H. Byron Ballard, BA, MFA, is a western NC native, teacher, folklorist and writer. She has served as a featured speaker and teacher at Sacred Space Conference, Pagan Spirit Gathering, Southeast Wise Women's Herbal Conference, Glastonbury Goddess Conference, Heartland, Sirius Rising, Starwood, Scottish Pagan Federation Conference, Hexfest
H. Byron Ballard, BA, MFA, is a western NC native, teacher, folklorist and writer. She has served as a featured speaker and teacher at Sacred Space Conference, Pagan Spirit Gathering, Southeast Wise Women's Herbal Conference, Glastonbury Goddess Conference, Heartland, Sirius Rising, Starwood, Scottish Pagan Federation Conference, Hexfest and other gatherings. She is senior priestess and co-founder of Mother Grove Goddess Temple and the Coalition of Earth Religions/CERES, both in Asheville, NC.
Her essays are featured in several anthologies and she writes a regular column for Sagewoman Magazine. Her book "Staubs and Ditchwater" debuted in 2012 and the companion volume "Asfidity and Mad-Stones" was published in Oct. 2015. "Embracing Willendorf: A Witch's Way of Loving Your Body to Health and Fitness" launched in May, 2017. "Earth Works: Ceremonies in Tower Time" debuted in June 2018. Byron is currently at work on a book of Appalachian folkways for Llewellyn, "The Ragged Wound: Tending the Soul of Appalachia" for Smith Bridge Press and a book on permaculture for Pagans for Red Wheel/Weiser. www.myvillagewitch.com
Steven Snow Bear Taylor has been an environmental educator and practitioner and teacher of primitive living skills for 40 years. From pre-schoolers to Elder Hostel participants, many have joined him on interpretive naturalist walks and for living history programs and music and storytelling performances. He is recognized for his study and
Steven Snow Bear Taylor has been an environmental educator and practitioner and teacher of primitive living skills for 40 years. From pre-schoolers to Elder Hostel participants, many have joined him on interpretive naturalist walks and for living history programs and music and storytelling performances. He is recognized for his study and work in identifying and cataloguing the indigenous uses of edible, medicinal and utilitarian wild plants of the Southern Appalachians and knowledge of North American tribal peoples.
A student of West African drumming, he was taught by the Yoruba master Babatunde Olatunji. He continues to teach this music to children and adults. He is a founding member and lead percussionist with the Grammy-nominated musical ensemble Sapien. Snow Bear has brought his music and skills to the Maya of the Yucatan and the N'debe and Zulu people of South Africa as well as youth on the islands of St. Croix and St. Lucia. He is an outdoor educator who has shared his skills at many camps, schools and museums for over three decades. He has worked with a variety of special populations, including youth at risk, adjudicated youth, mental health referrals and young men in drug rehabilitation programs.
Twenty eight years ago, he co-founded Earthskills Rendezvous, Inc. which provides educational events in ancestral living skills for people of all ages. He was a senior counselor for Georgia Mental Health Institute's Outdoor Therapeutic Program for 8 years. He has also been director and instructor of The Peaceful Warrior Walkabout of EARTH Camps, Inc., program director of Pepperland Farm Camp for 17 years and served on the EARTH Camp Board of Directors.
Snow Bear's life reflects his devotion to service, the well-being of our youth and reverence for the elders and ancestral understandings of many cultures.
Debra is a Homesteader, a natural farmer, a family and community herbalist, mother of three, grandmother of nine, and a great grandmother to one. She has been speaking out against the poisoning of our planet for over five decades and saw the loss of our Grandmother's wisdoms occurring at a scary rate. So, Debra and her husband started th
Debra is a Homesteader, a natural farmer, a family and community herbalist, mother of three, grandmother of nine, and a great grandmother to one. She has been speaking out against the poisoning of our planet for over five decades and saw the loss of our Grandmother's wisdoms occurring at a scary rate. So, Debra and her husband started their homestead 15 years ago on family owned land and started gathering the wisdoms, tools, and skills required to honor the old ways.
Now, she teaches gardening, preserving the harvest, seed saving, along with her Women's Empowerment group and her individual coaching sessions on Healing ourselves and our generational trauma, Rewilding, Renewing, and Reclaiming our ancestral wisdoms to help us raise a healthier more loving future, and Wyldwood Wysdoms.
Living a healthier way and healing like our ancestors did out of our gardens, meadows, forests, and yards is not hard but it takes a pinch of remembrance and a teaspoon of want to. So let's de-mystify the possibilities and put the power to live well, heal, and thrive back into the hands of the peaceful.
Fuz Sanderson is the founder and coordinator of the Piedmont Earthskills Gathering. He is an Endangered Species Biologist, Earthskills teacher, Musician and thought-provoking mentor. He has worked for over 30 years as a wilderness instructor, naturalist, and research biologist for the Federal and State Government as well as Private orga
Fuz Sanderson is the founder and coordinator of the Piedmont Earthskills Gathering. He is an Endangered Species Biologist, Earthskills teacher, Musician and thought-provoking mentor. He has worked for over 30 years as a wilderness instructor, naturalist, and research biologist for the Federal and State Government as well as Private organizations. Currently he is serving the State of NC in the Biological Services Unit of the Department of Transportation.
Fuz has a passion for teaching and sharing knowledge of the scientific and mythical world He loves to see the empowerment that learning brings to people. www.piedmontearthskillsgathering.com
Sangoma Oludoye is a traditional Yoruba priestess of Obatala and ancestral custodian of the customs, traditions, codes of conduct for a diversity of cultures. Sangoma lives in Winnfield, Ga. with her husband, and is mother of three daughters and grandmother of 11 Grands and a multitude of tribes and communities throughout the Southeast.
Sangoma Oludoye is a traditional Yoruba priestess of Obatala and ancestral custodian of the customs, traditions, codes of conduct for a diversity of cultures. Sangoma lives in Winnfield, Ga. with her husband, and is mother of three daughters and grandmother of 11 Grands and a multitude of tribes and communities throughout the Southeast. Sangoma is an artist, sacred activist and spiritual midwife. The descendent of 7 generations of root medicine people, born in the caul...the gifts of her ancestors in the Cherokee, Dogon, Bombara and Yoruba tribes continue to manifest healing/wholeness for the wounded, downtrodden survivors of cultural amnesia. Sangoma is an elder/instructor/willing vessel to Divinity ....to nurture, tend and be an advocate for the re-connection of humanity with the forces of nature...She teaches us how to keep the ceremony in our everyday lives, find, keep and maintain AT ONE MENT in the seat of the soul through youth summer camps/ On the Forest Floor, Earthskills villages and gatherings, in the celebration of Orisha festivals in Oyotunji, SC or sharing insights and revelations at a solo fire with Coyotes from the Wild Intelligence community in Athens, Ga. www.kindredofsangoma.org
Christopher Largent taught clear thinking, philosophy, and comparative religion at universities for 40 years while also doing communication and conflict resolution training in government and business. Author of five books, a master dream interpreter, and transformative astrologer, Chris runs a classical academy for adults in southeastern Pennsylvania. www.theseventhacademy.org
Ngigkwe n'dizhnikawz, Ngig dodem. Waw saw gaming n' doon jibaw. Nokomis niin. Otter Woman is from Shining Lake in Ontario. I am a Grandmother and that's enough. I must speak up for my grandchildren and future generations."
Beth grew up on the ancestral lands of the Haudenosaunee people in upstate New York. Childhood experiences in nature camp and school exposed her to the indigenous wisdom of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy which resonated deeply with her and planted the seeds for a future that would become dedicated to helping to create a life-sustaining s
Beth grew up on the ancestral lands of the Haudenosaunee people in upstate New York. Childhood experiences in nature camp and school exposed her to the indigenous wisdom of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy which resonated deeply with her and planted the seeds for a future that would become dedicated to helping to create a life-sustaining society.
In 2008, after a career in academic publishing, Beth founded Zola Goods, a green business created to help people shift to a more sustainable lifestyle. After seven years, and a rapidly changing marketplace, Beth phased out the retail aspect of Zola so that she could focus on what she loved most about that venture: educating and empowering groups of people on how they can make a positive difference in the world.
Drawn to deep ecology, indigenous wisdom, environmental and social justice, nature connection, systems theory, biomimicry, permaculture, sustainability, herbalism, earth skills, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and spirituality, Beth’s workshops burgeon with possibilities. Her natural curiosity, optimism, and years spent as a youth sports coach, combine to make Beth’s facilitation style encouraging and inspirational.
Especially motivated by her children, step-grandchildren, and all of the future generations, Beth is devoted to helping create a more sustainable, just and peaceful world where all beings can thrive.