ATCHINGTON, Minn. — For nineteen years, Harmony Tribe has been hosting its annual Sacred Harvest Festival (SHF) in Minnesota. This year is no exception. Now located on private campgrounds in Atchington, the festival kicked off its week long event Mon, Aug 1. The day began at 3 pm with a Tribe Meeting, followed by an opening ritual called, “Together we Dream.” This year’s festival theme is “Dreams and Bones.”
Our nineteenth year is planting roots, defining and recognizing our dreams, and embracing a home for our bones. We made the move to Northern Minnesota, helped clear the land, and built our village. We drum and dance into the night, create enriching rituals, and bask in our famous tribal community. This year we are free to bring our visions of the future, and bury the bones of the past. Our ancestors are watching and helping us!
Wild Hunt journalist Cara Schulz is in attendance at Sacred Harvest Festival and, using Facebook Live technology, she caught up with a number of the featured presenters to talk about their workshops and offerings at the festival.
Herbalist Kahla Wheeler-Rowan is an ordained minister and a Dianic High Priestess. Wheeler-Rowan says that she practices in the Holy Church of the Great Outdoors. She is also the director and founder of Kansas-based Prairie Wise Herbal, which is now celebrating 20th anniversary. This year at SHF, Wheeler-Rowan is offering several classes titled, “Herbal Mixology.”
Next, Schulz spoke with Emrys Anu, a long-time attendee of the festival. She is a Wiccan minister who has extensive experience volunteering in correctional facilities. Her festival workshops focus on ethics, compassion, responsibility, boundaries and value.
Sitting down with Schulz next was Sharon and Dan Stewart. Sharon is a Certified Death Midwife and longtime hospice volunteer and a trainer for NODA (No One Dies Alone). From her home Spirit Knoll in Wisconsin, Sharon, a member of Circle Sanctuary, teaches Death MidWife classes and educates people on Family Directed Funerals, Green Burials and other similar subjects. She will be sharing her knowledge and experience in a number of workshops over the week.
Sharon’s husband Dan Stewart is also teaching. He has a masters degree in counseling, and is an ordained minister, Reiki master, and certified massage therapist. Dan says that he began his journey as a healer in 1999, and he hasn’t looked back. He “seeks to help clients gain and maintain balance in all aspects of their lives.”
In her final two interviews, Schulz spoke with ritualists and authors Judy and Nels Linde. In one interview, Judy speaks specifically about their new book Taking Sacred Back, which was recently published and released by Llewellyn, Inc. She shares the history of its creation and why its important. “We had learned some stuff that other people did have to learn the hard way. We thought: let’s put it down,” Judy explains.
Part of the Lindes’ extensive experience includes being longtime, active members of Minnesota’s Pagan community. More specifically, the couple has been attending Sacred Harvest Festival for nearly all of its 19 years. Nels talked with Schulz about the event’s history and its place in the Pagan community.
Sacred Harvest Festival runs through Sunday, Aug. 7. Next year, Harmony Tribe will be celebrating the festival’s twentieth anniversary.
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Look for more “Wild Hunt Live” video interviews and live streaming in the future.
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I don’t like this interview format. I can’t criticize it in objective terms, as this is a subjective response, but I don’t like it.I like Cara’s and TWH’s journalism in general. This is about a particular format.