Ancestral Transformation Classes and Ceremony
at The Wandering Owl in Jackson, Michigan
James “TwoSnakes” Stovall, teacher at the Quantum Life Science Institute, and Angela Stovall owner of The Wandering Owl have convinced Andrieh Vitimus to show Michigan some authentic Vodou love with a weekend long series of transformational events.
Don’t be fooled by imitations. Come to the Wandering Owl to experience genuine, high caliber rituals that provide lasting, positive personal transformations!
Friday May 18th 9:00pm- Private Quantum Life Science Institute
Tier 3 Training at The Wandering Owl.
Saturday May 19th - 11:00am- ‘Chaos Magic’ Lunch and Learn Location: Darryl’s Downtown-151 West Michigan Avenue, Jackson, MI 49201. Reservation listed under ‘QLSI’. Andrieh will lead a Q&A on Chaos Magic, the Quantum Life Science Institute and more over lunch. Q & A session will be accompanied by a book signing.
Saturday May 19th - 1:00pm- Beginning Ancestral Altars Initiated Asogwe Haitian Vodou Priest, Andrieh Vitimus gives the hands-on tour of making your own ancestor altar. The ancestors are the closest spirits we have to us and they can transform our lives in the most amazing and positive ways. Getting it right with the ancestors is the strongest foundation you can build for your ongoing spiritual development. Andrieh covers how to set up and various ways to work with an ancestor altar.
Participants are encouraged to bring their own ancestral pictures or artifacts and a small white cloth. $7 Investment.
Saturday May 19th - 2:00pm- Ancestral Meditation Vodou priest, Andrieh is a licensed hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. Using the highly effective techniques of hypnosis combined with a properly set up altar allows for one to have more powerful experiences with their ancestors. Andrieh takes each person on a journey of love, connection, and ancestral support where they can feel, see and hear the love the ancestors have for us. This meditation has been a transformational experience for many, and often greatly speeds up the process of making solid ancestral connections. This meditation can also augment and strengthen natural channeling abilities. The workshop includes instruction on how to strengthen the ancestral work through effective meditation technique as well as how to strengthen your psychic skills through specific techniques and practice.
$14 Investment.
Saturday May 19th - 4:00pm- Ancestral Service with Optional White Bath Andrieh Vitimus’authentic Vodou ceremonies are legendary in the Midwest. This New Orleans style Voodoo ceremony is one that Andrieh has performed many times for many people in many cities. This ceremony will call the ancestors into the space for a blessing and cleansing white bath for those who would like one. The White bath is a cleansing Vodou sacrament which will remove negativity and energetic blocks, is extraordinarily healing, and empowers the spirit of participants. This bath will be given with the blessing and support of our foundation, our ancestors. The bath is poured over the participants, who remain fully clothed along with the other participants in an atmosphere of honor, respect and reverence in sacred space. Propriety and professionalism are maintained at all times. Vodouissants who are part of the Quantum Life Science Institute are on hand to support participants, answer questions, and assist with the ceremony. $150 Commitment. Pre-paid booking for white bath required by May 9th.
Past participants have said-
“Changed my life. I was stuck, and this was the trick. “
“Soon after the white bath, I found a new love and had moved to a different city. Talk about leaving the past behind. It was a wonderful experience”
“I couldn’t find a job. Andrieh Did the white bath, and the spirits possessed him, which I had never seen before. I had a job offer in a week. Sure it wasn’t the ideal job, but it saved my family from the streets and I was able to from there find the strength to build up to better things.”
If people wish to participate in the service, but not receive a bath, we do ask for a $15 donation to help with ceremony costs. Bath recipients must bring or wear an old set of clothes that they will throw out after the ceremony, and should bring a set of white or very bright clothes to change into. Each bath recipient will be given a white head covering included in the cost of the bath work. The Wandering Owl will have head wraps available for sale for those not undertaking the bath work, or who would like to purchase additional wraps.
The Wandering Owl is happy to bring authentic, well tested transformational life experiences to Jackson, MI and is ecstatic to bring the multitalented sensation that is Andrieh Vitimus to the store.
Saturday May 19th - 6:00pm (*Following White Bath Ceremonial Services)- Coffee with the Quantum Life Science Institute For those who received the white bath, you will need to plan to stay a bit after the ceremony so that Andrieh and the Quantum Life Science Institute members can make sure that you are grounded enough to drive. This aftercare process is a vital part of the philosophy and professionalism of the Quantum Life Science Institute that maintains that we will be there for you to make sure that you are ok before, during and after the services and is something that we feel is important when you trust us to run transformative experiences for and with you. Andrieh and the other members of the Institute will be around to debrief and answer any questions that you may have. This will be open to the public. Complimentary coffee and light refreshments will be available for participants following the ancestor service.
$5 donation at the door for those not participating in the service.
The Wandering Owl
139 North Jackson Street, Jackson, MI 49201
517-782-2780
For out of town guests we have some rooms set aside for us at a special rate at Country Inn & Suites. Ask for the rooms set aside under The Wandering Owl.
517-788-6400.
www.countryinns.com/jacksonmi
The Chrysalis Moon Festival 2011
There is something to be said for smaller Pagan festivals. You get to know your fellow campers more intimately, during a work shift or while around the communal campfire, and lifelong friendships often begin and are renewed each year. Notable Pagans frequently sit down with you at breakfast to discuss everything from their latest book to the weather and favorite movies. Every word can be clearly heard during each workshop and ritual, and presenters have time to answer questions. Classes can be taught on an individual basis. There are unique shopping opportunities, as merchants have more time to discuss the magickal significance of wares with participants. Stories and chants are shared around the bonfire, while each drummer or dancer has the chance to shine. It’s easier on Nature, when only a few people walk a woodland path. The quiet, relaxed atmosphere of a smaller festival offers an optimal time to attune with Spirit. A functional community is established. Many happy memories are made at small Pagan gatherings.
The Chrysalis Moon Festival http://www.chrysalismoon.com is a smaller regional Pagan gathering held in Northern Indiana over four days in mid-July. It is sponsored by the Pagan Educational Network, (PEN) a legal charitable organization which also offers ministry to prisoners, military Pagans, and seekers. PEN also has educational opportunities for Pagans and non-Pagans in religious studies. Dave and Gail Sassman, along
with a dedicated crew of individuals, covens, and organizations, help to put on the Chrysalis Moon gathering, and have for the past four years. This past week, the festival took place at the Tippecanoe State Park, http://tinyurl.com/3g3t78n a beautiful forest setting with sleeping cabins arranged in four circles around a central unit with a kitchen, infirmary, indoor crafts area, firepit and ritual area. Of course, this lead to the four camps being named for the four elements and the central station called “Spirit Camp”. It was lovely to sleep in nice dry cabins with real beds, running water, and shade, as well as convene in a large indoor meeting place. And the showers were blissfully hot. However, this article isn’t just another festival review.
The name Chrysalis Moon refers to a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, hence, this year’s theme was “taking flight”. The butterfly image was used as a talisman on signage and in several other ways, from the design on
the ritual herb bags to offerings of gummi butterfly candies at the fundraising auction. The butterfly represented change and transcendence, moving from one state of being to another, letting go of the past and soaring into the future. In the reality of Nature, there were several butterflies fluttering about the outdoor workshops and ceremonies, but more of a presence was made by the cicadas, who were bursting from their brown larval casings everywhere, spreading their translucent aqua, turquoise and spring-green wings, buzzing harmonically along with the chants and songs of the human festival attendees.
The featured presenter
for Chrysalis Moon 2011 was the lovely and talented Phaedra Bonewits. Her blog: http://neopagan.net/blog/
While many Pagans know her as the widow of the founder of Ar nDraiocht Fein / A Druid Fellowship, Isaac Bonewits, Phaedra is an accomplished writer, ritualist and leader in her own right. She is an adept in several Magickal and Wiccan traditions, a former vice president of CUUPS, co-author of “Real Energy”, and an editor of the website Neopagan Net.
Phaedra facilitated several workshops at the festival, including “It’s Mind and Body”, which taught psychophysical exercises, “Magickal Scents” about incenses, oils and herbs which provoke the sense of smell, “Sounds Like Magick”, which explored the use of voice, song, and other sounds for ritual. These techniques were later incorporated into the main ceremony of the festival.
The emotional tribute “The Life and Times of Isaac Bonewits” gave an overview of the ArchDruid’s life, his coining of the term “neo-Pagan”, his many contributions to modern Pagan practice, and also an amazing surprise (which will be covered in a subsequent article.) Phaedra was also pivotal in the presentation of the Main Ritual.
Featured musical guests were Greenman and His Muse, also known as Cernowain Greenman and Anaan Saphira from PEN. 
Combining folk music, Celtic tunes, bluegrass, country, and vaudeville (yes!), the evening was by turns touching and funny. Influenced by rock, blues and sixties folk music, Greenman played acoustic guitar and offered tenor vocals, and Anaan (the Muse) sang backup in her sweet contralto and provided a background beat. Favorite songs included “Green Man”, which is suitable for a Bealtaine round or a manhood ceremony; the quiet spirituality of “Tree and the Sparrow”, which would be perfect for the grounding meditation in a ritual with its heartbeat drum, and the rollicking “I met my Pagan Baby on the Internet”, a parody of 50s blues. Older listeners will appreciate the gentle sense of humor and folkish overtones of Greenman and His Muse, while children will enjoy the lullabye-like “Blessed Be” and “Wheel of Change”. A bonus were the amusing “Secret Pagan Man”, about those of us who must stay in the broom closet (think of the novelty tune “Secret Agent Man”), and the hysterically funny “Grandpa’s Roadkill Chili”. Best of the lot were “Annie’s Lover”, a pleasant ballad about a medicine man and his beloved, and Dave Carter’s “Gentle Arms of Eden”. Greenman and His Muse will release an album entitled “Magick Planet” next month, which will be featured here on Magickal Media.
The Chrysalis Moon gathering coincided with the Full Mead Moon, and several full moon rituals were held by individual covens, one of which was open to the public. Other rituals included a powerful Opening performed by members of Treibh na Tintean, from Joliet IL and Aurora IN, in which the elements, ancestors and personal deities were asked to help protect and enlighten the gathering and its participants. The circle was left open and the elements and Gods were present throughout the weekend, and the circle was closed and the elementals and deities bid farewell at Closing. The closing ritual was performed by winners of David Melton’s “Iron Ritual” contest, modeled after television’s “Iron Chef” competition. The premise was that Pagan ministers might have to conceive of a ritual at the last possible moment, to fill in for an absent clergy person. Ritual had to be improvised using available resources, tools and the ministers’ imaginations.
During the course of the festival, a Burning Bowl rite was performed, as was a Warrior Blessing (other articles give details). The Main Ritual was simply the most beautiful ceremony I’ve ever witnessed. Facilitated by Mark Mandrake and Shauna Aura of Chicago, the Main Ritual featured spectacular altars representing the elements and spirit, placed beneath a canopy of trees resembling an ancient cathedral or nemeton. Most awesome was the Water altar, 
which incorporated an existing standpipe, drinking fountain and water spigot for the camp. Water flowed from the faucets into a series of polished ceramic and opaque blue glass bowls, giving the impression of a sacred wellspring. Fairy lights twinkled around the bases of the trees, reflecting from glass containers. Participants assembled in a “cauldron” formation, rather than a traditional circle, with the goals of inclusion and community. The motivation was to release certain aspects of elements which were detrimental to the individual’s well-being, for example, anger for fire, and stodginess represented by earth. Participants then called forth the characteristics of the elements they wished to establish or grow within themselves, such as communication for air, and emotional connection for water. Using chants, harmonious song and a technique of neural-linguistic programming called “dual voice”, the priest and priestess offered a tapestry of sound which united sensory perception with the mind and body. Participants then moved to the series of altars, while offering “heart” or “breath” or “love” in song to the spirits and Gods. Each person took up a stone at each altar station, and used the rock as a touchpoint to remove a negative quality from themselves, then placed the stone to be cleansed in a bowl, or in the instance of the Water altar, beneath the flowing stream of water. Positive aspects were then sung into manifestation. The culmination was inclusive of the theme “spreading our wings”, as each participant sang forth qualities they intended to assume. At the conclusion, participants received a ritual bag of sheer white fabric imprinted with golden butterflies, filled with dried plants grown in several of the festival coordinators’ home gardens, delicately scented by rose petals, lavender, sweet Annie and other aromatic herbs. It was truly a marvelous experience. Shauna and Mark led us on a journey of connection with the elements and completion of goals.
Mark and Shauna 
also presented several valuable workshops, including “Pagan Leadership and Community Building”, which featured discussion and exercises geared toward dampening problems and building healthy communities; “Raising the Sacred Fire: Skills for Facilitating Rituals and Raising Energy”; and “The Twelve Steps of Addiction Alchemy”, which applies the principals of alchemical magick to overcoming addictions. Mark Mandrake is a metaphysician, alchemist, healer, channeller and reader. In his spare time, he grows sapphires (yes, really!) Visit his website at http://markmandrake.com/ which also includes a schedule of appearances. Shauna Aura has studied with Diana’s Grove and the Reclaiming Tradition, and has founded Ringing Anvil http://ringinganvil.org/
with the goal of building community and personal transformative experiences. She is a teacher, mystic, and shaman. In addition to teaching workshops and facilitating rituals, Shauna also helps Pagan or Earth-based organizations to overcome difficulties with leadership intensives and mediations. Her rituals are pure enchantment. Together, Shauna and Mark have a program on Pagans Tonite, on Blog Talk Radio http://www.blogtalkradio.com/witchschool A video recording of an interview with Mark and Shauna will be coming soon.
All in all, Chrysalis Moon was a delightful experience. We’d entered the gathering feeling spiritually tired, somewhat burnt out by the cares and woes of everyday living. Being in the company of a select few positive, upbeat, focused Pagans, in the beautiful natural setting of Tippecanoe State Park, 
was such a refreshing sensation. Smaller festivals are usually within the financial means of the average family or working-class individual, and most of these events are only a short drive from home. Cabin camping means that you can bring “less of what you need” (tents, cooking equipment, tools) and “more of what you want” (musical instruments, toys, decorations). Having park rangers deal with practical amenities such as cleaning bathrooms and hauling trash created a sense of being pampered. There was less work to be done, and more time to play, learn and simply relax. We took the opportunity to enjoy visits with our neighbors, to watch the little brown bats performing aerobics while hunting insects beneath the streetlamps, to stroll on the woodland paths, to rest and enjoy, to learn, and to share. Please glance through the other articles here on Magickal Media to find out more. Check out the Chrysalis Moon photo gallery too!
Other articles and rituals from Chrysalis Moon:
By Brandyn Cadaric apDaffyd Aldäg 
Mostly I attended music concerts at PSG. There was a wide variety of Pagan music and spiritual music available. My favorites were Shibaten, a Japanese man who plays digereedoo, drums, guitar and has amazing vocals; Tuatha Dea, drumming influenced by tribal and Celtic music, and the Talent Show, where campers share their talents. 
During the Fire Spinning rituals and performances, people enact their love of fire, and their spiritual connection to it through music, dance and motion. People attending PSG can expect a spectacular main ritual. The main ritual this year (2011) began as we went through the campground in a procession, entered single file under an arch of swords, and spiraled around the circle, hearing speakers representing the elements. Continuing in the spiral, we entered an arch of cloth, spiraled onward, and received a stone that represented the Sun for the Solstice. We began a chant to give the stone with the powers of Summer and to light the main fire. We entered a smaller circle around the main fire, which was ignited by a man shooting a flaming arrow into the fire circle, lighting the tinder, as we chanted for the Solstice. It was close and empowering.
