Deer Ponzi

Deer is a wilderness and human development guide, mystic, and poet storyteller based in the American Southwest, supporting youth and adults in their soul’s unique path in relationship to Earth.  

Deer’s primary lineage is as a “Soul Initiation Guide” apprentice with the Animas Valley Institute, a nature-based mystery school in the southwest where Deer trains in the Nature Based Map of the Psyche, Soulcraft, and guiding vision quest/rites of passage.

Deer is a founding member and Lead Guide for LifeWays wilderness, healing and mentorship community. He spent two years as a senior field guide for Open Sky Wilderness Therapy, is a certified Wilderness First Responder, and is certified in nature-based practices and eco-psychology from the Eco-Dharma Centre in the Catalan Pyrenees, Spain.

Deer has been a dedicated meditation and mindfulness practitioner for 9 years, as well as occasional facilitator, primarily in the Vipassana/Insight traditions, and has participated in over 100 days of silent retreat around the world.

Lastly, Deer received his Permaculture Design Certification from The Permaculture Academy and applied its teachings while living and working on permaculture-based projects around the world, including ancestral land practice research at Navdanya Earth University in northern India. He has his BA in Literature and Creative Writing from UCLA and is a student of worldwide mythology, storytelling, and traditional cultures. 

You can read more about him, his art, and offerings at www.mystic-wild.com