Sacred Earth Adventures was co-founded by Phil Howard and Helen Pattinson. They have a dream... to bring people closer to the Earth through wilderness adventures.

Our courses combine exciting activity-led adventures in wild places with teachings that draw on the wisdom of traditional indigenous cultures from around the world. This is not about ‘going back’ to how things once were, but looking at the wisdom of yesterday and integrating that wisdom into our lives today, so that we may live happier, healthier and more purpose-full lives.

Phil Howard is passionate about the natural world and is inspired to bring people closer to the Earth. He has studied and practices bushcraft and wilderness survival, incorporating the skills and crafts of archery, fire making, ancient crafts, flint knapping, shelter building, plants as food and medicine, tracking and bird language. To deepen this experience, he has studied with Eagleswing Centre for Contemporary Shamanism and is a shamanic practitioner.

Phil works as a freelance instructor with children, teenagers and adults, bringing the natural world alive with his enthusiasm for Earth-based teachings. Phil has been leading tours around the ancient sites of Britain for several years. He studied Arboriculture before going on to train as an outdoor leader at Strathcona Park Lodge, BC, Canada. Before this, he spent six years serving as a Royal Marine Commando.

Helen Pattinson is a practising artist and sculptor and has trained and worked as an outdoor instructor at Outward Bound in Scotland. She is inspired to bring people closer to the natural world through creative outdoor adventures.

Helen has worked with adults and children with special needs. She runs her own clothing company - Wonky Clothing - designing funky t-shirts and hoodies "for scruffy individuals. "She has a passion for rock climbing, art and yoga and is currently studying an MA in Art & Ecology in Devon.

Sacred Earth Adventures brings in other experienced teachers:

Wes Gietz has studied and practised natural skills and beliefs for over forty years, with pauses as required by the necessities of love and life. He has been taught by Tom Brown Jr. and Native teachers the skills of survival and living, awareness, and philosophy, the ceremonies of daily life, and the ceremonies and responsibilities of the sweat lodge. He honours them by using these ways and keeping them for the generations yet to be born, and has taught them in workshops and at gatherings since 1993.

Wes also practises and teaches EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), a technique for healing emotional disturbances, phobias, addictions and a variety of physical problems.

In his professional life, he has master’s degrees in boichemistry and public administration, and 15 years of consulting experience in training, strategic planning, and human resource management. He has taught Leadership, Communication Skills, Business Mathematics, and Human Resource Management at the University of Victoria and North Island College on Vancouver Island, Canada.

Ernie MacAulay 'Deer Heart'

Spiritual Medicine Man, Ceremony Leader

Deer Heart lived and learned with a well known traditional Chippewa Spiritual Medicine Man known as Sun Bear, in Washington State, and also before with a M'kmaq Medicine Man in Nova Scotia, whose name is Noel Knockwood, 'Spirit Talker.' Deer Heart leads Medicine Wheel Ceremonies, Equinox and Solstice celebrations, Healing Circles, Wedding Ceremonies, Sweat Lodge Ceremonies and The Sacred Pipe for Prayers and Healing and Vision Quests in the Cowichan Valley in British Columbia. Deer Heart also teaches the ways of the Medicine Wheel, and Wilderness Survival.

"Humans do not feed the Holy when they build big buildings, civilizations or neurotic diversions away from the earth. We are here to feast and bless with our thumbs, voices, stories, failures and crazy dancing the immensity in the root, whose flowering is the feast we know as the gift of living." Martin Prechtel

"If you live on this land, and you have ancestors sleeping in this land, I believe that makes you a native to this land. It has nothing to do with the color of your skin. I was not raised to look at people racially. What I was taught is, that we're flowers in the Great Spirit's garden. We share a common root, and the root is Mother Earth." Oh Shinnah Fastwolf