Blessing Mount Ashland ♫♫
Different Cultures in Common Prayer for Our Common Ground ~ Mother Earth
Tuesday, April 12, 1 - 2:30 pm at the Ski Area after season’s end
No speeches, no sermons . . . simply uninterrupted PRAYERS SPOKEN & MUSICAL
Dear Friends,
The fifth annual Blessing Mount Ashland ceremony is coming up soon!
The snow on the mountain now is 9 to 14 feet deep, and will get deeper with the next
storm coming through. The result is more snow than seen for many years . . . a good
time to celebrate and give thanks!
Many people have been able to confirm that they will be offering prayers, spoken or musical,
at the ceremony this year. They are listed below.
As always, there will be an uninterrupted flow of prayer from beginning to end -- no introductions,
no speeches, no sermons, just heart-sharing to bring us in closer touch with the mountain,
the Earth, and each other.
At the culmination of the ceremony, we reach out and feel thanks, touch the snow, and spread
the blessings all around the mountain. In the springtime, the snow crystals from this blanket
of blessings become water flowing downhill, into the creeks, into the rivers, into the ocean, rising
and falling again as rain or snow, carrying our blessings to all beings.
There will also be two specific water blessings within the larger ceremony blessing the Mountain.
-- Prema Mayi will not be able to attend this year, but she has asked her son, Krsna Deva, to be
there on her behalf. With him will be his 4 year-old daughter Satya, who will pour sacred water
on the snow gathered from the rivers of India, as she did last year. At the time of our ceremony
here, Prema Mayi will join us from the mountains in Lanjaron, Spain, known for it's healing waters,
and do prayers to the waters there.
-- The Tibetans will not be with us this year, so instead of a fire in the center of the circle, we will
have a large crystal bowl of water provided by Susan Amari Gold, who does Women's Full Moon
Water Blessings every month. The water in the bowl will reflect the sky, joining Heaven and Earth.
After the close of the ceremony, people are encouraged to dip their fingers in the water, bless
themselves with the liquid magic that has soaked up our prayers, and then sprinkle more on the
snow.
For more info, check out this video of last year's ceremony by Joe Camarlinghi
of KOBI 5, this slideshow of ceremonies in 2008 and 2009, the agreements we share, and lots more,
including website addresses of people offering prayers,
This is an all volunteer event, so your contributions are greatly appreciated. See below for a list
of the tasks that we need help with.
Much love and many blessings to you all !
Bobcat
Robert Brothers, Ph.D., Earth Devotion Support, We are Cells in Earth's Body.
Confirmed this year for prayers . . .
Spoken and Musical
Spirit Opening: ♫ Jack Falls-Rock (Pitt-River, Spiritual Leader), vocals, hand drum
♫ Devon Strong (Four Eagles Farm), vocals, hand drum
Prayer/Invocation ~ Bobcat Robert Brothers (Earth Devotion)
“Oh Mount Ashland, Ahl-ke-tah, Cloud catcher, Snow holder, Water giver.”
♫ Nancy Bloom, vocals, hand drum
Krsna Deva (Bhakti-Yoga, Vaishnava, prayers and a song ♫ in Sanskrit)
with daughter Satya pouring sacred water on the snow from the rivers of India
♫ Coach Louise Rouse, vocals
Dr. Gerry Lehrburger (Jackson WellSprings)
♫ Talia Rose & Rico Herrera, Celtic Harp, guitar, flutes, percussion
Reverend Pamela Nelson-Munson (Ashland First United Methodist Church)
♫ Rogue Valley Peace Choir Ensemble
Natalia Rollins (Arabic prayer, plus a song ♫ )
Norma Nakai Burton, M. Div. (Unity in Ashland)
♫ Windsong and the Women’s Sacred Singing Circle
Spirit Closing: ♫ Kevin Village Stone Kiwamura (Japanese/Cherokee), Native American Flute
ALL-VEGETARIAN, COMMUNITY POTLUCK AFTER … 3:00 - 5:30 pm, at CultureWorks, 310 Oak Street.
Co-Sponsored by WebSpirit Community
In respect of the space at CultureWorks, please only bring vegetarian dishes.
Everyone Welcome! Whether you make it up the Mountain or not : )
Volunteers needed. Please call Bobcat, 707-601-0818, Dana Mari, 541-237-6400, or Monique Torok, 541-499-8303
VOLUNTEER TASKS
Many thanks to Dana Mari for phone calls and other help with general coordination, and to everyone else who has offered to help so far this year. They are listed below along with the tasks where more assistance would be welcome. Much appreciation also to Rico Herrera for doing his magic again this year with the speakers and microphones, to Talia Rose for bringing them to be used by all, and to Janett Sultzbach for once again bringing hot chocolate up the mountain to warm us after the ceremony.
* posters -- Van and Kathleen Fleming have put these up around town, as has Summer Creller, who generously printed up 20 color posters on her laser printer. If you would like to help put up more, contact Monique Torok from CultureWorks, 499-8303. More help is always good. Dana Mari has put up posters in Grants Pass.
* tabling -- I will be tabling out in front of the Ashland Community Food Store this Friday, from 11 to 5. It's nice to have company
* chair transport -- one more small pick up truck is needed to carry them up from Bellview Grange, in addition to the truck of Albert Pepe, who will be helping us again this year, along with Larry Morningstar and Bruce Wright, Summer Creller, and hopefully more..
* set up and take down -- This begins with loading the chairs into the trucks. There are now four people ready to help with this, but there are a lot of chairs, so the more the merrier -- especially afterwards, as the chairs will need to be wiped down with towels, and this can take a while if it snows like it did last year. And we will need towels.
This year we will have one new task if the weather looks like it could be wet -- setting up a little canopy to cover the speakers and microphones. We will be using Van & Kathleen's canopy, and it is easy to set up, but extra people are needed to do this, since the other folks will be dealing with the chairs. The quicker things get wrapped up, the sooner all the workers can get to the potluck!
* All-Vegetarian potluck -- Right now our greatest need is to have a crew of folks come together to help this happen. Sharon Miranda has done a wonderful job of coordinating this in past years, but will be out of town frequently, and therefore not able to help as much as before. Dana Mari will be helping coordinate the presentation of the potluck itself. Monique Torok will be helping as well, and I will continue to make calls and send emails. As of today, food will be brought by Dana Mari, Summer Creller, and Ann Eldridge.
Van, Kathleen, and Joya will open the potluck with a prayer.
