Dear friends and readers of Spirit of Change,
I am very happy that my partner Jimi and I have accepted the challenge of coordinating the Harvest Gathering '97 on Present Day Shamanism. In this letter, I want to tell you a little bit about where we are coming from, describe our vision for this gathering, and ask your help in some very specific ways.
*The Five Colors logo was created by Jerrie Hildebrand
Is a conference planned for October 13-15, 2000 (following Columbus Day). It will be held at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, hosted by the College of Public and Community Service. The intent of this event is to bridge the spiritual and the political communities, bringing together anti-racism activists, community groups, youth, spiritual teachers and elders of many traditions, and interested individuals of all five colors to share and learn from each other in the quest for reconciliation and healing.
In the weeks following the Gathering of the Five Colors, I returned to the vision documents I had written over the last two years. These documents were created as a way of communicating the ideas and intentions that came through the visioning work that Jimi and I had done that culminated in our plans for Mending the Sacred Hoop.
In his article (in the Nov/Dec 1998 issue of Spirit of Change), "The Lost People," Thom Hartmann speaks eloquently about the ancient tribal ways of the Europeans which were the first casualties of the violent, greed-driven materialism that became the culture of "Western Civilization." He notes that after thousands of years of dominator culture, these ancient ways have been lost. Young people in western society no longer learn these Earth-honoring ways from their elders, and instead become socialized into a culture of unrelenting individualism, consumerism, and disregard for the connectedness of all beings in favor of advancement of the ego-self.
For many years I have walked my Path
Attuning to the cycles, the rhythms, the songs and stories of the land and sky
Inspired by the Old Religion of Europe
To work with the elements, the directions, the circle
I let my ceremonies arise from my heart
And my rituals are good, and Spirit works through me.
In July of 1997, Carol Bedrosian, publisher of Spirit of Change magazine, contacted Jimi and me and asked us to co-coordinate the first Harvest Gathering, scheduled for September of that year. The first coordinator she had hired had quit, and Carol did not at that time have the experience necessary to plan and run such a gathering.