The Fifth Direction

04/07/2025

“The roots tell us—through the flowers—what the earth is like on the inside.”—Humberto Ak’abal

This month in Smoke Trails From The Ashes, I’ve returned to the sacredness of the small.

After finding a humble patch to call my home in the Byron hinterland, I now wait in a liminal space—still in the old life, dreaming into the new. The move stirs both beauty and ache: more sky, more soil, but also the echo of old grief rising to be fully felt.

This isn’t a loud beginning. It’s a subtle, root-deep one. Sometimes all it takes is birdsong, a glint of light on a rock, the wisdom of a flower.

Asher Packman

July 2025

25/06/2025

“When a boy is not invited to search for his soul’s purpose, he will fall into the hands of the world’s distractions.”—Michael Meade

Beginning late July at the commencement of School Term 3, The Fifth Direction is launching Wayfinders, an 8-week online journey for boys aged 13–15 (Years 7–9).

Rooted in 40+ years of contemporary men’s work, this pilot program offers mentorship, emotional education and meaningful rites of passage in a world that rarely pauses to ask boys who they truly are.

Before taking the first step, we are inviting parents to join us for a free information session via Zoom to learn more.

📅 Wednesday June 25 | ⏰ 7:00pm AEST

To register, just email your details to info@thefifthdirection.com.

Wayfinders facilitator Mikey Ellis recently spoke about “what our boys really need right now” on the podcast This Moment in Time. You can listen at https://shorturl.at/Ae1Ma

Let’s not wait for the world to shape our boys.
Let’s guide them inward—toward purpose, resilience and soul.

17/06/2025

I recently enjoyed a potent conversation for the Warrior Within podcast with psychotherapist, writer, and women’s initiatory guide, Carly Mountain.

We journeyed into the depths where myth meets embodiment and pleasure becomes a path to wisdom.

Rooted in the ancient tale of Inanna’s descent, Carly spoke to the sacred art of reclaiming the hidden, the exiled, and the erotic aspects of the self.

The conversation invited us to reimagine the erotic not as performance or indulgence—but as prayer, presence and power.

Tune in at youtu.be/P9xbJ5HS4Ps

Asher Packman

17/06/2025

Last week, we gathered for ‘The Way of The Wound’ with Jungian-based psychotherapist Andrew Lindsay, where we explored pain not as tormentor, but as teacher.

It was beautiful to see many familiar faces in circle, as well as some new ones. For those that missed, the recording is now available in our Classroom.

Bespoke workshops like this happen regularly inside our community, with scheduled live sessions most days as well—from storytelling and myth to breathwork, meditation and soulcraft.

Rooted in mythopoetic practice, this is the space for those wishing to slow down and seek deeper meaning.

I’m grateful for our little band of mythic misfits. For just a buck a day—and a free trial—it’ll help you keep hold of the thread. 🧵

If you feel the call of the wild within, head to thefifthdirection.com. 🙏

Asher Packman

09/06/2025

With Men’s Health Week upon us, we’re announcing something close to our hearts. Next month, The Fifth Direction begins our first 8-week online program for teenage boys aged 13-15.

Wayfinders is designed to meet the urgent need for a true path to manhood. Rooted in over 40 years of contemporary men’s work, this guided journey offers mentorship, connection and tools to help boys navigate a world of shifting terrain—mental health challenges, online noise, social pressures, and a deep hunger for meaning.

The journey is never a straight line, it winds through valleys of confusion, dense thickets of feeling and peaks that vanish into cloud. A true Wayfinder learns not just to read the map, but to listen to the inner landscape.

Right now, we’re inviting expressions of interest for our first Wayfinders group.

Free Info sessions: Wed, June 25 and Wed, July 9 at 7pm AEST via Zoom.

To register or for more info, just message us or send an email to info@thefifthdirection.com.

Let’s guide the next generation not just toward achievements, but inward toward soul. 🙏

02/06/2025

Before children can even spell their own name, they are adrift on the river of story.

In the June edition of Book World Magazine (www.bookworld.club), I reflect on the soul and imagination of children, exploring how stories nourish them and shape the maps they carry through life.

Let's give our children not tablets but tales. Not shattered attention—but something soulful. 🙏

You can read the full essay in my latest Smoke Trails.

Asher Packman

June 2025

03/05/2025

I've had the honour of walking beside Josh Piterman for many years—as a friend, a long-time member of The Fifth Direction, and a fellow traveller on the path of soul. When he asked me to write the foreword to his recently-launched book Behind the Mask, I didn’t hesitate.

The book is a powerful unmasking—raw, honest, and full of heart. It’s more than the memoir of an internationally-renowned performer; it’s an invitation to burn away illusion and return to the truth of who we really are.

You can read my words in this month’s Smoke Trails. 🙏

Asher Packman

May 2025

04/04/2025

“You see this weave, boy?
This crossing of wet willow and ash?
This isn’t just a basket for apples or coals.
This here is a truth-holder.
Sit close to me.
The river’s kinder when you listen.
I’ll tell you something they won’t print in books.”

This month’s Smoke Trails is an imaginal storytelling, received through dream, blood and the river’s whisper.

Told in the voice of my great great uncle Horatio, the last basket weaver of St Mary Cray in Kent, it is a ritual of honouring and remembering our ancestors.

Asher Packman

April 2025

06/03/2025

We are blessed to welcome Cornish storyteller Sam Crosby to our community.

Beginning this Tuesday evening (March 11), he will be carrying the sprawling, shapeshifting story of King Arthur over five weeks in our Story Circle.

I also had a beautiful and intimate conversation with Sam for the Warrior Within podcast, where we explored his pathway to storytelling, as well as other topics including fathering, elderhood, intergenerational healing, personal transformation and the power of mythology as community alchemy.

youtu.be/zMXpi4igLMM

I’m genuinely excited about this upcoming story series with Sam, The Shapeshifting King.

To be part of the journey, simply join The Fifth Direction community at skool.com/thefifthdirection.👑

Asher Packman

Join 'Campfire Sam' Crosby (storyteller from Recalling Fire, based in Cornwall) over five weeks as he carries the sprawling, shapeshifting story of King Arthur, following a loose trail left behind by Mallory: injecting Mabinogion, Geoffrey, Chretien, modern reworks including Mary Stewart, his own ex

05/03/2025

At the heart of every man’s journey lies a question:

What does it mean to be a man?

Not just provider and protector, but something deeper—something shaped by loss, forged in fire and tempered by soul.

True initiation is not about external achievement but inward and down—a descent into grief, mystery, and the places we fear to tread.

Read the March missive for Smoke Trails.🙏

Asher Packman

March 2025

02/02/2025

February’s Smoke Trails is a (tidied up and extended) transcript—with fresh audio—of a ‘butterfly’ talk entitled ‘Tending the Ashes: Grief as the Embers of Emergence’ which I recently gave at Fugitive Futures.

The aim of this online summit is to reimagine how we grieve, belong, and flourish through inevitable change, challenging the prevailing meta-cultural narratives that bind us, and instead dreaming together a more fugitive way forward.

Access to recordings of all sessions and speakers including Martin Shaw, Bayo Akomolafe and others are available at thevillageoflovers.com/summit.

Asher Packman

February 2025

20/01/2025

Thanks to the kind folks at Book World Magazine for giving me the opportunity to sit down with them for a chat about storytelling. Issue 3 is out now and features men in the literary landscape—authors, narrators and beyond.

You can read a digital version (flipbook) at the link below, but if you'd prefer a hard copy (I'd be honoured), just head to https://amzn.asia/d/fSvKkda

Asher Packman 🙏

www.bookworldmagazine.com

Not Another Boring Literary Magazine ISSUE 3 OUT NOW!