Venus Returns to the Great Bear Rainforest, A Community Celebration of Nature, Music & Dance June 2nd in East Van

The Venus energy of the feminine wisdom and power of spirit is indeed returning to the Great Bear Rainforest as of May 30th, 2012!

Here's proof:

The Quebec governement style outrageous government attempt to silence people style, Bill 37, the so called Animal Health Control Act is defeated!!! Never trust something called "Control" and "act" together....especially if you are an actor!

Hooray for free speech....and sanity!!!

Thanks to 'the Salmon Police' as they've been dubbed, much appreciated Salmon Warrioress Women like Alexandra Morton, Anissa Reid, Lana Popham, and 'Terri Isabella Munro style' countless others returned to the BC Legistlature, the spawing grounds of the summer 2010 Get out Salmon People Migration!

This visit on May 30th, two years later, the same amount of time it takes a salmon to swim down the river and back again to give the ultimate gift, has spawned an historic V for Victory for Wild Salmon by preserving the right for the public and scientists to be permitted to speak up, share and broadcast findings of diseased animals, especially farmed salmon, to the public as a means to safeguard food safety and security.

In the time of great attemps at public oppression the veil is lifting with this example of how each of us has unlimited potential to do good in the world

Wild Salmon are in danger, the Geat Bear needs them and so do all of us.

I have a deeply rooted love, appreciation and respect for bears, wolves, dear, eagles, orcas, salmon, whales, indigenous peoples and all of the lands and waters in BC's Great Bear Rainforest & beyond. Having spent some of my boyhood years living on the Discovery Islands at the very southern edge of this vast and beautiful place I have a close personal relationship on a spiritual level with this wild and wondrous place and still visit nearly every summer to surf the tidal rapids of Surge Narrows and feel like a little boy again. Thanks Mom & Dad! Back when my two sisters and I lived there with mom and dad the area was a taste of how fantastic life must be in the Great Bear Rainforest today. We ate fish, crabs and shell-fish which we easily and joyfully harvested from the sea. We came safely face to face with bears and wolves many times and were occasionally treated to an Orca escort home to safety through foggy and stormy seas. The land and sea and its creatures supported us. I was so completely in awe of the harmonious circular relationship and interdependence of land and sea life.

The connection I feel to this place and these creatures brings about in me a lot more deep emotions than those that the best tear-jerker Disney movies about ‘man’s best friend’ or stories of innocent loss of life or cruelty towards animals like bears, wolves, horses or dogs. Indigenous people consider bears and wolves as their “direct relatives” as do I and hope soon others will too. Watch a bear playing, lounging, washing or tending their young and you’ll see humanity in their every move. You’ll know they ARE your relatives. The Spirit Bear is more rare on earth than the Panda Bear and yet our government is intent on running a  reckless tar sands oil pipeline & tankers operation right through their home! "Serenity now!" as George Kostanza used to say. Today more than ever this community of animals and indigenous peoples desperately need our help, our hearts, our creativity and appreciation. They need their stories told so that we can inspire more people to help them.

On June 2nd join Chief Phil Lane Jr., Sundance Chief Rueben George, Grandson of Chief Dan George, Rick Buckman Coe, Shine, Navaro, Bocephus King, Boris Sichon, DJ Elemental Rhythm and many more at The Great Bear Rainforest Celebration in East Vancouver.

Adance Tickets only at www.thegreatbearrainforest.org

On Saturday June 2nd, come to The Great Bear Rainforest, A Celebration of Nature, Music and Dance at Trout Lake Community Centre, East is East, Prana Yoga, Eternal Abundance and Tzvi's Place in East Vancouver. This is a community event to celebrate the creatures and cultures of The Great Bear Rainforest through music, dance and many art forms. Half of the proceed will go to PacificWild.org and their tireless mission to inspire the world to fall in love with and protect this last intact temperate rainforest in the world with it's stunning bio-diversity, it's creatures of legend and timeless indigenous cultures. The immediate threats to the kingdom of the Great Bear from deforestation, toxic disease and virus spewing fish farms (IHN virus outbreak now confirmed in the Clayquot Sound and north Sechelt Inlet), and now from the totally insane plan to pipe corrosive tar sands bitumen to the BC coast and ship it to foreign markets by supertanker are of unprecedented concern to all of us. Anyone with their brain and compassion switched on knows in their heart of hearts that this would result in oil spills and kill our Great Bear Rainforest and it’s creatures & cultures.

During the day there will be workshops on things like songwriting, playing instruments, becoming a peaceful warrior, permaculture and much more. They will be held at Eternal Abundance, East is East, Prana Yoga and Tzvi’s Place, all in the Peoples Republic of East Vancouver. This event will be a community driven, grass-roots collaborative celebration, brought to you “By the People” without the use of drugs or alcohol and in a way that leads the way in how to conduct a truly green and sustainably powered city festival.

Yes, we’re dreaming into reality a better future and we’re going to express this dream in a positive and peaceful way on June 2nd, without protest, without drugs or alcohol, totally from the heart of a community that cares so deeply about this place and it's own community. Why do we feel so strongly about this, about a place that so many will never see, who know it only through pictures, film and stories? I feel, as a person whose personal astrological rising sign is Tauras (the bull) which is rules by Venus (the lover, mother, divine femine) that part of the answer must lie in the influences that our current times and planetary movements are having on us.

This is all happening as Venus is drawing hearts and a 5 petal rose in our solar system as she prepares for her once more in a lifetime transit across our sun on June 5th. We can all hold the intention that the feminine, Venutian energy associated with Venus will bring us to balance and right relationship with the common grounds and common waters of the Great Bear Rainforest and beyond. The Mayans believe that the "Return of Quetzalcoatl K’uKuulKann, The Serpent of Light" is embodied in Venus and that this is exactly what she will bring for us on June 5th. Search "Transit of Venus" on YouTube for more inspiration.

In the face of unprecedented attacks on our democracy, our environment and Canadian values by the Harper and Clark Governments and our long-standing priority of respect and care for our environment, activists like myself face feeling drained of energy and hope that we will be able to bring about justice for all of us, for Indigenous cultures and for our lands, waters and all the creatures who inhabit our interconnected and interdependent home. In the last few days those of us who stay informed on such things have learned of the BC Government plan to make it illegal for anyone to talk about otherwise reportable diseases in animals bound for human consumption, punishable by "administrative fines" which basically means no due process and your guilty until you prove yourself innocent! And, we've also learned that the Cohen Commission whch laboured for the last year or so looking into the collapse of the Fraser Sockeye run has ruled that they will not hear any of the new evidence showing that most BC farmed salmon is infected with a virus that attacks the heart muscle of salmon! This is an outrage and it pains my heart to even write about it here...but, maybe this will be the last chance I have to do this if this new "law" comes into effect in the next two weeks.

The Great Bear Rainforest Celebration is a way to enliven and recharge the spirits of  people in the environmental movement, to celebrate our accomplishments and unity as well as to welcome in new energy and new faces who want to make a difference without protesting in the streets but instead by sharing their love with others for the Great Bear Rainforest. 

This unique and evolutionary festival experience will bring together incredibly talented local musicians like our very own Rick Buckman Coe, of whom Tom Harrison of The Province writes “His mixture of folk with a worldbeat consciousness is in the same vein and company of Jack Johnson, Michael Franti and Ben Harper. Sunny music that provokes thought” Buckman’s songs & lyrics connect me not only to nature but also to my essential nature of love. His hit song “The Apocalypse is not guaranteed” which he wrote as a personal response to the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010 reminds us of our deep connection to and dependence on the natural world, with the lyrics;

 “I sure like it here birds and the trees, sitting quietly by the mountains feet

and the math may baffle your mind, a planet such as this is hard to find

 the apocalypse is not guaranteed, no it’s not guaranteed

just because it’s written in some books, far as I know, hope is still free

this is our cathedral can we let it be, keep the oil out of our seas

cuz we all choke with the sludge in our lungs,

this constant need for more must be overcome

just as the light comes with the dawn

I’m sure this light will shine on everyone

And the time will surely come

When we got no choice but to act as one”

Rick Buckman Coe's music can be found online at www.buckmancoe.com

Well, the time to act as one with love, compassion and brave hearts is now for all families, furred, finned, winged and two footed ones as well.

Also headlining the show is the incredible Australian Didgeridoo Master, Shine, with his mystical and otherworldly sounds from the Aboriginal traditions of his homeland to help us to understand and feel that we can “dream our world into existence” if we believe and act as truly peaceful warriors for the earth and each other. Shine will be playing music from his latest album 'Great Central Sun' recorded with celebrated BC Dj, Adham Shaikh. His music can be found and enjoyed at www.shinelikethesun.ca 

Too many other talented local musicians to name here will present their best in the spirit of celebration of the Great Bear on June 2nd as well. Chief Phil Lane Jr. will open the evening festivities with a prayer and dedication. I saw Chief Phil perform such a prayer and dedication at the December 2, 2011 celebration of the signing of the declaration by 131 First Nations against the proposed Northern Enbridge Pipeline project. It was one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had! With power and authority he fell to his knees on the stage in full head dress in front of 500+ people packed into the Rio Theatre and shouted “Thank you, Stephen Harper, for finally bringing us all together!” Now that is “re-framing” a bad situation into the positive. This will be an amazing night of inspiration!

I fell in love with the Great Bear Rainforest again in a renewed way around the year 2000 when I discovered the fine work of Ian & Karen McAllister, founders of Raincoast Conservation Society, through photography and film. I walked into the offices of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee shortly thereafter and talked to Joe Foy and asked what I could do to help my furry four footed relatives. He gave me a VHS tape with a 30 minute film about the area, the issues, the animals and the people. It’s beauty and majesty blew me away. I started having Great Bear dinner and film nights at my home to share this precious part of our heritage with my friends. So, in the fall of 2012 when my friend Tsvi Tal asked me what environmental group or cause we should support as a community, my answer was swift and passionate, The Great Bear Rainforest and PacificWild! We had a beautiful evening of music, storytelling and expression about our connection to bears & wolves and the area. We all had a profoundly good time and raised just under a thousand dollars for Pacific Wild. Now, Tzvi & friends are doing it bigger and better! 

Come join us, support PacificWild.org and find your bear, wolf, eagle, salmon or whale spirit!

Reserve your tickets today for the evening celebration and for daytime workshops at East is East, Eternal Abundance or Prana Yoga as this event will only accommodate about 400 and tickets are selling fast.

Visit www.thegreatbearrainforest.org to learn more & secure your tickets

Adam Siddhartha Sealey is a BC born native who believes that “we are all indigenous on this earth”. With Irish, Scottish, French and Algonquin ancestry he grew up living on the coast & islands of BC and hopes that we can save our planet from further destruction by being the example that the world needs now by peacefully and creatively finding new ways to inspire more love and appreciation for The Great Bear Rainforest and all places that need our love and care. Adam is a budding writer and activist and can be reached at siddartha069@yahoo.com

photos: Ian McAllister, PacificWild.org