The world has greatly intensified for humans in the past few weeks. The virus has pushed us all to truly sit with ourselves in this time. Many of us are struggling with uncertainty, grief and loss. Even if no one directly related to you is struggling with this virus, everyone is very aware, every day of isolation of the potential hazards and those that are actually very sick. We grieve the loss of humans, we grieve what we had before this all happened and many of us can feel even other people’s grief. So one way or another most of us are in a place of grief. We can feel the global impact on humans, this virus has created, most of us are locked in our homes to wait it out. Yet somehow, all of us, seem to sense that BIG changes are happening because of this pandemic. Somehow in our hearts and our souls we see the impact humans have on earth, animals and nature in general. We are awakening to our full connection to all things alive on planet earth, including the virus itself.
The waves still come and the sun still rises
We were very fortunate to spend an entire week in early March on the Pacific Coast Highway where we met the elephant seals. We set up our van each day on the beach and listened to their calls to each other, watched babies suckle their mammas and watched them live as a community. Each day it seemed we would learn more about them and we found out what they had been through. Elephant Seals were heavily hunted in the 18th, 19th century and into the early 20th century by humans. They are REALLY easy to hunt, they mostly lay around on the beach. The hunter didn’t have to work hard except maybe to harvest their 4000-5000lbs of blubber, though humans at that time likely saw them as fuel. Humans hunted this very easy prey until they almost became extinct! The number actually got down to just 50 seals!
Finally, humans found another source of fuel and Mexico began to protect them. Now miraculously they have grown to over 225,000 seals with numbers increasing all the time. We were inspired by the diligent volunteers that are part of the “Friends of the Elephant Seal” as they came out and counted the entire population! They were happy to answer questions and share their joy in their volunteer work. Each time the sun came up or down the seals would ‘bark’ and the babies would ‘cry’ as if they had a ritual to celebrate these great transitionary times we see every day. They honored their transition from an almost extinct population to a growing population of these amazing animals.
Amazing resilient Animals
As the world began to become infected with this virus, we became aware that these seals had overcome their almost extinct past, they very nearly disappeared because of human hunting. We couldn’t help but contemplate our own future, we have spent the last five years visiting nursing homes — that reality washing away with the waves and seeing change was on its way. Uncertainty is there, yet these seals give us hope that the changes, the EARTH so desperately needed, are happening! That hope is bigger than anyone’s life because it includes all of our lives, including the seals! As the changes unfold before us and we choose to be part of that, we harvest the resilience of survival. Let these amazing seals inspire you, too!
Let these Elephant Seals Inspire YOU!
Now as we sit in our safe home on top the mountain and await what might happen next we invite YOU! We invite YOU to this Virtual Fire Circle. We are calling it UNITE! Uniting the diversity of Fire Circles all over the world and inviting all organizers to take part. We invite YOU to be part of this fire, Sing a song together, get dressed in your magickal attire, play the drums with Bright Hawk, and UNITE with folks that all need this connection RIGHT NOW! We need volunteers to hold a fire and keep your camera mostly on it for the duration of the 3 hour block of time, or part of the time. We need people to step up and offer energetic clearing to folks joining us, like a smudge gate, but virtually. We need people to offers songs, poems, and wisdom. We want to create a virtual fire circle, just like we have all experienced in all our diverse ways. There is room for everyone, although we will need to keep this appropriate for all ages. We welcome children and youth, including families. We hope in order to include as many people as possible in our 100 people limit that families/couples can just log in with one camera. Decorate your space that you choose to share on camera! Wear your magical attire, burn your incense, dance in your living room, and sing with the group! We will UNITE and love you through the fear and uncertainty. UNITE with us!
Please understand that you must JOIN THE FAMILY OF FIRE GROUP on Facebook or email me directly to get the information regarding how to join us in this inspiring event, UNITE. We are keeping it privately in the group in order to hold a safe container, but if your on my mailing list we are happy to send you the information if you don’t use or prefer Facebook. The event will be held on ZOOM and you can even simply call in from your phone, no video required. If you want to share the event on Facebook, you will notice that the group event is not shareable but you can find an event page on my BRIGHT HAWK PRODUCTIONS page that directs folks to join the group, to get the details. So please share THIS event Page.
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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.
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“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.”
