Podcast: Finding Wisdom with Adam Laufer and Erin Everett
Enjoy this May 2024 podcast interview with us — Adam Laufer and Erin Everett — to learn more of our personal stories and callings, the journey of courage, our elders and teachers, and the network of healing, weather and community that supports our work and invites you to participate.
Transcript:
Welcome back to Speaking of Travel. I'm your host, Marilyn Ball. You know, the practice of tradition is a key to our sense of belonging. Tradition helps us to feel like we belong in this world, when maybe we feel as if we came from somewhere else. I have found personally that the traditions in my life provide a sense of belonging when sometimes I may feel like an outsider. Traditions have been an important component of human society since the beginning of time, and they seem to connect our senses and are many times the source of enjoyment and meaning. Traditions help me feel like I belong to my community and to my global community, and they make me believe in something bigger than myself. For many, they give life meaning. Well, my guests today are Adam Laufer and Erin Everett and they are weather workers and ceremonial leaders.
They dedicate their lives to service, working to bring the balance of weather to their home communities so their lands will thrive and their people will benefit. Each year they travel to Mexico to renew their connection with their lineage and participate in ceremonies and to engage in continuing education with their elders. And while at home, they offer healing sessions to people throughout the Western North Carolina area, as well as to others who come stay at their Asheville Healing Retreat, which is a cabin sanctuary just north of Asheville. Adam and Erin, it is just so pleasant to know you and to have you on Speaking of travel and to find out that we used to be neighbors.
Adam and Erin:
Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for inviting us, Marilyn.
Marilyn:
Well, I have to say, when I first started hearing about what work you're doing and the traditions that you practice and ceremony and going to Mexico, I wanted to find out more.
And I just felt here's something that a lot of people might not know about, but it's really important, especially today, in recognizing this historical traditional sense of place and being. Let's talk about that a little. Adam, you want to give us a little back story on all of that?
Adam:
Sure. I guess I'll start with the beginning of how we even got involved. And we were both young and my wife Erin had a lot of environmental allergies and illnesses. And so at a very young age when we got together, I was 18, she was 21. We got married three months after knowing each other, and so we were both kind of on a quest for healing for whatever reasons.
And I met her at Warren Wilson College and she had a lot of illness that she was recovering from, mostly environmental illness and food allergies. And that led us to starting to study more alternative minded healing modalities, herbalism, you know, chiropractic, acupuncture, you know, yoga, meditation. And eventually that led to Erin taking a class by a man named Eliot Cowan, who taught a a course called Plant Spirit Medicine. And during that time, she was telling a story to Eliot one day when when she was a teenager growing up in Canton, NC. And the electric panel was struck right over her bed by a lightning storm. And her whole house burnt down. And she mentioned that to Eliot, you know, she was just sharing a story.
And, [a while] later, Elliot said, you know, there's a man that you might need to meet down in Mexico who might be able to help you with some of your problems. I'll let Erin tell some of the story from there. But we said, Oh yeah, this is a great possibility of healing: a man in Mexico who knows different healing modalities. This is a fantastic thing. And then I'll let you take it over from here.
Erin:
Yes, so then when Eliot told me though that I'd have to go to Mexico, I said, oh, I absolutely can't do that because I'm so allergic to everything. I'll probably just die from being exposed to whatever's down there. I was very sensitive to things even in the United States and and more sensitive than most people at that time because many people had never even heard of this kind of sensitivity allergy complex thing that now is more well known.
And so for me, I had been sick all through childhood and pretty much all my life and Eliot strongly felt — he was a a powerful teacher for me — so he strongly felt that this would make a big difference and encouraged me to go [to Mexico] with Adam. And so we ended up on a plane a few months later going to Mexico, and I brought a suitcase full of clothes and a suitcase full of food. And when we got there, the group chief at the time, David, told me I would not be opening the food suitcase, and I would have to just eat with everyone else. And so it was an exercise —and this is kind of a theme for our travel engagement and our work in this tradition — an exercise in courage. And even getting on the plane was an exercise in courage. Adam, although we were married, he didn't really know what we were getting into, and so he was very courageous even going there with me. And and so the rest is history, as they say, from that point. So [don Lucio determined that we were] weather workers and needed to be initiated. We were initiated on that trip, and we didn't really even know what we were getting into. So that's how it all began for us, the Mexico work.
Marilyn:
Well, give us an idea. When you say initiated, that sounds rather profound. Initiation, What? What was that? I mean, give us just a little idea of what it was like to suddenly be there, knowing that you're going to meet some people, you're going to learn more about this practice, and yet now you're being initiated. What does that really mean?
Adam: { 6:46 }
Don Lucio, that’s don Lucio Campos de Elizalde, who originally initiated us, he was in his 90s when we met him.
And this is a practice that has been going on, you know, before Columbus [and Spanish conquistadors] came to Mexico. The Nahua people always were more in relationship with the living world than maybe we are today. They saw everything as a relationship. So they had a living tradition to help bring beneficial weather to their their people and to their crops. And also there was a whole knowledge of how to heal people because when people get out of balance with the cycles of nature, their health fails or is harmed. So when we met don Lucio, he was, he just sat down and talked to us and told both of us, you really need to get initiated. And I really had no idea what the heck he was talking about. And it's like, oh, okay, let's go ahead and do this. If this is going to bring health, why not?
So the initiation is like a big giant wedding, but you're getting married to the Weather Beings, or the the the forces of nature that work with the with the weather, the gods, the goddesses that all work in harmony to bring about balance in this world. So there was quite an extravagant thing that I didn't know was going to happen until that very trip.
Marilyn: { 8:25 }
Well, I can see the connection with the lightning strike. And I'm sure when we come back from the break, let's go a little bit deeper and find out more about that relationship that you talk about and the the lightning and the weather and and really having this deep need even for healing and balance and being able to put that into a relationship.
It's absolutely fascinating, and I don't know that a lot of people really know what being initiated means or even being able to carry out those ancient ways for healing. It's really a beautiful thing. So when we come back, we'll talk more about that, go a little bit deeper, and in the meantime, how can people find out more information about what you do and the ceremonies that you have and how you're keeping these traditions alive?
Erin:
Yes, so people are welcome to — of course, everybody's online today, so people are welcome to go to weatherwork.org. They can also find out more about the healing, the network of traditional healers in our tradition at traditionalhealers.org. So those are two places that people can go and visit and find out more. And then we have our own website which is seedsoftradition.org.
Marilyn: { 9:51 }
Well, thank you both, Adam and Erin, for sharing with us. When we come back, I want to find out more.
And I think we all can agree that weather is kind of something we need to be paying attention to and especially when it comes to our health and wellness. So stay tuned. This is Marilyn Ball.You're listening to Speaking of Travel, and we'll be right back.
Marilyn: { 11:24 }
Welcome back to Speaking of Travel. I'm your host, Marilyn Ball, and I'm here today with Adam Laufer and Erin Everett, they are weather workers and ceremonial leaders.
And Adam and Erin, hearing your story and how this all came to unfold for you both around healing and wellness and wanting to get better, going to Mexico, being initiated into this practice and tradition, give us a little idea of how that felt when you first really got into knowing the people and knowing the traditions. And and Erin, for you finding that it's working, how did that unfold?
Erin: { 12:10 }
Yes, well, it was quite something. I was 30 years old when we got initiated and like I said, it was a big challenge for me. It was a test of my courage for sure. Because, you know, in America I could, even though we weren't well off or anything, I could protect myself. I could, you know, be in this fairly protected situation. If I wasn't feeling well, then I could figure something out in order to take care of myself. But this was going straight into the villages. So it was very what we think of as third world. The sanitation was very different.
And again, I wasn't allowed to eat my own food, which was a very big thing for me, you know, it's like we get so used to the things that that the conveniences that we have in our culture. And so those things were stripped away in many ways. And and so I guess it was striking for me to be initiated and to have been recognized by don Lucio, because when he met me, he recognized me and knew me and knew things about me that nobody could have known, especially because nobody knew me there. And I did feel that, you know, he knew me. And so when I was initiated…I I did get very sick the first trip to Mexico, very sick. And so it was scary for me. And then, but then when I went home and began doing my work, because part of our work that our teachers have brought to us is that we honor the weather of our own areas where we live.
And sometimes we bring back ceremonies from those areas and sometimes it's just honoring every time it rains. For example, it just rained here, and we made offerings. And so anytime it rains day or night, we make offerings in our traditional way. And so when I came home and began doing the simple work that I was allowed to do, in that early time after we were initiated, I noticed over time with surprise that actually this, this lifetime of weakness and illness that I'd had seemed things seemed to be shifting for me. And by the end of that year, I could definitely tell that I was quite a bit better than I had, maybe you could say had ever been. And so I was excited about that.
But then as our trip to Mexico approached — which we're required to go every year to renew our connection with the weather beings, with the weather, the rain, clouds, lightning, thunder and wind — when that trip approached, I was so afraid to return.
I was like, no, because I got so sick the first time. I knew what the environment was like and I didn't want to go, but I knew I had to go and I knew that this was benefiting me as well as giving me a lot of meaning in my life. And so I went and I got sick again. And so this time I got sick worse, and I had to be taken care of while I was there. But then when we returned again, I started doing the work and I started getting better. So there was something interesting going on there. It's sort of what I identify now as a dance between courage and kind of being in my comfort zone, right? Travel requires you to get out of your comfort zone.
And so I was even farther in a comfort zone than most people because I was, you know, not quite an invalid, but had been an invalid and was very attached to being taken care of a certain way. And this required me to throw all that aside and basically give myself over to what was laid before me, and I didn't know what that was. Into the unknown, right? So that was a a big shift for me. And so doing the work brought me many revelations and made me stronger and more courageous as a person.
Marilyn: { 16:32 }
And Adam, where were you fitting into all of this? As you're witnessing all of this, are you also getting connected and feeling that there's a place here for you as well?
Adam:
Yeah, but it took me some time because, you know, I think being raised as a Westerner, I had these ideas that learning any kind of traditional wisdom was like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. But then, you know, I kept doing it, kept doing it, going down, not exactly sure what's going on. People are doing these things and I'm kind of scientifically trying to prove things. And I have a lot of doubt.
And then it dawns on me, maybe after my 7th year of going down, it was like, oh, what we're doing is gratitude ceremonies! And gratitude is the one thing that we could all call on any point in our life. And no matter how deep or dark or hole you're in, if you have something to be grateful for, no matter what, it starts to bring you back out of that darkness, into that light. And I'm like, wow, this is really profound: the heart of these ceremonies.
It has a root of gratitude that goes way down into the core of the earth and reaches way up into the heavenly sky, to our, the the whole celestial cosmos. And I see, oh, there's something for me to shift inside of myself that isn't just a Western mindset, and that the lives that we will live are, you know, a lot more dreamlike and magical than we realized, but on a very practical level, too.
Marilyn: { 18:25 }
It sounds like you have been able to carry this tradition, this Mexican tradition, here to your own space, your own place. I know that you have a place there where people can come. How can people find out more about being able to come there and and be in ceremony with you?
Erin: { 18:48 }
Yes, So we have, I mentioned seedsoftradition.org, but also we have a retreat here in Asheville or just north of Asheville on our mountain. It’s called Ashevillehealingretreat.com. And so people can come here and stay in a a a rustic cabin and enjoy being on the mountain on this beautiful land, and receive healing from us at our sacred altar. And I just also want to want to mention that a big part of our success, of course, has to do with our teachers. And don Lucio Campos de Elizalde was our original teacher and he's no longer with us, being in his 90s when we went to meet him many years ago, 22 years ago. But don David Wiley is our teacher, and he's the one who inherited Don Lucio's altar. And so he has been a big part of helping me to realize that being courageous in this way brings healing.
And so a lot of the healing that we work with with people is to find ways in their lives that they're needing to be more courageous and needing to step up. And in addition to the traditional forms, which are very nourishing and quite profound, there's often a lot of counseling and lifestyle counseling as well. So, so yeah, Seedsoftradition.org. We also have some information about what we do at traditionalhealers.org and then our retreat is Ashevillehealingretreat.com.
Marilyn: { 20:34 }
And it all really is around these traditional weather workers and the work that they've been doing since it sounds like the beginning of time.
Erin: Yes.
And and one other thing I'll say is that that we also have a community that understands our work. It’s an international community called Sacred Fire. And so Sacred Fire isn't part of the weather workers, but the the man who is our traditional teacher now, his name is don David Wiley, helped to establish Sacred Fire, which is a place that people can go and be around the fire with others no matter what their tradition is and return to the roots of being human again. And so one of the biggest groups is here in Asheville.
And so a lot of people understand our work because it has a context within that community as well, within that group. It's not really a community, it's more like a a movement. And so everyone's invited to these fires. So when you said it's all around the weather workers, we would have nothing without a community. And so a lot of our ceremonies for example, are held at Sacred Fire Asheville. And there is a community there who acknowledges the connection with nature, the importance of tradition, living traditions.
And they understand who weather workers are and their tradition. This group, Sacred Fire, has fires and Firekeepers all throughout the US and in nine countries now, I think. So you can look them up at sacredfire.org.
Marilyn: { 22:15 }
Oh, great. I was hoping you would give their website so we can go visit them. Well, Erin and Adam, I want to thank you so much for being here on Speaking of Travel with us. And I feel this work is so important, especially where we are today in our world and being able to create wellness and health and happiness and joy. I just want to thank you both for the work that you're doing and the work of your teachers that they're there as well. So I just want to let you know that the more people we can bring into this knowledge, hopefully the more we can turn things around. So thank you both for being here on Speaking of Travel.
Erin:
Thank you for having us, so much.
Adam:
It's an honor. Thank you.
--- End of transcript ---
Learn more about our Journey to the Sources of Blessing.
We are Adam Laufer and Erin Everett, and we are weather workers, tepahtiani healers and ceremonial leaders in the ancient lineage of graniceros (also known by our traditional titles quiaquepiz and quiatlzques). We were called to this work and initiated in 2003.
All year, we and our colleagues work for beneficial weather for the area in and around Asheville. Our work involves gratitude and giving back, elements in a universal language of ceremony that has its echoes in all authentic traditions of human beings.
We also offer healing and counseling appointments both in-person at our location in the Asheville, NC area and via phone or Zoom.