Campfire in the Heart

04/09/2025

Coming up soon! Don't miss this special opportunity to treat yourself to a restorative and nourishing weekend...

Women's Earth Medicine Retreat
WHEN FRI 19 – SUN 21 SEP (BOOKINGS CLOSE WED 10 SEP)
AT Campfire in the Heart
COST $550-$650 (INC. ACCOM & MEALS)

RETREAT TO THE RHYTHM OF STILLNESS Share on Facebook Tweet this on twitter What a treat to take time out, sit in a circle, be somewhere beautiful, and do something peaceful.WORDS ROSIE WILDTWO EVENTS THIS month – a Beading and Drumming Workshop and a Women's Retreat, both run by Jane Anderson of S...

04/09/2025

A short trip to Jessie Gap and a walk along the Yeperenye Trail is sufficient to connect to the spirit of the land, to come home to the heart, and breathe easy. Each of the gaps and gorges around Alice, has its own charm. The smaller ones are often quieter and give the opportunity to luxuriate in the silence alone. Reflecting on my visit in the days that followed, these quotes came to mind…

Words give way to loving presence
a busy mind to stillness
in the intimacy of prayer.

Noel Davis
The Joy of Living Our Heart’s Knowing and Imagining, Lifeflow Education, Narooma 2022, p 144.

Read Michelle's full reflection >> https://campfireintheheart.com.au/news/michelles-reflection-4/

03/09/2025

Thanks to Gracie who chose the topic for Campfire Reflection last week, from Dom Fay's conversation cards "Private Speaking".

🔥What is one thing you know for sure?

**Campfire Reflection is a free weekly event held in Alice Springs on Wednesdays at 6:30pm. A pot-luck dinner, followed by a time of reflection and sharing around the campfire. Open to the local community, as well as travellers passing through.

Private Speaking: 400 Cards For Deeper Conversations is available for sale on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/PrivateSpeaking

28/08/2025

🌟 UPCOMING WOMEN'S RETREAT 19-21 Sept 🌟

Rest, enjoy guided drumming meditations, Sacred Circle Experience, powerful drumming, singing and chanting.

Let's explore Earth Medicine. How can your awareness shift and your creativity be ignited? Inspire the Soul Voice to shine and walk with integrity. Walk your Truth with confidence.

All inclusive retreat with 2 nights accom and meals.

Cost: $550-$650
Bring your daughter (16+) or friend and receive a 10% discount

Jane Anderson of HEART Red Centre Retreats with Sage Drums Tasmania has been facilitating Earth Medicine Retreats, Sacred Circle Experiences, Drum Making and Drumming for over 26 years.

More info and bookings >> https://www.sagedrumstasmania.com.au/shop/p/womens-earth-medicine-retreat-alice-springs

28/08/2025

Shout-out to Keith Castle, long-time friend of Campfire in the Heart, and avid buffel-buster!

Hear him interviewed for Meredith Lake's 'Soul Search' program on ABC Radio National, in which he talks about his approach to weeding buffel grass as a spiritual practice! 😁

It’s a big thought — that our story as a species is partly to do with grass. But it turns out that grasses and grasslands can play a surprising role in moulding who we are. How do we restore our relationship with native grasses, and what are some of the threats from introduced grasses like buffe...

27/08/2025

A poem by Michelle Vass 🍃

Litany in the Silence
Everything is still
Every thing IS

The red dirt
lilac, silky eremophila
old wind-sculptured branches
beside fresh gum saplings
the red dirt
the rocks
the ants
the dead leaves
the carpet of sunshine-yellow Billy Buttons
the red dirt
the bright green ring neck parrots
the mistletoe birds
and spiny-cheeked honeyeaters
the dead baby snake
the red dirt

The dead, the alive, the dying, the living
Every single thing
IS
(You are the image of the unseen God. Col1:15)

The quiet, the birdsong
The blue sky, the clouds

In Your sunlight, I see life
In Your shadows, I see hope waiting

Everything has patience
Everything is still
Every thing IS

I thank You

**************

Michelle Vass is our Meditator-In-Residence for the months of August-September. Michelle will be leading a silent retreat at Campfire in the Heart (5-8 Sept) and is offering two introductions to Christian Meditation and the Labyrinth (14 & 17 Sept).

https://campfireintheheart.com.au/news/litany-in-the-silence/

26/08/2025

Thanks to all who came last Wednesday for a very heart-centred Campfire Reflection💗 inspired by the conclusion of our 8-week course with Michael Singer.

🔥 How aware are you of the emotions that you experience within your heart? Do you resist or cling to them? What might if be like to relax and let the energies pass through?

**Campfire Reflection is a free weekly event held in Alice Springs on Wednesdays at 6:30pm. A pot-luck dinner, followed by a time of reflection and sharing around the campfire. Open to the local community, as well as travellers passing through.

20/08/2025

"At Corroboree Rock conservation reserve about 40 kilometres from Alice Springs, there is a sign titled “The Sacred Nature and Power of the Site”. It says, “This prominent rock outcrop is part of the Eastern Arrernte Perentie Dreaming. Please regard it as similar to a church and treat it with the respect you would any place of religion.”

The rock, a dark grey column of dolomite, oxidised red in parts, was formed more than 800 million years ago. It is a sacred men’s site and of great importance to the local Arrernte people. It rises sharply out of the landscape and is quite spectacular in form. Knowing it is a sacred site and imagining the gatherings here in times gone by, naturally beings a deep respect as you walk the track encircling the rock. Surrounding hills form a dramatic backdrop in every direction.

The experience of being present to the site and the wording on the sign about ‘a church’ reminded me of Edwina Gately’s poetry about cathedrals. Edwina is a British writer, theologian and modern- day mystic..."

Read the rest of Michelle's reflection here:
https://campfireintheheart.com.au/news/michelles-reflection-2/

13/08/2025

Introducing Michelle Vass, our new Meditator-in-Residence for the months of August and September!

"It was very appropriate that my arrival here at Campfire was timed with the ‘Space to Be’ retreat led by Fr Bernard McGrath and facilitated by Susan Sullivan. It also seemed appropriate that a 3,000 km journey from Melbourne brought me back to Alice Springs in the 50th anniversary year of my first visit here on a school trip in 1975. The red rocks had remained etched in my memory and I was not to be disappointed. What stories they can tell! So here I am as Meditator-in-Residence, to be a praying witness holding the Silence and sharing with others the beauty of meditation in this place. There is space to ‘be’ and all I need do is be… to honour the space and welcome what it offers; be….to be attentive to what this space in the heart of our country can teach; be… allow myself and through my presence here all who long for the space to be free, to be blessed in the Silence..."

Read Michelle's full reflection >> https://campfireintheheart.com.au/news/michelle-reflection-1/