Ways of Council Weaving into Narrative Cartography
July 6–10, 2026,
Tipi Village, Jura, Switzerland.
This workshop is a foundational training in the Way of the Council combined with the Art of Narrative Cartography.
To be of this Earth, to carry our stories—past, present, and future—to relearn how to listen deeply, to unlearn our separation from Nature, and to become once again an integral part of the Earth, of the cycles and circles of ancient and new stories that will guide us through these times of great change.
Enter the circle, learn some of the simple yet powerful principles for facilitating a council, practice together, and explore creative ways to map our stories as well as those of our ancestors and our land.
Do you hear the call of a week in Nature and in Community?
Feel free to ask your questions to Carine
What are the Ways of the Council?
A circle-based communication method to support group processes and personal development, for visioning and clarifying goals, cooperative learning environments, decision-making, recognizing achievements, reflection, conflict management, peace and reconciliation work, celebration, and discovering the deep, often unexpressed needs of individuals and organizations.
Sitting together in a circle—listening and speaking from the heart—is a powerful remedy against the separation, polarization, and intolerance so prevalent in our time. This ancient practice of gathering in a circle with mindfulness, sometimes called “council,” offers a way to create a safe and respectful space where difficult and important conversations can take place.
And what about the art of Narrative Cartography?
In our ecological identity, the places we inhabit shape us just as much as we shape them. The river where I swam as a child, the places that saw me grow up, those that saw me laugh, love, and cry. My personal history is made up of places, of territories, explored and felt. Conversely, I influence these places through my actions: the water I pollute or the garden I tend, the trails I carve with my footsteps in the forest, the trees I prune or embrace, the food I consume.
The art of narrative mapping is an invitation to revisit our relationship with the places and the earth that welcome us.
An invitation to feel my personal history, my experiences, my values, my strengths, and my wounds, through the landscape and territory traversed both by the gaze and through walks and rituals.
Drawing a sensitive map, illuminated and carried by the landscape, the vitality of the rocks, plants, mountains, rivers… Non-human beings who populate my story, accompanying me at every step, from birth to death.
The Navajo have healing paintings, sand paintings (“iikààh”: “the place through which the gods come and go”). The Aboriginal people of Australia have sung paths, passed down from generation to generation, the songlines.
What might our local songlines or our mineral paintings of the mountains be? The stories of our ancestors, told along irrigation channels, ridges, treetops, or chaotic scree? What does the presence of the wolf teach me about all my relationships? What does the drought in the Forest tell us? What does it “say” in my personal story?
Weaving maps and stories in a circle.
We invite you to explore a very unique and expansive way of being in council, to learn the structure and principles of this particular form and way of being together, to listen deeply, and to be creative, revisiting and retelling our stories of belonging through our rituals, our maps, our dances, and our songs.
A special opportunity to learn through experience.
Participants will
identify useful practices for individual and group facilitation.
develop communication skills and the ability to be present in each moment.
explore the teachings offered in response to our individual and collective needs and questions
discover different forms of council adapted to various contexts
be invited to join a wider community
map one’s own sense of belonging to the earth and explore personal and collective songs
experience the power of rituals
Immerse themselves in the healing power of stories and circles
Experiment with other ways of being together and rediscover the wisdom of cyclical ways of thinking
Deepen their trust in the unknown and in the web of life
Meet others on the same path
Sleep in tipis and live in nature for a week.
OPEN TO ANYONE WISHING TO DISCOVER AND INCORPORATE THIS PRACTICE INTO THEIR PROFESSIONAL AND/OR PERSONAL LIVES
ALSO OPEN TO THOSE WITH LITTLE OR NO EXPERIENCE WITH CIRCLE WORK
The workshop will be conducted in English and French, with French translation provided.
Facilitators
Guide specializing in rites of passage, trained at The School of Lost Borders (California), and eco-therapist.
Artist and practitioner of the art of narrative mapping.
Facilitator, mentor, and trainer in “Way of Council,” with 21 years of experience in council practice; wilderness guide trained at SOLB (School of Lost Borders) under the guidance of Gigi Coyle (trainer at the Ojai Foundation and author of “Way of Council”). Learn more at RockCircleSky.org
Logistics
Base price for teaching, materials, and facilitation for the 5 days:
340–480 CHF, depending on your means, for the 5-day program.
Support price:
440–1,180 CHF, to support our work and the continued offering of Medicine Wheel workshops.
Shared accommodation in tipis:
250 CHF
Healthy, vegetarian meals to be cooked together.
A non-refundable deposit of 240 CHF is due at the time of registration; the balance is due 10 days before the start of the workshop. The deposit is to be paid into the account of the Association pour les Rites de Passage, IBAN CH16 0839 0039 1577 1000 1, Chemin de Renens 12, 1004 Lausanne.
Cancellations: Cancellations are difficult for both participants and organizers. We respect the unpredictability of life and strive to manage our organization sustainably.
If you cancel 30 days or more before the start date of your program, you will receive a full refund, minus the deposit. The deposit is refunded only in the event of cancellation by the organizers.
If you cancel 29 days or fewer before the start date of your program, and we are able to fill your spot, you will receive a full refund, minus the deposit.
If we are unable to fill your spot and you cancel within 29 days of the start of your program, we will ask you to pay the price corresponding to the lowest end of the price scale.
Schedule
From Monday, July 6 at 3:00 PM to Friday, July 10 at 2:00 PM.
Location
Joux Valley Tipi Village, Switzerland, Jura.
“Nature is the best remedy for the agitation of the mind” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our Tools
council
medicine wheel of human nature, 4 shields
rite of passage, 24-hour solo in the forest (vision fast)
poetry of Being
time for rest and introspection
dream work
drum journeys
Number of participants
Minimum 6 people, maximum 15 people
Equipment
We will send a list of equipment after registration; a letter of intent will be requested.
Health
This week is open to everyone. We will sleep in teepees under rustic living conditions.
Registration is confirmed upon payment of a deposit of 240 CHF to the Rite de Passage association’s account
Rite de Passage Association,IBAN CH16 0839 0039 1577 1000 1, Chemin de Renens 12, 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Re discover the songlines of our landscapes, skies, territories, interiors, and exteriors.