Mother Turtle

Musician / Empowerment Guide

Marsia Shuron Harris aka Mother Turtle, is a facilitator, certified coach, artist, photographer, singer, songwriter and musician. She has been performing her original compositions for over 25 years. Her voice is distinctive, and her music is rooted in personal growth, love, social consciousness, and a greater vision for the world as a whole. In 2009 she designed and began facilitating “Healing the Stories We Tell Ourselves with Mother Turtle,” where she helps women and men uncover and shift the “stories” that are limiting their life experience. As a facilitator, Marsia is gifted with the ability to get you out of your head and into your heart. Using her voice as a tool for healing, she can lift you to great heights through her song, as well as take you to those deep places within that are seeking illumination. Marsia's classes are unique and take on a deeply spiritual nature as she guides participants toward self empowerment and personal transformation. "It is my goal to address the inner unrest that binds us, and offer a means by which to free ourselves." Read more about her work here.

OFFERINGS:

Ceremonial song space with Areeya Marie

Rise Up! Songs for Life

Join Mother Turtle and sing powerful songs, anthems, and chants, that connect us to each other, the earth, the ancestors, and your own beautiful spirit. 

Singing As A Spiritual Practice

In this workshop singing is presented as a powerful spiritual practice that decreases stress and uplifts the human spirit. Using song, guided meditation, and pen, you will journey within to access your deep wisdom and create your own Spirit Song! No prior song writing experience needed. Bring an open heart, and pen and paper if you have it. 

Doug Elliot

Doug Elliott is a naturalist, herbalist, storyteller, singer, back-country guide, philosopher, and harmonica wizard. He has spent a great deal of time with traditional country folk and indigenous people, learning their stories, folklore and traditional ways of relating to the natural world. In recent years he has performed and presented programs at festivals, museums, botanical gardens, nature centers and schools from Canada to the Caribbean. He has been a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival. He is the author of five books, many articles in regional and national magazines, has recorded a number of award winning albums of stories and songs, and is occasionally seen on PBS-TV, and the History and National Geographic Channels.

Songs, Stories & Lore Celebrating the Natural World

Whether he’s singing about catfish, possums, groundhogs, and berries, cawing with crows,  telling wild snake tales, or wailing out a jivey harmonica tune, Doug Elliott will take you on an unforgettable, multifaceted song and story tour celebrating North America’s backcountry. He’ll perform a lively campfire concert of amazing tales, lively tunes, traditional lore, outrageous personal narratives, and fact stranger than fiction–all flavored with regional dialects, soulful harmonica riffs, and more than a few belly laughs.

Woodslore, Weeds, and Tales on the Trail Nature Walk

Whether he’s pointing out poison ivy, pontificating on possums, extolling the virtues of dandelions, pondering the “nature” in human nature, telling wild snake tales, or wailing out a jivey harmonica tune,  Doug Elliott is known for his broad, practical, scientific and cultural knowledge of the natural world. He will be leading a fun, educational ramble around the forest and fields focusing on the useful and interesting wild plants as well as birds, insects and other critters we encounter.

Areeya Marie

As an altar builder, visual artist, priestess, private raw, vegan and vegetarian chef, Areeya feels love is the first ingredient in any great recipe… song, dance, ceremony…How we live every day, in every way compassion. She enjoys preparing gourmet hearty meals in gratitude with nature’s gifts, singing, dancing and breathing in clear communion with the divine connection that is in all beings. Read more about her work here.

OFFERINGS:

Ceremonial song space with Mother Turtle

Arts of Sanctuary Song Circle

Songs in practice and celebration of, “The Arts of Sanctuary. That space… that place.. of all love and grace…”  Reconnecting and communicating with nature in gratitude and love, Encouraging and empowering the marriage of heaven(mind) and earth(body) within, that is each being’s heartsong. Each experience a part of humanities melody within our earth’s song.

Our Lunasol Salutations Song Circle

Areeya will share Lunasol salutation songs rooted in 20yrs of spiritual migration between many communities, in many locales. Living, practicing, and perpetuating our species evolution as earth children in clear connection, communication, wellness, love and respect with our mother, this earth and all her elements.  She is offering wisdoms through song from several of her lineages and her heart from around the world. Emphasizing the foundation teachings of Lohan Shaolin Nyingma Lineage, Goddess culture with deep Gaian, Egyptian and Eleusinian roots, Alchemical Fire ceremony and a large gospel family that helped shape how she lives and teaches today. 

Yuri Woodstock

Community Choir Leader

I believe that opening your full voice connects heart and head.  I believe that singing together is extremely important.  I believe that the way to change the world with singing is not for it to be a performative act, with the highly trained singer literally on a pedestal while the “fans” sing along.  We’ve all got a voice for a reason.  We can’t all talk at the same time, but we sure can sing together. Read more here.

Polyphonic grief and praise

Learn multiple part harmony songs, rounds, chants, and vocal techniques with a local choir director and community song leader.  

Mz. Imani

Ceremonial Leader / Sacred Activist

Mz. imani has always been compelled to explore the ineffable and encourages us all to become a force of nature. For more than 30 years, Mz. imani has walked the path of the drum, long before the days it became accepted and common for women to play the drums.  She is the Curator and Land Keeper for the 18th Peace Chamber and she encourages people to discover how to collaborate as drummers who effectively support ceremony, song and dance, while circumambulating our personal and collective SoulFire. Read more here.

Garden of the Groove

The drum is a powerful force and how we play matters. By exploring the myriad of ways to play (support, guide or lead), we learn how to support our common unity. When we recognize the potential that resides within the union of ourselves and the drum, we empower the rhythms we play with these insights: The results: We Help to Make The WErld a Better Place To Be, Simply By Showing Up! 

Ash Devine

Award-winning Americana-folk singer-songwriter, traditional Appalachian musician, multi-instrumentalist and community-based activist Ash Devine is based the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. Devine is an accomplished vocalist and multi-instrumentalist and she has recorded and self-produced two albums of original Americana-folk-world fusion music and is currently working on her third. Her vocals are breathy, rich and earthy with a classic folk sound and her versatile fingerstyle guitar and ukulele playing is a dynamic and beautifully satisfying accompaniment to her songs.

Beyond incredible musicianship, Devine’s strength is stage presence and connection with her audience. Comparable to Pete Seeger, Ash gently weaves themes of social and environmental justice into her performances, while encouraging the audience to sing along. From 2007-2014 Ash Devine traveled internationally with activist Patch Adams, M.D. to perform in medical facilities, orphanages, social service centers, and nursing homes. In 2015 Ash Devine starred as the legendary Maybelle Carter and musically directed the play “Esley: The Life and Music of Leslie Riddle”. From 2016-2018 Ash Devine studied Appalachian traditional folk songs from the Western, NC area with Smithsonian Folkways Award winning ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams. In 2018, Devine was invited to join a group of WNC Appalachian song carriers to perform at the Library of Congress at the American Folk Life Center in Washington, DC. Ash’s unique background and ability to connect with her audiences through story and sound makes her music deeply relatable and emotionally compelling for people of all ages.

Songs of resilience, social justice, and longing

We will explore songs that have been fuel for resilience in the face of adversity, injustice, and loss. What are the songs that keep you going during experiences of loss, crisis, violence, oppression, and hate?  We will discuss and sing songs from a number of social movements (civil rights, women’s movement, environmental protection movements, etc.), songs from Appalachian traditions, contemporary folk songs, hymns, gospel tunes, and more. 

Saro Lynch

Saro is a ballad singer, folklorist, documentarian, illustrator, and author from Asheville, NC. Her passion for traditional music, people’s struggles, and Appalachian traditions has called her to perform, teach and produce media that tell the stories and songs of America’s social history. Her distinct, powerful singing style transports audiences to Appalachian mountain hollers, 19th-century coal camps and old meeting houses. Saro teaches workshops year round, and will soon be launching a ballads-focused Patreon! Learn more about Saro at sarosings.com.  

This songcircle will focus on songs about and from Appalachia. Saro will share songs that have been a part of Appalachia’s diverse story, including resistance songs from textile mills and coal mining camps as well as spiritual songs from Shaker and Baptist traditions. Participants are invited to bring their own songs about and from Appalachia- especially traditional songs that are good to sing in groups. 

Lillie Kolman

Lillie Kolman is a Board-Certified Music Therapist, Song Weaver, Reiki Practitioner, and Vocal Explorer. Emotional expression and authenticity are at the root of all that she does. She believes firmly in the power of music to heal, transform, and connect us as human beings and is passionate about creating safe containers for people to access this power.  Lillie works in Asheville as a music therapist, artist, and energy healer. She received her B.A. in Music Therapy from Appalachian State University with a concentration in classical voice and completed research focusing on the role of musical improvisation as a way to communicate emotions in special education classrooms.

Re-Claiming Your Soul Sound; Finding Your Voice in Community

In this experiential workshop, we will explore the delight of embodied expression through sound. Using a combination of breathwork and vocal sounds we will explore stepping more powerfully into using our voices without fear or judgement. We will use this container as a way to practice holding each person’s unique expression within community. By tuning in to our own unique vibration, we can begin to discover the voice as a profound gateway for connection and transformation. By expressing our own unique vibration alongside other unique vibrations we create a rich and diverse community song.

Madelyn Illana

Madelyn Ilana is a singer/songwriter, violinist, music teacher, energetic herbalist, and practitioner of Body Dialogue™, a unique form of somatic education and therapy. Madelyn hopes to share music as a way of connecting us all to our deepest selves, one another, and the life all around us.

The Resonating Body

Our bodies are naturally resonant. Our bones are the resonators of sounds. Discover ease within your body and breath, allowing yourself to sing and speak naturally. Incorporating somatic practices such as The Alexander Technique, Breathing Coordination, Body Dialogue, vocal toning, yoga, tai chi, body tapping, improvisational movement, and partner exercises, this class will provide you with a toolbox to draw from in your own vocal practice. Come and explore your resonant body!

Juan Holladay

Juan Holladay is a songsmith and singer, originally from Tucson, Arizona.  He moved to WNC in 2001, to attend Warren Wilson College, and has since made Asheville his home, joining the local music community.  Juan has worked with the Billy Jonas Band, Stephanie Morgan (of Stephanie’s Id), Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, and others, including his own band, the Secret B-Sides, over the past eleven years.  He also sings his kids to bed regularly

Sound Songs

The sounds beneath language are the ancient well from which we draw meaning.  We will take time to learn some of the older meanings of certain syllabic sounds and repurpose them for our own present moment.

Kids Songs

Songs for kids can soothe a sad heart, bring joy, send us into absurd realms, or put us down, gently to sleep.

Kennedy Oneself

Kennedy OneSelf is a student and teacher of meditation, a phenomenal musician, ceremonial facilitator, and an instrument builder. After years of trying to spread peace, he realized that when OneSelf is peaceful, from this bliss the world is inspired. Serene, meditative music that reminds us of our eternal essence thus became his greatest passion.

Kennedy collects instruments from many cultures around the world and brings them into a symphonic synthesis. Merging multiple vibrations into acoustic relation, this music has a special way of evoking a peaceful presence. 

Spontaneous Freedom

A guided Breathing & Toning meditation moves into free-form vocal expression supported by drums and vibrations, and closed by a sound healing symphony of serenity. This musical journey is an opportunity to experience the stillness that exists beneath the chattering mind. Exploring our freedom of resonant expression, when we vibrate our bodies through our voices without involving our minds we can access a blissful trance of profound silence.

Ashera Rose

Ashera is an interfaith minister and mentor-teacher of the Dances.  She and her husband Luke steward the Anahata Education & Retreat Center in Floyd, Virginia where they strive to live a full-spectrum life in harmony with all.  

Dances of Universal Peace

Kathryn Ashera Rose will facilitate DANCES OF UNIVERSAL PEACE with Luke Staengl, Cliff Dumais and Others! Together with participants, we create a mandala of sacred intention moving from joyful exuberance to the heart of stillness and peace.  Live acoustic guitar, drum, and vocal harmonics synchronize with our heartbeats and foot steps. Simple mantric and devotional chants, rounds and counterparts in varied languages from the many sacred traditions of the earth. See more at dancesofuniversalpeace.org.

Luna Ray

Luna Ray believes that music is the “Language of the Soul.” Weaving sound, mantra, and soulful original lyrics together, her captivating and spirited music uplifts and encourages others to find their inner joy. Luna is a mother of two young girls, a singer-songwriter, chant artist, yoga teacher, and an activist for conscious and empowered community collaboration.  Over the last two decades, she has traveled extensively throughout the world sharing music through concerts, retreats, kirtans (call and response chanting), and community work including hospice and in schools with children. When she’s not traveling she resides in Asheville, NC. 

Chants of a lifetime

From the church, to the rainbow gathering, to the ashram, to the synagogue, to the children, and more — these songs of my life incorporate songwriting soul spark, blended with ancient prayers from around the world.  Learn uplifting English lyrics merged with prayer to move you beyond the mind and into the heart.  

Lobo Marino - Laney & Jameson

Indie folk duo Lobo Marino have been touring nationally and internationally for many years. Their music carries the message of humanity’s need for reconnection with itself and the earth. Mystically political and whole heartily grassroots this DIY band finds themselves playing on large festival stages as well as backyard fire pits of intentional communities across the country. 

In their hometown of Richmond,Virginia, they founded a community space called “Earth Folk Collective” which hosts donation based workshops on all types of topics of wellness and sustainability. They also are the founders of Fonticello Food Forest, a public orchard intended for community gleaning. 

www.lobomarinomusic.com

https://lobomarino.bandcamp.com/

Gaia Tree

Gaia Tree was the weird kid walking around making strange noises in school, and when he discovered beatboxing he knew he had found his calling. He has been influenced by plant medicine ceremonies, kirtan and psychedelic bass music. Best of all no electricity required for a banging dance party!

Beatboxing

Join us for the 4th incarnation of the experimental beatbox as sound healing workshop! Guided by 17 years of beatboxing experience, Gaia Tree will no doubt have surprises in store, drawing on laughter yoga, stillness meditation and beatbox breathwork. Let’s get it fam!

Melody Sufia

Melody is an artist and activist who performs original songs as well as ballads that bring history to life. Melody, a Sufi of African descent, translates healing tones into art. Her voice serves as a bridge to the past, recreating for listeners a tapestry woven together over time.

Dreamcatching: A lost art

Hear tips on how to catch dreams and share in the recreating of Melody’s most recent dream songs. Learn how to develop your ear and tune in to the resonance of the universe, move out of your own way, & let the Divine move through you by tapping into your inner voice.  It’s all in you!

Listening Deep – Melody Henry & Alinahh Ever

Each one of us has our own specific frequency. We’ll use Nature and guided meditation to catch our unique sounding. We will open with songs that support self-love as a foundation for what we do in this circle. Melody & Alinahh will share songs that have come through us as medicine for all souls. Listening deeply to the big love within each of us, we will explore methods to access our inner sound or attunement. Trusting that each of us is big medicine — medicine to heal ourselves, each other, and Mama Earth.

Alinahh Ever

Alinahh has been singing since she came out of the womb and feels blessed to have sung throughout her childhood as part of her family’s heritage. Ki [pronoun] has used song to heal ki’s self, to bring community together, in support of social justice, and in ceremony & ritual. Alinahh has facilitated many song-based ceremonies including a large multicultural “Celebrating the Ancestors of Many Cultures” in the Bay Area for 5 years, a ceremony with Starhawk to honor Queer folks at the opening of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC., cacao ceremonies, and more. She co-founded Pardes Rimonim, a multicultural feminist queer earth-based Jewish ritual community where she led many chant-based ceremonies.  She has been a songleader sharing chants and songs to groups small and large, all ages, all over. She is the founder of Singing Alive Appalachia which is now re-birthed as EarthSong Rising. She is also a facilitator with Earth Path Education, and the founder of the Faerie Kin (eco-theater musical stiltwalking faerie troupe). 

Jose Pina

Resonating Love is an interactive workshop that includes singing, movement, improv games and toning. We will be exploring creativity and spontaneity through games and song. We will learn toning and the science behind creative self expression, including its benefits. Bring an open heart and vocal chords, we will go on a fun journey!