Queer African-centric retreat coming to Big Sur

by Heather Cassell

Aqueer African-centric retreat is coming to California’s central coast area later this month.

The Rainbow Serpent retreat, titled “Harnessing the Power of Creation through African Ritual,” will be hosted at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur May 19-21.

This is the second time the retreat will be hosted at the center. The first event was held in October 2022.

The retreat is focused on African cosmological traditions using imagery, movement, writing, and rituals to help participants transcend personal blocks to move forward in their lives, according to organizers.

Marques Redd, Ph.D. and Mikael Owunna, cofounders and co-organizers of The Rainbow Serpent, are leading the retreat. The two recently talked about it with the Bay Area Reporter over a Zoom interview.

Redd, a 39-year-old gay Black man, earned his doctorate in English literature from UC Berkeley and an undergraduate degree in African and African American studies from Harvard University. He returned to UC Berkeley professionally, first working at the School of Public Health and then as dean of students at the College of Natural Resources from 2015 to 2020. He is an instructor at the Esalen Institute.

Owunna, a 32-year-old Nigerian genderqueer person, is a photographer and the author of “Limitless Africans: Photographs and Interviews,” as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.

“Rainbow Serpent and Dr. Redd have infused the Esalen community with fresh energy and innovative perspectives,” wrote the Esalen Institute educational team in an email statement to the B.A.R.

The Esalen Institute educational team added, “Dr.

Marques Redd’s impact at Esalen is profound and exciting,” and they were thrilled to have Redd and the popular Rainbow Serpent retreat return for another “memorable, soul-stirring journey.”

The Rainbow Serpent takes its name from multiple African traditions that have rainbow serpent deities that create the universe, Redd told the B.A.R. He said the serpent represents the “source of creative power.”

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