Voodoo-Zell 
The New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple was established in New Orleans in May of 1990 by Priest Oswan Chimani and Priestess Miriam. Over the past 7 years the Temple has grown in its
knowledge of Voodoo in comparison with World Religions. It meets the needs of many peoples throughout America and the World. It has become known through Television, movie production, and is visited by representatives of universities, anthropologists, and researchers in African based Religion. It is located at 828 North Rampart Street across from Historic Congo Square Park where African slaves held their rituals every Sunday evening in the Seventeen through Eighteen Hundreds.
Revisioning the Roots
A ritual to all of the Barons, Guedes, and Ancestors. Revisioning of the Ancestors' Tree. Bring an offering from your mind or something physical to be revisioned during this year. Drummers, please come 30 minutes before the ritual time to go over the Order of Service and rhythms.
Daniella BlueStar WaterHawk believes that her gypsy heart has brought her much adventure and insight. Born in New York City, her travels have given much realization, clarity and a closer relationship with Earth and Water Goddesses. She seeks her own Spiritual path and has studied many and varied philosophies. Blending a diversity of university and self-taught knowledge into her Path, she sits in the Circle of Changelings.
Don "Two Eagles" WaterHawk combines German and Native American (Tsalagi/Mesquakie) heritage. He is a Red Feather Brother, a member of the Wolf Clan, and a Spiritually eclectic walker. He has been a student of Native American and Eastern spiritual ways for over 20 years, and is an artist, craftsman, photographer, a carver of the Pipe and creator of spiritual tools, and a Council Facilitator and Sharer. Don sits in the Circle of Changelings.
The Tsalagi Dance of Life
This is a workshop centered around the Seven Directional Ancient Medicine Dance from the Tsalagi (Cherokee) People. The movement is much like Tai Chi, and uses the seven directions and the lessons of the Eagle and the Owl. Don will be aided by Daniella Bluestar in teaching this workshop. This dance shows how to share energies with the seven directions for the healing of all things in the universe. Not strenuous at all. Wear loose clothing or come skyclad, and bring water to drink if it is hot. The Dance of Love will be taught to couples during the same workshop. (Please do not come to this class under the influence.)
What is My Path?
Ever wonder how you can find your Path? What is a Path and who's my Teacher? Are you on the right Path, in the right direction? Who's Path is it anyway? Ever hear Don say "don't follow my Path, cause you'll just step in my do-do?" This is an in depth discussion where we can be serious and laugh at the same time, at ourselves. We'll talk about being on a Path and discuss aspects surrounding ones "Path". Please bring something comfortable to sit on.
Rainbow Weaver has been a drama enrichment teacher and an early childhood educator for over fifteen years. She is an Eco-Activist, a Kamakazi Clown, a painter and a photographer. Her central path is Earth Spirituality. She has performed the Rainbow Web from in Canada at First Night (Toronto's performance arts festival), at Rainbow Gatherings and Earth Day Celebrations, and has woven her web in England, Poland, and at the Washington Monument.
The Rainbow Web
The Rainbow web is an interactive ceremonial art piece. It is constructed of 30,000 feet of hand-dyed recycled cotton material. These ribbons have been used by thousands of people to
weave webs since Earth Day 1992. Each is untied by hand and reused again and again. We weave at festivals and celebrations. The web is like a cicle; it is a healing tool for all. It is a ceremony to renew the Earth, to give back and restore balance. The web reflects the inter-connectedness of all things; it is a web of wellness, music, community and care. It is the heartsongs of children. Each of us holds a thread in the Web of Life; now is the time to weave a new story for the next seven generations. What is the best future we can imagine?
"We do not weave the Web of Life. We are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the Web, we do to ourselves."
- Chief Seattle
Alex Wedmedyk, G.S. is a craftsman, jewelry designer, drummaker, and drummer. He is a member of the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge and a co-founder of Earth Rhythm Workshops offering experiential workshops, special events, and annual gatherings
that promote the unity of all things. Earth Rhythm empowers others to awaken the healer within and to carry the message of oneness into their personal life walk.
Afrikan Drum Making Workshop
(5 hrs. 1st day, 4 hrs. 2nd. Limit 10 participants. Ashiko: $165 Small, $195 Large Djembe: $295 Small, $350 Large)
This two day workshop begins with a ceremony to remind us of
our connection to our Source and to honor the gifts from the
Earth that will become our drums. Then you will craft your own
Ashiko or Djembe drum to completed form. This includes choosing
your own natural wood drum shell, selection of fabric and hide,
complete assembly, and a lesson in making "diamonds" to keep the
drum head tight and tuned. All drums will come with a heavy
fabric belt strap to wear when playing. Class limited to ten.
WhiteDeer is a professional musician and long-time
Pagan who (when he's not on the road) lives in Wisconsin, with a foot in both
worlds.
Finding Your Way Home
This workshop will focus on the return trip. The magician/shaman/explorer of awareness who walks between the worlds needs a good psychic compass and spiritual map. We will discuss methods of ego return and travelling from oneness to the world of consensus reality. Musical and rhythmic elements will
be used as well as simple personal rituals of grounding and centering. If you have a favorite drum, rattle, or other musical instrument used for journeying, bring it. Additional instruments will be provided.
Billy Woods is a Drum Instructor
from Boulder, Colorado, and has been drumming for over 35 years. He is a Taoist
and a teacher of Qi Gung (an internal meditational exercise form) and has been
an ethnic percussionist performing and recording New Music for Dance
for the past 15 years. He is part of the percussion performance ensemble Seeds
of Time (formerly Street Drumming), whose concert at the 1994 Starwood festival
is available on the tape Street Drumming Live> at Starwoodfrom
ACE.
Chi Kung Exercises Pt. I & II
The practice of Chi Kung, developed in China over a period
of centuries, increases the level of internal vitality through
the use of the breath, slow movement forms which are often based
on movements in nature or of animals, and visualization patterns
related to the oriental system of energy meridians in the body.
This particular form, the Tao Tan Pai or Taoist Elixir Style, is
based in the teachings of Grand Master Share K Lew of San Diego,
Ca., who studied for 14 yrs. as a resident monk at the Wong Lung
Guan (Yellow Dragon) Temple in Canton, China. He has been
teaching since coming to America in 1949.
Part I will involve the beginning set of Nui Gung, a short
power set of five relatively easy movements along with quiet
seated meditation, to maintain good health and increase vitality.
Part II will utilize the Shen exercises which help develop Chi
energy, improve visual focus, and promote self-healing. Part I is
a pre-requisite for Part II.
Yaya Diallo was born in Mali, West Africa, a member
of the Minianka (Bamana) people. He was raised in a culture that works, worships,
lives and breathes to the beat of the Drum. An instrument for transmitting traditional
knowledge among the Minianka, the drum is the focal point of Yaya's life story
and his link, through the universal medium of music, with the Western world. His
educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University
of Montreal and training in a variety of African instruments: Minianka tam tam,
Conga; Senoufo balafon, xylophone; Mandingo Tama, talking drum. Yaya has performed
throughout the U.S.A., Canada and Europe. He is the author of The Healing
Drum: African Wisdom and Teaching and the creator of a CD by the same
name, and he recently released an exciting new CD entitled Dounoukan.
Also check out Yaya's troupe members Kwabena
Owusu, Daniel Bellegarde, & Terah
Israel.
The Healing Drum for Everyone
Yaya Diallo will discuss the importance of music and drumming and how they can be used for healing. "My purpose," Yaya says, "is to bring a different point of view of African drumming to America; to share the rhythms of my grandparents, along with the knowledge of my people and our culture, with the world; to plant seeds in the souls of people by giving them the basic foundation of drumming and all of it's healing powers." He will give insight into the work in his book The Healing Drum, which has been translated into many other languages, and his new work with Elipses Art in making a new cd focussing solely on healing music.
Dounoukan: The Voice of the Drum
Everyone from beginners to advanced drummers can learn the basic techniques of African drumming. Using particular rhythms from the Dounoukan and Healing Drum cds, Yaya Diallo instructs us in the traditional sounds of the drum and how to get those sounds using BOTH hands. He will teach us to play specific parts for rhythms that can be incorporated into other styles of drumming, leading us as we clap out the rhythms. He uses a unique style of teaching, enabling people to use and strengthen their weaker hand, which in turn strengthens the part of the brain that helps the weaker side of the body. This is a special workshop with a limited class size and a $15 fee.
Morning Glory Zell did her first vision quest in 1968,
and since has studied Wicca, Celtic Shamanism, and Goddess history. Ordained as
a Priestess in the Church of All Worlds in 1974, she co-founded the Ecosophical
Research Association in 1977, and helped develop a Sacred Wilderness retreat
and the Living Unicorn project. She has travelled, lectured and taught college
courses with Oberon on Neo-Paganism, the Gaia Thesis and Goddess re- emergence.
A Goddess Historian, Lore-mistress and Priestess of the Great Goddess in Her many
guises, Morning Glory currently travels and lectures with her extensive collection
of Goddess figurines, teaching about the Goddess with a focus on loving relationships
and the divine in our daily lives. She is also the proprietor of Mythic Images,
producing museum quality replicas of ancient Goddesses and Gods sculpted in partnership
with Oberon.
Dark Ecstasy: The Ritual Use of Pleasure, Pain and Sensory Deprivation as a Psychedelic Experience
We will take a look at the ancient historical, psychological
and biochemical roots of these three powerful tools for altering
consciousness. We will discuss the shamanic origins of piercing,
the use of flagellation and role play in ancient Greek Mysteries,
and the function of bondage and devices like the Witch's Cradle
as an initiatory experience. Morning Glory will explain how these
techniques are being resurrected in the Modern Primitive
Renaissance and how they have at times been incorporated into
some Neo-Pagan and Wiccan Rites. (The nature of this material makes this an adult workshop.)
A Bouquet of Lovers: Open Relationships in a Pagan Tribal Context (with Oberon Zell)
Oberon and Morning Glory have had a successful open marriage
for over 23 years, and have been in group marriages for half of
that time (currently a group of five). They coined the term
"polyamorous" to describe such relationships. Together they
present a special workshop for individuals, couples and more
seeking to explore the possibilities of polyamory and Love
Without Limits. Those who have read Heinlein's Stranger in a
Strange Land (1961 version) or Donald Kingsbury's Courtship Rite
(1982) will have appropriate background, but this class is open
to all. Handouts will be made available.
Oberon Zell founded the Church of All Worlds in 1962,
which upon incorporation in 1968 became the first Neo-Pagan church to obtain full
Federal recognition in the U.S. First to apply the terms "Pagan" and "Neo-Pagan"
to the newly-emerging nature Religions of the 1960's, and through his publication
of the award-winning Green Egg Magazine, Oberon was instrumental in the
coalescence of the Neo-Pagan movement. In 1970 he formulated and published the
thealogy of deep ecology known as The Gaia Thesis. With his soulmate Morning
Glory, he founded the Ecosophical Research Association whose projects have
included raising Unicorns, chasing Mermaids, visiting ancient sacred sites and
exploring the underworld. Now in a five-person marriage, Oberon is currently working
on a book to be entitled The Gospel of Gaea.
Dreaming the Millenial Gaia
"The Millenial Gaia" is Oberon's latest and finest sculpture, and the culmination in artistic expression of his 1970 vision of the Goddess which resulted in his "Theagenesis" - his precursor of the Gaia Thesis: that all life on Earth comprises the body of a single living being - Mother Earth (Gaia) Herself. This and other images of the Earth Mother from various cultures will be passed around while Oberon shares his story of Gaia and his vision for carrying this powerful image out into the world and the collective consciousness. As you hold Her in your hands, new experiences and visions come to light, and we will share these visions. Everyone who dreams with the Millenial Gaia adds their vision and feeling to Her.
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