We welcome our sis-stars and we want to speak a special thanks to our brothers, sons, fathers, uncles and grandfathers. To all of you who have heard the call and opened your heART to healing the Land, the Waters, the Critters and the People of the Gulf, we acknowledge you and welcome your support, your skills and talents! Thank you for helping us raise the vibrations and tend to the heartbeat of the Earth Mother.
Steve Spooner walks with gifts to open heARTs and create balance, within and without. His humor reminds us of the Lightness of Life. “Working with Pachamama (Mother Earth) in the Sacred Valley of Peru with the people, the plants and the Shamans, brought me to the place of absolutely knowing and feeling the interconnectedness of all things. Of the perfection of the journey and its’ lessons. It is the place that defies description; you know it …remember it. I am just here to be a conduit for it…. To help you remember what you already know somewhere inside of you.”
Steve was recently a Ceremonialist and co creator of the 11/11/11 Ceremony in Sedona and has been a water carrier for some years now. Transporting her between sites near and far on Mother Earth’s surface including Lake Titticaca, Peru; Montezuma’s Well, four continents and three oceans in over 20 exchanges. His Relationship with Blessed Water has called him to be with us we join to return the Gulf to its’ self-sustaining, energetic harmony. Part of his relationship with water involves the preparation of elixirs. When first called to this Ceremony 10 months ago, he was directed to create an elixir for THIS cause. He will have this powerful, balancing elixir with him and available in Louisiana.
http://www.peaceisinbeing.com/
SoulFire Circle Drum Keepers
Billy Woods Woods has been a professional drummer since 1958, performing across the United States. In 1980, he discovered the dumbek and the rhythms of the Middle East. Seeds of Time formed in 1997 with Billy Woods, Daveed Korup, and later Josh Levin. within the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. he is known as Master Sylvanus the Drummer. In 2010 he began his latest stage show, Peace, love and light, featuring “Peace is Possible” and “FrankenFunk” new YouTube video’s. Billy began studying the teachings of Grand Master Share K. Lew (called the Dao Dan Pai or Daoist Elixir Style) in 1980, with Sufi Thom McCombs Billy’s teacher. He has been teaching Qi Gung (Chi Kung) (practice developed in China to increase ones level of internal vitality) workshops since 1985. In 2011 he became Abbot of Spirit Gate Temple ( Shen-men Gaun). http://www.billywoods.com/
Bright Hawk is an inspired and inspiring story teller, djembe drummer, performer, teacher and playful spirit. Bright Hawk truly shows up for the participants and organizers of any festival she attends. She shares her expansive and playful spirit with the all night Fire Circle and drumming communities she is a part of. In 1994 Bright Hawk began performing with Mz. imani and Rhythm Alive! She has performed with Circle Skin and Bone, Sister Adsum, Jeff McBride, Abbi Spinner, and Billy Woods, to name a few. She has studied Abdoul Doumbia from Mali, for more than a decade and performs in benefits for the Mali Assistance Project. She currently lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Fire Keeper, Medical Lead
Jeanette A. Ladores, RN,WFR, NCTMB, CYT has studied rhythm as a vehicle for healing and transformation for 20 years. With foundations in Frame drumming for Shamanic States of Consciousness, she has studied African Drumming and Rhythm with teachers such as Babatunde Olatunji, Joe Barnes, Yaya Diallo, Madeline “Yayo” Nelson, Chuck Wood, and Michael Marcus. For the last 8 years, she has been deeply immersed in the Tribal, Musical, Spiritual, and Martial culture of the Philippine Islands of her heritage where she studies Pekiti Tirsia Kali with Grand Tuhon Leo Gaje Jr. She currently resides in northern New Jersey at Sycamore Grove Farms pursuing her passion for Nature, Spirit, Community, and Sustainability.
Collaborative Arts Team
Mel Shapcott has a passion for learning new things and has always been driven by an urge to create. She was raised in the Shenadoah Valley of Virginia where she developed an ever-present appreciation for the mesmerizing beauty of the natural world. Her enthusiasm for new art forms led her to Philadelphia where she worked as a silversmith and received a BFA in printmaking from Tyler School of Art.
With a fierce desire to be independent, Mel set off in search of a new way of living — one more in tune with nature and less dependent on modern convenience. Her journey led her to the high desert of Arizona where she currently lives and farms on her off-grid homestead. Inspired by the backdrop of the nearby Painted Desert, Mel began her works in watercolor soon after moving to Southwest. Her vivid use of color replicates the intensity of the landscape, while abstract forms represent thoughts and emotions that emerge from within. “I am in touch with the land — the source of all life,” she says. “It is flowing around us all the time. I simply capture it in colors for all to see.” melshapcott.com