Keeping the Fire:
Stories from our Hearths
This new online offering brings together voices from our global network and international community of Firekeepers, sharing personal stories of walking this path.
Through intimate conversations, our Firekeepers speak about tending community, navigating deep personal transformation, and discovering what it means to dedicate themselves to something greater than the individual self. Their journeys reveal how this work fosters growth, resilience, and a profound sense of purpose.
These stories remind us that when we come together to keep the fire—within ourselves and within our communities—we help nourish the collective flame that supports humanity during these times of deep change.
Facilitated by our longstanding Firekeeper and Speaker for Sacred Fire, Lawrence Messerman, we will be inviting you to connect with our Firekeepers and sharing stories from their hearths from all around the world.
Registration
Registration will open soon.
Schedule
Decemeber 12th, 2026
2-3 pm EST | 7-8 pm UK
Please join the call at least ten minutes before start time in order to ensure your connection is complete.
If you know someone who could benefit from more fire and heart in their life, invite them to join us!
Price
We want this offering to be affordable to all and are offering a sliding scale registration fee. Please pay what works for your budget.
$10 USD (approx. £8.00, 6.65 AUD)
$15 USD (approx. £12.00, 9.98 AUD)
$20 USD (approx. £16.00, 13.30 AUD)
$25 USD (approx. £20.00, 16.63 AUD)
For more information
For more information, contact Sylvia Edwards at sylvia.edwards@sacredfire.org
Featuring
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Karen Smith Fernandez, Karen has been involved with the formation of the Sacred Fire organization since its inception 25 years ago, and holds a historical view of the formation and evolution of the great endeavor given to the organization by the Spirit of Fire. She currently serves as a trustee on the board of directors for the organization.
She also worked to locate and purchase the Blue Deer Center, a beautiful, sacred land and retreat center in the Catskill Mountains, continuing as their fundraiser and program director for several years.
She trained as a plant spirit medicine practitioner under Eliot Cowan and spent 14 years as an apprentice in the Wiratika or Huichol tradition. In 2012 Karen was initiated as a granicera or weather worker in the Nahua tradition making a life commitment to restoring relationship with the weather beings. She is an apprentice in the Tepahtiani healing tradition, going on pilgrimage to sacred sites in Mexico annually as part of this training.
Initiated as a Firekeeper in 2023, Karen hosts community fires in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
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Lawrence Messerman has been continuously astonished by–and deeply grateful–for the wisdom of Grandfather Fire ever since he first ‘met’ Grandfather at a gathering on the beach in Santa Barbara, CA over 25 years ago. Under Grandfather’s guidance, Larry went on to become a mara’akame (initiated healer and ritual leader in the Wirárika or Huichol tradition) as well as being involved with Sacred Fire in various capacities. (The gods seem to like keeping human people busy!) This includes organizing Ukilái retreats for men, helping to launch Sacred Fire’s mentoring program for young adults, as well as becoming a Co-Executive Director and eventually Executive Director of Sacred Fire. He currently serves as Sacred Fire’s Speaker or chief spokesperson. Larry and his wife Jessica De la O and their friend Sherry Boatright help people connect with Grandfather Fire’s ‘primal form’ at their monthly community fires in Carrollton, Georgia.