Sacred Harvest Festival 2012

“Unveiling the Sacred;
Immersed in the Luminous Light of Love”

Monday August 6th – Sunday August 12th

View our 2012 Village Guide and Festival Schedule

Join us in our fifteenth anniversary year for an intimate journey into the divine light!  This year Andras Corban Arthen will guide us back to the rich traditions of Pre-European Shamans, with words, and song, and wisdom.  Share in his experience with the international Neo-Pagan connection to the world’s religions.  Lady Yeshe Rabbit brings the light of contemporary, ecstatic union with the Divine and with each other. Together they share a deep experience in ritual and in the strength of a tribal community.

“Sacred Harvest Festival” by Big Joe Credit

Artwork by Aurora Nicneven

Plan on a week packed with ritual, workshops, entertainment, and the unique tribal experience of Sacred Harvest Festival!

At Sacred Harvest Festival you get access to TWO national presenters for a week !   You could pay twice our admission cost to learn from just one of them in a weekend workshop!

Andras Corban Arthen

Andras Corban Arthen, spiritual director of the EarthSpirit Community, was adopted in 1969 into the traditional pagan practices of a Gaelic-speaking family from the Highlands of Scotland. He has taught and lectured publicly about the pagan traditions throughout the U.S. and abroad since the 1970s, and has been featured in a number of books as well as news media. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the oldest and largest interreligious organization, and has been a featured speaker at the Parliaments held in Chicago in 1993, Barcelona in 2004, and Melbourne in 2009, and at the World Interreligious Encounter held in Monterrey, México in 2007.

Andras also sits on the board of directors of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions, serving as its international interfaith liaision. Andras is one of the artistic directors of MotherTongue, EarthSpirit’s internationally-acclaimed ritual performance group, and also performs as a folk musician and storyteller. He is part of an intentional community living in Glenwood, a 135-acre pagan sanctuary and nature preserve in the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts. Andras is proud to have been singled out as “a bad role-model for the youth of America” by right-wing Christian zealot Pat Robertson on the 700 Club in 1996. Read more about Andras.

Lady Yeshe Rabbit

Lady Yeshe Rabbit is recognized in the S.F. Bay area for her work with CAYA Coven and within her community. Yeshe Rabbit was featured recently  on Pagans in Paradise, as one, ” Walking the Talk, 10 Pagans Who Made A Difference in 2011” . She was described as having, “With openness, honesty, courage and heartfelt concern for others she worked on healing the community rather than seeking to protect what she had manifested. Today CAYA is a leader in inclusiveness.” Yeshe Rabbit has been an enthusiastic wanderer along the winding path of esoterica for over 20 years. Her interests include tarot, tantra, herbalism, shamanic practices, myth and storytelling, drumming, chanting, singing, and ecstatic ritual. She has been featured on NPR and is a regular teacher/presenter at local and national gatherings, including the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium, PantheaCon, the Berkeley Pagan Festival, and others.

With a BA in English from SUNY Oneonta and an MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College, Yeshe Rabbit’s formal education involved tracing the routes of women’s wisdom through herstory, film, theatre, and world myth. Her personal beliefs and professional vocation converged when she launched her intuitive tarot practice in Berkeley in 2003.

Today, she continues to read fortunes for seekers near and far, helps magical folk find their perfect treasures at her shop, The Sacred Well,  in Oakland. As an ordained Dianic High Priestess, Yeshe Rabbit is the founder and Presiding High Priestess of the 500-member Come As You Are Coven that serves the eclectic spiritual needs of the Bay Area Pagan Community, she is the Queen of the Lineage in the Amazon Priestess Tribe a Dianic circle focused on women’s blood, birthing and croning mysteries. She also co-founded the Wildflower Tradition, an eclectic path of spiritual public service for men and women that draws from practices and philosophies of historical and contemporary Mystery traditions.Read more at http://www.wayoftherabbit.com.

Shrines for the Sacred

A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshiped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated. A shrine at which votive offerings are made is called an altar.

This year’s theme lends itself to finding places of worship in our midst. Individuals, groups, camp mates, and Tribe members will be setting up shrines in public space at this years SHF. They will range from a card table to a tent, from a pile of stones to a complete experience! Already planned are shrines to our Oak Trees, to Mamas, to Ganesh, and the Horned One. We encourage you to bring weather hardy items to add to one you find, or to join with your camp mates and create one! Of course, bring offerings of incense, and candles, and fine foods and libations.

May your week be immersed in the luminous light of divine love!

Want to appear, or know someone who should be a Presenter / Entertainer at Sacred Harvest Festival ?

If you wish to appear as a Presenter or an Entertainer, to offer your gifts to your tribal community,  We welcome you!

Contact Harmony Tribe with your proposal!

**NOTE: The Sacred Hunt Ritual has no coordinator, and Harmony Tribe will not be offering this popular ritual! If you wish to see this ritual continue, or participate in it, you should contact Harmony Tribe (submit a ritual proposal) and volunteer to co-ordinate it. We will be supportive and provide you with some supplies and information, but it will be a Festivant generated ritual, if it takes place.

LisaSpiral

LisaSpiral has been a guest of honor at SHF in the past. She has been an active member of the Twin Cities Pagan community for over 30 years. She has a book coming out from Immanion Press about the different ways the Gods manifest in our lives through Invocation and Evocation. She is working on her second book about her experiences watching “The Gods Come Knocking.”

Attend these workshops!

When the Gods Come Knocking
This workshop is a discussion about expanding the awareness of the relationships that we hold with Deity. Specifically we will look at aspects of these relationships that appear to be initiated by the Divine.

Daily Practice Sucks
Much of our work as Witches is supported by doing a daily spiritual practice. However, not everyone is good at making this work. This workshop explores tactics for people who are not satisfied or who are struggling with daily practice to make it easier and more effective.

Susu Jeffrey

Susu Jeffrey is an elder in many spheres, and in our Pagan community. She is a visionary, writer, and poet. She is a percussionist, singer, and ritualist. A social activist and advocate for human, water, environmental, and Native American rights.

Rattle and Hum, Journey to the Sacred
Journey into the non-verbal world of spirit with sacred rattling and free form chanting. Bring: a rattle, a chair that allows you to sit up straight and breathe, water. We could set a group intention for the energy we intend to raise and free.

Ann Luloff

Ann is a wife and mother, who manages to be an artist in her spare time…She has worked in community theatre for many years, both on stage and off, writing, directing, acting, stage managing, building and painting sets. She brings this love of theatre to SHF by engaging the children (and the occasional adult) in plays that take a twist on old favorite stories, such as Peter Pan and Jack in the Beanstalk.

Bring your kids to the rehearsals!

Peter Pagan Pan
This year we will be doing a revision of Peter Pagan Pan, first performed at SHF about 10 years ago. The kids from that play have grown, and new “pagan babies” have emerged to take their places. Nothing brings light to a place faster than good hearted laughter from children. Come join the fun either in the audience or on stage and “light”en up the atmosphere!

Liz Johnson

Liz Johnson was inspired to become an Alternative Healthcare Practitioner by seeing people around her deal with illness. She became interested in the healing qualities of herbs and their effects on the body when modern medicine was not enough for some.           She has since studied the art of herbalism along with other alternative healing and has apprenticed under Matthew Wood. Liz continues to seek out teachers, schools, and conferences to enhance her knowledge. She has been in private practice since 1995.

Workshops:
Herbs That Help Us Connect With The Divine:

Plants have been used to connect with the divine for as far back as anyone can discover.  From the Elusinian mysteries to the plains of Africa, from Soma to the drink of enlightenment, we have found in plants a natural path to wonder, healing, experience, and more.  Join herbalist liz Johnson and discover a few herbs used for flying ointments, interesting incenses,  brews and chews, all intended to bring us closer to our gods.

Aphrodisiacs:

Is Damiana the way to a woman’s heart?  Does Horny Goat Weed really work, and what about Yohimbe?  Explore the romantic side of herbs and find out everything you ever wanted to know about aphrodisiacs!

Wade Mueller

Wade Mueller has been a Pagan for 21 years, Tyrsman for 15. He is founder of Deeply Rooted, a Pagan land-based intentional community in 2001. He has been a prison minister for 10 years. Beekeeper, book collector and wannabe blacksmith…

Workshop:
Pagan Homeland, Living on Sacred Land

I am founder of Deeply Rooted, an off-grid 160 acre pagan sanctuary and community in north-central Wisconsin. I have been living at Deeply Rooted for the last 8 years and will present the great benefits and potential pitfalls that can occur when Nature based people live close to Nature. Historically our beliefs and practices were shaped by our geography. We truly are people of the land, yet many of us live in cities and have little connection to the cycles of the Earth. We will discuss these ideas and make plans to move towards a place where Pagans and other Nature spiritualists are stewards of larger pieces of land and we can once again become truly “nature based” Pagans.

Ellie Bryan

Ellie Bryan attended SHF last year for the first time. She appeared in our talent show and her rich heartfelt voice and mouth bow entranced the audience. We are honored to have her perform again this year! She will be accompanied by Max Foutch and her cousin Alana Erickson.

Ellie Bryan performs traditional folk music using a hand made instrument called a mouth bow. This instrument resembles a hunting bow, it consists of a stick with a string under tension. The bow is leaned against the jaw and the cavity of the mouth is used to create a resonance chamber.

Throughout history, the mouth bow has been found in several indigenous cultures around the world, and today it is found mainly in some areas of Africa and the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Ellie Bryan sings traditional songs while playing the mouth bow, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, and banjo.

Ailinn

Ailinn is a poet-musician whose style embodies that touch of magic you can’t quite describe. Drawing upon traditional Celtic roots, Ailinn composes original folk tunes that reconnect listeners to the land, sea, and sky. Her music is a sincere expression of spirit that celebrates the sacred with frank honesty.

Ailinn is an emerging poet-musician whose style is more than mere entertainment. Aillinn uses words and song to give voice to the sacred earth. Ailinn

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 variety 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,” Ailinn 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…”Read more about Ailinn