Queer Stealthcraft

A survival and stealth lab for 2S & LGBTQ+ folks: apprenticing to the arts of blending/shapeshifting/drag with the non-human world in a container of play, refuge, and ceremony.

(This course is typically offered every July and is hosted by our friends at Rewild Portland. Registration usually goes live in mid to late February on their website) UPDATE: This course is being offered in September 2021 in Western Washington to the folks on the roster or wait list for cancelled 2020 event, and in June 2022 is resuming at the Echoes in Time location. Yay, we’re back!

Stealth-craft refers to means of blending in to your surroundings, going unnoticed, and collecting strategic information about your environment. A diverse set of skills can fall under this umbrella, such as camouflage, concealment, evasion, and tracking/counter-tracking. The role of the 'scout' is one that has been essential to the resilience and thriving of many land-based peoples, from the shepherds of the Mediterranean and Middle East to the Apache scouts whose tactics were appropriated by the U.S. military. In this space, we seek to excavate and critique the languaging of 'scout' due to the ways this term has been used in relationship with Indigenous peoples and also the military. For this reason, we often use our term "stealthcraft practitioner." (also, queer veterans are enthusiastically welcomed in this space!)

Tactical &Heartcentric ;)

These skills may be commonly associated with military and hunting cultures and so may feel inaccessible to queer people and others. However, such skills don't have to be about being an aggressor or predator, but rather can derive from apprenticing to the arts of belonging, and also from the quiet power of the witness. These skills can be practiced in order to reduce your impact in natural settings which will help you become a better naturalist and become more aware of your non-human kin. They can also be practiced in order to keep yourself and your loved ones safe in times of threat or danger, or simply to feel more grounded and resourced wherever you are.

As queer folks engaging in this craft, we have many reasons for already being used to ‘taking a step back’ and assessing our prospective safety, resources, and threats when we enter social and public spaces. This disposition to hyperawareness of our social and political environment can be beautifully leveraged in the arts and sciences of stealthcraft. In this immersion, our intention is to facilitate inquiry into these skills in a compassionate, inclusive, culturally humble, oftentimes silly, and empowering manner in a secluded natural setting.

• Understanding of how to move quietly and reduce your energetic impact

• Basics of camouflage and concealment

• Foundations of nervous system (re)calibration through a trauma/resilience/polyvagal-theory informed lens

• Strengthening intuition and situational awareness

• How to utilize these skills in service to deeper nature connection and co-liberation

• Awareness practices and games