Meet Rachel Shopper, a Firefly Gathering instructor based in Asheville joining us for her fourth year this summer. As a practicing therapist and ceremonialist, Rachel offers classes at the Gathering in fire-making, creating ceremonial crafts like rawhide rattles, and nervous system regulation. In this interview, Rachel shares her background in this work, and the importance of Earthskills in creating cultural change. Read more below, and click here to learn more about the Annual Firefly Gathering.
What draws you to teach classes at earthskills gatherings specifically?
My journey began as a way to help save the earth from human destruction. I believed that if people could fall in love with the ecosystems that sustained them, they’d take better care of them.
But the deeper I went with my own learning and teaching, the more I started to realize that many of the greatest problems that humans and the environment face are systemic, and that our systems are a product of culture. And culture isn’t going to change unless people heal and step up to the challenges of showing up in service. So that’s where my interest in therapy and rites of passage work comes in.
At the end of the day, it’s all connected: when we feel skillful, embodied, and intimate with our natural environments, we weave respect for that environment into our culture. When we are empowered and capable in ways that harness our wounds as teachers and opportunities, we can make good things happen on a scale larger than our own happiness.
"At the end of the day, it's all connected: when we feel skillful, embodied, and intimate with our natural environments, we weave respect for that environment into our culture."
Why is it important for people to engage with Earthskills?
Earthskills are our natural ancestral birthright. As our world becomes more abstract and automated, there is something old, human, and wise about nursing an ember into flame or sewing skin into a rattle. These skills require embodied presence. They are slow. They teach us lessons about how we move in the world and where we’re stuck. When we build something from scratch, we are bound to it in relationship. The gifts of relationship are endless: we are connected, we are accountable, we are nourished, we are challenged, and we are reflected back to ourselves in new ways.
What does The Firefly Gathering in particular mean to you?
Firefly is the first earthskills gathering I attended, and the first at which I taught, so it will always hold a special place in my heart.
Where can people learn more about your work?
I offer uncoupling ceremonies for people in relationship transitions. This is a great way to work with me therapeutically in a focused, short-term way. Learn more about my work here.
Were there any influential folks in your life who helped you find this pathway?
We are delighted to have Rachel back at Firefly Gathering, and for the therapeutic and ceremonial approach she offers. You can read about Rachel’s 2024 classes, including Fire Making 101, Rawhide Rattles, and The Resourcing Braid: Three Pathways to Nervous System Regulation on our 2024 Live Classes List. Stay tuned for more class and instructor announcements, and learn more about the annual Firefly Gathering below!
