Survivors
Survivors Pathway
Wood · Stone · Feather and Bone · Fire
Fire, Wood, Stone, Feather n’ Bone are the Guilds that define the Survivors Pathway. Those with the artistic urge to tinker and experiment have a huge body of ancestral skills to draw upon. Three decades ago, In the deserts of Idaho, a ragtag group of archeologists gathered together to break rock, twirl up hand-drill fires, make bows and haft arrows. Led by, now ancestor, Errett Callahan, they called themselves Primitive Skills Practitioners. They refined a creed, established a journal and committed to annual gatherings. Survivors Practitioners are the heart and soul of the Wilderness Skills Movement.
Upcoming Sessions
Don’t see what you’re looking for, email academy@whitepinewilderness.org with questions.
Wood
The Wood Guild should involve all aspects of knife safety (blood bubble), woodworking, curing, and bushcraft. These skills are meditative and creatively empowering, they are also irreplaceable for the survivalist. There are many tools and techniques within this guild. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the Tree Nations for the gift of their bodies, the Survivalist pays this debt through mindful craftsmanship.
Stone
Our ancient Hominid ancestors began working stone some 3.5 million years ago. Through millenia, their skills became more and more refined. Eventually, stone tools would come to define the human species enabling an epic migration around the planet. The Stone Guild is the most ancient of all
Guilds, here you will find the skills of grinding and shaping stone, percussion, and pressure flaking of knappable rock as well as hafting and weaponry. It’s important to follow safety precautions with stone reduction. You can experiment with simple bashing techniques on the river banks, but as a general rule you will want to keep your Flint Knapping in a reserved area called the Knapping Pit. Here you can keep all your tools like leather pads, and goggles. The tiny flakes of stone that are produced from Flint Knapping are often sharper than a razor blade.
Feather and Bone
In terms of stone age weaponry, this is where the rubber meets the road. It’s where our ancestral hominids made a giant leap forward in evolution from utilizing hand axes to understanding complex principles of leverage and flight. Here we will learn principles like Hafting – the marriage of multiple technologies like wood and stone tools, pitches, adhesives, fiber, and cordage. It is the greatest compliment to your stone tools to see them Hafted into a wooden handle or shaft. With celts, make sure the stone contacts the wood only on the top and bottom and not on the sides, you can use a wrap-around technique with a steam-bent sapling if your celt is grooved on the sides as was commonly practiced, and you can haft your arrowheads, spearheads and atlatl points into the wooden shaft ends that should look just like string nock ends of your arrows. Have fun with this Guild, it is a lost
art form as well as a synthesis of the skills Practitioner.
Fire
Fire is an essential element of the Sacred Order. Fire keeps us warm, cooks our food, purifies our water, guides us, and protects us at night, it also raises our spirits on cold and rainy days. In the Skills community we sometimes use the term ‘Walking With Fire’, this means that fire is in your blood and bones, you have put in the dirt time, sweat, and tears, and you have ground out coals on the coldest wettest nights, and you have even staked your life in survival on your ability to make fire. Walking with fire means you have passed all of the rites of passage in this guild, it means you not only believe in your own abilities but that you consistently demonstrate them on a regular basis. Fire is an ancient and sacred skill. To be a human is to Walk With Fire, come and reclaim this birthright for yourself.
Survivors Council
Matt Shull
Fintan Klein
Nate Garvey