2024 Mosaic NWHF
Skalitude
Retreat Center
A Washington State Eco-Retreat
A refuge in the wild. The council of the wild gods is alive on the edges. If you press your ear to the Earth you may hear the songs of the furred & rooted, hived & feathered.
Situated in the foothills of the North Cascade mountains, Skalitude’s 160 acres are nestled in a secluded basin in the renowned Methow Valley. Surrounded by thousands of acres of National Forest wildlands, the power of the land nourishes and rejuvenates.
2023 Offerings
2023 Workshop & Music Schedule
Select Schedule for downloadable PDF (upd 6/10/23)
Music & Workshop information and schedules will be updated on a rolling basis, as information becomes available.
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SCARABAJO
Atenas is a botanical artist passionate about capturing the everlasting beauty of nature and preserving it through her art. Her work combines the traditional techniques of botanical printing and natural dyeing, using sustainably sourced materials from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. Each created piece is one-of-a-kind, showcasing the unique patterns, colors, and textures of the natural elements she works with. From delicate prints on fabric to vibrant yarns and textiles, her art brings the splendor of nature to the forefront, encouraging a deeper understanding and connection with the world around us. Her work is not only visually stunning but also meaningful, preserving the natural elements in art form and fostering a sense of respect and love for our planet.
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Clinical Herbalist and Owner, (Head Chef and Bottle Washer), Horse Of A Different Color Herbal Products
Creating formulas for humans and animals
Seeing clients at North Glover Healing Center in Twisp
Graduate: The National College of Phytotherapy 1998
Creator of “The Herbalist Minute” on KTRT
I have loved the plants and their role as nutrients and medicine for as long as I can remember. Since moving to the Methow Valley, I have met elders and friends who have introduced me to their special plants and I’ve done my share of nibbling and appreciating while traveling the hills on foot and with horses.
I have been working as an herbalist and landscaper for 30+years, and living in the Methow Valley among the sagebrush, elderberry, roses and ponderosa with three horses, a dog, a couple of cats, and a human or two.
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Morgan received a PhD in anthropology (spiritual ecology) from U of Hawaii, Manoa, 2001, specializing in plant-inspired cultural revitalization movements (herbal renaissances). He left academia soon after graduating, and now specializes in working with inspirations coming from diverse directions, including the elemental realms, the planetary innernet, ’teacher' plants, and our galactic family. In service to this guidance, he also makes medicines of all kinds, among them events both large (Singing Alive & Plants enChant gatherings), and small (Creation-song circles)
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PIXIE HONEY
Maeyoka brings to the table a decade of experience tending bees, working with herbal medicine, and deepening her embodiment of the lessons of reciprocity and interconnectedness imparted by the bees and plants. The Brightheart-Pixie family now calls that meadow where they first met home. Benjamin, Maeyoka, their four children, and a growing community are the stewards of a 160 acre honeybee sanctuary and retreat center, called Skalitude, a name that means "to live in harmony with nature".
The Pixie Honey team has grown to become a buzzing hive of inspired and industrious friends and family, all working and loving in service to the honeyed beauties that enrich our lives. Many hands contribute to the tending of hives, harvesting of plants, making of the the magic that fills the bottles, and bringing the medicine of the bees to the people.
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Natasha Clarke is a herbalist and storyteller, artist and drum maker.
“I’ve lived in many places and many worlds and most of the time I've been lost. I can only give thanks to my friends and family, teachers, human and more than human, all who have loved me and supported me and stood by me while I've found my way home.”
Starting by walking through the hedgerows as a small child in England, collecting and creating potions I brought my love of the green world to the USA where I completed my herbal studies with Mathew Wood, Scott Kloos and Joyce Netishen. I have been a clinical herbalist for 10 years as well as co-founder of the Green Gathering herbal festival, given countless plant walks and taught many classes including the Good Medicine Confluence, Northwest Herb fair, Northwest Herb Symposium amongst others and producer of the radio show the Herb Hunter on KSER.
Home for now is in North Bend with friends and my partner Jimmy. We are in transition as we get ready to move to wilderness in Swale Canyon, Klickitat WA.
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Way' (hello)
Incha isquist n'mtitkw, My name is Morgan Moomaw. I was born and raised in Okanogan county and on the Colville reservation. My paternal family is Okanogan and Smelqmix and my maternal lineage is of Irish and Welsh descent.
My work is rooted in the ancestral relations between our plant relatives and syilx (okanogan) people. I work within the Colville Confederated Tribes, Paschal Sherman Indian School and am leading a project named Seed to Syilx. My work is rooted in the restoration of access to traditional gathering sites on and off the reservation to replant first foods and medicines with the youth and community. I am working with my tribe to create a seed bank and begin an indigenous youth-led native plant nursery. Our health of body, mind and spirit is connected to the land that we have been tending since time immemorial. The collective continuance of our ways are imprinted among the plants, animals, rivers, lakes, meadows, mountains and language. We are one and we as Okanogan people know that we are direct reflections of the tumxw'laxw (land)
We will deeply engage with plants on the land, learn their given names, discuss the relations of metuí and syilx people to the land, and engage in an act of reciprocity through planting back and seed collection.
Lim limt
(Thank you) -
Michael Pilarski is a naturalist, farmer and educator with 50 years of experience. Michael has been commercially wildcrafting medicinal plants for 22 years in Washington State, north Idaho and Northwest Montana. He farms a diversity of medicinal and food plants in complex, agroforestry systems and has expertise in seed collecting, value-added products and propagation of many native and non-native species. He combines the science of herbs with the magic of herbs through his studies in plant spirit medicine. Michael has initiated and organized many herb gatherings including the Northwest Herbal Fair, the Montana Herb Gathering, and the Medicinal Herb Growing & Marketing Conference. He is the author of “Ethnobotany and Ethnoecology Resource Guide” and “Growing & Wildcrafting Medicinal Plants in the Pacific Northwest.”
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PIXIE HONEY
Benjamin Pixie made his first mead before he was old enough to purchase it. He shared it with friends in the mountains, near the fireweed bloom from which that honey had been gathered. Benjamin found himself running through the dark forest offering sacred libations to his friends to sweeten, buzz, and bewilder their senses. He found his calling in life as the bearer of this golden elixir of delight and soon dove deep into mead making.
Benjamin caught his first swarm of bees in 2006, and that was the beginning of a lifelong marriage to those ladies who do the love work of the plants. In 2007, he began the Pixie Honey Company, the same year Colony Collapse Disorder was first recognized in the United States. Since then, he has developed beyond organic, treatment free, bee centered methods of tending bees that have enriched the health of the hives, and the medicines harvested from them. Benjamin has taken his background in botanical medicine and years of experience in potion crafting to offer truly unique and potent botanical meads that celebrate the plants and the bees, while returning reverence, magic, and medicine to the imbibing of alcohol.
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Nali is a ritual tattoo artist and student of the Shipibo Mahua-Lopez lineage. As a long time lover of plants, Nali has studied many different traditions and practices that honor plant wisdom and communication. From western herbalism to Mexica plant traditions, Nali has developed unique relationships with the plant world and seeks to share the “more than physical” healing ally-ships possible for all people. Most recently, she has worked and studied under Maestro Don Enrique and his students for 3 years and has actively tended her own plant relationships and healing knowledge through the Shipibo traditions and practices. Nali often combines her ritual tattoo work with her knowledge of plant traditions and continues to weave her practice between the intersection of art, healing and ancient wisdom.
Herbalism Presenters
Learn more about the 2023 Mosaic Herbalism Presenters.
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From an early age, Jonathan became acutely aware that the classic American lifestyle, diet and education were severely lacking in addressing many of the chronic symptoms we face as a society. By the time he was a teenager, he turned to naturopathic medicine for his own healing, which immediately revealed the deep potential of natural medicine. He graduated from the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health with a B.S degree in Health Sciences and worked within the OHSU Department of Pathology Laboratory, gaining an invaluable insight in allopathic medicine and laboratory sciences. At the same time he embarked in the "citizen science" pursuit of mushroom cultivation, with an emphasis in the exploration of medicinal application. After several years of cultivation, research of medicinal mushrooms, and tinkering with various products and extracts, he founded Evolved Mushrooms. Together with his team they work to bring high level accessible education through cultivation workshop series, local events and online community meetups. They specialize in producing the highest quality medicinal mushroom extracts possible and out of our partnership with Wildish Botanicals in Portland OR. For over 5 years they have crafted mushroom tinctures and botanical blends to help connect their community with solutions of wellness and are excited to see the frontiers of Mycology begin to rise in popularity.
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Elisa “Moon” Yeen (they/she) is a queer settler of Chinese, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Irish ancestry. A naturalist, poet, medicine maker, dancer, martial art practitioner, and liberation acupuncturist, they find endless inspiration in the mystery of nature and the ancestral forces that create us. They give thanks to the Lummi and Nooksack people, where they explore the intersections of diaspora, settler responsibility, grief, ecology of human anatomy, and our cultural-emotional (dis)connection from the beyond-human world. They examine how we might find belonging in an ever-changing world by remembering our hearts, and our kin while practicing, teaching and writing about East Asian medicine, ancestral integrity, and herbal medicine of plants and fungi.
Follow their seasonal musings, art, and writings: @embodied.ecology
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EARTH & SPIRIT BOTANICALS
Orcas Island, WA / Eugene, ORReishi Strauss is an herbalist, mycologist, and medicine maker born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia, originally descended from Jewish Ashkenazi immigrants from Lithuania and Poland. Reishi is currently enrolled in the Columbine’s School of Botanical Studies in Eugene, OR where she is studying clinical herbalism, botany, and wildcrafting as stewardship with Howie Brounstein. In 2019 she graduated from the Naturopathic school Bastyr University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Herbal Science, having completed courses in Disease Processes, Botany, Anatomy & Physiology, Biochemistry, Ethnobotany, Mycology, First Aid, Herb/Drug Interactions, and more. She owns and operates her medicinal mushroom medicine business – Earth & Spirit Botanicals – designed to heal the planet & her people with sustainably wildcrafted and regeneratively cultivated herbal & fungal medicines.
She seeks to be in symbiotic interspecies relationships with the plants, fungi, insects, bacteria, animals, humans, minerals, and many other lifeforms whom we co-habitate with on this beautiful planet Earth.
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MYCOLOGY & CITIZEN SCIENCE august 2017
Raskal Turbeville is an enthusiastic lover, observer, and maker of ecology with a specific focus in the world of fungi. Since relocating from California to Washington he has been immersed in the study and practice of mushroom cultivation, foraging, and appreciation. Raskal’s efforts in the field of mycology involves breaking down the stigma associated with fungi and learning how we can integrate their lessons into our communities. His work consists of permaculture consultation, land management, soil microbiology, compost science, entomology, mushroom cultivation for food, medicine, and remediation, along with facilitating education surrounding these practices. Currently he is involved with the Olympia Mycelial Network and is a partner in Mycouprrhizal, a mycology business and partner in a insect cultivation venture, Entimago.
MYCOLOGY Presenters
Learn more about the 2023 Mosaic Mycology Presenters.
Musicians
Learn more about the 2023 Mosaic Musicians.
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Raised as a dancer in a musical household, Summer Alicia has a deep, intimate relationship with music which goes beyond simply playing and listening. She is influenced by a wild variety of artists ranging from Ani DiFranco to FKJ, Rising Appalachia to Alice Phoebe Lou, Hiatus Koyote to Gregory Alan Isakov- Summer’s sound has morphed into a graceful mix of folk-inspired singer/songwriter poetry
After years of wanderlust, Summer has graciously set her roots on Orcas Island, Washington. It is here that she has found solace living close to the land, making music and living simply. Wilderness explorations, gardening and herbalism, and crafting of all sorts keep her wild heart close to the Earth. This greatly inspires Summer's music.
Summer Alicia is dedicated to knowing and empowering the Muse, in all creative forms from which it may arise.
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Torin Frost is a freestylist from the Pacific Northwest who’s been improvising rhymes since the recess lines. He combines intricate lyricism, melodies, and story-telling through an array of musical expressions. Singing odes to the elderberries & rapping flows for the lion’s mane, he weaves a mycelial web of NW Herbal Hip Hop. His main goal on this journey is to discombobulate the system, and grow our relationship with Mother Earth and the cosmos, one song at a time.
Torin is also the front man of the band Patterns of Saturn. You can find them on festival stages for the full experience. This ensemble is known to come with Elderberry Fairies, a theatrical tea service, & even a limbo bar.
Tune in to the full band at patternsofsaturn.com
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Dave Hoover is a Harper and storyteller breathing new life into the ancestral wisdom tales of the Celtic and Germanic traditions. The ancient bardic art of epic poetry has been one of the most important tools for the transmission of wisdom. The stories and traditions of our past help us remember where we come from and understand where we want to go. Over the past 20 years he has honed his musical skills playing harp and other instruments for hospice patients and elders and has traveled the world performing at festivals and workshops. Join Dave as we learn and participate in the Bardic Art of epic song recitation and reweave our ancestral ties to these honored traditions.
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Jocéan is a highly sensitive soul, a multi-faceted artist, sound healer, vocalist, instrumentalist, composer, & holistic facilitator based on Orcas Island, WA. The niece of Jamey Haddad, a world-renowned/grammy nominated percussionist, she is deeply inspired and moved by rhythm, melody and harmony. She started playing music at a very young age picking up the violin at age 7 and continuing on to play over 10 instruments including a variety of percussion.
She embraces all artistic mediums and holds music very close to her heart. The music that she channels is both personal and relatable, meditative and activating. Her intention is to be a clear reflection through A.R.T.(abstracted in real time)-to deepen into the human experience-& 2 awaken from the collective slumber.
Her lyrics are often channeled in deep meditative trances she enters while playing the handpan or other instruments. Sometimes they appear as Mantras-vehicles for activation that the audience can join in and sing along, sometimes they come in as wordless sound expressions.
JOCÉAN receives deep inspiration and energy from the natural environment around her. Her personal musical influences vary immensely from Paul Simon to Olafur Arnalds, Bjork to Dean Evenson. She describes her music as New-Age meets Neo-Classical using the handpan as a tool of alchemy to immerse listeners in a unique sonic world that transports and helps people to connect deeper with themselves and source.
You will often hear her own field recordings from solo nature journeys incorporated into her handpan compositions. She sees this dance between the harmonics of nature and the harmonics of the handpan as a tool of remembrance for listeners.
Josephine "JOCÉAN" Dow also teaches handpan & frame drum to women via zoom and in-person. Learn more about her offerings here by visiting her contact page directly.
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As a lifelong professional musician, Micaela Kingslight can stun a room with a simple melody or get a crowd to move with groovy bluesy, indie tunes. She is dedicated to creating music that heals as well as brings people together. Her vocals are reminiscent of Nora Jones along with fiercely elegant guitar, mandolin, ukelele, bass and drum skills developed over many years performing and teaching. She worked as a studio musician in Chicago, Detroit and Kalamazoo MI, has recorded two solo albums and four albums with the band Fly Paper.
Micaela is also an independent music producer creating songs for movies and television as well as recording and engineering her original compositions. She now resides in Port Townsend Washington and teaches Vocal Yoga along with instruction in guitar, bass, ukulele, and mandolin.
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Burke Mulvany has been part of the Soundings of the Planet family for over 20 years as both a musician and team member. He first met and collaborated with Dean Evenson in 1995 on a local Earth Day Festival and they have been working together ever since. As a wood flautist, Burke has had the honor to collaborate with Dean on multiple tracks included on the albums Mountain Meadow Meditation and Eagle River. Burke has also contributed a solo composition featured on the album Wood Over Water. As a part of the Soundings Ensemble, Burke is excited for future releases and collaborations.
Burke graduated from Fairhaven College with a self designed concentration titled “Strategies for creative community building with an emphasis in Concert and Festival concept & design”. For the past 25 years Burke has spent countless hours dedicated to the production of dozens of local and regional community enhancement gatherings and festivals.
Burke’s musical explorations have allowed him to collaborate with many stellar musicians over the years and he co-founded and played in the electric folk rock band NORTH FOREST, the acoustic folk ensemble AKARAKA, and an experimental improvisation group called SYNERGY.
Burke also received a certificate of completion from the Community Choir Leadership Training program (CCLT) based in Victoria BC and co-founded a multi-generational community choir called the INSPIRE CHOIR.
Burke lives with his partner Josephine on beautiful Orcas Island where they are working on multiple new music projects—including the REVIVIFY MUSIC PROJECT which is dedicated to creating and sharing electro-acoustic musical offerings from the heart. More about Burke & Josie’s music here: www.revivifymusic.com
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Rafe Pearlman started his singing career with the wolves, ravens and sled dogs of the Alaskan wilderness. The wild nature of his exploratory singing has led to performances spanning the globe, from India, Hong Kong, Israel and Germany, to Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Thailand, Mexico and all across the United States.
Rafe’s intention with his music is to inspire a vision of a world in harmony and unity, celebrating diversity, sustainability, and equality for all beings. Sometimes a simple song is all it takes to open a connection.
He is a performer, composer and creative vocal coach.
Highlights of his many years of music making include performances at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (USA), America’s Got Talent (USA), Festival Internacional (Mexico), Lightning in a Bottle (USA), Burning Man (USA), and Shantipi (Israel).
Collaboration is central to Rafe’s creative process and he’s had the opportunity to work with some amazing performers and composers over the years including William Close and the Earth Harp Collective, touring with the world's largest stringed instrument. Rafe was accompanied by a full orchestra, working with one of Hollywood’s top soundtrack composers, Tyler Bates, at the festival of film composers, “MOSMA,” in Malaga Spain.
Rafe's voice is featured on soundtracks for Netflix, Direct-TV, NBC and Thunder Road Films, and on Sony’s top video games. Rafe will be a new voice on the upcoming season of Motherland: Fort Salem, creating vocal spells for the cast of characters.
Rafe recently was awarded an artist residency at the Orcas Center Theater to create a new evening length show inspired by his childhood in Alaska featuring his music and visual art, entitled “KANU”
"Rafe Pearlman makes meaning as well as music and enfolds an array of traditions in his work which can only be described as timeless and unique. He has a voice that is as full and open as the sky. A heart that is vast and defenseless and a talent that is beyond beautiful.” - John McLean, Pastor, Nashville
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Scott Wurtz is an eclectic World Music Percussionist. Scott’s presence and ability to listen deeply to the musical fabric allow for an expansive dialog and creativity response with fellow musicians. As a practitioner of the Healing Arts, Scott brings heartfelt playfulness to the overall process of creating musical experiences.
HeaLING ARTS Presenters
Learn more about the 2023 Healing Arts Presenters!
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Heyona is a life long student of healing through embodiment and expression. She grew up in a musical family learning the rhythm and sound of life and dancing her way through her adolescence.
She attended university to further her studies in dance BA and psychology BS, where she discovered the transformative practice of yoga and meditation. Since completing her 200hr Hatha training in 2009, she has continued her studies into Pranayama, Kundalini, Yin, Sound Healing, and Meditation.
She now offers a dynamic range of classes that incorporates her life’s work of embodiment through movement, breathwork, vocal sounding, and meditation.
She welcomes all levels to join her in this practice of coming back to oneself.
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Their ancestors are Coastal Indigenous Tlingit, Haida, Aishihik, Japanese, mixed European, and other ethnicities. They align most with the Indigenous and Japanese traditions in which she was raised. Their undergraduate degree is in Philosophy, Psychology, and Comparative Religion with emphases in Buddhist Studies, Engaged Buddhism, Non-human Animal Welfare, Mindfulness and Meditation, and Philosophy for Children. Her graduate degree is in lived Buddhist Studies and Philosophy. She lived, practiced, and taught in different Buddhist communities while embracing the wisdom of a range of ancient traditions and spiritual practices (Indigenous Ceremonies and Medicine), Taoist Philosophy, Ayurvedic Medicine, Chinese Medicine, Yogic practice and philosophy, Taiji, Qigong, Tea Ceremony). She now facilitates classes and retreats between the Duwamish and Stillaguamish sacred lands and waters. Their spiritual cultivation is deeply rooted in respect for and connection to the Earth and all Creatures.
They cultivate a path of seeking, open mindedness, self-reflection, Dharma (spiritual truth-seeking) friendship, and compassion. She loves allowing her being to dwell in the depths and warm light of the present through focused healing in community for the service of All Beings.
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Emilia is a Kundalini Teacher certified through Yoga Farm Ithaca, NY. Informed by her own personal study of Eastern energy meridians and breathing practices, Qi Gong, nature-based healing modalities and meditation, she believes healing on all levels – physical, emotional, and spiritual begins with body awareness. In her teaching, Emilia blends mindfulness of self and of Mother Earth, breathwork, and mantra into the physical practice of yoga. Since 2020, she has been offering yoga practice at private studios and festival gatherings throughout the Northwest. Her yoga practice sustains her other hats of visual artist and family householder. Her Kundalini training is trauma-informed, inspiring each individual to find their own inner body wisdom.
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VOCAL YOGA
Micaela Kingslight is a certified Vocal Yoga teacher and RYT200 yoga instructor. She blends over 20 years experience as a music teacher, professional musician, songwriter, and yogi, to help students open their voices through yoga and somatic movement. In these movements we utilize breath work, toning, and sing songs together to awaken the voice and release tension. This class will help you speak and sing with more confidence and power as we bring the voice deeper into the body and play with sound.
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CHIYOKTEN WAGNER
Protectors of The Salish Sea
W̱SÁNEĆ Tribal MemberPaul Chiyokten Wagner is a W̱SÁNEĆ tribal member and founder of Protectors of The Salish Sea, Chiyokten is a longtime Water Protector and Climate Justice activist for the Circle of Life who works to protect and restore Coast Salish lands and waters for the well-being of salmon, orcas, ancient forest, meadows, healthy ecosystems and all natural animals which the First Peoples are intimately part of and all life depends upon.
An award winning Native American flutist and storyteller he loves to share ancient indigenous wisdom and knowledge through song, story and dance in order for all people who walk on the bones of the First People’s ancestors to reindigenize themselves so we can reindigenize and rematriate this world, so we can all return to a state of peace, balance and harmony with each other and our Mother.
2023 Daily Schedule
10am | Gates open for volunteers
Find campsite, set up, help prepare the site3pm | Gates open to all attendees
6 pm | Dinner for all attendees CommUnity Dinner/Open Mic
Hot Tub/Sauna open for evening relaxation (Hours TBD)
Thursday 6/8
8-9 am | Morning Mediation & Movement
9-10 am | Tea Time
10-12 pm | Workshop Period
12-2 pm | Lunch Break
2-5 pm | Workshop Period
6 pm | Dinner
7:30 pm | Evening Music Showcase
Evening Circles
Friday 6/9
7:30-8:30am | Morning Mediation & Movement
9-12 pm | Workshop Period
12-2 pm | Lunch Break
2-5 pm | Workshop Period
6 pm | Dinner
7:30 pm | Evening Music Showcase
Evening Circles
saturday 6/10
7:30-8:30am | Morning Meditation & Movement
9-12pm | Workshop Period
12-2pm | Lunch Break
2-4pm | Integration, Celebration, Closing Ceremony
Afternoon Break Down/Pack-Up
6pm | Dinner
Evening Open Mic/Jam
sunday 6/11
Bon Voyage Breakfast for crew and staff
All attendees off-site by 10am!
Monday 6/12
We love you Herbal Fair Community! Thanks for joining us in the Meadow!
2023 WORKSHOPs
MOSAIC 2023
WorkshopS
Descriptions for this year’s offerings!
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Experience the magic of botanical printing in our hands-on workshop! Learn the alchemy involved in transforming natural materials into stunning works of art on paper, and create your own unique prints using the colors and patterns found in nature. With expert guidance, you'll explore the secrets of mordanting, paper selection, and using natural dyes to create vibrant designs. Discover the beauty and wonders of botanical printing, and unleash your own creative spirit in the process!
PLEASE NOTE: There is a $20 materials fee for this workshop.
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Join us for a fascinating demonstration of the art of botanical printing, culminating in a community print that showcases the beauty of this ancient technique!
During this demonstration, you'll learn about the different types of plants and materials that can be used for botanical printing, as well as various techniques for extracting colors and patterns from them. You'll also get to participate in a community print, where you'll collaborate with other participants to create a beautiful printed piece.
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Alkaloids; most alkaloids are derived from amino acidsor precursors. These plant chemicals tend to have the most profound effect on our central nervous. Alkaloids can be stimulants, relaxants or pain relievers. In ths class we will discuss the herbs with related alkaloids to the substances we tend to overuse. For examples teas which give us the morning get up and go of coffee while putting less stress on our adenal glands. A smoking mix which satisfies some of our tobacco needs, while benefitting the lungs. There will be teas and tinctures for your tasting pleasure.
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Introducing botanicals which help the body physically, emotionally and creatively support it’s own sexuality. Ideas for supporting the health and functioning of organs and systems of the body will be discussed. Herbally delightful tea, tinctures, and massage oils will be discussed and sampled.
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The herbalism we know as a pleasantly quaint country craft, or lately, a more benign form of pharmacy, is far removed from its more perennial form, which runs the pulse of Gaian consciousness, and acts in accord with Nature's corrective influence in the human sphere. This is largely due to the war on Nature which has been waged in its various forms over the centuries, most recently as the ‘war on drugs'. As the rebalancing forces of Creation ease us into a ‘psychedelic renaissance’, we have opportunities to explore and co-create a revitalized, full-spectrum herbalism.
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Let us celebrate the magic of the Honeybee that sweetens our lives. Benjamin and Maeyoka Brightheart-Pixie will share about Skalitude Pollinator Sanctuary and their work with the bees and the land as treatment free beekeepers and herbalists. Meet the Pixie bees and the nectar meadow they tend, and taste our honeys, medicines, meads and potions.
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Michael has been researching and planting medicinal forests for decades. Every locality could use public (and private) medicinal forests chock-a-block full of medicinal trees, shrubs and herbs to serve the local populace. We will talk about species selection and layout.
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We will do a plant walk in the diverse ecosystems at Skalitude. Semi-arid shrub steppe, meadows and forest. Skeeter is very familiar with the species on site having led multiple plant walks there over the 24 years he has been visiting Skalitude.
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— Workshop Description coming soon!
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Workshop description coming soon!
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Workshop description coming soon!
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This class will focus on earth-based medical systems that are innately part of human health and culture. Every culture on earth has an indigenous medical system based on how the human body is reflected in nature, many of which have been erased or diluted by colonization and assimilation. We will investigate health sovereignty and how reclaiming Healthways without appropriation can change our relationship with the world. This class will ask, "How can I be in ancestral integrity with my own healing?
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The use of mushrooms as medicine has been documented for thousands of years in Asia. Join Elisa Moon, Licensed Acupuncturist, in an overview of East Asian herbal knowledge and lore, blending Traditional Chinese Medicine principles and understanding mushroom medicine in this holistic system that reflects our bodies as ecosystems.
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This will be a deep dive into fungal consciousness and some of the incredible ways that mushrooms can be utilized for personal and collective. This workshop will be broken up into these components:
Basic Biology, Ecology, and Evolutionary History of Fungi
Local Native PNW Fungi and How to Utilize Them As Food & Medicine
Microdosing Psilocybe Fungi (Magic Mushrooms)
Mycelial Community Resource Mapping Connection Games
Some of the fungi we will go over includes:
Reishi (Ganoderma oregonense)
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)
Lion’s Mane (Hericium sp)
Oyster (Pleurotus sp)
Witches Butter (Tremella mesenterica)
Red Belted Conk (Fomitopsis sp)
Artist Conk (Ganoderma applanatum)
Amanita Muscaria
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— Workshop Description coming soon!
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Workshop description coming soon!
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In this workshop we will dive into the flow state, tapping into pure expression, divine reflection, and universal connection. We will be tuning into the rhythm and the art of freestyle. No previous experience is needed, all you need is your voice. We will be having fun improvising together, and holding a safe space for expression and creation.
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The oldest spiritual texts and stories from around the world and the cutting edge modern physicists tell us the same thing, the universe is vibration. Put simply, all is sound. Join Harper and Bardic storyteller Dave Hoover as we explore the physics and metaphysics of what makes reality around us tick, and learn how to speak the vibrational language we call music.
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The ancient Bardic technology of long form epic poem songs have long been the preferred technique of passing collected human wisdom from generation to generation. In this workshop we will examine two different epic song poems and learn how the Bardic arts are used to connect ancestral teachings to modern practice for health, memory skills, attention span, and stress reduction. Come join us as we sing a Medieval song about the seven planets and receive the teachings that were encoded in them by the teachers that walked before us.
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Micaela Kingslight is a certified Vocal Yoga teacher and RYT200 yoga instructor. She blends over 20 years experience as a music teacher, professional musician, songwriter, and yogi, to help students open their voices through yoga and somatic movement. In these movements we utilize breath work, toning, and sing songs together to awaken the voice and release tension.
This class will help you speak and sing with more confidence and power as we bring the voice deeper into the body and play with sound.
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There is no greater instrument available to us than our voice for personal growth, empowerment, healing and activation.
We will explore fun and improvisational vocal and movement practices that will strengthen our freedom of expression and mind-body-breath awareness.
Participants often feel more embodied, more playful, a calm natural high, emotional release, deeper clarity, increased sense of confidence, more grounded and connected.
This is a PLAYSHOP for people of ALL LEVELS of experience. It will be fun.
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An interactive musical journey with common Herbs (Echinacea, Goldenseal, Mint, Turmeric, Ginger & Thyme) & Effervescence. Bring your whole self to this event to play, conjure, excite, ponder and interact.
This will be an intuitive process for all.
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Let us begin the day with a warming pranayama (breath work) practice followed by a body awakening yoga flow. We will build our internal fire and intensity throughout the class until we end with a restorative practice that will bring integration, intention, and harmony. Open to all levels and bodies.
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Together we will begin our morning with a slow body scan and breath awareness practice. Then we will move through a gentle awakening flow to slowly wake up the body. Finally we will reach the height of our practice with some fun nature embodiment play and vocal sounding.
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We will consciously greet the sun, these sacred Lands, the new day, and all the abundance of our lives with heart-opening and breath awareness meditations. We will deeply listen to the blessings of Indigenous flute medicine, move with the depth of Chi cultivation, and meditate with the vastness of our own Be-ing through connection with the breath, our bodies, our hearts, our Lands, and the Sacred.
No prior experience needed. Please honor your individual body’s needs with modifications (for injuries/conditions), moderate movements where needed, or avoiding movements that do not feel right.
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When we drink tea, we can see all the cosmos in our cups: the sky, water, fire, earth, sacred Beings, and all the other wondrous and subtle dimensions of this reality. We can sense and perceive this Interconnectedness of all things when we slow down with Indigenous mindfulness, true loving-kindness, and connection to Intuition.
For this practice-based experiential session we will explore this teaching of Interconnectedness through Indigenous flute sound medicine, mindful healing movement, loving-kindness heart-expanding meditation (for humans and non-human beings), connection with your Intuition (huchoosehda / Inner Shaman / 心 / heart-mind), teachings around mindful Indigenous foraging and our responsibilities to non-human life, and mindful eating / drinking. This entire session will involve guidance through meditations, traditional body healing movements, and a mindful eating / drinking practice (Indigenous non-hallucinogenic plant medicine).
No prior experience needed. Please honor your individual body’s needs with modifications, moderate movements where needed (for injuries/conditions), or avoiding movements that do not feel correct for your body.
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Kundalini Yoga adds a great twist on traditional yoga by incorporating breathwork, held postures and mantra - all with the fundamental goal to increase and improve physical strength and vitality along with enhanced consciousness and awareness. Many poses specifically work on balancing the right-left brain hemispheres to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. After a tune in and warm up, we will practice a kriya (set of postures) that boost the body’s natural immune system and wind down with a restorative section and mantra. I will offer adaptations and modifications to meet you where you are.
Please bring water, a mat and any props you have (coats work great!) All levels welcome.
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A journey through the Salish Sea with words, stories and song from an elder society people, many thousands of years of passing along the deepest wisdom & knowledge from Mother Earth, The Circle of Life and Creation. Layers of understandings of our place as human people among all other non-human people. To reindigenize ourselves, to become holistically well and from there we can make the world around us holistically well as our Coast Salish peoples have done for many many thousands of years.
