our story
Born from the fire, drawn in the sand, and carried in the stories of those who came before
Chapter: 0
It began, as all sacred things do, with the land. Not in ink or on screens, but in the quiet hum of Country, in the language of fire, smoke, and symbols drawn in sand. We have always said that this campfire was not created by Us – it was remembered, brought back beneath a sky mapped by those who came before, where the stars are not just distant lights but waypoints, ancestors gathered in skycamp, tending fires that have never gone out, inviting us to join them by their fire, to feel its warmth, to illuminate our spirits, and cast light on the pathways we have forgotten how to walk.
The VA Network came from a promise:
To create a space where the world could gather. A place where people can not just watch and listen but to learn, to act, and remember. A space where all can sit and share their story, share their fragment of the pattern of creation, and connect, and step back into our role as custodians of creation.
In the sands beside that fire we sung the story of what would become The VA Network into the world, drawing the blueprints for a way to carry that fire forward. We knew then that it couldn’t just be a platform. It had to something more. It had to breathe. It had to move. It had to be a living space, a way for us to leave leave behind the only tool that will last and always be relevant: good story.
So, we created it. We built the platform. Then we tore it apart. Set it on fire. And invited the world to sit by the flames around this digital campfire and share story.
A journey through fire, sand, and story
A Life in Story, in Relation, in Responsibility.
Every story carries a rhythm, a pulse that moves through the land, the people, and spirit. It’s not just seen or heard; it’s felt. In the way the campfire’s flames dance against the night, casting flickering shadows that reach deep into the earth and sky. In the crackle and warmth that gathers us close, weaving stories into smoke that rises like prayers. In the sacred circle it creates, a space of belonging, witness, and renewal, where light and shadow meet and the pulse of life itself is spoken and held. In our world today, so many fires have gone cold. The threads that connect us to each other, to the land, to spirit are fraying. But the knowledge hasn’t disappeared. It’s still there, held in the stories, held in between us, waiting to be heard. We all hold a fragment of the pattern; we just have to remember.
Story is not just something you tell – it’s something you enter. It’s a living being, carrying its own law, its own responsibilities, its own obligations. Sitting by the fire under skycamp, Dig drew symbols in the sand – a map for what would become my way forward, my purpose for being in this world. He taught me how to listen, how to see, how to be in right relation with the land, to the people, to all the sentient beings of a landscape and the stories they hold, and this is when he made his ask of me. He looked at me across the glow of the coals and said, “These stories aren’t yours to keep. They’re the fire that will light the way for those yet to come. Your task is simple, but it will ask everything of you: carry them forward. Tend them well. Share them with courage and humility. Because if these stories die, the world will lose its memory of how to live.”
In that moment, under the silent witness of ancestors, I understood: this wasn’t just an ask. It was a covenant. A binding of my life to the work of keeping the fire burning, so that when I am gone, the stories will still be here, in the care of the next custodian, to keep guiding us home.
That is how the VA Network came into being. It is not just a platform, nor a vault of films or content to be consumed. It is a remembering. A re-weaving. A gathering place born out of the recognition that knowledge isn’t content, and stories aren’t commodities to be traded – they are living entities with their own integrity and purpose.
inviting the world to sit by the fire, to listen, to see, and to remember
we are all part of one shared story. one people. one fire.
The VA Network exists because the world has forgotten how to sit together properly, how to listen beyond words, how to feel knowledge moving through Country, kinship, and spirit. It is a place where the old ways of knowing – rooted in relational law, tested over deep time – can find their rightful place alongside the tools of this technological age. It is where we learn to see again with more than our eyes, to hear with more than our ears, to understand that every story carries obligations, and every telling is an act of creation.
This is a space that does not seek to speak over others but to create the conditions where many voices can be heard, where Indigenous knowledge holders, creators, and communities can share not just what they know but the ways of knowing. To help us remember our place. To help us walk with humility. To guide us back into right relation with all our kin, human and more-than-human, all the sentient beings in a landscape. These stories hold the patterns, the instructions for how to be, and how to live, how to face of collapsing systems, the severed relations, and a culture that has forgotten it belongs to a living world. Not at the centre of it, but as a part of it. They hold the patterns that remind us how to be human.
Though Dig walks beyond the horizon, his wisdom remains – a guiding ember in every story, every step, every breath of this journey.
Carrying the Fire Forward
While Dig is no longer walking Country beside us, his presence is felt in every step of this journey. This project, as you see it today, is a testament to his vision – a campfire that calls to all who are ready to sit, listen, and share. It is a space to honor the past, celebrate the present, and envision a future where humanity remembers its place in the great pattern of creation. Guided not just by the wisdom of Indigenous cultures, but by the deep, ancient processes they embody. This campfire invites us to step into relation, to see ourselves in the pattern of relation, and bring all our stories along side each other – for each of us carries a fragment of this pattern, a fractal of the whole.
This project goes beyond sharing stories from native peoples across the globe – it’s about reclaiming a way of being, a way of human-being. It’s about moving in the world with respect for the land, honoring the threads of connection that bind all life, and ensuring that every voice has a place in the circle of creation. It’s through the lens of these creators, the stories of their people and their lands that the global community is invited to rediscover the processes that sustain life – the reciprocity, the interconnectedness, the stories that hold us all.
For those who came before us, who carried the stories, who sat by the fire and passed the embers into our hands.
We gather around this fire with gratitude in our hearts for the extraordinary spirits who guided our path, the ones who shaped us, the ones who no longer walk this world with us, who wait for us in skycamp. Their voices still move through the trees, their wisdom still ripples through the waters, their stories still burn in the fires we keep. And now, it is our turn – to tend the flames, to listen deeply, to carry these stories forward for those who come next, for the ones we may never meet, for the generations yet to be, and honor their lives, their contributions, for none of this would be possible without them.
To Dig, who taught us how to listen to the land, each other, to all the beings of a landscape and the lore of the land, the spirit of creation that hold us all. To all those we have loved and lost along the way who continue to inspire us, drive us, and guide us.
May we honour their spirits by walking gently, sharing openly, loving completely, and keeping the flame of connection alive – so that every voice is heard, every land is cherished, and every life lights a fire for those yet to come.
We will see you again soon.
