Bios
Amelia Hogan has been an active artist since before she could walk and has always brought color, texture, and fun to whatever endeavors strike her fancy. She graduated top of her Class from Mills college in 2009 with her BA in Studio/fine Arts with an emphasis on mixed media. She has taught Grad and Undergrad students in book arts, and been in numerous juried Art exhibitions which push buttons and awaken things inside and out a ...more
Steve has been part of the Fire family for years doing: Fire lighting, rangoli, gate building, fire tending, setup, break down, town runs... He's the man of all capabilities....
Bright Hawk is an inspired and inspiring story teller, djembe drummer, performer, teacher and playful spirit. Bright Hawk truly shows up for the participants and organizers of any festival she attends. She shares her expansive and playful spirit with the all night Fire Circle and drumming communities she is a part of.
In 1994 Bright Hawk began performing with Mz. imani and Rhythm Alive! She has performed with Circle Skin and Bone, Sister Adsum, Jeff McBride, Abbi Spinner, and Billy Woo ...more
Carin McKay loves to cook. She says “I am lucky that I get to do one of my favorite things for a living, and that is to cook for alot of people, and I get to cook the kind of food I like…. I like to cook for events where people care about organic, about community, and about health of themselves and the environment.”
Carin began as a prep cook in a small café in Mendocino cou ...more
This will be Shelley's third year participating in Phoenix Fire with her son, Hank. Shelley says, "Phoenix Fire has been inspirational in sharing and building community with us. The values that have been impressed upon my son have made me want to share this with other families. Creating sacred space for families is essential as our children grow up to be our future leaders." In addition to being a mother, Shelley is a Reiki Master & En ...more
Clifford is the founder/owner of Felt Sense Consulting (FeltSense.org), specializing in transforming life and work. A heart based entrepreneur for over thirty years dedicated to making this universe a wonderful place for all. His deep level of commitment to ...more
Daja says, "I dance, I drum, Some days I drive. Hail Eris, Hail Yes!"
Dakini Uma Amitabha has been a performing artist and dancer for 30 + years. Her dedication to dance and seasoned passion for performance art gives her a unique and intimate understanding of the world of Dance Theater and the arts. Dakini is a graduate of Helene Eriksen’s “Women’s Dances of the Orient” project, a former sponsor of the DAME Fest world music a ...more
DidgMan Chris and Gaiella have been active in the Sacred Fire Circle community for the past 10 years and have organized several small annual gatherings (GaiaFire and TipiFire) that focus primarily on building community. Over the past few years they have explored many ways to take the lessons learned at the Fire and apply them to the mundane world to affect positive change in individual lives and in the community at large. They are the co-creators of ...more
Song leader DJ Hamouris brings four decades of vocal experience and training to her teaching. Leading the vocal group Women & Song since 2004, she mines old and new musical sources to find material that is fun and memorable both for singers and their audiences. DJ's recordings include "Welcome to Annwfn" with brother Rick Hamouris; "The Chorus of Life" with Gaia's Vo ...more
Dorothy started out in medicine working for the wilderness program, where she taught wilderness skills such as rock climbing, white water rafting, cross country skiing and survival courses. When the program ended in 1976, she became a nurse. She lives in Ventura with her husband and two dogs. There, she is active in working to end homelessness, organizing yearly women's retreats, and doing ritual and labyrinth work with CUUPS (covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans). She works as a pri ...more
Gina has attended fires at this site since the very beginnings in the 1990's Her passion for life fuels her song and movement. Her love for children and family has inspired her to want to bring more families to the community to share this experience with the next generation. Living, loving, breathing, weaving the rhythm and rhyme into every day to hopefully inspire others to do the same. Gina is a Licensed massage therapist, Certified Kundalini Yoga instructor, singer/song writer, and a D ...more
James L. Bianchi, Esq. is among the first graduating students from the oldest public interest law school in the country, New College of California, School of Law and is best described as a community activist. Over the years he has been on Boards and Commissions, or founded non-profit corporations, that operate homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, sexual assault programs, drug treatment programs, legal aid offices, and after school programs for elementary school children. Jim practic ...more
Jason is a self proclaimed student of the Mysteries. Having studied and practiced Shamanism for over thirty years, he has also studied many of the worlds religions. These include both Christian and Earthbased. (As a healer, it helps to know about those you are healing.) He was trained as a Combat Paramedic while serving with the USArmy counter terrorism group. He is also trained and certified as a Rape, Crisis, and Family councelor. Jason was a member of the Firedance team since its begining ...more
Jason Cohen first began exploring his relationship to energy or chi at the age of 13. Now at 40, he helps develop community, and builds and holds sacred space for healing and expressive arts rituals. Jason began facilitating full moon sweat lodges in Jamaica Plain in December of 2001. He is the executive producer of "Forestdance", which began in Georgia in 2003, visited five states, and is currently a week long and occurs annually over Labor Day in Massachusetts, and during mid Feb. ...more
Jasper finds inspiration from cooking, knitting, tending fires, building things with her hands and spending time with inspiring people. Currently, she resides in Berkeley, CA with her husband Tao, and son Milo, and is self-employed as a FileMaker database developer.
Jasper is honored to have been part of the birth of Phoenix Fire in 2006 and to have served as Treasurer for several years.
Jimi Two Feathers, co-founder of Earth Drum Council, is a teacher, facilitator, and community organizer who has been building drum and dance community for over thirty years. In addition to EDC, Jimi is an original member of Dance Free and co-founder of Dance New England. Jimi builds and repairs computers and serves on the Board of Community Change Inc, an anti-racism non-profit in Boston.
In this circle we move together! Some call it dance, others, walking the fire. Whatever you call it, it's movement! Kimba comes to Phoenix fire as an engaged mover, using her body to stir the cauldron and raise and lower energies within and without. Whatever we are feeling or seemingly not feeling we can let that inform our physicality and perhaps get a glimpse, ...more
Missy is a Vibrational and Shamanic healer, Awareness-Oriented Massage Therapist, Reiki Master/Teacher, Personal Growth Instructor, Theatrical Lighting Designer and Business Consultant. Her healing work draws from many different practices including movement, sound, breathwork, meditation, visualization, Ipsalu Tantra Kriya Yoga and Transpersonal Psychology. Missy comes to her teaching and healing work from a focused center of compassion, presence and deep listening to create a sacredness of s ...more
Morganne Baum is a talented musician, composer, and performing artist living in Las Vegas. She is a long-time co-conspirator in the fire circle community, currently serving as the Business Manager for Vegas Vortex and Treasurer for Fire Family, Inc. Morganne enjoys creating beautiful altar spaces, teaching drum workshops, playing numerous percussion instruments, and singing both in and out of circle. She writes fire circle chants a ...more
Morwen is a drummer, musician, teacher, writer, and facilitator who has been exploring the connections between rhythm, consciousness, and healing for many years. She is co-founder of Earth Drum Council, and has been teaching rhythm since the early nineties throughout the Northeast. She works as director of program development at a community art center in her hometown in
Oliver is fascinated by the use of co-created spontaneous ritual as a tool for mapping internal experience and connecting us with unknown personal sources. He is a student of the way of the heart, and a believer that empowered communities can heal the wounds that divide us. Oliver was introduced to the fire circle in 2006 and has been enthusiastically attending fire family events since. He is a member of the Spark Collective core. He is also a professional software developer and computer boff ...more
The Pigeon Hawk is a rare bird of the Mystery with a keen sense of Vision and ability to catch his Pray through a startling array spiralacious flight. Often seen around water, especially water that has been enlivened, he is often considered an indicator species for recovering ecosystems, and can sometimes be found teaching Permaculture workshops and tinkering with Flowforms. Some of the wonderful things that Pigeon Hawks do can be seen at ...more
Sonic Alchemist Peter van Gorder promotes the philosophy that every sound and movement we make is but a mere carrier wave for the more interesting data of: Thoughts, Feelings, and Emotions. His unique view and teaching style has led him to create "Conscious Drumming" a workshop where the mind and body-energy are the primary instrument and the drum [or any instrument] is the amplifier.
As a facilitator he has both organized and led drum & sound circles, sonic journeys, hea ...more
Rodger Osgood has been drumming since Rites of Spring and the Rainbow Gathering in 1986. He learned traditional drumming of Ghana with Agbekor Drum and Dance Society and has studied with African masters Abubakari Lunna, Godwin Agbeli, Mamady Keita, Mohammed "Joh" Camara. He has been an integral part of Earth Drum Council and the drumming at Rites of Spring and has performed with the Agbekor Drum and Dance Society, Rhythm Alive!, and Circle Skin and Bone.
Roe Griffith is a Spiritual Woman, Fire Dancer, Herbalist, Priestess of Isis, Mother, and Grandmother. She lives in the Central Coast region of Northern California where she is the facilitator of a growing Wiccan Circle and has been active in her local Spiritual and Religious Communities for well over 15 years. Roe is a Rock hound, Soap Maker, Public Speaker, Volunteer, Planner, Community Builder, Woman’s Group Facilitator, Fire Dancer and adventurous Traveler!
Born and raised in the Las Vegas valley, Ruffells is an Eagle Scout, former scout leader, and outdoorsman. He brings woods wisdom and an eagerness to learn, listen, live and love.
Shimmering Wolf has been drumming and dancing around fires for 2 decades. He has been a "personal growth junkie" since childhood. As a teenager, he led Parent/Teen Encounter communication workshops with his family, taking the experience for several years to families from houston to Los Angeles. In the 80s, he studied the Course in Miracles and participated in the Beyond War movement. He became inspired to study Native American wisdom after reading Carlos Castenada's books. In 19 ...more
Padme hails from the wild neon jungles of Las Vegas, where she is an active co-conspirator in the Vegas Vortex and Desert Moon Circle. She cares deeply about creating spaces for deep connections, personal growth, transformation, and healing, and is a student and practitioner of various healing modalities. Padme is also passionate about music of all kinds and has been singing as long as she can remember.
Susan Diamond is owner of a Santa Cruz based Magickal Arts Shop, Botanica, and Pagan learning center (http://www.serpentskiss.org) and a manufacturer/wholesaler of authentic magickal supplies. She is an initiated priest of Nsasi, Spirit of Fire and Lightning. Susan also works as a shamanic practitioner, psychic/tarot consultant, astrologer, and rootworker with 15 years of counseling experience. Her passion is dancing for spirit.
Sylvia Brallier is director of The Tantric Shamanism Insitute, The School for The Intuitive Healing Arts and a recording artist. She has been teaching healing, tantra, metaphysics, shamanism and Earth spirituality workshops internationally since 1984. Sylvia's work is based on her own experiences with both ancient and new techniques for the evolution of consciousness.
Tao is one of the founders of the Bay Area Spark Collective, a fire spinner, and a proud member of the getting-it-done crew. He spends his days working on open-source software for UC Berkeley (you're using it right now), and his evenings working on the home he shares with his wife Jasper and son Milo.
When he first encountered the fire circle in 2003, Terence fell in love with its mix of motion, emotion, spontaneity, connection, and song. It felt like sacred, earth-based theater games – and he knew he was home. Since then, he's served in various volunteer roles with the Fire Family and the Spark Collective. (Lately, his favorite form of magic is blues dancing.) Drawing on sweet memories of his first circle seven years ago, ...more
Tymn is an adept, holistic, community Priest and Ritualist with over 10 years experience in planning and organizing sacred events. He is also a visual artist, singer and songwriter with a deep love for writing chants for use in sacred space. He has facilitated numerous workshops and song circle ceremonies in Santa Cruz, the South Bay Area as well as Seattle. He currently h ...more
Venee comes to Phoenix Fire with a wide range of experience in the volunteer /event realm. She has a BA in Arts and Social Change with an emphasis in Interdisciplinary Arts and Education from the New College of California. She is a ritualist, altarist, artist and dancer. Venee has been a priestess for rituals at events such as Ancient Ways and Pantheacon. She has served as a stage and event manager, event planner, artistic director, altarist/ installations artist, and curator for a varie ...more