BIG! 2020 is a BIG year, so much anticipation for this manifesting time. So many BIG things are happening for Bright Hawk Productions and our non-profit Let’s Dance Activities! First, a BIG EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT…. Bright Hawk is offering a Fire Circle that she is facilitating, organizing and visualizing along with other people including Hollis Taylor, Crystal J. Love, and Jason Bliss. This Fire Circle is completely different in the timing of the ceremonies and the intentional inclusion of children. We have worked hard this winter to manifest an event intended to include EVERYONE! Even to include families with children, Elders that want to share wisdom, and people with challenges that keep them from all night fire circles. The event space offers support for all levels of attendance from tenting to indoor space. Our event space even has handicap accessible indoor facilities! We are officially taking registrations at www.HeartlandFireCircle.com
HeartlandFireCircle.com – Dance In the Light with Us!
There is MORE and MORE, but here’s a little story! Then look for more exciting announcements below!
Van Life at Big Sur
Van life has its ups and downs just like living in a house. Although, unexpected mishaps can quickly become a disaster that eats your day. We had left Eugene, Oregon and had enjoyed sometime on the Pacific Coast.
We are both interested in healthy options and became intrigued with brewing Kombucha in our van. We brew two gallons, and that makes just about enough for the two of us. We are still working on our system and during our break in Eugene we worked to master the process. The scobies, the bacteria that makes the fermentation happen, are very active and the process is working.
All of us we have days that are more difficult than other days. Life is not about avoiding difficult days it’s about how you handle them. We were grateful to have enjoyed some days doing office work along the Pacific coast. We carried on into Santa Clara for a Let’s Dance program before we headed south to BigSur for a well deserved break.
Spring is blooming
BIG Ocean Views
Big Smiles from the Coast
Brilliant Blue Waters with BIG Spectacular Views
Loving #Vanlife on the Pacific Coast Hwy
As we drove out of the busy city, Hollis went to the center of the van only to realize the an entire gallon container of kombucha had spilled, the carpet was saturated and we both realized the entire van smelled like fermented vinegar! We really could not continue in this condition, so many levels of intolerable! As we inspected the damage we realized that this was going to be a project. We had to replace the carpet, clean things, relay carpet, and make more kombucha. We both sat in silence as we realized our plans to Big Sur were not happening tonight. We begrudgingly began to make plans to spend the afternoon with this overwhelming project.
We were relieved to find inexpensive carpet remnants and then drove into the city to find a DIY carwash tall enough for the van. We struggle through getting it all done with tired hungry bodies, carpet out and new carpet in. Hollis remastered the arrangement of things to assure this didn’t happen again. By the time we were finished we were both exhausted and frustrated with things and needing downtime. We sat in silence at dinner as Hollis reviewed the schedule and map,” Well I am grateful for this mess today because if we had gone to Big Sur for two days we would have to double back for our Let’s Dance program in Salinas, CA tomorrow!” Silver lining. We both stare at each other with raised eyebrows in surprise, realizing plans change, we both begin to relax and smile at each other, the stress of the day begins melting away. Bright Hawk says, “Well I guess it was meant to work out this way! We needed to slow down, study our schedule better, figure out a better system for the kombucha and finally get around to replacing the carpet, and now we have. ” Hollis agrees.
We both smiled and Bright Hawk asks, “Then do we have any time to spend in Big Sur?” Hollis reviews the schedule again and happily answers, “Actually we have several days to shoot video, get pictures and get a little rest.” We both look at each other as the stress fades, we have had easier days and will again. We know that everyone has moments like this, well, the details vary for sure! Often though as we sit and reflect we can find the silver lining in any hard situation. We took several quiet breathes together finishing our dinner and knowing that all moments pass–good, bad or otherwise.
We spent several days slowly meandering down the part of the Pacific Coast called “Big Sur” – savoring each beautiful moment because we are so aware of what we just went through. The beauty of the cliffs, the wisdom of the redwood trees and soothing nature of the waves washed away our rough start to the trip. We even spent time dancing in the sun with our shadows!
We slowly worked our way down the coastline on Highway 1 towards Morro Bay. We had pieced together that by the end of March we will have done the entire Pacific Coast Highway from Washington to Oregon and California! We were profoundly grateful for this life we have manifested. Even though it’s hard sometimes, we love our lives in the van! We worked hard to get to this point, we both have invested so much time and energy and every bit of it is worth it! For this we are grateful!
Redwoods at the Coast
Turkey *Gobble Gobble
Spring Flowers!
BIG Beach View
Waterfall Into the Ocean
Big Cliffs at the Coast
Sunset on the Cliffs of BIG Sur!
BIG Views, BIG SMILES, and BIG Fun at BIG Sur!
ANOTHER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
Bright Hawk and Hollis have been Featured in this Summit!
We want to THANK YOU for reading Bright Hawk’s Blog! AND we want to share another BIG important announcement with you! Bright Hawk and Hollis have been featured in a special Brain Degeneration Summit that is packed solid with resources for people living with brain degenerative diseases. We want to invite you to look deeper into this or share it with someone that might find it helpful. This is a big step for Let’s Dance Activities, our non-profit serving nursing care and memory care communities Nationwide. Its part of the reason we get around! We are so honored to be part of this event. Here is a link to the Let’s Dance Activities Blog and we hope that you take a moment to read some of the stories or spread the word.
Professionals Come Together with Resources for this Community
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May 2018 Earth Spirit community organizes their 40th Rites of Spring that includes history and future elements for the Massachusetts based community. The event no only included Bright Hawk but also historic members like Jeff & Spinner McBride, Selena Fox, and Wendy Rule.
25 years at Rites of Spring has been part of Bright Hawk’s path through many transformations from earliest in her seeker days to now as she steps forward as an elder, wise woman, and one of the best storytellers in the world. Her abilitiy to engage is clear at the traditional Magic Sunset Storytime held at least twice during the event. Just after dinner the community slowly moves themselves into position creating a very large comfortable listening space around the campfire space just outside the dining hall. Bright Hawk often tries on new ideas with the Rites of Spring audience because she is at her best among her chosen family. Assured that they will support and love her in her creative process. Bright Hawk offers music along with her stories in the past it was just the djembe but in her most recent transformations she has began to master playing the handpan along to her stories. A unique ability along with this unique instrument creates a storytelling experience among no other. Something different for families with children of different ages. An experience that engages the parents, big kids and little kids alike – an experience that in the Rites of Spring community that has now become a tradition. A celebrated tradition of listening to stories forgotten, transformed, and created by Bright Hawk that teach deep lessons like respecting nature, everyone serves a purpose, and how to transform our scars. A fantastic experience that helps bring together community and families with respect to how humans have always done it around the fire but also speaks to our today – with music and even live characters for our busy minds.
Storytelling was the overall theme of Rites of Spring in 2018 and Bright Hawk found herself with a new transformation of her storytelling teachings. Her background with storytelling in corporations in order to build teams and understanding, therefore increasing productivity, was only the first step in Bright Hawk’s newest creation “Storytelling to Inspire Consciousness”. From an intense 90 minute workshop that seems to open hearts and inspire even the shyest of the participant to now a 2-3 part series that takes us deep into storytelling. Starting with HOW to share our stories in a way that engages, inspires, and transforms the listener and using those tools to take us all deeper. Bright Hawk’s 2 or 3 days events help us to use those tools to deepen our relationships with others – creating vulnerability, understanding and community on a deeper more intimate level. Bright Hawk created a taste of this 2-3 days experience at Rites of Spring with a two part intensive, each 90mins, where participants were encouraged to attend both the first and second session. Each one of these intensives, with just a dozen individuals, that by their choice to engage are fortunate to create lasting bonds with the others in the intensive by simply sharing their story in a way that engages and inspires. When people are able to be present and listen to each others stories a deep understanding is created, therefore creating a deeper more peaceful understanding for others. This practice could potentially create serious transformations in communities leading to sustainable peace. When we work to sustain peace among ourselves as a community we are able to take inspiration to the world at large in hopes to find more peace.
Bright Hawk’s presence enhances the entire experience of rituals and traditions among the community in a very special way. Bright Hawk’s rhythms with the djembe are never taken for granted among the Fire Circles every other night, she is often known to be a very strong group drummer and helps bring drummers together with her confidence and guidance. Bright Hawk’s presence among the community brings beauty and music to rituals that inspire original tradition. Tradition that was created by this community for this community and held in a healthy way through tears and struggles to celebrations and growths. Bright Hawk is honored to be part of a community that understands deeply how to hold each other through all our parts, even the ones that aren’t as comfortable as others. Building community goes deep and to have her roots deeply in the Rites of Spring community gives Bright Hawk inspiration and confidence to carry her amazing talents and messages around the world each year.
Sign up for further updates about Bright Hawk’s appearances and reflections of her festival experience through this newsletter, sign up here.
“Join us in our seventeenth year for an intimate tribal experience. Each year between two and three hundred Pagans and nature worshipers and their children and elders come together for a week of joy, fellowship, and learning. Our theme, “Gratitude” reflects the realization that for a mid sized festival in southern Minnesota we have hosted an amazingly talented group of speakers, visionaries, and musicians over the years. Sacred Harvest Festival has welcomed well over a thousand unique individuals who have made our tribe flourish. In gratitude, and for the first time, we have decided to bring some of our favorite people back as guests.”
Bright Hawk will be part of Arise Music Festival in Loveland, CO
A Quote from Arise Website:
“An independent, family-run, leave-no-trace event, the ARISE Festival takes place over three days at Sunrise Ranch, a 350-acre organic farm and retreat center, located in a stunning Colorado mountain valley just west of the town of Loveland. Recognized as more than a music festival, ARISE offers a range of activities such as workshops, enriching yoga classes, provocative documentary films and panel discussions, art installations, live painters and art gallery, performance artists and theme camps. ARISE also offers “interactive villages” including a Children’s Village, Food Truck Village, Vending Village, Healers Village, Hemp Village, Wisdom Village and a Solution’s Village, showcasing ecological and social justice solutions with practical on-site demonstrations designed to make our world a better place.
The consummate summer camping festival for conscientious music fans — ARISE is renowned for bold and progressive “global cooling” initiatives, such as a long-held commitment to planting one tree with every ticket sold, staging a pre-festival permaculture training, local sourcing, an organic farmer’s market in the campground, and a leave-no-trace ethos.”
