The Fireweed Expedition
The Fireweed Expedition: A brave and humble attempt to way find in lost times.
What is Fireweed?
When a wildfire burns a forest black, a few weeks, sometimes days later a bright purple wildflower starts growing and takes over the forest floor covering the burnt black of the forest. This wildflower has two main goals: First, to stabilize the broken and disarrayed ecosystem of the forest. Second, to create the conditions for the forest to regenerate itself. So by virtue of being a flower, it draws other species of flora and fauna like taller plants, the birds and bees to start pollinating and regenerating the forest towards thrivability. This wildflower is fireweed.
Fireweed, being itself!
I am fireweed. And I am seeking the people who resonate with this metaphor. We are stringing a fellowship of human fireweed to do our work of stabilizing and creating the conditions for our planet and humans to regenerate itself. We believe humanity can and will learn from nature and live in harmony with her.
Why an Expedition?
A teacher Joan Ball recently told me a story about wayfinding and I would like to share that to express why it is an Expedition.
She said, that the one of the essential wilderness survival packing items is string, ‘always carry string’ is common wisdom shared with amateurs. And here is why. If one finds themselves lost, the ones most likely to survive do some version of the following strategy.
First, make a pile of rocks at the point they realize they are lost. This marks a spot to orient themselves and helps them not stray further from their intended route. They then tie one end of the string to a tree within eyeshot of the pile of stones and start venturing to discover what is available in the vicinity of them to survive — what food, water, shelter resources are available. They do this in multiple directions with the pile of rocks as the center by using the string to explore one path and then come back to the start. Then they repeat this process until they have explored what Joan called a ‘Locus of Possibility’. It also builds evidence to help rescue parties be more successful.
It’s a grim time if you have looked at the time on the clock of the world as the beautiful and late Grace Lee Boggs asked us to do. And these series of expeditions are an effort to make sense and see in the dark and find our way as humanity and identify our ‘locus of possibility’ as Joan says. We have all the technology, wisdom, science (western, eastern and indigenous), models, frameworks, tools we will ever need already. Now it is time to pack all of them in our backpacks and start journeying as what we have been doing is not enough. These quests are predicted to be painful but also expected to be thrilling. If you join us, we will surmount new peaks and fall in virgin pits of our mindscapes. But, one thing is for sure, we might not emerge from them who we go in.
The pioneering expedition took place on August 17–18, 2019 in San Francisco, CA. Read the expedition diary here (Link to be updated shortly)
Kickoff of the pioneering expedition called ‘Fireweed Lab’ at Pollination 2019. Learn more about Pollination and Bloom Network
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Who can participate?
Anyone, who feels a resonance with the words in this post and its intent. Does not matter what your profession is, or age (minimum 15 years), yadda yadda. We hope for this to be child-friendly so you can bring the future of our planet with you on this expedition. We also aim to make this expedition normative (and ab-normative) neutral. Meaning whoever you are, whatever your identities, preferences, orientations or cultural, social, political, historical narratives and worldviews, you are welcome to walk these unknown paths with us. In fact the more unrepresented and isolated you feel, the more we feel we need you on this journey with us.
What makes a successful expeditioner?
Read the following poem and reflect on the prompt after.
The Expedition
by Mansi Kakkar
The terrain is harsh
within and without,
unmapped mindscapes,
the trenches and peaks
not once surmounted, virgin
still holding their perilous
secrets and scares.
We prepare and pack
for this treacherous journey
knowing not what will
save or take a life
hoping it all be plenty
and also be light.
Trust is needed.
So is courage.
And perhaps the faith
that we have enough
of both to last
till we last on this quest.
We look ahead at the finish
as wide as the horizon
our inner compass,
intuitive presence
and mindful steps
will let us wander,
get lost enough,
get found
before the end.
So we pack more patience
than water, more hunger
than food, and make
unknowing our sherpa
and thrill our map
and we say to each other-
death is almost certain,
so let us begin in earnest.
Reflection Prompt: How did you feel on reading this?
You might feel fear, anxiety, and other hard and complex emotions. You might have felt those and also felt exhilarated. You might have only felt exhilarated and are hearing yourself say, let’s go, now! Anyone who reads this poem and feels maybe even knows deep down that you need to go on this journey. We are waiting for you. It is a choiceless choice.
How can I participate?
You can be an expeditioner. Show interest here. These expeditions will happen online and in person. Both serving slightly different objectives. Virtual Expeditions are free, in-person has a cost to cover expenses for lodging, food, etc. Nothing goes to any organization or entity. This is an offering I am making in service to humanity and do not make any returns financially on doing this. We are open to anyone who feels called to offer from the heart what they feel they would like to give. We might set up a patreon for The Fireweed Expedition for that purpose, we don't know yet. As we are dancing and engaging emergence. We know with surety of soul and spirit — this work will continue and move along. Money is not going to stop this work from manifesting itself. It is inevitable.
All expeditions are limited to 12–15 people. The next one is scheduled to be in October- November 2019 (Bay Area, CA in person). If you have questions please reach out to me directly through social media or email on the above link. You can be a Journey Designer as well. Reach out to me if that is of interest to you. In the future, we are hoping more people would want to run these expeditions and if that happens, we will curate a learning circle of Chief of Journeys wherever you might be.
Chief of Journey, Mansi Kakkar
My job is to make sure we all stay safe, seen and heard, and return same, transformed or both, back to basecamp while playfully pushing the boundaries of our edges and exploring the unknown with metaphors.
My hike to find rainbow mountain and myself in Peru.