FIREKEEPER TRAINER don David Wiley

Don David Wiley’s perspective on what is possible and how to live life was profoundly altered in 1996, when the Spirit of Fire, known by many names as Grandfather Fire, through His appearance as an apparition, chose him to be his conduit and contact for people seeking reconnection to the spiritual and an experiential relationship with nature and Divine. Mr. Wiley was then sent to an indigenous elder, Don Lupe Ríos Gonzales of the Wixárika (Huichol) tradition of the northwestern Sierra Madres of Mexico and Don Lucio Campos Elizalde of the Nahua tradition of the central highlands where under Grandfather Fire’s request he began his formal apprenticeship in two living ancestral shamanic paths.

From the Wixárika tradition, Mr. Wiley was initiated as a mara’akame, a healer, counselor, and ceremonial leader, and from the Nahua path, he was initiated as a Quiapaquiz, or Tempiero, a caller of the rain, ceremonial leader, and a healer, or tepahtiani. Starting in 1996 Grandfather Fire would choose to speak through his body in special gatherings, thereby becoming an axihuatakame, or traditional fire medium. For his work in these areas of service, he became recognized as Don David. Don David Wiley also received elder and ancestral permission to teach these two traditions to those divined as having a calling in this shamanic work. After Don Lupe’s passing in 2003 and under the support of mara’akame Don José Sandoval de la Cruz, he became initiated as a tsaurirrakame or an elder singer in the tradition in 2008 at the age of 55. On the Nahua path, he was also named a Temachtian, (teacher-tradition leader) or Caporal Mayor, and inherited Don Lucio’s altar and lineage group after his passing in 2004.

One of Don David’s most impactful roles was becoming Grandfather Fire’s medium for ceremonial and public gatherings. Through an outpouring of public requests, Grandfather Fire agreed to reintroduce the spiritual skill and process of Firekeeping to communities. He then designated Don David as the principal teacher of this work. Who, since 2004 has traveled to train, teach, and facilitate Firekeeper initiations and support them internationally. This has become part of the formation of a non-profit, Sacred Fire, to support community fire circles, continuing education for Firekeepers, programs, and events to develop and maintain a connection to the divine natural world where, besides being the principal Firekeeper teacher, he served as chairperson for several years. He continues to conduct men’s retreats as well as guide the Initiation Council for Young Men into Adulthood as part of Sacred Fire’s international offerings.

 

Pin It on Pinterest