Gaia Festival Info

Hello!! It's unbelievable to me that we will be converging for Gaia Festival this weekend! Where does the time go?

So, a few things to mention.

First off, my partner Stephanie, the Matriarch of Gaia Festival, is flying in from NY to be with us! I'm so excited you will all be able to meet her. She will be co-facilitating the evening campfire song and drum circle with me. She has a lovely voice and knows many Native American chants and Goddess songs.

1. Do not bring an altar item. We are planting seeds for our "living" altar this year, so no need for you to bring anything. The Temple of the Goddess will provide seeds for everyone to plant during the opening ceremony.

2. Try to arrive by 9:30am if possible. This will help me a lot with parking arrangements.

3. I did a weather check and all looks great. The forecast says partly sunny, high of 68 degrees F. Please be sure to dress in layers, and bring snuggly clothes to wear at night. It will get chilly! I get cold so easily, so I'll be bundled up.

4. You will need to sign up for each healer you want to see onsite. I recommend doing this in the morning. Also, you can only sign up for one 10-minute session from each person, and if they have extra spots you are then welcome to sign up for a second session.

5. If you have a drum, please bring it for the circle. I will have many drums on hand that you may want to try also.

NOTE: if you are a Healer, please bring a book or clip board and pencil. I will be printing out time sheets for people to sign up for your services and will distribute them to you in the morning on Saturday. Again, during the designated times, please only work on the folks wearing badges who have signed up on your sheets.

Many blessings and looking forward to an incredible weekend with all of you!

Much love,

Kris

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2nd Annual Gaia Festival Debuts on West Coast

Kris Katsuko Oster
(805) 624-4361
kris@gaiafestival.com

May 17, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2nd Annual Gaia Festival Debuts on West Coast

Los Angeles-- Gaia Festival West Coast, celebrating multi-cultural, interdisciplinary and inclusive of all spiritual beliefs, debuts on Saturday, May 26 at 10:30 a.m. through Sunday, May 27 at Temescal Gateway Park, 15601 W. Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades. Tickets are available for full weekend passes ($180) and individual seminars ($10-$25).

Festival presenters are leading scholars and artists in their fields that have created dynamic, interactive workshops to engage the whole person: mind, body and spirit.

"Gaia Festival is a collaboration of diverse and multi-cultural artists, educators and business owners, to celebrate our connection to the living earth, Gaia, as well as pool our collective wisdom towards resolving the many issues and problems we are facing today," says Kris Katsuko Oster, co-creator of Gaia Festival with Stephanie Hamberger.

Ms. Hamberger organized the inaugural Gaia Festival on November 11, 2006 in New York centered on two workshops facilitated by Pagan author and activist, Starhawk. The energy and interest generated by the initial event led to the momentum necessary to develop the second event on the West Coast.

"We recognized a yearning for connection to our Earth Mother and conceived Gaia Festival to feed that hunger," says Ms. Hamberger. "Our goal is to begin a community that expands beyond the two day festival into a regular practice of goddess worship and earth nurturance."

Author, lecturer, Goddess advocate and native of Venice, California, Karen Tate (www.karentate.com), is the headline presenter and has played a major role in developing the festival program for this year.

"I was really interested in working with Kris and Stephanie on Gaia Festival because it's so in alignment with my own work, bringing the Sacred Feminine into mainstream consciousness," Karen explains.

Karen's workshop "Sacred Sites of the Goddess: Ancient Echoes of Herstory" will open the Gaia Festival program on May 26, 2007 at 1:15 pm.

Gaia Festival will share proceeds donated by sponsors and advertisers with its non-profit partners Temple of the Goddess Pasadena (www.templeofthegoddess.org) and global sustainability think-tank Empowerment Works (www.empowermentworks.org).

Xia and her attendant Priestesses from the Temple of the Goddess
Pasadena have developed a powerful and transformative opening ceremony to invoke Gaia and send healing prayers to ailing bee populations.

The opening ceremony will feature the drumming talent of frame drummer and singer, Miranda Rondeau.

Melanie St. James, Executive Director of Empowerment Works, is giving a lecture entitled "Social Permaculture" on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 2:00 pm. Melanie's organization practices a model of support and collaboration that creates a sustainable future for our planet.

About the Gaia Festival Founders
Hamberger is a photojournalist who has led pilgrimages to Glastonbury, Cornwall and Bath, England for Lammas celebrations since 2001 and is currently authoring a book about the sacred traditions of bread baking around the world.

Oster is a percussionist, myth scholar, sacred event organizer and web developer. In 2006 she spent 2 and a half months in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil completing research for her Doctoral dissertation in progress, "The Heartbeat of the Mother: Ritual Drumming & Revisioning Images of the Feminine in Candomblé."

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Gaia Festival - Mistake on Website Link

Gaia Festival News & Latest Additions! Link for Temple of the Goddess Hi everyone, my apologies, I sent this email out with a bad link on it. The link to the website for Temple of the Goddess should be www.templeofthegoddess.org! Here is the announcement again with the correct link: Gaia Festival May 26-27, 2007 Temescal Gateway Park 15601 W. Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 For more information: Phone - 805.624.4361 Email - kris@gaiafestival.com Website - www.gaiafestival.com In two weeks, Gaia Festival West Coast will be birthed. We have many exciting new additions to the festival! For those of you not registered yet, we still have room in the bungalows (shared quarters) for anyone who wishes to purchase a Full Festival Pass for $180, which includes all workshops and events, meals and overnight stay. Please register on or before May 21st so we can ensure we have plenty of bungalows and can inform our caterer of the correct number of folks needing meals. Andrea (www.cateringbyandreala.com) is doing our catering and the all vegetarian menu she came up with is wonderful. I will post the menu this weekend on the festival website. And of course my in-laws Nancy and Dave Oster, who now have their own bakery in Santa Barbara, will be creating delectible desserts, such as chocolate/chipotle brownies and fresh baked breads. If you wish to come to Individual workshops and events, here are the dates, times and prices: 5/26, 10:30 am CEREMONY: TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS -$5 donation 5/26, 1:15 pm KAREN TATE - $25 5/26, 3:25 pm JOAN NORTON - $25 5/26, 7:00 pm FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTACY: JO COBBETT - $15 5/26, 9:15 pm FILM: "Signs Out of Time" – about the life and work of MARIJA GIMBUTAS. $5. 5/27, 8:30 am YOGA: AL TAVERA - $12 5/27, 9:30 am BELLYDANCE: APARECIDA - $15 5/27, 11:20 am FRAME DRUM: MIRANDA RONDEAU - $25 5/27, 2:00 pm SOCIAL PERMACULTURE: MELANIE ST. JAMES - $5 Donation 5/27, 2:30 pm WEST AFRICAN DANCE & DRUM: KEN & NAOMI DOUMBIA - $25 Plus drum circles, face painting, henna body painting, tarot card readers and vendors! Please see our website for the full schedule of events, www.gaiafestival.com. ********New Additions********** In case you haven't heard, Gaia Festival has two non-profit partners this year, Temple of the Goddess, Pasadena and global sustainability think-tank Empowerment Works. Xia and her attendant Priestesses from the Temple of the Goddess, Pasadena (www.templeofthegoddess.org) have developed a powerful and transformative opening ceremony to invoke Gaia and send healing energies to the ailing bee populations. We will be planting the seeds of our intentions to bring peace and well being to all living things we are in relationship to on Mother Earth. The opening ceremony begins on Saturday, May 26th at 10:30am sharp, and will feature the drumming talent of frame drummer and singer, Miranda Rondeau. We will be accepting $5 donations to go directly to Temple of the Goddess for those of you who wish to give something to a group of women who are helping create a Goddess and Earth-loving world. Of course, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Seasoned event organizer and founder of Empowerment Works, (www.empowermentworks.org) Melanie St. James enthusiastically jumped on board recently to help out with some of her practical magic! Melanie is giving a talk called "Social Permaculture" on Sunday, May 27th at 2:00 pm. Melanie practices a model of support and collaboration that creates a sustainable future for our planet. The crisis humanity faces is of epic proportions and Melanie brings her education and vast experiences from the field to assist in creating bridges of understanding and cooperation. Like Gaia Festival, Melanie brings together diverse, multi-cultural artists, scientists and businesses in order to pool our collective wisdom towards solving the many issues and problems we are facing today. We will also be accepting $5 donations for Melanie's talk that will benefit her non-profit organization Empowerment Works. Another way to help support Gaia Festival and its two non-profit partners is to buy raffle tickets at the Festival for $5 each. No need to be present to win, just be sure to write your address and phone number on the back of the ticket in case you need to leave before the drawings - we will do one drawing on Saturday evening and another on Sunday afternoon. We have some amazing raffle prizes! The LA Philharmonic is donating two pairs of tickets for its concert series this summer at the Hollywood Bowl; YogaWorks is giving away one free week of yoga classes; Hollywood & Highland Center is donating a $100 voucher for the restaurant Vert and a one-night stay at the Radisson Hotel overlooking Kodak Theatre, the home of the Oscars; Toni O' Bryan of Be Light and Ka-ching (check out her amazing office, it's the lime green house on Abbott Kinney Blvd and her website: www.kaching-creative.com) is donating an Avesa Balancing Session worth $129. Toni will also be on hand during the festival to give 8 minute mini treatments with her Egyptian Healing Rods. More to come... Julie James, one of the Gaia Festival Healers, is offering an Herb Walk through Temescal Gateway Park to show us the native plants and herbs in the area and how some can be used for healing purposes. The walk will be gentle -- it's not a strenuous hike. The workshop is complimentary to festival badge holders only (pre-registered participants), and $10 for the general public. The Herb Walk will take place on Sunday, May 27th at 9:00 am. Copyright 2007

Gaia Festival - Two Weeks and Counting!

Gaia Festival News & Latest Additions! Event Announcement : May 11, 2007 Gaia Festival May 26-27, 2007 Temescal Gateway Park 15601 W. Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 For more information: Phone - 805.624.4361 Email - kris@gaiafestival.com Website - www.gaiafestival.com In two weeks, Gaia Festival West Coast will be birthed. We have many exciting new additions to the festival! For those of you not registered yet, we still have room in the bungalows (shared quarters) for anyone who wishes to purchase a Full Festival Pass for $180, which includes all workshops and events, meals and overnight stay. Please register on or before May 21st so we can ensure we have plenty of bungalows and can inform our caterer of the correct number of folks needing meals. Andrea (www.cateringbyandreala.com) is doing our catering and the all vegetarian menu she came up with is wonderful. I will post the menu this weekend on the festival website. And of course my in-laws Nancy and Dave Oster, who now have their own bakery in Santa Barbara, will be creating delectible desserts, such as chocolate/chipotle brownies and fresh baked breads. If you wish to come to Individual workshops and events, here are the dates, times and prices: 5/26, 10:30 am CEREMONY: TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS -$5 donation 5/26, 1:15 pm KAREN TATE - $25 5/26, 3:25 pm JOAN NORTON - $25 5/26, 7:00 pm FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTACY: JO COBBETT - $15 5/26, 9:15 pm FILM: "Signs Out of Time" – about the life and work of MARIJA GIMBUTAS. $5. 5/27, 8:30 am YOGA: AL TAVERA - $12 5/27, 9:30 am BELLYDANCE: APARECIDA - $15 5/27, 11:20 am FRAME DRUM: MIRANDA RONDEAU - $25 5/27, 2:00 pm SOCIAL PERMACULTURE: MELANIE ST. JAMES - $5 Donation 5/27, 2:30 pm WEST AFRICAN DANCE & DRUM: KEN & NAOMI DOUMBIA - $25 Plus drum circles, face painting, henna body painting, tarot card readers and vendors! Please see our website for the full schedule of events, www.gaiafestival.com. ********New Additions********** In case you haven't heard, Gaia Festival has two non-profit partners this year, Temple of the Goddess, Pasadena and global sustainability think-tank Empowerment Works. Xia and her attendant Priestesses from the Temple of the Goddess, Pasadena (www.templeofthegoddess.com) have developed a powerful and transformative opening ceremony to invoke Gaia and send healing energies to the ailing bee populations. We will be planting the seeds of our intentions to bring peace and well being to all living things we are in relationship to on Mother Earth. The opening ceremony begins on Saturday, May 26th at 10:30am sharp, and will feature the drumming talent of frame drummer and singer, Miranda Rondeau. We will be accepting $5 donations to go directly to Temple of the Goddess for those of you who wish to give something to a group of women who are helping create a Goddess and Earth-loving world. Of course, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Seasoned event organizer and founder of Empowerment Works, (www.empowermentworks.org) Melanie St. James enthusiastically jumped on board recently to help out with some of her practical magic! Melanie is giving a talk called "Social Permaculture" on Sunday, May 27th at 2:00 pm. Melanie practices a model of support and collaboration that creates a sustainable future for our planet. The crisis humanity faces is of epic proportions and Melanie brings her education and vast experiences from the field to assist in creating bridges of understanding and cooperation. Like Gaia Festival, Melanie brings together diverse, multi-cultural artists, scientists and businesses in order to pool our collective wisdom towards solving the many issues and problems we are facing today. We will also be accepting $5 donations for Melanie's talk that will benefit her non-profit organization Empowerment Works. Another way to help support Gaia Festival and its two non-profit partners is to buy raffle tickets at the Festival for $5 each. No need to be present to win, just be sure to write your address and phone number on the back of the ticket in case you need to leave before the drawings - we will do one drawing on Saturday evening and another on Sunday afternoon. We have some amazing raffle prizes! The LA Philharmonic is donating two pairs of tickets for its concert series this summer at the Hollywood Bowl; YogaWorks is giving away one free week of yoga classes; Hollywood & Highland Center is donating a $100 voucher for the restaurant Vert and a one-night stay at the Radisson Hotel overlooking Kodak Theatre, the home of the Oscars; Toni O' Bryan of Be Light and Ka-ching (check out her amazing office, it's the lime green house on Abbott Kinney Blvd and her website: www.kaching-creative.com) is donating an Avesa Balancing Session worth $129. Toni will also be on hand during the festival to give 8 minute mini treatments with her Egyptian Healing Rods. More to come... Julie James, one of the Gaia Festival Healers, is offering an Herb Walk through Temescal Gateway Park to show us the native plants and herbs in the area and how some can be used for healing purposes. The walk will be gentle -- it's not a strenuous hike. The workshop is complimentary to festival badge holders only (pre-registered participants), and $10 for the general public. The Herb Walk will take place on Sunday, May 27th at 9:00 am. Copyright 2007