COMMUNITY VILLAGE

the Sacred wheel
summer 2023: HONORING THE CYCLES OF LIFE!

There are times for germinating. Times for rooting. A time to bloom, and another for rest.

The passing of our dear elder Una Gallagher is momentus. Her stand for roots, structure and patience - with an eye toward the future - will forever be a stone in the foundation of Community Village.

As we enter The Sacred Wheel annual gathering with our elders, wisdom keepers and children this year, the current holders of community village are honoring our need to pause, integrate what we've learned (and need to learn) and rest. (ie. no annual gathering in 2024). We hope you'll join us as we celebrate our efforts to stand at the crossroads of our times, where messy, cultural challenges exist and find ways to cultivate unity, healing, harmony and hope.

Welcome to our 7th annual Community Village Gathering!

Join us as we regenerate a common-life infused with healthy relationship, collaboration, trust and intimacy with Earth and each other, through community. Together, we will live our truth by creating an environment that empowers diversity, honors indigenous roots and nurtures the web of life that holds the evolution of humanity.

For four days, we will create a village, invoking a living prayer that includes reparations with first nations peoples, opportunities to connect with our own ancestors and direct experience of living together in ceremony/council. Each year that we create the village, we add another stone in the foundation of earth-based community that honors what is learned by caring for spiritual-elemental forces alongside our elders and children.

THIS IS NOT A WEEKEND RETREAT or FESTIVAL. We create a ceremonial gathering, working together heart-to-heart, hand-to-hand.
This gathering is for families and individuals called to deeply honor the land, the ones who lived here before us, our own ancestors and the wisdom keepers and young ones who will hold the flame of sacred earth culture into the future.

In addition:

Healing Through Song, Circle & Dance
African Drumming & Community Medicine Wheel
Youth activities guided by The Center at Orchard Hill
Finding Your Center Teen Camp - additional cost, learn more
Strong guides will support the inclusion of children in the ceremonies and other earth-based activities to meet kids' interests
People are encouraged to engage in all areas of holding this gathering. Daily volunteer opportunities are found in the kitchen, supporting ceremonies, children and elders.

Food, Camping & Details:

Our food will be beautifully prepared, with vegetarian options
Camping is available with access to a bathroom, running water and outhouse.
This event is organized by volunteers and offered by donation. We request our guests offer a donation that covers the hard-costs. This allows us to take care of our elders, children and others as needed.
Due to the sacred and family oriented nature of this gathering we are only including guests known to our community. Please email us if you are interested in attending this year’s gathering or use the registration link you have received via email.
COVID We respect people's private, medical choices around vaccination. Elders may have specific requests if you wish to interact with them. More

To the Left: From left to right: Algonquin and French Grandmother Nancy, Mohawk Wisdom Keeper Marsha Forest and Grandmother Una (Rest In Peace & Power).

To the Right: 2019 Village at Earthlands on Nipmuc land. Thank you for your continued support of the efforts of the Ko'asek & Nipmuk nations.

Tending the Sacred Fire & Hearbeat Drum to harmonize and unify as a community

The central focus of our village is the ceremonial fire and heartbeat drum guided by Mayan Spiritual Guide Nana Wilma. This practice of uniting as community through a collective act held sacred, has been a way to unite humans with each other and the earth for thousands of years. Being held in circle and ceremony with the sacred Fire and the heartbeat of Earth can open us to our own ancestral memory and wisdom so we can be better guided toward what is needed for ourselves and our world.

Participants are encouraged to experience this collective holding by caring for the fire and-or the heartbeat drum during our gathering.

We will come together to listen and share through talking circles, a ceremonial tool that has been used through the ages, honoring all voices as having equal value in the great circle of life. A healing medicine in and of itself, the talking circle is a sacred form of communion. We will explore topics that require vulnerability, strength, endurance and the creativity inherent within us.

The Power of Ceremony Youth Co-Facilitator, Lucia Morey
It truly takes a village to feel the sanctity of life as we care for one another, the elders, the children and live in harmony with the land, ancestors, elements, and spirit.
Contact Brighid Murphy for registration information.

Above: Small posse of 2021 Village & Elders with the Ko'asek.

Uniting as Community
Guided by Nana Wilma

We will initiate a sacred fire and heartbeat drum to bring balance to ourselves in alignment with our Mother Earth. Guided by Mayan Spiritual Guide Nana Wilma, this practice has been a way to unite humans with each other and the earth for thousands of years. This weekend, we are opening to learn through this practice. The gathering supports individuals to have a direct connection with spirit and nature as we explore topics that require us to share with vulnerability; and, the strength, endurance and creativity inherent within us.

Mayan Spiritual Guide
NANA WILMA

"The hope is in our sacred fire. When there is no sun, no light, but our brother trees are still there, giving us their wood to make our fire, this will be our breath of life. Our breath, and our wind. Where there is air, there will be life. Where there is fire, there is life. And with water, even if it is contaminated, we can absorb a little, drink a little. It also is part of our life.
If we have a lot, we can drink a lot of water and stay within her."

Anchoring the Sacred Wheel
Guided by Marsha Forest

You are invited on a Personal Journey of Transformation and Wellness. This year, teachings that bring forward our connections to the Natural world, to the Spiritual realms, the elements and your own place within the Circle of Life will be offered. You will find ways to honor and to make connection with cycles at a deeper level. You will learn how to live in greater harmony with all of creation and to move closer to your full potential through the sacred wheel.

Wisdom keeper marsha forest

Wisdom Keeper Marsha Forest is of Mohawk ancestry (Six Nations Reservation, Ontario, Canada), she's worked as a Registered Nurse for forty years. She is recognized as a Wisdom Keeper and Grandmother by Earth Peoples United and Grandmothers Circle the Earth. She now supports people to help them discover their own strengths and responsibility for their well-being and their environment. She has represented the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada; B.C. Nurses Union; Canadian Women’s Health Network; Earth Peoples United; Grandmothers Circle the Earth.

uplifting our spirits
with Grandmother Nancy andre

GRANDMOTHER NANCY ANDRE

Grandmother Nancy Andry is of Algonquin and French heritage and has followed the Red Road since childhood. A Sundancer and a Sacred Pipe carrier, she is acknowledged as an elder and a grandmother in her communities in Canada, where she was given instruction to bring out and share certain teachings. Grandmother Nancy is a well-known storyteller, sharing legends from many different Nations in schools, health facilities and the pow wow circuit.

This year's Special Guests

Strong Oak Lefebvre
is the Founder, former Board President and first Executive Director of the Visioning B.E.A.R. Circle Intertribal Coalition (VBCIC). Strong Oak is co-author of the “Walking in Balance with All Our Relations” teaching curriculum and gives national presentations on a curriculum that is designed to decolonize indigenous peoples and reclaim historical ways of being in the community.

The VBCIC was incorporated through a capacity building project under Ms. Lefebvre’s sexual assault prevention work at the New

England Learning Center for Women in Transition. Ms. Lefebvre is currently in participating in the LEAP Cohort Leadership Academy for women of color at the California Coalition Against Rape. Ms. Lefebvre does grant reviews for state agencies regarding Rape Prevention Education funding.

JUMOKE AJANKU is a performing artist, educator, and event manager. Jumoke has performed internationally from Canada to Bali to Gambia and more. Jumoke has also been producing West African centered youth programming since 1993; choreographing dance, composing musical arrangements, and leading African inspired crafting. He has also opened for artists such as India Arie, Cee-Lo, Kanye West among many others. Additionally, he is the musical director and a principal dancer for the Baltimore based Sankofa Dance Theater.
For over two decades, Sankofa Dance Theater has effectively brought joy and professionalism to work with children as they infuse the art forms of dance, storytelling,

crafts, and song with language, math, logic, and science to improve the quality of education and life among young people. Under the direction of Kibibi Ajanku, Salim Ajanku, and Jumoke Ajanku (Musical Director), the Company has developed, guided and conducted Sankofa African Art Programs for public and independent schools as well as cultural and artistic organizations locally, throughout the United States, in Europe, and in Africa. The overarching desire is to balance the educational and social needs of marginalized and disadvantaged young people; however, Sankofa African Art Programming is an exemplary component as an addition to any learning environment.

Let us bind together our words, let us bind together our support,
all people, men, women, youth. ~ Nana Wilma

elders, children & families

Wisdom keepers have imparted the benefits of maturing our circles to be inclusive of all people, especially elders and children in ceremonial spaces. Over the past year, we have found this to be much harder than we originally thought it would be! And, we are learning. We have structured our time together so that it can serve many different interests while including elders and families to receive healing, learning and nourishment.

Please note that this is a ceremonial gathering.
We thank you for keeping this gathering free of drugs and alcohol.
Orchard Hill only allows registered service dogs.

This year's gathering is generated through hundreds of volunteer hours given by these generous hearts and hands. If you have specific questions, please reach out to connect with our Community Village Holders or email us here.

Marcella Eversole
Inspiration