When the moon is in the seventh house
and jupiter aligns with mars
The peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars
this is the dawning of the age of aquarius

I thought I’d do a little write-up of my visit to the best Festival experience I’ve ever had – The Beloved Festival, known on their website http://www.belovedfestival.com/ as Oregon Open Air Art and Music Festival which is held every year near Alsea, Oregon about 2.5 hours SW of Portland, Oregon, USA.

I thought I’d do this in a way that would be fun for me.  I picked up a lot of business cards, postcards and knickknacks all weekend, so I’ll pull one out at a time from my backpack and talk about it and share it with you.  And then there will be a nifty slide-show of photos taken by friends at the bottom of this posting.  Sound good? OK, let’s go!

1. Art by Adam Scott Miller – http://www.adamscottmiller.com – Adam’s art was featured in a large white tent with a sand floor.  Well-lit, and beautiful, the tent was a place to wander any hour of the day or night and see some very inspiring images.  I’d recommend a visit to Adam’s website for more adventuring in the world of imagery.  Then there was all of the other art at the festival – from the incredible nature installations done by Nature, Dandelion and many others (see photos), to the stage draped with beautiful orange and red fabric by Gregory and the Guildworks team, to live painting happening by the stage all weekend and jewelry by the vendors and face-painting and henna done to all who sought that out.  Pretty pretty pretty!  btw, the wristlet I got is so beautiful, I’ve decided to leave it on for a while – nice touch!

2. Dance in Seattle?  Euphoria: A Dance Odyssey: Every Tues. night, call Franklin for more info 206-406-7283.  Yes, Franklin was there, as were many members of the various ecstatic and contact dance communities which made the dance floor in front of the stage such a great place to be.  I also had a visit with Michael Suzaris and Jenny Pell (presented on permaculture at the festival  http://www.permaculturenow.com ) on their way back to Seattle.  Michael has gotten an interesting events space up and running on the north end of Lake Union called OmCulture which also hosts dance and other events.  http://www.omculture.com/ – PDX Ecstatic Dance?  http://www.pdxecstaticdance.com/Genesa Crystal, installation by Ansula

3. Bright Earth Foods.  Super Foods for Super Humans! Yum.  So, there was a guy set up on the hill by the tasty food vendors with a set up selling Noni shots.  Noni, not sure what it is, but it’s certainly good for you, and you could buy a small glass for $1 or a glass with blue-green algae in it for $2.  Their website is http://www.brightearthfoods.com – I’m looking forward to getting myself some wizard paste soon!  There’s a longer story about that goodness (we call it hippie crack around these parts) from Beloved #1, perhaps for another day.

4. Music to listen to this note by?  I suggest the Beloved music player on their website.  A quite nice selection from Beloved’s past.  Also, the slide-show on their site done by local photographer and all-time hot DJ, Raku Loren, is worth watching   Raku’s also DJ’ing this Sunday at the Village Ballroom sunday dance @ 10:30am – 7th and Dekum, NE in PDX.  B There.

5. Some stickers from Onanya These folks are doing something very right.  I saw them at a previous Beloved festival.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/onanya They say about themselves: “Our work is a collaboration between a Shipibo community of the Peruvian Amazon and us. Our clothing designs become the canvas of their magical patterns. Together we bring you a One of a Kind Piece of wearable art. This work is created while we are together in the village.”  Yep, like that

6. Ongoing Classes and Events: The Sacred Muse, The Evolutionary Priestess, the Inner Alchemy of Evolution http://www.thelivingchalice.com – lovely photo of a hummingbird feeding on this card, though website does not seem to be working. Folks in Fairview, OR

7. More clothes and beautiful people @ Naga Designs, Felt Creations!  I spent a lovely Thursday afternoon wiling away a couple hours in the sky chairs next to Alani Klein’s booth.  She and her friend came down from Courteney, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada to share their beautiful felt creations.  More @ http://www.nagadesigns.com

8. Give Peace a Dance!  Peace Village Saturday Late Nite After-Party – Organik Time Machine, Cornflower & Special Guests – Ashland, August 21st @ Cultureworks  $10.  http://www.peacevillagefestival.org and http://www.culture-works.net

9. http://autumnskyemorrison.com/ – the paintings of Autumn Skye Morrison who was doing live painting near the stage.  This painting was displayed all weekend:

10.  Nemo.  The art of Nemo Boko!  I met Nemo on Wens. night while he and his girlfriend were busy setting up the office side of the art tent.  Nemo’s site is http://www.nemo.org – for psychonauts and curious minds   Go, Nemo, Go!

11. My eleventh year at Burning Man.  Camp 11:11 3:15 & F.  My newsletter, The Eleven – sign up @ http://albertideation.com

12. 1st & 3rd Thursday night Gong Meditation in Portland with John Reinscreiber!  http://shamanicvibrations.com – “…let the voices of the gongs carry you to a place of timeless peace and solitude”  I have been to this event and John does an excellent job taking everyone deep with his gongs and sound healing.  He also has led sound healing for the Beloved Festival for the past two years, and he’ll be speaking tomorrow @ Our Community University @ my house!  Details @ http://albertideation.com/2010/07/31/ocu2/

Beloved was lovely in so many ways. People showing themselves, opening, learning, growing, being their beautiful, smart and courageous selves.  Kindness ran wild.  Great food, smart people, inspiring music, creativity, children, elders, white, black, and perfect weather in a lovely forest setting.  Thank you to the organizers and the many volunteers that made it possible!  I hope to live my life in a way that is more like what I experienced this past weekend as much as possible.

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13. Third Eye Pinecones, Amulets and Adornments, Carl Weiseth, Santa Cruz, CA – http://www.conesandstones.com – these folks had a necklace that you’ll probably see a lot around town.  Very very lovely.  looks like this:

14. http://r3xx.net/ – Transformative Media Inspiring Minds.  Now, I want a tagline like that   These must have been the folks in the art tent who were displaying an interesting selection of books and videos and the like.  Nemo, hello, you must be affiliated with these folks….

• Psychedelic Art
• Visionary Music
• Illuminating Books
• subversive comics
• delicious edibles
• bizarre stickers
• radical clothing
• triply holograms – oh yes, they had some very interesting ones of those….

15. Stevee Postman – http://stevee.com – There was a large painting done by this artist, and I have a feeling there was other work around by him, as well.  Quite an image gallery @ http://stevee.com/gallery-01.html

16. Shivoso.  Pause.  Another Pause.  The best talk on tantra that I’ve ever heard.  Delivered in the purple temple to a very rapt audience.  Great Q&A afterwards.  I’ve already sent an email connecting Shivoso, recently arrived from CA to PDX, to various leaders in tantric arts here in town and hope to learn more from him.  http://intimacyarts.com : from his website: “I want to share with you new ways of being in relationship. There is a huge change coming on in the realm of intimate connections and many people are finding it challenging to navigate through the shifting fields. Many of us are trying alternative ways of being in relationships, such as polyamory, same gender, open, polyfidelity and variations in monogamous relationships, and there is a need to support these different choices. I have found a common ground for all these relationship styles that is rooted in the psychology and energetics of being human.”

17. http://www.altaryourreality.com – ah, Trinity and the folks who brought the two incredible temples, featured prominently in the pics on this slideshow and at the festival. These were where the Lovetribe‘s Cosmic Temple of Love and the Purple Temple were.  Both delicious!  OK, I could probably use some more adjectives.  Lovely.  Plush.  Soft.  Purposeful.  Watch the video here to see how these temples come together.  Thanks, Trinity!

18. Kyer Wiltshire Photography.  Funny how a business card sometimes can just look so normal.  Weddings, events, portrait, commercial, and the biggest picture book about West Coast Festival Culture in existence.  His photos were being shown as a slide show on the side of the big white tent a few nights running, and Kyer could be seen shooting photos all weekend long.  From his website: “Kyer has expanded his creative talents photographing erotic fire dancing, aerial dance, fire dancing with Phoenix Rising, Nocturnal Sunshine, LuminEssence along with many talented performers such as international magician Jeff McBride, Heavy Hips Belly Dance, Mir and Company Aerial Dance, Xeno, Mutaytor, El Circo, Apsara Dance, Mystic Family Circus, Living Tarot, Living Folklore, Yoga Motion and Cirque du Soleil. Kyer published his beautiful outdoor nude yoga photos in the Sacred Form Yoga 2005 and 2006 calendars.”  Yep, like that.

19. Oh Krishna, it’s Ali’s turn.  You know, the Floating Lotus, Sacred Massage Temple on Water.  I helped Ali put his water temple together – the design of the lotus is so clever.  Whoever designed it really did a beautiful job, and the end result is magical.  Ali told me that he has only used the floating platform @ Beloved.  Contact him and bring him elsewhere, I’m sure he’d love it.  So will you.  Hi Ali!  Thanks for the watermelon!  http://www.floating-lotus.org

20. Back to food. http://krishnakitchen.org – yum, yum, yum, and more yum.  Fresh coconuts?  Raw organic vegan prasadam.  Thank you for staying open late, folks.

21. Catalyst for Fun Hot Tips: http://www.catalystforfun.com – Amanda Winters, Funtrepreneur, crowd rouser and social worker.  Amanda did a wonderful job throughout the festival rousing us to greater heights.  And, she’s just moved to Portland, how lucky we are!

22.  One Oasis Credito – Redeemable for 1 Shower or 1 Sauna.  Manoj got my other one   Well, this is a longer story than I have time for right now, but suffice it to say that the Oasis is where one goes for a shower and sauna @ Beloved, and other places in the PNW.  Here is how to find them on FB.

23. HealthForce Nutritionals – Vital Healing Botanicals – http://www.healthforce.com – these folks were part of the food vendor crew which also included some great coffee, Kava, middle eastern food, Coconut Bliss, etc.  Yum, and thanks for keeping it delicious and nutritious!

24.  The music – oh my, I’m about done.  The music was fantastic.  All the performers can be found on the Beloved website, as can all the workshop presenters and other Gods and Goddesses.  Musically, Gaudi stood out for me, but I loved much of what was offered.

Thanks to my great Gazebo campmates for creating a great place to come home to, and for everyone who put this festival on.  Until next year,  Om nama shivaya!

Albert