INSTRUCTORS MOON

Harper Kitchens (she/her) is a poet, mother, artist, and florist living on Osage, Cherokee, and Muscogee (Creek) lands in Oklahoma. She has worked with the Moon Beams Camp at Spirit Weavers since 2016. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied poetry and performance art. Her work explores the erotic through the intersection of flowers, poetry, and breath, with a focus on safe and playful devotion to the Earth. Harper Kitchens will be sharing Pleasure Poetry...

Hosanna is an earth pigment paintmaker, earthenware potter, and earth artist of Northern-European decent living on Kalapuya land in the foothills of the Cascades in Western Oregon. Hosanna has been captivated by the elemental magic of working with wild clays for eight years, ever since learning about pit fire pottery at Spirit Weavers in 2016 from Caitlin Deane. The unique personalities of each clay, the language of the hands, and the depth of ceremony to the whole process has inspired her to learn all that she can from teachers in the Northwest and Southwest in hand building and traditional firing methods. Working with local materials is to work with local histories. The narratives of the stones and clays tell a dynamic story of their geological origins, as...

Janeva is a playful youngest sister, aunt, daughter, partner, friend, and cat mom. She feels most at home in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California. Some of her favorite delights are a good day's work, wander, or adventure outside, meeting and connecting with people, and developing skills for greater self-sufficiency. For her, the natural world has always been a place of refuge, work, and play. This love and time in the outdoors has allowed her to cultivate her skills in outdoor livin’ and knots. Janeva has camped and back-packed all her life, taught teens outdoor adventure & survival in Utah and completed a 28-day wilderness survival course. Spring through Fall she’s outside climbing trees as a seed & cone collector and plays, ahem, works...

Unearthed her indigenous name, Gat Kawan Pastol (Shepard of the Flock) in 2023 Naming Ceremony led by Apu Adman, Jen V. Benitez has been called forth as first generation ancestral & sound healer under Diwata Sa Kagubatan. She comes from a lineage of midwives, albularyo’s (herbalists) & manghihilot’s (high priestess / shaman) on her paternal side from Alaminos, Pangasinan, Philippines. Her work is at the intersection of sacred art / adornment & ancestral remembering. She began her healing journey over 10 years ago through sound & meditation, which then inspired her to share with her community. She began her own practice in 2019, UMAKYAT Sound & Energy Healing, facilitating women’s circles & offering 1:1 sound healing sessions. Jen is also Founder / Executive Director of...

  Josie was born into a Mexican-Cuban family rooted in the healing arts of Curanderia, shape shifting and clairvoyance. At an early age she was introduced to the practice of Curanderismo, Folk Herbalism, as a way of life. Today, Josie is a modern day Curandera. Her role as a Yerbera, one who works with herbs, is to share her knowledge with depth, joy, and clarity. She has created various programs and retreats to share Curandersimo, Reiki, and other healing modalities to empower others in self-healing. As a Modern Day Curandera, Josie is a bridge between tradition and modern practices. Sharing the essences of the ancestral ways in an open and contemporary way. Josie Castaneda will be offering Modern Curanderismo - Medicine Making & Limpias....

Anna Liza McKeon has been a teacher for over twenty years. Always willing to pass on what what she has learned and experienced, the majority of those years have been spent teaching the art of Hula dancing and as of late herbalism and plant medicine. Anna Liza found inspiration for dance early in life. As a dancer, she began her journey with ‘Hula Halau he inoa no Ipu Lei Manu’, a dance troupe headed by Denise Bigelow. Driven by a need to expand her knowledge of the Polynesian arts, Anna Liza also sought teachers from different veins of dance and culture. Under the direction of Mapuhi Tuku Tekurio with “Tekurio Nui” she learned Tahitian drumming. With instruction from Mel Liufau of “Nonosina”, she learned the...

Krista is a registered nurse, doula, herbalist and lactation consultant on the central coast of California. She nurtures mothers and families after birth and helps hold and guide mothers to their center while in the vortex of postpartum. Krista worked in the hospital system for many years and is grateful to have the experience and perspective and also, knew there was a better and deeper way we should be supporting families. She then spent many years studying traditional midwifery, pre and perinatal psychology, and learning from wise women and our plant allies. She is also an Innate Postpartum Care Provider which is rooted in Woman-Centered Physiology and Anatomy, Somatic Psychology and Neurobiology. Working with the mother-baby dyad has opened her eyes to the importance of conscious health...

Phoebe Whipple is currently a senior at the Milwaukie Academy of the Arts. She’s a gifted fiber artist, with advanced skills in knitting, sewing, fiber spinning, mending and crochet. She’s completed the Summer camp counselor training program at Camp Namanu, and plays piano in her School Jazz Band, and viola and violin in her school Orchestra. A nature enthusiast, she hopes to study Environmental Science and Forestry in college next year. Phoebe was born in Portland, Oregon and has many family members who are very gifted makers, especially her paternal grandmother Susan Whipple, who is an incredible visual and fiber artist. Laura Whipple is the CEO and Co-founder of Scout Books, a B Corp Certified manufacturer of custom notebooks based in Portland, Oregon. Always the print...

  Lauralina Melendez Is an indigenous multidisciplinary artist from the island of Borikke, also knows as Puerto Rico). A mother of two, she creates and channels dolls from her garden studio y the ocean in the west coast of the island. Her and her family steward a 4 acre food forest. She is a witchy mama with ancestral intuition from a lineage of radical birkeepers and medicine women. Dollmaking was passed down by her abuela and she is blessed to share it as a tool of empowerment, and remembrance. Lauralina is a queer, polyamorous, devoted wife and home-maker, in partnership with her beloved for over 13 years, they have challenged all beliefs constructed and created a life aligned with the heart, practicing self directed education and...

Growing up on the coast of Miami, Florida, Lexy was always found in nature and in the ocean. She found the natural world most inspiring, and went on to receive a degree in Biology. After receiving her degree, she decided to dig deeper into the ways of her ancestors, learning more about plant medicine and primitive skills. Her grandparents were nomadic Romanian Romani’s (Gypsies). They migrated to New York during World War II. She found that her individuality was deeply seeded from her Grandmother and the Eastern European nomadic culture. Full of artistic drive and a love for medicinal plants and natural fibers, she went on to her own journey working with textiles and leather and creating herbal medicine. Lexy has worked in many fields,...