Why Elders are called to serve..
  • Grounding and opening exercises, meditations, discussions, and stories
  • Calling forth our Inner Elder, to nurture his/her Blossoming throughout the coming year.
  • Introduction to creating and Elder Medicine Bundle.

Ort:  Weidenzentrum Wurster Nordseeküste

Termin: 30.04.-04.05.2025
 Kosten: 690 € zzgl. U/VP
 Beginn: 15.00 Uhr (Anreise ab 13.30 Uhr – kein Mittagessen)
 Ende: 12.00 Uhr (Abreise ca. 15.00 Uhr nach Mittagessen


2. Monthly Zoom Meetings

Every month we come together in community for 90 minutes to explore and develop these three central themes to serving as an Elder:

  1. How traditional Elders function in their communities.
  2. How to serve in the various Elder roles.
  3. How to use the Power of Story for passing on Elder Wisdom.

Monthly meetings feature interviews with Elders, with time for questions and answers. The theme of the meetings is to bridge the gap between the beginning and the blossoming of Elderhood.

ONGOING E-GROUP DEVELOPMENTAL THEMES 

  • Becoming fluent in Dream Language.
  • Strengthening our connection with the Infinite Intelligence within, which is the source of Elderwisdom.
  • Intimate communion within the Hoop of Relations, which is where Elders go for guidance.
  • Discovering and developing the Gifts we have been given for serving (skills and talents, crafts, consulting, mentoring, Presence).
  • How to serve from the fountain of Love, Wisdom, and Personal Power.
  • Ceremonies to keep us engaged in the Sacred Now.
  • Ways to identify the Elder vacuums to step into, in your own unique way.
  • The mutual support we can provide for each other while stepping into Elder Service.
  • Creating a Medicine Bundle to guide and ground us through Elderhood.

Termine: 18.05.2025 – 19.04.2026,
 jeden 3. Sonntag im Monat, jeweils von 20.00 – 21.30 Uhr

Kosten: 600 €


3. Final Week - Emergence

  • What have you learned on this Journey to serving as Elder?
  • What does being an Elder mean to you now?
  • How do you see your Elder Self manifesting in your life, in your community going forward?
  • Celebration of our metamorphosis and the personal gifts we have discovered, developed, and gifted to our community.

Ort:  Natur- und Wildnisschule Teutoburger Wald

Termin: 21.-25.05.2026
 Kosten: 690 € zzgl. U/VP
 Beginn: 15.00 Uhr (Anreise ab 13.30 Uhr – kein Mittagessen)
 Ende: 12.00 Uhr (Abreise ca. 15.00 Uhr nach Mittagessen

Prerequisites

keine

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Tamarack Song - Training to Serve as an Elder

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