Sacred Harvest Festival 2011
Sacred Harvest Festival: Forest Family, Roots and Branches Intertwined
August 6 – 14th, 2011
Winter has passed, and it is time, .. to plan on attending Sacred Harvest Festival! Our special Guest, Crystal Blanton has way too much wisdom for her age, and we hope she will bolster our community with some new methods and tips for repairing the cracks! We already have three fantastic musical acts! Celia returns to SHF, MMR is always a favorite, and Ailnn will make you swoon!
The Spirit Hunt will reclaim its roots in ritual, a talent show, and more good times at our community fire than you have had in years! Don’t hit September with regrets, plan now and …. JOIN US!
Click to view the symbol/tree/color chart for the Ogham pony beads used on this years Tribal Bead!
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SHF 2011 Artwork by Bress Nicneven
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
Crystal Blanton is a Wiccan High Priestess, a California native living in the San Francisco bay area, heart of many of the Neo-Pagan movements. Her first book, “Bridging the Gap: Working Within the Dynamics of Pagan Groups and Society”, was just published in 2010 with Megalithic/ Immanion Press.
Ms. Blanton is a mother of four, grandmother of three and a married wife of thirteen years. She has worked in the social services field for the last 14 years, specializing in addiction studies and counseling. Ms. Blanton has years of training and experience in counseling, addiction, mental illness, developmental disabilities and criminal justice. In addition, Ms. Blanton has dealt with similar experiences within her own family. She has used the heartache from these experiences to enhance her understanding of spiritual balance and professional understanding of how behavior and perceptions affect our everyday lives.
Crystal Blanton continues to work as a drug and alcohol counselor in adolescent treatment while maintaining her family, family coven, mentoring students, running her personal business, being in a local coven, maintaining two traditions and continuing to write for her community.
You can find her at:
Whitedeer and Violette Rose
This year they offer Sacred Harvest Festival a community performance of Darshana
A music, dance, and ritual ensemble, inspired by the long-held Pagan practice of combining divine communion, ritual, theatre, music, dance, and community bonding.
From the Sanscrit word for “sight”, darshan is used to describe the state of consciousness of a devotee in the presence of a god. Through invocation, masks, music and dance, Darshana provides a multi-sensory experience of the mind, the heart and the spirit.
Pagan Community members offer themselves as vehicles of the gods by creating the entrancing sound of the Gamelan, formed by a specially tuned set of metalophones, gongs, cymbals and drums. The Gamelan accompanies dances and invocations, and leads the player into a state that allows the divine to enter.
Pagan Community members who express themselves through dance offer the Terah Taal- a dance by women in honor of the 13 moons of the year. With small cymbals on the hands, ankles, shoulders and head, this high energy dance has it’s origins in Rajasthan, India.
The line that divides musicians, dancers and the audience dissolves as participants are lead to experience true Darshana, where each member is invited to a personal visit with the Darshana Oracle for words of guidance and wisdom. The Oracle is followed by prasadam, a tradition of receiving a sweet, as a reminder that as you go forth, life is short, precious and sweet.
Read a review of last years performance by the Pagan Newswire Collective – Minnesota!
Violette Rose
Violette Rose began as a musician on the acoustic bass in the 1980’s, playing in symphonic orchestras, jazz and medieval ensembles. In 1995 she jumped onto the pagan music and festival circuit playing with a variety of pagan bands and musicians, touring across the United States. She and Whitedeer married at the festival where they met 5 years later. All along the way she attended workshops in Bellydance and Indian folkdancing, and began serious study in improvisational bellydancing in 2003 with her percussionist husband at her side.
Since then Violette has owned a music store and dance studio and teaching several classes a week in bellydance and Indian dance, and taught and performed at national pagan festivals. She is a Registered Nurse in Public Health and a mother to two children Juniper and Arthur ages 8 and 6. 
Whitedeer
Whitedeer has been teaching and performing pagan music since 1984 in Festivals across the United States. He has specialized in drumming for ritual and dance, with a background in Middle Eastern, Greek, Turkish, Indian, West African, Indonesian, Celtic, Ancient and Medieval music.
With Music as a life-long dedication and spiritual path, Whitedeer and his wife Violette offer a unique combination of drum and dance instruction and performance.
Chris Moore
Chris Moore Christopher (a.k.a. Frebur) Moore is a rite-maker and avid attendee of Sacred Harvest Fest. He and the amazing Melanie Moore grow beautiful pagan babies in the cornfields of Iowa. Chat him up about rite-making, homegrown pagan culture, and pagan parenting.
He will be offering workshops as well as presenting
‘Red Tribe, Green Tribe’
© 2010 Christopher Moore and Steven W. Posch
Long ago Earth the Mother bore twin sons: the Green, lord of plants, firstborn, and the Red, lord of animals, him we call the Horned One. As summer ripens into harvest, the Red Chief and his people make their annual pilgrimage to the sacred grove of the Green Tribe.
Will the Brothers be reconciled?
Will the tribes dance together?
Celia is a singer, songwriter, actress, and storyteller who dishes up the most delicious concoction of the silly and the sacred. She is an amazing multi-faceted artist. From powerful, heart-felt vocals to wacky comedic improvisations, you honestly never know what will happen with Celia on stage. Think Enya meets Joan Baez meets Tina Fey.
Celia has opened for notable authors: Neale Donald Walsch, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Masaru Emoto, and Sonia Choquette, provided live music for the Off-Broadway production of “Rum and Vodka”, & received a “Best Storytelling CD” nomination for “Irish Tales” by the International Just Plain Folks Awards (The Grassroots of Grammies). Her “Symbol” song as been named the “Anthem for the Veteran Pentacle Quest” in support of Religious tolerance and acceptance.
Celia is currently launching her 8th album: “Carry Me Home”. Other releases include “Red, Alabaster and Blue”, “Fire in the Head”, “Irish Tales”, “Breathe”, “Naughty in Pink by the Trestle Foote Faerie”, “The Bard of Armaugh: A Tribute to Tommy Makem” and “Live at the Rock N Soul Café”. No matter how many times you think you’ve seen Celia, you can never predict what she will do and how deeply she can reach into the soul of an audience.
You can find her at Celia
Murphey’s Midnight Rounders
Murphey’s Midnight Rounders is an acoustic band with roots in both the New York Folk Scene, and Country with elements of Rock and Celtic thrown in. They are an eclectic mix of vocal harmonies and styles, singing songs with a message and touches of humor. Murphey’s Midnight Rounders represents a break from the “mainstream angst” of many current acoustic artists. Their concerts include few covers, as most of their material is original, blending humor with social awareness to get the message across.
As members of Dunn County Clerics, Brad Murphey and Teresa Frank wrote and arranged Pagan-Based music in contemporary styles, drawing on their backgrounds in Rock, County and Folk. They explored the magic they could make by writing and arranging their own material. Nick Okonek adds a passion for heavy metal and a pocket full of tetrahedron dice. One part Louden Wainwright III and one part dungeon master with a dash of Ozzy, his bass adds force and power, underneath. Bonnie Hanna-Powers comes to the Rounders with an extensive background in music, theater and fire-spinning. She rounds out our vocal harmonies with a flair for the dramatic.
Their song, ‘Make A Chain Across the World’ has been dubbed “the Pagan National Anthem.”
Discography
Carefully Searching for Words
Running on Empty
I Am the Goddess
Meditations (Brad Murphey and Teresa Frank)
“Soulful storytelling sang with daring harmonies. “Carefully Searching for Words” goes well with a leisurely drive through the mountains. Thanks for the music!”
Mei Young ~ “The Voice” of KTCA
“One Incredible Band!!!”
Standing Stones Mabon Gathering
“The change of pace and vibe was so needed. [Murphey’s Midnight Rounder’s] music is calm and non-abrasive. Really cool and chill….Clear and precise. Really pretty, actually. I really like this…..wonderful work here! Thumbs up and much love!”
Stereofame.com
Ailinn
“Ailnn is an emerging poet-musician whose style is more than mere entertainment. Ailnn uses words and song to give voice to the sacred earth. Ailnn feels that, “we are rooted in this world, not separate from it. Nuturing our connection to the earth is our responsibility and now more than ever it is apparant that we need to listen…”
The inspiration for her works comes from the act of mindful “listening”, not just with ears, but with all of one’s senses. Being open to the world around her, lyrics artfully express a poetic vision of the land. Fans have said that her music evokes the “feeling of being in the woods” and brings out “that mystical feeling” in them.
Performing both traditional Celtic folk tunes and original compositions, Ailinn uses a variety of instruments besides her voice including: acoustic guitar, mandolin, bodhran, as well as a vareity of other hand drums. She’s even working on adding tin whistle to the list. With a voice and talent that is “absolutely mind shattering and beautiful,” Ailnn weaves the stories of land, sea, and sky into a celebration of life. Her music is a sincere expression of spirit that is ” a wonderful, powerful heart-song…”
Performances embody that touch of magic you can’t quite describe. Bright, melodic, and heartfelt, Ailnn’s music uplifts the spirit and nurtures the soul. Her energy captures your imagination, while her words and lyrics inspire laughter, hope, and peace. She celebrates the sacred with open honesty, embraces the magic of the unseen, and invites the listener to be open to the blessings of mind, body, and spirit.
You can find her as Ailinn
