Ritual Facilitators: Orion Kriegman & Hannah Thomas

Hear ye! Hear ye! A Council of All Beings shall assemble at Forestdance in August 2011 to speak with the Humans.

here ye! here ye! A Council of All Beings shall assemble at Forestdance in August 2011 to speak with the Humans.

Following the guidance of Joanna Macy, this "colorful, sometimes solemn, often lusty, communal ritual allows us to step aside from our human identity and speak on behalf of other life forms." To take part in the council it is important to participate in two days of preparation, as we'll create safe space together, spend time on our own with the land, and open ourselves to be chosen by a life-form other than human, whether is be plant, animal, or ecological feature such as swamp or mountain -- any non-human being. As we work with the life-form that chooses us, we will make masks, costumes, practice breathing and moving, visualizing our life-form from many angles and asking permission to enter it and imaginatively sense its body from within. We will listen deeply as our life-form shares how it has lived since the beginning of time, we will open ourselves to what message we are asked to bring to council, and humble ourselves to allow our life-form to speak through us. The Council will be a formal ritual led by guides, with some free-form elements.

Description:
Day 1 - get in touch with your life-form or nature spirit guide - whether animal, vegetable, or some aspect of nature like forests or mountains. we'll sit in guided meditation together and then spend some time alone to commune with our nature spirit guide. We will listen deeply to what is shared with us, and we will invite our life-form to speak through us at the Council. We will begin our mask making.
Day 2 - we prepare for the council, we call in our spirit guide and develop our personal ritual for doing so, we seek out elements of costumes, natural or constructed, and adorn ourselves as we are called. We practice moving and breathing and being with our  life-form, we assemble in rehearsal and share with each other what we are called to share, exploring our voices, our movements, our breath, our radiance, and other aspects of our being together.
Day 3 - The Council of All Beings assembles

Materials:
Face paint is a great idea -- if you have it and want to use it, bring it!
About twenty plain white masks will be provided - so that we can decorate with natural objects or crayons (you are invited to bring your own mask making materials, but don't bring a ready-made mask unless you are ready to alter it substantively). Emily will be offering a workshop within our group on making masks and will have additional materials on hand.  mWe can wander the woods and fields and find pieces to incorporate, and bring costuming that is meaningful to for you, but be ready to swap it or set-it aside as you are called. All of this will be up to individual preference.

Orion Kriegman