The Story Of Origin
24 – 26 January 2025
With Colin Campbell, Rachel Fleming
Course Structure & Fees
A Residential Programme
Structure
Arrival: 6pm 24th January 2025
Departure: 4pm 26th January 2025
Location
Coombe Farm Woods, Tiverton, Devon
Fees
Fee: £385 residential – £245 non-residential
If you are not able to attend for financial reasons we offer a limited number of places at a lower-cost price for those people who are committed to this work and would otherwise not be able to attend. These places are by application only, please fill in the application form here.
An Invitation
Join us for a residential weekend with Colin and Rachel as we begin our 2025 exploration into the ‘Story of Origin’.
As long as we have been human, the questions of who we are and why we came, have been core to our quest for meaning, purpose and our sense of belonging in the world. The stories of our lives, our lands, our ancestries and the cultural narratives we inherit, are the ‘mythic ground’ we stand on. They influence, consciously or not, what we believe and how we behave, with each other and all life around us.
For many of us, the world is changing. The cultural narratives with which we have been navigating no longer hold true, there is a sense that something else is coming, like the serpent who swallows her tail, a new cycle begins. How do we navigate in this ‘ouroboric moment’ of transformation – uncertain, painful, with a destination not yet visible. How do we find our ground, our belonging and hold fast, what is the rite of passage to this world not yet born?
In this short time together we will step into a ritual container within which we look at the threads of cultural narrative that hold meaning for us, and track the images, symbols and messages of our own personal stories. We will undertake vigil, and we will work with the spoken and written word to uncover and remember our own sense of purpose and belonging.
We will offer the magical gift of our words to the ancestors and to wild nature within and without, we will begin to prepare for the passage of our times, find solace with each other and build community for the future.
This weekend is for those who are interested in tracking their personal stories and how these fit into the overall weave of the transforming cultural narrative. It is about finding belong and a renewed sense of purpose in turbulent times.
“It’s all a question of story. We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories … The Old Story sustained us for a long period of time. It shaped our emotional attitudes, provided us with a life purpose, energized action. It consecrated suffering, integrated knowledge, guided education. We awoke in the morning and knew where we were.”
Thomas Berry, 1978
Your Guides
The lead guides of this apprenticeship are Colin Campbell, Naomi Lewis and Rachel Fleming.
Colin works with the wisdom traditions of South Africa, specifically those that are based on our relationships with the ancestors and spirits of nature. He looks at where these ancient indigenous practices collide and coalesce with the knowledge and belief systems of the west.
One of the most unique and precious treasures Colin Campbell bears is that he is one of the few who were accepted, taught and initiated by some of the wisest pre-industrial African knowledge carriers who lived in Southern Africa. Sadly, due to the decline of this indigenous culture and its associated natural habitats, Colin and his younger brother Niall, are now amongst the rarest-known custodians of ancient sacred African knowledge systems.
He now works around the world as a diviner, teacher and public speaker, developing forms through which to bring this knowledge to the modern world.
Rachel Fleming has worked with animist education for many years, designing and delivering educational programmes for Schumacher College, University of Wales Trinity St Davids and Embercombe, with a focus on the meeting place between human, spirit and nature, between ‘ecology’ and ‘spirituality’. She is co-founder and curator of the Contemporary Animism programmes and loves to convene conversations that explore the deepest depths of why we are here, the ways we find belonging to the world and how to be in service to soul. She is committed to scholarship, word magic, creative imagination and the medicine of circles.