The Heart & Mind Festival Annex, M.A.I.S.C. (Movement of the American Indian Solar Culture), NYC Chapter of the Universal Initiatic College, The Sacred Arts Research Foundation (S.A.R.F.) presents Changing Tides - A Fundraiser for Our Underwater Relatives and the Salish Sea
This event will be held at Daya Yoga, 360 Jefferson St, Brooklyn, NY 11237
The Heart & Mind Festival is an international movement that gives a unified voice to an emerging culture which honors the Earth, embraces diversity, and explores paths of consciousness. It is a place where elders, teachers, indigenous wisdom keepers, and artists come to offer their visions, wisdom, and ways.
On Saturday, December 15th from 3pm-10pm. The Heart & Mind Festival Annex will produce Changing Tides, an immersive event featuring a Sacred Water Ceremony with Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk, a daytime ecstatic dance with DJ Nickodemus, Native American storytelling & song with Theresa Bear Fox, a panel discussion on Spiritual Ecology and Conservation with Taino Elder Maestro Manuel Rufino, Mayan Elder Tata Pedro Cruz, Dr. Kurt Russo, Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk, Theresa Bear Fox & Geraldine Patrick Encina from the Center for Earth Ethics followed by an Evening with Peia Luzzi & Kevin Nathaniel!
In 1970, over 40 orcas were brutally captured from the Salish Sea in Northwest Washington and taken to marine parks around the world. During that capture, at least five of the orcas were killed. Tokitae, who was just three years old at the time of capture, is the sole survivor, living alone in a small and isolated tank at Miami Seaquarium where she has been performing acts for food rewards for 48 years. Tokitae has not seen another orca since 1980. The Lummi Nation intend to change this by returning her to her home pod at the Eastsound, Orcas Island. Bring Tokitae Home!
This event will raise funds to support the Lummi Nation’s plight to return Tokitae to the Salish Sea. Featuring Taino Elder Maestro Manuel Rufino, Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk of the Deer Clan, Tata Pedro Cruz, Kevin Nathaniel, Theresa Bear Fox, Kurt Russo, Peia, Nickodemus, Geraldine Patrick Encina, and Dream Seed.
In addition, we will explore solutions on how to involve ourselves in the restoration and protection of the Salish Sea and bring light to the importance of the Salmon population to the local ecology, culture and to all life above and below the waters*.
DAY INCLUDES:
CACAO CEREMONY!
Special opening ceremony with Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk
Ecstatic Dance with DJ Nickodemus
Dream Seed Shamanic Sound Healing
Concert with Kevin Nathaniel
Vegetarian dinner lovingly prepared by the Jungle Cafe
Song & Story share with Teresa Bear Fox
Presentation by Dr. Kurt Russo’s on Tokitae and our underwater relatives of the Salish Sea
Panel Discussion on Spiritual Ecology & Conservation with Maestro Manuel Rufino, Tata Pedro Cruz, Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk, Geraldine Patrick Encina, and Dr. Kurt Russo
Concert with PEIA
Cost: $35 (Updated price thanks to our generous partners); funds raised will go to The Tokitae Fund of the Lhaq’temish Foundation (https://sacredsea.org)
Maestro Manuel Rufino is a recognized elder in the Taino tradition and World Director of M.A.I.S.C. He is a spiritual guide, gifted ceremonial leader and teacher of sacred initiatic traditions of the world.
Grandmother Clara Soaring Hawk of the Deer Clan - Chief of the Deer Clan of the Ramapough-Lenape and Water Protector.
Tata Pedro Cruz - One of the few surviving members of the Mayan Council of the Elders of Tz'utujil, which is a branch of the Maya Qui-che. “Tata Pedro” as he is most affectionately known, is a traditional Mayan Ajq’ij and Day Keeper, and one of the principal authorities of the Council of Mayan Elders of Lake Atitlan in Guatamala. He received the title, “Heart of the Lake Atitlan” K’U’XYA, by his fellow Mayan Council of Elders and Tz’utujil people. Tata Pedro recognizes the interconnectedness of all people, the expanding consciousness of the planet, and the urgent need to unify our spiritual, cultural and ethnic wisdom for the benefit of the planet and humanity. Tata Pedro is a globally recognized elder in the Mayan tradition and has traveled far and wide sharing knowledge, ceremonies and practices. He is the interpreter of dreams for his community and a leader of the preservation and education of Mayan day keeping and fire ceremonies.
Theresa Bear Fox writes: “I grew up with musicians in my home. My mother played harmonica and piano. One of my sisters played guitar. Two of my brothers played guitar and sang traditional songs using a water drum and horn rattles. I always loved music, and I realized later that I had a gift for songwriting around the age of 29. When I look back and think about it, I always had this beautiful gift, but I didn’t realize what I had. I remember when I was riding the bus to school I could hear music coming to me…”
Kevin Nathaniel - A visionary musician who, with voice and ancient Afrikan instruments, channels sound as a universal healing force. Together, breathing rhythms to the beat of our synchronized hearts, Kevin Nathaniel resonates songs of unity and the “big picture” of love in the grooviest ways possible! A long-time devotee of mbira, kalimba, polyphonic circle singing, drum, dance, meditation, and yoga; a world-traveled music healer sharing the musical medicine of the ancient, the now, and the beyond, Kevin Nathaniel brings a fresh, deep experience of the beauty of sound.
Peia Luzzi is an American born song collector, writer and multi-instrumentalist based in the mountains of Southern Oregon. Like water from a deep well, she draws inspiration from her ancestral roots of Celtic and Old World European folk music. With the voice of a lark, Peia dances nimbly from Child Ballads and 17th C. Gaelic laments, to Waulking Songs, and Bulgarian mountain calls. She has traveled extensively over the past 10 years to uncover melodies wrinkled and wise with time, laboring to honor their language and stories, while bringing a piece of herself to each song she carries.
Dream Seed is a sound healing ensemble created by members of Golden Drum, Sacred Arts Research Foundation, and Didge Project. Shamanic chanting, mantras, overtone singing, Native American songs, indigenous music, didgeridoos, crystal singing bowls, bells, gongs, harmoniums, tuning forks and other overtone-emitting instruments are used to create an environment conducive to deep relaxation and inward investigation.
Dr. Kurt Russo has worked with Jewell James since 1980 on treaty rights, protection of sacred sites, coalition building, cross-cultural conflict resolution and land acquisition. He currently works in the Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office of the Lummi Nation on the issue of fossil fuel exports. He is the Executive Director of the Native American Land Conservancy, and is a Research Fellow at the California Center for Native Nations (University of California).
Nickodemus been touring as a DJ all over the World since the mid 90’s. As a producer, he has three albums & remix albums entitled ‘Endangered Species’ ‘Sun People’ & ‘Moon People’ as well as nine ‘Turntables on the Hudson’ compilations to date. As an experienced musical traveler, he excels most when playing in versatile settings letting the space and time guide the music and the journey. Nickodemus’ connection to the people combined with his background & vision is guaranteed to bring the party & dance-floor anywhere from deep, introspective, electronic moods to more organic sun – filled percussive sets.
Geraldine Patrick Encina with Mapuche and Celtic ancestry, is a fourth year Scholar in Residence at the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Geraldine contributes to the Original Caretakers Program of the Center from her fifteen-year research about Mesoamerican Conceptions of Time and Space, from which have emerged publications and workshops about the astronomical, ecological and ceremonial cycles observed by the Mayan and the Mexica (or Aztec) thanks to their Calendars. Geraldine’s purpose is to provide spaces of reflection for indigenous and allied, like-minded, communities that want inspiration from ancestral cosmovision, philosophies and wisdom of those original peoples that lived respecting bio-cultural rhythms.