Workshop Coordinator: Cathy Martin
325-201-7880 workshops@gatheringofcircles.com
50 Poverty Point, Abilene TX 79601
Workshop 01
Mike Andrews – Intention, Vibration, and Sound7laughs@newmex.com 575-770-4321
PO Box 577, Arroyo Seco NM 87514
What is the place of “Intention” in Ceremonies? The Lakota phrase “Taku Wakan skan skan” might be translated as “All things are in sacred motion “. In this workshop/ Ceremony we will make joyful sound. Please bring anything you want to use to make these sounds: drums, rattles, Tibetan bowls, ceramic bowls, tingshas, bells, gongs, whistles, flutes, guitars, conch shells, and anything else (if you have more than one, bring all of them). Hopefully we will have some singers in the group that will bring their voices.
My path for the last 25 years has been based on service, with a focus on Ceremonies. The word “beyond” has been important for many of these years since it implies there is “something ” out there, but doesn’t necessarily identify what it is and allows people to develop what “beyond” is for them. The questions “What is beyond Wisdom?” and “What is beyond Unconditional Love?” have led me to “What is Ceremony Beyond Words?”.
First choice time: Thursday afternoon 1st session
Workshop 02
Gary Kendrick – Playing the Flute – Basics of playing the Native American style flute.
garykendrick@icloud.com 512-658-0259
Description: Stories, history, and fundamentals of playing the flute. Instruction, handouts of basic songs, instruction, and support throughout the gathering.
This 2 hour workshop is for anyone interested in playing the Native American style flute. Beginners and more advanced players are welcome. Included will be some flute history, basic playing technique, create your own song methods, and handouts of fingering charts for several songs. To keep it personal and intimate the workshop will have to be limited to 12 people. Sign up early.
No need to bring a flute to the workshop. We will use high quality PVC flutes tuned to the key of A minor. It is much easier to instruct and to learn when all the flutes are in the same key. At the end of the workshop you may keep the flute by making a $10.00 donation to the GOC. You of course can bring your own A minor flute.
In addition, some tips on flute makers and purchasing your first flute. Following the workshop, individual instruction will be available during GOC days and evenings.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Bio: I have been playing the Native American style flute for 20 years. Inspiration came from images in rock art and the haunting sound heard on the town square in Wimberley, Texas.
First choice time: Thursday afternoon 1st session
Workshop 03
Larry Bell – Aikido – The Martial Art of Peace & Love
mail@alternativeenergy1.org 928-521-0888
HC30 Box 2A Concho AZ 85924
Description: Aikido immediately demonstrates how love can modify hate and aggression into harmony. Simple techniques can change a negative situation completely.
Bio: Have practiced Aikido since 1978.
First choice time: Thursday afternoon 1st session
Workshop 04
Donna Clift – Love’s way
dciclift@yahoo.com 512-400-9496
Description: Love’s way is to Act from Love, Say Blessings, Praise Good and Forgive All. While simple to say it is harder to practice. If every action is centered in love then our lives are transformed into a catalyst bringing more Love into the world. One action and one word at a time. Saying blessings and praising good as much as possible emboldens others to know of the good loving things they can do. Forgiving as quickly as possible sets us free from negativity that keeps us in pain.
Bio: I started helping people to build positive relationships in 1973. Became a nurse in 1990. Have worked as a nurse in a wide variety of settings. I believe that we need to move forward with spirit.
First choice time: Thursday afternoon 2nd session
Workshop 05
Bob Wade – Healing Heart Chi Gong/Tai Chi for Healing Relationships
wblwade@yahoo.com 254-485-8118
Description: Tai Chi is a martial art built on the physical expression of internal principles. The most fundamental of these is “The resolution of conflict through love.” (Bear Heart).
Bio: Bob has practiced and studied martial arts for forty years. The last thirty he has focused on the study of Tai Chi, teaching, training and competing. Tai Chi has been a key to developing a rich internal life and maintaining good, solid relationships. Having been an artist most of his life, Bob lives with his wife Wanda in Dublin, Texas where they have lived for 42 years and raised their four children.
First choice time: Friday morning 1st session
Workshop 06
Christopher DeWilde – Sacred Healing Food Preparation
thegoldenroad1@gmail.com 828-275-5174
Description: This workshop will cover the basic principles of preparing sacred and healing foods. Based on Macrobiotic Principles and Technics, using local and organic ingredients along with Hopi principles of sacred food preparation; this workshop will dive into preparing healing foods for all aliments.
Bio: Christopher has an associates degree in culinary arts from Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago and studied at the Kushi Institute of Macrobiotic Learning in Becket, MA. Christopher has also worked with many Native American Tribes with sacred food preparation in large gatherings. He also works closely with Native Elders working Elder Services during events.
First choice time: Thursday afternoon 2nd session
Workshop 07
CatherineRose Strecko – Dream your life awake
bearheartwoman2012@gmail.com 514-222-4924
Description: In shamanism we look at our lives as “the dream of life” because we can create the lives we wish to live through dreaming and journeying. This can mean a vast amount of different techniques. During this workshop we will explore several in a joyful, wonderful way. Shamanic journeying can lead to an intimate relationship with ourselves, with nature and with our sacred vision of life We will take three drum journeys.
Bio: CatherineRose BearHeartWoman has been sharing her teachings through events, workshops and ceremonies since 2003. She plays on a woman’s drum since 2010. She lives her life in a very loving, generous and authentic way. ” I believe we can co-create a new world of love, respect and acceptance through the sharing of our wisdoms.”
First choice time: Friday morning 1st session
Workshop 08
Laura Barrera The Four Noble Truths
lbarrera10@yahoo.com 210-708-7215
Description: Buddhism is not about converting people to a new religion, but an opportunity to see the interconnectedness of all things. Learn how the path of a Buddhist practitioner is similar to all those walking a spiritual path.
Bio: Laura Barrera is part of the Ravenhawk Clan and has been coming up to the Gathering of Circles since 2005. She has been a practicing Buddhist for over 3 years. She belongs to the Rissho Kosei Kai sect which follow the Mahayana principles. Her Native American path meshed perfectly together. See how this year’s theme flows perfectly into Buddhist teachings.
First choice time: Thursday afternoon 2nd session
Workshop 09
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Workshop 10
Women’s Bundle – Facilitator: Kathy Two Hawks
602-989-8468 ladytwohawks@cox.net
This is a long standing tradition within the G.O.C.
The Bundle is a living prayer, the culmination of energy from past and present as well as many women’s communities who have shared prayers of healing with the Bundle as it is opened at women’s gatherings, both on and off the mountain.
The Women’s Bundle is about all things WOMAN. It is those who have come before on whose shoulders we stand and who have placed within its folds prayers and scrolls with love, joy, hurt, honor and grief. We look to the future as we encourage preteen to wise women to participate in the ceremony of creating a circle of women adding their hopes, dreams and prayers to the Bundle. The Bundle is filled with items that women have released to be healed by the prayers that will support them long after we have all left the mountain.
The Women’s Bundle is made of deer hide and cloth wrappings, simple coverings tied with hide strings. It holds the hopes, prayers, dreams, scrolls and items of all the women who have held it in their arms, danced with it during the Sweet Medicine Dance, cried into its body, planted seeds for the future generations and prayed for Mother Earth and mankind. It carries the prayers of the matriarchs that bind all our open hands together as we follow our many different paths, knowing we are different but all the same.
Participants may bring an item or a scroll to leave in the Bundle when it is opened, or choose to share energetically. They may choose to remove an item they have placed in the bundle previously.
Each year a woman is selected from the group attending the gathering who becomes the next keeper of the Women’s Medicine Bundle and carries the Bundle until the following year. This Bundle travels many miles and is held by many women in communities on and off the mountain. The Bundle carrier brings the Bundle back to be passed on to the next keeper of the Women’s Medicine Bundle.
This is the time we sing our women’s songs and tell our women’s stories to be carried on and shared for the future generations.
AHO MITAKYUE OYASIN!!
First choice time: Friday morning 2nd session
Workshop 11
Men’s Medicine Bundle – Facilitator: Russ Kerr – lazymegaman@gmail.com 210-763-9003
MEN! You know of the tradition of making a personal medicine bag to carry with you as a reminder of where your strength lies. And each of us is a part of one or more groups where men meet, even over coffee, to share sports, personal issues, and solve the world’s problems.
The Men’s Bundle combines these in a place where you can say what needs to be said (no criticism; no advice unless asked for; just acceptance) and creation of a bundle to hold symbols of our medicine, our struggles, and our triumphs.
Bring a small object to place in the bundle, if you wish, as a symbol of your experience as a man, or simply draw energy from the medicine objects already there and from the men present to continue your journey.
First choice time: Friday morning 2nd session