2015 PROGRAM
sevensistersfestival.com
Welcome Home Sister, It’s been a big year for many and I’m excited to see you here. Congratulations for making it to Seven Sisters 2015 and gifting yourself the opportunity to put yourself first and take three days for what you most need – be it the time to rest, learn, heal or play. You are part of a new movement of women who are prioritizing their self care and practicing another way of being where everyone takes responsibility for their own needs, their own healing and their own fun. Your Seven Sisters journey is a powerful opportunity to release, review your life and take that first step to where you want to go. There is a rich abundance of activities and offerings and at times you may wish to be in many places at once! I invite you however this year to relax, be present to the moment, remove the pressure and expectations to attend every workshop and simply take the time to be slow, tune into your body’s needs and really engage with what’s immediately in front of you. There is magic everywhere and your seven sisters journey will be unique to you. So dear friend, enjoy this rare opportunity and take the time to really connect with other women, breathe in the beauty around you and trust that you are where you most need to be.
Lauren Woodman Seven Sisters Festival Director
WELCOME Since creation, women have gathered to share space, stories, laughter and tears in safe, supportive environments. We invite you to embark on this journey of love and energy at the Seven Sisters Festival 2015.
What’s On & OPERATIONS
page 4
GENERAL SAFETY
page 5
Bodywise
page 6
Arts & Learning
page 10
Sacred Space
page 12
Circle Of Stones
page 14
Ritual Space
page 17
The Hub
page 20
LIFE SKILLS
page 23
Vitality Tent
page 26
SEVEN SISTERS SHOWCASE
page 30
SEVEN SISTERS CONCERT
page 32
ROVING PERFORMers
page 35
CHAI TENT MUSIC
page 36
THE WITCHING HOUR
page 39
Festival Program
page 40
THANK YOU
page 42
WHAT’s ON & operations Seven Sisters Festival is all about choice. Throughout the weekend there are myriad opportunities for you including workshops, talks, musical performances, craft activities, massage, divination and readings. You can also explore the gallery space, healing tents and market stalls.
WORKSHOPS AND TALKS
READERS AND HEALING SESSIONS
You do not need to book; but please arrive 15 minutes before the workshop or talk. There are limited numbers for each event. Please wait at the entrance for the facilitator to usher you in.
Available all weekend by donation. Explore palmistry, tarot, psychometry, clairvoyance and divination or experience one of the healing modalities: osteopathy, life coaching, art therapy, health/wellness coaching, kinesiology, bowen therapy, remedial and relaxation massage, Indian/ Chinese massage, chiropractic, biodynamic craniosacral therapy, acupressure massage, shiatsu, energy workers, kahuna massage, naturopathy and sound/shamanic healing, which are available at the following session times. Please go to the Divination Tent or Healing Haven to write your name down for a treatment.
MUSIC Enjoy a dazzling array of female musicians, comedians and poetic artists, and make sure you attend our exclusive Seven Sisters Showcase on Friday night. See page 30.
ART More info coming soon!
FOOD
• Friday 1:30pm & 4:30pm
During the communal eating times, you can buy delicious hot meals at our Food Market. More info coming soon, listing our available menus.
• Sunday 8:30am & 11:30am
• Saturday 7:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm & 4:30pm
CEREMONIES
MARKET PLACE
Our group opening and closing ceremonies allow women to be part of setting the mood and intention for the festival. The Opening Ceremony is held at 5:30pm on Friday, with the Closing Ceremony at 4:30pm on Sunday on the Oval.
Pick up a new treasure from the oval market places, such as jewelry, innovative books, clothing, indulgent creams and local arts and crafts.
SITE OPENING AND CLOSING TIMES • Friday: 6:30am – 10:30pm • Saturday: 6am – 11pm • Sunday: 6am – 6pm
THE TEEPEE VILLIAGE Includes the Earth Teepee, with counsellors available to offer their support and services for those in need.
OPEN SPACE An open place where all women are free to teach, share and learn more about themselves. Topics for discussions and workshops will be posted each day on our board.
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GENERAL SAFETY The Seven Sisters Festival recognises the moral and legal responsibilities to provide a safe, healthy environment for festival patrons. This commitment means that festival organisers comply with the standards established by the site management where the festival is being held, and comply with relevant health and safety legislation. In return, a high standard of behaviour is expected from festival participants. Patrons considered to be behaving in a dangerous or unacceptable manner will be removed from the festival site immediately. We ask our festival patrons to adhere to the following:
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY Alert staff at our headquarters or at our information tent. Alternatively contact one of the following Festival Wardens to report any onsite safety or security incidents:
• Observe the specified arrival and departure times to and from the site as provided by the festival organiser;
• Corinne Pettersen – Festival Warden / Festival Manager 0414 624 253
• Remain within the festival perimeter at all times, as persons found outside the festival perimeter will be considered trespassers and subject to prosecution;
• Poisons Information: 131 126 • Emergency Services: 000
• Wear the official festival wristband at all times, as patrons without a wristband will be asked to leave and if necessary escorted off-site; and
FIRST AID The first aid station is next to the information tent in the centre of the festival. If you feel unwell and need assistance, please seek first aid.
• Wear appropriate footwear on the festival site at all times. The following items are PROHIBITED on the festival grounds: illegal, dangerous or menacing items; pyrotechnics, firecrackers, sparklers or flares; dogs or pets (guide dogs are an exception); and alcohol and drugs.
EMERGENCY EVACUATION Emergency evacuation procedures will occur in cases of extreme risk to festival patrons. The Festival Warden will guide patrons and staff to gather at The Hub and evacuate through the front gates to Hearn Road. Please see the map on the back page of this booklet for emergency exists and gathering points.
GENERAL WARNING Under legislation, we are required to warn you that the land where Seven Sisters Festival is being held is naturally a hazardous place that may or may not contain all manner of unknown obstacles, risks and dangers, both natural and man-made, which may result in loss or damage to your property or personal injury.
PHOTOGRAPHY Seven Sisters Festival wishes to document and promote the festival through film and photography. By purchasing tickets and attending the festival, patrons automatically provide consent to be included in all film and sound recordings taken by festival organisers, and for these film and sound recordings to be used at the discretion of the festival organisers. However, Seven Sisters Festival understands that some patrons may not wish to be filmed or photographed. It is the responsibility of each individual to leave details at the festival information tent, requesting that they not be filmed or photographed. A photo will be taken of said individual(s) as identification for our records, which will exclude them and their image from any future promotional material.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROTOCOL The Seven Sisters Festival has a comprehensive Risk and Emergency Policy and Procedure Plan. Emergency response and evacuation notices will be placed in designated areas throughout the festival site. Please read the information below.
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BODYWISE You Got the Music in You!!
Circle Singing Melbourne
Saturday 2pm
Carlie Mills is a vocalist, voice coach and facilitator with a passion for unlocking the fullest expression of every human being. With an open heart and cheeky spirit, she delivers programs in improvisation, somatic voice work, authentic communication, presence, play, leadership and community building.
Everyone has a voice and a body with music to bring and stories to share. With a deep sense of play, we connect as a group to explore through vocal percussion, harmonies, groove and melody, to build and create whole new pieces of music. You create your stories, your sounds!
circlesingingmelb.com
5 Elements Activation Dance
Rani Thomas
Friday 4pm
Rani is a passionate dancer and healer, embodying the 5 Elements as acupuncturist, Hawaiian body worker, shamanic practitioner and lover of life. She brings her innate shakti nature to create a sacred space in which to reconnect, realign and dance the rhythms of life. Co-facilitator Chantal.
Experience how to use intention, ceremony, dance, breath, music and the power of the elements to connect, activate and open you to more of your authentic self. We will embark on a shamanic dance journey embodying the elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether, all set to delightful world music.
ashtangyogi.com.au
Jungle City Dancehall & Afro
Kitty Cat
Sunday 10:30am
Cat Pwiti (aka Kitty Cat), founder of Burncity Queenz (Melbourne’s first official dancehall dance group), and Jungle City projects has been managing, coordinating, choreographing, dancing, performing and supporting countless projects, events and performing artists for almost a decade.
Explore the heavy bass, hypnotic rhythms and fiery energy of dancehall music. Dance through an intensive workshop to unleash your inner dancehall queen, let your hair down, wiggle your bubble butt and shake what ya mumma gave ya!
junglecityprojects.com
Pacific Island Song and Dance
Nuholani
Saturday 7pm
Nuholani is a team of emerging contemporary Pacific artists who breathe life into stories of old through chant and movement, personifying the mana and grace of Polynesian dances. Professionally trained and internationally experienced performers, they have combined their talents to form Nuholani.
This workshop will transport you into Polynesian lifestyles through slow Hawaiian hula movements and quick Tahitian beats, accompanied by the voices of the Pacific.
nuholani.com
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Bodywise is a place for you to express yourself through movement and dance, to release your stress, tension and inhibitions, or quietly listen and reconnect with your body. Phat Yoga Booty Stretch
Lucille Loveday
Saturday 9pm & Sunday 8:30am
Lucille has been teaching dance in Melbourne for the last ten years. She has worked with women, children and young people in a variety of settings. She is excited to be sharing her love and passion for movement and dance and the role it plays in mother and baby bonding, including settling and connecting to baby.
Experience phat yoga, where fitness meets thickness. Get moving with this morning stretch session set to phat beats. Warm your body and flex those curves with phat yoga, bringing back your booty, working the body slow and sexy. Stretch, move and feel the phat yoga vibes.
cobraculturesyndicate.com
Dancing Eros
Vanessa Florence
Saturday 8:30pm & Sunday 3pm
Vanessa is a visionary, leader and trailblazer for feminine expression and empowerment. A powerful permission granter and creatrix of Dancing Eros and Celebrating Sexuality (Sexcamp), she is passionate about creating spaces for a more healthy and authentic connection to our desire.
Explore the different aspects and expressions of your sexuality through this powerful erotic dance practice. Release shame about your sensuality, your body, your femininity and your desire. Give yourself permission to fully own your power as a woman!
vanessaflorence.com
Expressions of Cuban Dance
Tania De Silva
Friday 11:30am & Sunday 1pm
Tania has been a classroom teacher since 1996 and dance teacher since 2006. As her experience continues to grow, Tania strengthens her ties to Cuban tradition through training with mentors, while using creativity, innovation and passion to bring Cuban dance to a wider audience.
This dance workshop focuses on the feminine energies and body movement expressed in Cuban dance. Beginning with earthy rumba, through the elegant expression of son, to the fun, energy and colour of salsa and the aggressive sexiness of reggaeton.
Cathy’s Crazed Institute of GoDisco Friday 8:30pm & Saturday 11am Miss the feeling you get cutting loose on the dance floor? Need an escape from the seriousness of life? Feel like you’ve got two left feet but love to dance? GoDisco is for you - mixing all of those great (and not so great) dance fads from the 60s, 70s and 80s with a focus on funky disco moves.
rakata.com.au
Cathy Stevens Cathy is the creator and founder of Cathy’s Crazed Institute of GoDisco. Working as a teacher during the day, Cathy spends her spare time watching 70s film clips and developing funky disco moves to bring joy and happiness to women across Melbourne. godisco.moonfruit.com More over page >>
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BODYWISE
cont.
Asana and Our Inner Goddess
Nikki Blackwell
Saturday 7am & Sunday 6:30am
Nikki Blackwell, after many years of searching for her true calling, will present this unique class. Nikki’s journey has led her to the person she is today, and she is excited to share her knowledge with one and all.
A beautiful mix of yoga, meditation and reiki healing energy helps us to discover our inner beauty. Join this unique class, where you are guided towards your true self, becoming a stronger version of you.
Taketina – Rhythm for Evolution
Meredith Greenwood & Nina George
Saturday 4pm
Meredith is a qualified taketina leader with experience as a musician, counsellor and group facilitator. Nina is a qualified taketina leader, bowen therapist, dancer and speech therapist. Together they facilitate a playful and curious approach to voice, meditation and movement.
The taketina process takes us on an individual and collective journey into the archetypal rhythmic patterns that exist in all of nature. Layering these patterns in the body through movement and the voice, the process leads to a deeply meditative space.
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taketina.info
ARTS & LEARNING Luscious Wool Felted Arm Cuffs Friday 2pm & Sunday 10:30am Manifest within your own hands a luscious wet felted arm cuff with gorgeous merino wool tops, upcycled fabrics, threads and fabulous bits. Learn the basic techniques of an ancient tradition and create your very own piece of contemporary wearable art.
Soulfelt Threads Larissa is an artisan who speaks her spirit language of creativity and magic along with the natural gifts of mother earth, her oceans and animals, all entwined with luscious bits. Experience that moment of inspiration, when time shifts, connection to source is clear, and you’re left with your heartbeat and pure creativity.
Basket Weaving
Monika and Mishka
Friday 11:30am & Saturday 9am
Monika and Mishka together have qualifications in fine arts, education and transpersonal art therapy. They have been facilitating workshops together for a few years and also basket weave in their own art practice. Monika and Mishka enjoy sharing their skills and knowledge in weaving.
You are invited to learn basket weaving, an ancient craft that women have performed for centuries down to the present moment. This art form inspires primal feelings of belonging, wisdom and sanctity, which naturally empowers the feminine.
facebook.com/sacredweaving
Crafting a Sacred Yoni!
Kirrilee Heartman & Yia Alias
Friday 4pm & Sunday 3pm
Kirrilee is a fiber artist with many years of experience in holding workshops in a variety of craft modalities for women and children. Yia is a ceremonial choreographer, counsellor and teacher of women’s mysteries. She has been creating sacred art installations for over 20 years.
Create your own sacred yoni! Craft, create, embellish and adorn using lace, pearls, sequins and beads. We will be revisiYONIng traditional crafting tools and techniques to honour our sacred gateway.
Intention Doll Selfie
Soul-time
Saturday 11am & Sunday 8:30am
Lisa Hyde-Mills is a transpersonal art therapist and community artist. Lisa and her co-presenter Deb Noonan (transpersonal art therapist and reiki practitioner) work to facilitate and hold space that empowers people to seek connection with their own resources to heal.
Where intention goes, energy flows. Using an art therapy approach, with fabric, wool and other materials, participants will be guided through the process of creating a doll/figure to explore, embody and empower their intentions.
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We will create vibrant, imaginative art and craft spaces where our inspiring facilitators and teachers will help you produce individual pieces for you to take home and cherish. Animal Guide Paper Sculpture
Ursula Dutkiewicz Artist
Saturday 4pm & Sunday 1pm
Ursula is a passionate facilitator of creativity and has extensive experience working and teaching within communities, schools and with people of all ages and abilities. She presents creative opportunities for art and soul.
Animals appearing in our lives often come as messengers. Choosing a guide whose attributes could serve you at this time and creating it as a three dimensional cardboard sculpture draws those powers into your life. You can create whatever animal or bird you are inspired to.
ursuladutkiewicz.com
Lanterns of Love
Lauren Woodman
Saturday 2pm
Lauren is an advocate for women’s health, creativity and expression. As the founder and Director of Seven Sisters Festival, she is a source of profound imagination and creativity. Join Lauren to explore and indulge yours.
Create your own lantern of love. Select from an assortment of glass bottles and jars and transform your piece through paint, paper, jewels, beads and wire. Set an intention, indulge your creativity and take home a beautiful gift that keeps on giving.
5 Tibetan Yoga Rites
Eva Tan
Saturday 7am
Eva has been helping people to still their minds and be in the moment for many years. Through yoga and meditation training, she offers a variety of techniques to help people find what works for them.
Regular practice of these postures relieves muscular tension and nervous stress, improves respiration and digestion, and benefits the cardiovascular system. It also leads to deep relaxation and wellbeing and increases physical strength and suppleness.
mandalabalance.com.au
Tai Chi
Eva Tan
Sunday 6:30am
Eva has been teaching tai chi for health programs for many years. She loves to see the difference this gentle exercise can make to people’s lives, such as reducing stress, helping with balance and focus, and aiding circulation and breathing so you feel better.
Learn about tai chi and how it can help your overall health and wellbeing through these slow gentle movements, which anyone can do.
mandalabalance.com.au
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SACRED SPACE The wise? The wild crone!
Red Catherine Johns
Saturday 2pm & Sunday 8:30am
Catherine is a crone, a witch, a Romani woman who walks and talks for the animals of earth, and she is proud to be ageing. She is an author, farmer, poet and wise woman who says that every day she is learning and life is an amazing experience.
The crone, the wise, the elder, the mad, the eccentric, the witch, the wrinkly. We are all of those and more. Come and explore ageing, what it is to be over the age of 60 and wild, and to be a role model for younger women, because we are proud of our ageing.
Don’t Take it Lying Down
Dr. Kaalii Cargill
Friday 8:30pm & Saturday 7pm
Kaalii is a psychotherapist, teacher and writer. She co-developed Soul Centred Psychotherapy, a therapeutic approach grounded in the feminine principle. Kaalii has also been participating in and facilitating women’s circles and rituals for 25 years. She has five books available on Amazon.
This workshop focuses on mindbody birth control and women’s reproductive autonomy. Explore fertility regulation through an internal mindbody process. Learn how women once had this wisdom, how it was lost, and how we can reclaim power, choice and control in managing fertility.
kaaliicargill.blogspot.com.au
Menstrual Wellness Basics
Katherine Cunningham
Friday 4pm & Sunday10:30am
Since 1995 Katherine has been stalking the core purposes of the menstrual experience, the why and how to use this force for good not evil. She is an activist, an educator, a writer, an orator, a mother, a lover of life and all the juicy in it!
Menstrual Wellness Basics is for any woman who isn’t sure why we bleed. Beyond the biology of babies, this work accesses the rest of the menstrual cycle when we live way beyond the truncated depths our culture allows for. Own it, and it won’t rule you.
livinggently.com
The Bountiful Boudoir
Waratah Karleu
Saturday 11am
Waratah is an intimacy consultant and relationship therapist who has enriched the lives of many through her depth of knowledge and understanding. Yoga, ayurveda and tantra underpin her life and work. Her presentations bring together bodies of knowledge and experience in a practical, accessible way.
Teaching the sacred arts of tantra to awaken, enliven, invigorate and enchant. This workshop focuses on bringing divine connection to yourself and your lover, forever enriching your sexual expression. Tantra is the realm of the Goddess, reclaim the art of the temple priestess.
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Our Sacred Space is a quiet, serene space, suitable for inner journeys and teachings of the sacred feminine. Topics for discussion include the cycles of womanhood, women’s intuition and ways to honour and connect. Yoga for the Blissful Woman
Atira Tan
Saturday 7am & Sunday 6:30am
A world traveler and seeker of truth, Atira’s 16 years of yoga immersion shines Yoga and the Blissful Woman supports through in her distinct style of teaching. women in rediscovering their innate Through the practice of deep listening, wisdom in their bodies through asanas, alignment and healing in her classes, meditations, pranayama and selfreflection for each stage of the menstrual Atira inspires and empowers students through her infectious exuberance, cycle, as well as the ebb and flow of the courage and joy for life. Shakti life within. theyogalab.com.au
Moon Tea Ritual
Sequoia Kropp
Saturday 9am & Sunday 3pm
Sequoia is a witch, a shamanic midwife, a doula, a healer and a wild woman. She creates and holds the space for women’s healing and transformation through personal sessions, workshops, red tents and ritual. She is a mama and happy crafter.
Join us in this ritual of tea making, craft, connection and deep honouring our monthly blood and our connection to the sisterhood.
Spring Tide
InformEmotion
Saturday 4pm & Sunday 1pm
Michelle Buggy is a passionate artist and art therapist who believes in personal reflection, expression, symbolism and emotional understanding as a way to enhance personal evolution. Michelle sees personal art practice providing integration and embodied understanding for personal processing.
Participants will be assisted to journal their personal experience, to develop a personal practice to track their emotional cycles throughout their monthly cycles. This process provides connection with moon and seasonal cycles within our own nature.
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theredtepee.com
CIRCLE OF STONES Who is the Goddess?
Frances Billinghurst
Friday 2pm & Saturday 7pm
Frances is the Priestess in Residence Who is the Goddess, the divine feminine of The Goddess House (Adelaide) where she runs workshops on Goddess we are told is the ancient creatrix of all mythology and women’s spirituality. She things? From ancient temples to the is also the author of In Her Sacred Name: 21st century, discover the Goddess for Writings on the Divine Feminine, and has yourself. Learn how to include Her in contributed to numerous anthologies your life and become a modern day about the Goddess. priestess. thegoddesshouse.blogspot.com.au
Benefits of Having a Doula
Gabriela Tudor
Sunday 10:30am
Gabriela is a doula based in the northern rivers of NSW and is owner of Grateful Goddess Teas, which create nurturing pregnancy and breastfeeding teas. She is a work-at-home mother and advocate for empowered birth.
Explore the benefits of having a birth partner, also known as a doula, to attend your birth. Learn how having birth support can lead you to have a calmer, more centred birth, with someone who can advocate for your family’s needs.
Self-care for a New Mother
Gabriela Tudor
Friday 11:30am
Gabriela is a doula based in the northern rivers and owner of Grateful Goddess Teas, which create nurturing pregnancy and breastfeeding teas. She is a work-at-home mother and advocate for empowered birth.
This is a chance for expecting women to learn ways they can nourish and nurture themselves in the first few months of motherhood and the first few years of their baby’s life.
The Lesbian Spirit
Chris Sitka
Saturday 4pm
Chris has over 40 years of experience as a lesbian activist, researcher, writer and presenter of workshops on both lesbian issues and ancient Goddess cultures. She is a deep thinker who inspires others to look outside the box and discover new truths about themselves and their potential.
What is the lesbian spirit? How and why is it expressed on this planet throughout time and place? Expand your concept of what being a lesbian means for you, and for the society you live in. Discover a deeper, more powerful self. You are special.
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This is an intimate, safe and sacred space for women to gather and discuss topics relating to the heart. A place to sing, express and listen to each other’s stories and truth. Community Conversation
Danella Connors
Saturday 2pm & Sunday 1pm
Danella is a mother and teacher who has worked extensively with children, Our children’s and teens’ sense of families and women for over 30 years. wholeness and wellbeing are affected, more than anything else, by our attitudes. Her work is intuitive, with faith in our divine intelligence. She has developed What does your current situation look natural learning experiences and like? Join the conversation, be honest, adventures, run workshops, community gain insight and develop a strategy that conversations for parents and more. transforms family life with love. facebook.com/theecologyofchildhood
The Lemurian Tones
Nili Fisch
Saturday 7am & Sunday 6:30am
Nili is a teacher for living your spirituality in everyday life. Nili gives people tools that enable them to open into new levels of consciousness, helping them to be born into new dimensions of their existence, realising the great spirit that they are.
Discover the power of your voice! When we produce a tone it has an immediate impact on all levels of our being. We learn how to produce overtones, healing sounds that go deep into our cells, bring harmony and awaken our Pineal Gland.
nilifisch.com
Sacred Smoke
Mardi Star Woman
Saturday 9am & Sunday 3pm
Mardi Star Woman is a teacher of women’s mysteries and founder of the Rainbow Star Sister Circles in Australia. Clairvoyant and healer, she is committed to sharing the sisterhood teachings of the dawn star lineage, as it belongs to all women and has been passed down for countless generations.
Learn the healing techniques of the sacred hoop drum and of smudging. Diagnose the auric field with the drum and develop your clairvoyant sight using the sacred smoke. Gain a deeper understanding of the drum rhythms and tones for healing.
Tantra Is Love Women for Women
rainbow-star.com.au
Danica Lani
Friday 8:30pm The ancient tantrics understood powerful techniques and practices that, when applied in a modern context and in same-sex experiences, will empower you to live a sexually fulfilled life. Inquire into what’s possible from tantra for women who love women.
Danica is a fire sign with an unmatched zest for life. Her joy, love and vitality are infectious. She has assisted with Tantra Is Love teaching since its inception, and her work as a coach in transformation began in 2004. She is in love with the difference tantra practices make to our quality of life. tantraislove.com More over page >>
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CIRCLE OF STONES
CONT.
What is a Women’s Circle?
Mary Soderiou
Saturday 11am
Mary has been facilitating a diverse range of workshops for 25 years. She heard the drum beat of the Goddess many years ago and has been working to help guide women to find their innate ‘knowing’ through sacred women’s circles. Connect with the wild, wise and free aspects of yourself.
“How might your life have been different if, through the years, there had been a place where you could go to be with women? A place away from the ordinary busyness of life. A place of women who know the cycles of life.” Judith Duerk
Loving Woman Over 40
Janoel Liddy with Sally Graf
Friday 4pm & Sunday 8:30am
Janoel runs mother daughter retreats and has done sacred women’s work for years, holding safe and deep space as an engaging facilitator and trainer. Sally has run her own business for 35 years, is an Australian Goddess Conference convener and is a magnetic communicator and shamanic midwife. Both are mums.
Welcome. How do we celebrate becoming older? We’ll look at how to embrace and honour being a mature woman. We’ll focus on preparing for or connecting with menopause and relishing the creativity, drive, passion and perspective that comes from having lived a little.
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stepintowomanhood.com
RITUAL SPACE “Mother Song” Birthing Chants Sunday 8:30am Learn chanting for birthing and new-born mothers, birth workers and curious women. Come find your voice. Allow these ancient chants to awaken your body to the resonance of life. Let the power of song weave your energy with the infiniteness of your babies.
13 Moons Blood Mysteries Sh’ana and Kaggi complement one another beautifully in their ability to hold space and facilitate deep transformation, celebrating the sacred with clarity, humour and grace. They are the co-creatrices of the 13 Moon Blood Mystery circle, chantresses and spiritual midwives to women during all phases of life.
Death, Birth of the Mother
Rachel Vines
Saturday 9am
Rachel is a shamanic midwife - working as a doula trainer, breathwork practitioner and holistic psychotherapist in private practice. Rachel originally trained in anthropology with a particular interest in women’s spirituality, deep ecology and Aboriginal women’s business.
Transition is the point of power in every labour. The woman experiences both death and life unfolding in her being as she moves from maiden to mother. Learn to witness and hold this deeply sacred transition and emergence of The Mother within.
Yin Yoga
Grace Darling
Saturday 7am & Sunday 6:30am
A fascination with neuroscience and meditation give Grace a unique viewpoint on yoga teaching. She employs four modalities of yoga training, ten years of meditation instruction, and her fierce passion for optimum wellness, to invite connection into the lives of her students.
Yin yoga employs long holds of ground-based work to unlock tension and trauma from the deeper tissues. In this 75-minute class, you will learn the yin side of yoga practice through asana, breath and meditation.
Masks of the Sacred Feminine Saturday 11am & Sunday 10:30am This workshop is a beautiful and transformational process combining art therapy practices and sacred women’s chant and meditation. Culminating in a represented reflection of the beauty of your sister and the way she carries the sacred feminine.
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Kerryanne Ansari Kerryanne is able to provide practical, earth centred ceremony though chant, drum and sacred circle. She has been working in different forms of medicine and ceremony for over 20 years, running women’s circles and sweat lodge weekends, and training with traditional medicine people and the Earth Mother. holewomentowholewomen.com
RITUAL SPACE Unite Year of the Sheep Friday 4pm & Sunday 11:30am Take part in the circle of harmony, healing and community. This circle is gentle and includes a consecration ceremony, followed by an elemental circle casting and invocation. The workshop includes the crafting of a clay sheep for each participant to keep after a deep soul meditation.
Cleanse, Protect and Cut Cords Saturday 7pm Learn how to cleanse, clear and protect yourself from lower energies with some simple techniques. Call in your angels to cleanse you with light, cut any cords of fear that might be draining you, and cleanse the third eye with a clear quartz crystal.
cont. Australia’s Celebrity Psychic, Lizzy Rose Lizzy, Australia’s celebrity psychic, teaches witchcraft and healing through her performances at spiritual festivals, events, circles, rituals and gatherings across Australia. Lizzy has just returned from touring the USA and Canada, where crowds delighted in participating in Pagan practice. lizzyrose.com.au
Pip Coleman Pip is a Tasmanian-born light worker. She has been teaching reiki, meditation and psychic development courses for 11 years. Her unique style of teaching brings fun, passion and wisdom together to inspire growth in her students. She creates a feeling of safety that allows honest expression of ideas. consciouscourses.weebly.com
Eating Disorders and Body Image
Jane Hardwicke Collings & Kristan Lee Read
Sunday 1pm
Jane is a homebirth midwife, teacher, writer and menstrual educator. Jane founded and runs The School of Shamanic Midwifery. Kristan is a mother, shamanic midwife, teacher of the women’s mysteries, workshop facilitator and presenter.
This workshop focuses on reconnecting with the sacred in life as medicine for healing eating disorders and body image. We will see the way our culture has affected our perceptions and reclaim the sacred to live our lives from this perspective and practice.
schoolofshamanicmidwifery.com kristanleeread.com
Wisdom of Maternal Lineage
Moana Pearl
Friday 8:30pm & Sunday 3pm
Moana has been working with women and girls for over 20 years facilitating groups, circles, rites of passage, ceremonies and women’s yoga. She brings a passion for the feminine, a wealth of knowledge and a grounded approach to matters of the heart and spirit.
By healing our matrilineal heritage we reclaim our connection to this earth, our belonging going all the way back to the beginning of time, and our sisterhood. We can begin to trust the feminine. Ultimately we are the guardians of our female legacy.
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moanapearl.wordpress.com
A beautiful nurturing space where you will be able to heal, encourage and reconnect with yourself, shedding all misgivings of the past and planting seeds of intention for the future. THE MAGIC OF THE LABYRINTH
Sisters of the Labyrinth
Friday 2pm & Saturday 2pm
Close friends Wendy Rule, Rachel Samuel, Heidi Valkyrie and Jacqueline Hicks have been combining their ritual and creative talents together for years, bringing music, ritual and Magic to the community in the form of themed concerts, workshops, seasonal celebrations and festival hi jinks.
MISSING WORKSHOP BIO
wendyrule.com
The Sacred Ecology of Woman Friday 4pm Through sacred ecology and shamanic wisdoms, we will remember our wild, embodied ecological selves. We will awaken our deep earth connection and reclaim old wild ways of knowing, using practices of grounding, journeying, song and the cycles.
Jane Hardwicke Collings & Nymh Fox Harper Jane is a homebirth midwife, teacher, writer and menstrual educator. Jane founded and runs The School of Shamanic Midwifery. Nymh is an ecologist. Her work focuses on sacred and holistic ecology, shamanic practices, and re-storying women’s connection with nature. moonsong.com.au schoolofshamanicmidwifery.com
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THE HUB Soul Circles Drumming
Djulz Chambers
Friday 11am
Djulz began her journey of healing with Through the pulse of the African djembe, African percussion in Burkina Faso, West Africa. She has since travelled the Soul Circles Drumming workshops world, cultivating and offering a practice invite women to ignite their primal of conscious active meditation through vibration and rediscover their role as the powerful collective pulse of drum custodians of the ancient rhythms. circles. soulcirclesdrumming.com
Food as Medicine
Emma Park
Friday 2pm
Emma Park is a passionate and experienced holistic nutritionist based in the Mornington Peninsula. Her love of wholefood, seasonal and local produce, and food as medicine is demonstrated through her lifestyle and career. Emma is dedicated to sharing her passion and knowledge about the power of food.
Join Emma Park (BHSc), holistic nutritionist and wellness expert as she shares her passion for wholefood, exploring food as medicine and ways to incorporate the principles into our modern lives.
emmaparknutritionist.com
Daughters and Sexuality
Janoel Liddy
Saturday 2pm
Janoel runs mother daughter retreats in Bali, ‘Celebration Day For Girls’ workshops locally, and teaches sexuality education in schools. She is a mother of two and has done sacred women’s work for years, holding a safe and deep space as an engaging facilitator and trainer.
Your awareness, self-image and approach to bodies and intimacy directly influence how your young daughter feels about her body and, later in life, about sex. We’ll cover practical ways to positively influence her from toddler to teen and well beyond.
stepintowomanhood.com
From Stress to Bliss
Fiona Edelstein
Friday 4pm
Fiona hosts Simply Wellbeing on 87.8FM. She is an author, speaker, healer, ‘Heart Radiant Women’s Circle’ facilitator and teaches her own creative blend of yoga designed for real bodies. Her passion is sharing the simple tools we can all benefit from to make our lives richer and happier.
Fiona Edelstein’s healing voice travels with you, creating awareness of habit and lifestyle changes that help you sleep better, improve posture, be energised and feel amazing. You can live productive, busy lives with more bliss and less stress.
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flavoursofyoga.com
Throughout the festival, the main stage on the Oval is a source of activity and energy. The Hub will host our exclusive Friday night showcase, engaging keynote speakers, performers and activities. Tigress Yoga
Prem Kalpa
Saturday 7am & Sunday 6:30am
Practicing as a group facilitator and counsellor, Prem is passionate about teaching skills that develop sensual embodiment, keep the flame of desire burning strong in relationships, and give women greater access to the language of their desires.
Ever had the feeling of being locked out of your own temple? This womanly approach to yoga is an empowering and revolutionary self-awareness practice, which helps women to access their primal instinctual nature and soften into their heart and womb space.
tigressyoga.com
Plant-based Paleo Lifestyle
Daniella Hogarth
Sunday 10:30am
Daniella is a wife and mother of two who started a wellness coaching business after recovering from her own health crisis of five years of chronic post natal depression and being diagnosed as morbidly obese. Three years later and 18kg lighter, Daniella and her family are thriving on a paleo lifestyle.
Learn which foods zap your energy and slow down your weight loss. Tips on how to make week night meals that are simple and inexpensive. Curb sugar cravings at 3pm and before bedtime. Learn how a paleo lifestyle can work for vegans and vegetarians.
Autumn Woman, Harvest Queen Saturday 11am After Mother and before Crone is the Second Spring, the time of the Maga, the Matriarch, the Enchantress, the Queen. Let us reclaim this time in our lives for the gift it is for all our relations - the treasures, the joys and the responsibilities.
wellnessonwheelsau.com
Jane Hardwicke Collings Jane is a homebirth midwife, teacher, writer and menstrual educator. Jane founded and runs The School of Shamanic Midwifery. She teaches workshops and gives festival and conference presentations in Australia and internationally. moonsong.com.au schoolofshamanicmidwifery.com
Heart Sex
Emma Power and Vidya Sofia
Saturday 4pm
Both Emma and Vidya are tantra teachers, tantric yoga teachers and sexuality educators. Vidya also specialises in holistic teachings for women’s sexual health issues. They offer tantra in an accessible format and are devoted to empowering others through this transformative work and ancient practices.
What is the difference between orgasms of the heart versus the genitals? Here you will learn how to open and express each fully, and how to energetically connect the heart to your sex centre during lovemaking to experience deeper, fulfilling connected sex.
tantraislove.com More over page >>
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THE HUB
CONT.
Messy Kitchen Pantry Magick Felicity Chapman Saturday 9am & Sunday 1pm Awakening the Goddess within by raiding the pantry and creating simple, luscious and a little bit naughty body pamper products. Learn from this practical presentation how to create your own masks, scrubs, moisturisers and body products.
Felicity is a hereditary alchemist and founder of Rainbow Goddess. Felicity is passionate about creating safe, natural body pampering products that are petrochemical and preservative free. Felicity reconnects women with their passion in a fun and practical way. Leanne Odd will be assisting. thehealersrole.com | rainbowgoddess.com.au
Kattimoni (Kat) Beams & Ee’da Braham
Embodied Voice Sunday 3pm Embodied voice is a holistic fusionbased practice that utilises song, dance, improvisation, spoken word, mindfulness, breath and embodiment techniques as a tool for unlocking your creativity and self-expression.
Kat is a performing artist, holistic vocal coach and transformational expressive arts therapist. Ee’da is the founder and Creative Director of sistersforsisters, a collective which provides support to disadvantaged groups worldwide. She is a singer, dancer, poet and arts educator. eedamusic.com | kattimoni.com
Sound Bath Healing
Anne Huxtable
Sunday 8:30am
Anne received a Certificate of Sound Therapy/Sound Healing at Globe Sound and Consciousness Institute, San Francisco. She has conducted sound baths in Malaysia, Singapore, USA and Australia and is certified in many therapies including massage, EFT, reiki.
This is a 40-minute sound journey with singing bowls, chimes, xylophone and voice to bring the listener into blissful states of relaxation. Participants lie down while healing sounds are played and sung around them. Heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and stress hormones decrease, healing both physically and emotionally.
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annehuxtable.com
LIFE SKILLS Why do I do what I do?
Lisa Greenfield
Friday 11:30pm & Sunday 1pm
Lisa is a qualified leadership coach, workshop facilitator and conference In this workshop, we explore presenter with 25 years of experience personality and temperament theory in learning and development. She (MBTI), and behavioural styles (DiSC). We discuss the ‘old brain’ and is also a registered civil celebrant, celebrant trainer, reiki practitioner, its relationship to unhelpful survival beliefs and behaviours. We also explore tarot/numerology reader and ghost tour host. how to manage anxiety responses. lisa.net.au
Delving into Intimacy
Elisse Kleiner
Sunday 8:30am
Elisse is driven by a deep conviction that relationships can be whatever we want them to be, so long as everyone involved is in agreement. Graduate of the Global Love School in Tamera, Portugal, Elisse has traversed the world in search of more meaningful and enriching ways of relating.
Explore the language of active respect to delve into more enriching and fulfilling relationships. Through verbal and nonverbal communication, dance and touch, we will practice conveying our desires, negotiating intimacy and expressing boundaries.
facebook.com/activerespectworkshops
Creating Sacred Space
Samantha Levy
Sunday 4pm
Architect and lifestyle designer Samantha has a passion for creating sacred space that goes beyond traditional architectural concepts. Recognising the impact the built environment has upon our mind, body and soul, she has developed a practice that integrates the design of holistic concepts.
Become aware of conscious and unconscious thought patterns manifesting in your physical environment. Awaken your intention to transform your home into an uplifting, nourishing sacred space that reflects the inner peace of your highest self.
innersanctuary@live.com.au
Wealth Mastery Secrets
Claire Henry
Friday 2pm
Claire’s passion is to empower spiritual entrepreneurs to live the life they’ve always dreamed of. Claire is a gifted wealth coach who combines her knowledge of financial management and the esoteric arts to facilitate dramatic change with the people she works with.
This interactive workshop is a must for any woman wanting to fast track her path to financial freedom. Shift your wealth mindset and learn practical tools to change your relationship to money forever.
prosperityhack.com
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LIFE SKILLS
cont.
Calligraphy Yoga
Simone Doll
Saturday 7am & Sunday 6:30am
Simone is a qualified hatha and Calligraphy yoga combines the principals calligraphy yoga teacher. She trains extensively with Simon Borg Oliver and of tai chi, qi gong and hatha yoga in a Master Zhen Hua Yang. She is also an flowing practice. It works on increasing artist who likes to use yoga to connect to blood flow, oxygen and healing energy creativity and runs workshops in this. to all the internal organs, resulting in meditation in movement. naturaltherapypages.com.au/therapist/ simonedole
Empathy Circles
Sarah McCure
Saturday 9am
Sarah embraced nonviolent communication (NVC) in 2009 after experiencing how this work brought together all the elements of her own life’s spiritual practice in a way that supported the compassion and peace she so longed for in her life’s relationships, including, most notably, the one with herself.
A gentle nourishing space to be heard, witnessed and held as you share your truth in the bosom of sisterhood. Learn the power of true empathic presence. Learn how to hear others in a way that nurtures trust, connection, understanding and empowerment.
nvcaustralia.com/index.php?action=trainer&id=85
Into the Jungle
Jean Thomas
Friday 8:30pm
Jean is an award winning conservationist with proven competency in delivering training programs that aim to influence and inspire people to change their behaviour. This has led to community engagement and mobilisation among 50 PNG villages and the protection of 200,000 hectares of rainforest.
Award winning conservationist Jean Thomas will share her personal story of struggle and success since working in Papua New Guinea for a decade. She has protected tree kangaroos from extinction and delivered amazing results in community development.
tenkile.com | intothejungle.org
Reclaim Your Power
Jenny Leather
Friday 4pm & Saturday 11am
Jenny’s passion is to study and understand the connection between the spiritual journey and the physical realm. As well as being a qualified life coach, Jenny has studied EFT, NLP and the Sedona method to support her clients through their own personal journeys to the life they truly desire.
Learn the triangle of power and how it is having an effect on all your relationships. You’ll be surprised just how much energy you’re giving away unconsciously. Take back the steering wheel and design your own life in alignment with your vision.
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reclaimyourpower.com.au
Informative workshops will give you tools to help you cope with stress and emotion, and enhance interpersonal relationships to create an abundant, positive lifestyle for yourself. The Gifts of Inner Critics
Liz Scarfe
Saturday 2pm
Liz is a process-oriented psychotherapist, adult educator and facilitator in private practice in Melbourne and northeast Victoria. Liz is passionate about supporting people to follow their ‘path of heart’ and to discover, celebrate and enhance their own diversity and gifts for the world.
Participate in an exploration of the psycho-dynamics and manifestations of inner criticism. Learn about the three main types of inner critics and how to uncover the power, purpose and insights hidden within them.
lizscarfe.net
Release Your Ex Energetically
Virginia Gross
Saturday 7pm
Virginia is the founder of The Infinite Technique. She was inspired by her clients to develop a clear modality they could do themselves. Virginia is focused and passionate about self-practice, showing people how they can work powerfully, safely, joyously and effectively by accessing their own infinite.
An ex is any ex, whether a neighbor, partner, friend or boss. Learn the seven ways an energetic relationship is established and why it lingers. Find out how to access your infinite space to resolve and dissolve these energetic ties to create true self resolution.
theinfinitetechnique.com
Mend Your Money
Liz Mellor
Sunday 3pm
Liz is a money coach and runs her own business, Seventh Sense Money Coaching. She has trained with top US money coaches and now presents her own transformational approach, combining her many years of experience in spiritual development, natural medicine, coaching and training.
Women are beginning to heal their relationships with money and change the direction of its flow globally. Learn the four paths leading to better money sense and begin to mend your money. Where attention goes, energy flows.
seventhsensemoneycoaching.com
5 Key Abilities for Leadership
Tania Morgan
Sunday 10:30am
Tania is a writer, transformational coach, and a yoga-teaching vegetarian. She is an action-oriented entrepreneur motivated and inspired by innocence, connection and courage. She currently lives in Melbourne with her husband and dog, Diesel.
Discover 5 key abilities for all emerging women in leadership. Do you want to excel in your role? Do you want to shine? Increase performance of your organisation, business or team? Do so naturally and effortlessly. Come and learn how with 5 key abilities for success.
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taniamorgan.com.au
VITALITY TENT Five Minute Meditations
Pip Coleman
Friday 11:30am
Pip is a Tasmanian-born light worker. Have you tried to meditate but just could She has been teaching reiki, meditation not relax? Or are you new to meditation? and psychic development courses for Everyone is unique and we relax in very 11 years. Her unique style of teaching brings fun, passion and wisdom together different ways. Discover your unique to inspire growth in her students. She processing mode and then try the five creates a feeling of safety that allows minute beginner meditations that suit honest expression of ideas. your style. consciouscourses.weebly.com
Yoga for the Vagina
Tamra Mercieca
Friday 2pm & Sunday 8:30am
Tamra is a relationship therapist, author and founder of Getting Naked, teaching women to strip off the layers of conditioning so they can enjoy deep self-love. Tamra is Sexpo’s relationship expert, also penning a sex column for Nature and Health magazine and features on prime time TV and radio.
If you’re ready to step into a more sensual, loving and heart-centred relationship with your most delicious self, then Yoga for the Vagina will guide you there. You’ll learn to heal sexual health concerns and awaken your vagina to deep pleasure.
Keeping your hormones healthy Friday 4pm & Saturday 2pm Ever wondered how your hormones were related to your moods and symptoms, and the effect that this has on your life? We look at what you can do to help support your hormones through the menstruating years so you have an easy transition into menopause.
gettingnaked.com.au
Andrea Strand (nee Hepner) Also known as the ‘Period Pain Guru’, Andrea has been helping women to rebalance their hormones naturally, to help alleviate PMS symptoms throughout their menstruating years, while heading towards and into menopause. She has been on 3NRG radio and featured in Cosmo, Dolly and Body + Soul magazines. B.Nat, M.A.N.P.A periodpain.com.au
Women Who Flow with Water
Sara-Shivani
Saturday 7am & Sunday 6:30am
Sara-Shivani (E-RYT) is the creator of Venus Yoga and the Body Bliss online course, a water resonance (Hado) instructor and Director of the Women’s Yoga Institute (RYS). Trained in India, China, Bali and Japan (where she lived for 11 years), she has over a decade of experience facilitating workshops.
Discover the healing power of water with the Venus Yoga Water Sequence. Based upon Dr. Masaru Emoto’s water research, it is a rhythmic flow of movement, massage, mantra and meditation set to music especially composed to balance your hormones.
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facebook.com/venusyoga
Professionals of the health and vitality industry present workshops and information sessions on how you can achieve radiant health and happiness with practical knowledge and tools. Yonilates – pelvic empowerment
Laura-Doe
Saturday 9am Wake up the marvelous muscles of your pelvic floor to support sensation, connection and wellbeing in this richly innervated area. Enjoy easy exercises to fun, squeeze-along music and develop a whole new appreciation for the potency of your creative core.
Laura-Doe is a pleasure and embodiment coach, sexual empowerment educator, comedienne, and singer/songwriter. With 30 years teaching experience and extensive training in somatic sexology, she works internationally supporting people to understand, cultivate and enjoy their natural capacity for pleasure. yoniversity.com.au | yonilates.com
Festival of ferments
Laura Pickle That & Ivy Lane
11am Saturday
Laura and Ivy have both improved their overall health (leaky gut, eczema and food sensitivities) with the addition of fermented foods in their diet. They’ve recently teamed up to bring Laura’s expertise in fermented foods and Ivy’s passion for gut and skin health by running cultured food workshops.
Starting out with kefir, kombucha and sauerkraut can be daunting. There is definitely an art, but with our clear and simple instructions, you will be making these healthful probiotic super foods and drinks with confidence.
icanpicklethat.com
‘Love it up’
Jenny Blyth & Stef Arvinitakis
Saturday 4pm
Both Jenny and Stef have been caring for women and pregnant, birthing and new mothers for 30 years and 12 years respectively. Their expertise is with using and teaching natural body awareness, skills and self-help techniques for greater comfort and wellbeing in women. Jenny is also an author and filmmaker.
A body bliss experiential workshop where you will love and nurture your precious womb and pelvis from the outside in. Wear loose comfy clothing – no jeans. Please BYO pillow and blanket.
birthwork.com
Libido Boosters
Vidya Sofia
Saturday 7pm
Vidya is a certified tantric instructor and tantric yoga teacher. She holds consultations and workshops in California, USA. She specialises in working with women on sexual health issues. Bringing healing, empowerment and joy to women’s sexuality is her passion and life’s work.
The causes behind a low libido will be covered. Natural, tantric and fun remedies will be taught to help bring back your juicy, sexy energy to full force. Herbs, foods to boost your neurotransmitters, yogic exercises and more!
vidyasofia.com More over page >>
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VITALITY TENT
cont.
The Alchemy of Acupuncture
Jemima Rose
Sunday 10:30am
Jemima holds a bachelor degree in Chinese medicine. She is an intuitive healer, reiki practitioner, acupuncturist and herbalist, and utilises guided meditation for individuals and groups. Jemima is dedicated to wellness and healing and is the co-founder of RISE Wellness.
In this workshop we uncover the energetic pathways of acupuncture, qi travel and achieving balance through the mediums of practice, picture and discussion. Through the practice of acupressure, you will take with you practical tools to balance your qi.
risewellness.com.au
Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Terri McClure
Sunday 1pm
Terri represents the women of Australia trying to share the story of IBC. The story needs to be told to as many women as possible, to get the message out there. Terri is travelling Australia throughout the year and educating women, as it seems to attack the young and obese. A heartfelt story.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is known as the ‘orphaned cancer’ shared by women. It is unknown and our women are being diagnosed and treated wrongly with this disease. Women are in stage three or four before diagnosis. There is no lump and a mammogram does not identify it.
Placenta - Wholing & Healing Sunday 3pm This is an informative and interactive workshop discussing all things about the placenta. Its function, its healing benefits for mother and baby and beyond, its practical uses and also the spiritual connection to earth, our mother and ourselves.
Doula by Design & Our Birth Coach Nel Da Silva has been a birthworker for 10 years. Felicity Meisel has been a doula for four years. They trained together in 2012 in placenta services and are constantly inspired by the stories from women who ingest and work with their placentas. They provide their services independently throughout Victoria. doulabydesign.com.au ourbirthcoach.com.au
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Seven Sisters Showcase THE HUB: Friday Night 7:15pm-11:45pm Deya Dova Deya Dova is a unique, award-winning vocalist who blends an exotic mix of world, dance and electronica in her powerful, theatrical live shows.
DEYA DOVA
Alice Night Alice Night is a singer songwriter whose songs explore complex themes and use honesty, narrative and imagination. Alice is noted for the richness and breadth of her voice and her courageous and world-class stage presence. With her recent album released in 2015, Alice continues to offer song, story and soul with willingness and hope alicenight.com ALICE KNIGHT
Laura Hill Laura has been called a guitar-slinging chanteuse with a voice that could lay the Southern Ocean down to rest. Laura is a singer/songwriter in the great tradition of the craft: fearless, inventive and honest. She delivers a soulful blend of folk and blues with heart-on-her-sleeve courage. laurahill.com.au LAURA HILL
Nat Thoroughgood Authentic delta blues with a hint of country flavour. Acoustic guitar with lashings of steel slide, Nat’s music will take you to that special place, where Memphis Minnie, Robert Johnson and Mississippi Fred McDowell still hold court. When the blues gods have possessed her, she will reduce you to tears. youtube/w1Mt6QYCrpQ NAT THOROUGHGOOD
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You will be enchanted by this lovingly curated showcase to move, inspire and delight. From deep dirty blues to ethereal pop folk, sit back while some of Australia’s most celebrated female performers light up the stage with their gifts. Beatrice Beatrice is a vocalist and electronic music producer who blends trip-hop styles with new electronica, antique synthesizers, bass beats and live strings. She creates compelling and intimate music with a gritty distorted edge. Its dark nature offers hope and wisdom that immediately strikes a chord soundcloud.com/beatrice-musique BEATRICE
Liliana Flower Liliana was entranced as a child when introduced to Middle Eastern dance. The beat was honest, the moves felt right and the journey could take her anywhere. After many years training alone, Liliana sought the teachings of Princess Jasmina and has been learning Lebanese, Egyptian and Turkish inspired dances. youtube.com/watch?v=7R5OCaMHyd0 LILIANA FLOWER
Ilha Sorm Ilha Sorm performs a mixture of improvised and partially choreographed American Tribal Style Belly Dance and tribal-fusion style bellydance. Using body cues and a learned language of dance moves, this form of bellydance is strong, empowering and beautiful to watch. ilhasorm.com ILHA SORM
Amy Graaahm Amy fuses music, poetry, props and frizzy hair into... well, something that defies definition in any conventional sense of the word‌ or any unconventional sense either.
AMY BODOSSIAN
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SEVEN SIsteRS CONCERT THE HUB: Saturday Night 6:45pm Lisa Mitchell Lisa is an experienced and inspiring Australian singer/songwriter, influenced by the earth, the spirit and our dance between the physical and non-physical. Lisa has been touring Bless This Mess nationally with a five-piece band and a swag of rich new songs. Lisa is currently working on her third album. LISA MITCHELL
Tamwah Tamwah fuses the BOOM BAP of hip-hop beats with neo-soul songbird trills, dope rhymes and the alegria (joy) of Afro-Brazilian rhythms. She has been likened to soul singer and Eyrkah Badu. Tamwah’s musical creations are as diverse as her own multicultural heritage (Australian, Sri Lankan tamwah.com tamwah
Morgan Joanel Whether playing solo or with her band, Morgan is always tapping away at her looping pedal, creating layers of guitar, percussion and vocal harmonies – all created live on stage from scratch. The Gypsy Rock ‘n’ Roll feel to her tunes emerges from a love of 1960’s music and her bohemian look at life.
morgan joanel
Arowe & Her All Girl Brass Band Arowe has put together a set especially for SSF to celebrate funky, vivacious women through soulfunk love music. The set will include covers from the greats and originals by Arowe. The players on stage with Arowe are some of Melbourne’s finest and funkiest artists around today. arowemusic.com arowe
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The Seven Sisters Saturday Night Concert highlights a collection of reggae, soul, dancehall, blues, electronica and dance – a showcase to uplift, immerse and empower. Burn City Queenz High energy, heavy bass, sexy, sassy girl power dance, with music and vocal performance featuring Melbourne’s own Burn-City Queenz Dance Crew, DJ SO Fire, and Nikki Finn. junglecityprojects.com
burn city queenz
Alphamama Alphamama is a phenomenon to witness. Commanding her space with otherworldly presence, she uses music to uplift and transform energy. A combination of jazz, soul and hip-hop underlies Alpha’s unique approach to storytelling, marking her as a spiritual seeress and healer. godqueen.com alphamama
Ilha Sorm Ilha Sorm performs a mixture of improvised and partially choreographed ATS and tribal-fusion style bellydance. Using body cues and a learned language of dance moves, this form of bellydance is strong, empowering and beautiful to watch. ilhasorm.com
ILHA SORM
Justine Jade Justine Jade fuses soul funk and cosmic hip-hop to bring about a new golden era of music in this Age of Aquarius. With beats at 528hz carrying the love frequency, this girl will permeate your every cell. justinejade.com
justine jade
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SEVEN SIsteRS CONCERT
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THE HUB: Saturday Night 6:45pm Nuholani Nuholani brings you contemporary Pacific artisty, breathing life into the stories of old through chant and movement, personifying the mana and grace of Polynesian dances. nuholani.com
nuholani
Cosmica A performance that reflects the divine feminine and encourages you to step into your personal power. Cosmica deliver powerful messages of love and light through beauty and grace, acting as the mirror and reflection of the divinity that lies within all of us. An eclectic ritual performance of dance. facebook.com/cosmicaburlesque COSMICA
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ROVING PERFORMERS Our roving performers delight in the element of surprise, inspiring awe with their splendid and colourful displays. Be transfixed by these wonderful and playful performers.
Danica Hilton
Julie from Intuitive Body
Danica performed with the Cirque du Soleil for five years in Macau, China.
Julie creates a sensual and enchanting atmosphere through her fire dance performances. She can dance to enhance a mystical environment, to create an aesthetic background to live music, or as a fiveminute stage act. Julie also performs a sacred dance ceremony to honour our connection to Country.
At the moment Danica is based in Helsinki, Finland. She is in the creation process of a new show in collaboration with three other international circus performers. She will be performing an original character based on Puk for Seven Sisters Festival.
vimeo.com/user3590964/videos
Serra Stone
Full Cream Circus
Serra brings passion, playfulness, power and vulnerability to her roving performance. Combing dance, theatre and elaborate costumes, she interacts with her environment to invoke the elements, seasons and the creatures within us all.
Belonging: As mothers and lovers, four women use physical and musical language to explore our sense of place. Ruby and Sharon are experienced storytellers in the circus tradition (Circus Oz, Cirque du Soleil). With sweeping, strong voices, Merri and Coralie have more than 40 years in the music industry.
facebook.com/sarah.hancock.756
facebook.com/JohnHenryPresents?ref=hl
Nova Star Productions Stiltwalkers Delight in this professional, locally-based company that combines stunning costumes with beautiful, interactive performances on stilts. Magical fairies bring bubbles and Faery dust for everyone roving through the crowds. leoniedeavin.com.au
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CHAI TENT MUSIC Wild Moves Wild Moves will take you on a musical journey into the feminine, celebrating Mother Earth in all her mysteries of life through song, dance and drumming, with a touch of Surf Coast vibe. Drawing from the African diaspora and her ancient connection to ancestral spirit, this vibrant fluid ensemble celebrates cultural diversity, human rights and the environment. WILD MOVES
Laya Rocha Australian singer/songwriter Laya conveys messages of truth, love and freedom, inspired by the beauty of Pachamama. With many layers to her songs, one can derive new meanings with each listen and be touched by the power of the lyrical sounds. Her voice is authentic and warm and she sings with ease and grace. The music really speaks for itself. layarocha.com
LAYA ROCHA
Wendy Rule Having recently relocated to the USA, Australian visionary songstress Wendy Rule is making a special trip back to Oz to share the Magic of Seven Sisters. Joined on stage by cellist Rachel Samuel, together they create a powerful and otherworldly soundscape of Magic, passion and transformation wendyrule.com WENDY RULE
Lunations of Lucille Enchantress Luna will entice the spirit and sweeten the soul! Hypnotic, passionate and magical on stage, Lucille transforms into her performance persona Luna. The spirit of the Moon, she awakens the deep and emotional self and tells stories from the water. She enthralls the audience, inspiring reverence. cobraculturesyndicate.com/luna_performance LUNATIONS OF LUCILLE
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The Chai Tent is a lush and comfortable place to connect, rejuvenate and be inspired by an abundance of intimate performances. Relax with friends new and old, sip on some spicy chai, and soak up the ambience. But don’t be surprised by moments of comedy, theatre, spoken word and drumming. It’s a diverse, creative melting pot for your aural and visual pleasure.
Hello Satellites
Mermaid Music
Songwriter Eva Popov performs under the moniker Hello Satellites. Weaving together raw honesty and lyrical narrative, her performances are at times euphoric and at other times melancholic. And, like the best pop songs, she invites you in, taking you on a musical journey through joy and pain, sorrow and dreams.
Imagine a pod of mermaids singing and playing music on the rocks by the ocean. Close your eyes and hear ancient melodies of the sacred feminine opening your heart. Original atmospheric songs, spiritual chants, sea shanties, opera and traditional Celtic folk ballads. mermaidmusic.bandcamp.com/music
hellosatellites.com
Hybrid Bird
Basha
Hybrid Bird is an Icelandic-Australian two-piece minimalist pop collective. With an emphasis on expressive discipline, they deliver a concoction that is light in texture and dense in imagery.
Basha is the original wild woman. A fun physical comedy show and interactive romp into the natural feminine. Driven by the senses and exploring the modern world, Basha’s strong connection to nature and fierce body hair captivate and empower audiences.
soundcloud.com/hybridbird-1
facebook.com/bashaiscoming
Tiana V - Singer Songwriter
Melody Moon
Unique, urban acoustic infused with soul, Tiana V has been a regular on the Melbourne music scene for 20 years. Her songwriting, originality and vocal ability continue to make her a sought-after performer.
“A fresh breeze on the Australian alternative folk scene,” is how Wendy Rule describes Melody. Her humble tales capture the heart with passionate strings and soaring harmonies. Her recently released debut album, Down to the Sea, is receiving widespread radio airplay. A mesmerising and uplifting performer.
tianav.com.au
melodymoon.com.au
Beth and the Brave
Buffalo and Bear
Beth and the Brave perform beautiful alternative folk tunes with themes of social and environmental justice. Led by Beth’s soaring voice, the trio blends rich vocal arrangements with intricate guitar, banjo, double bass and flute.
Medicine songs from around the world to awaken the spirit and open the heart with Lydia Marolda and Clare Sentience.
bethandthebrave.com
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CHAI TENT MUSIC
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Laura-Doe’s Vaudeville of the Vulva
Senivoda
Hosted by an eccentric English academic from the yoniversity and featuring The Vulva Underground, a troupe of unusually vocal velvet vulvae, this one-woman cabaret show is funny, sexy and wise. It entertains, inspires and informs through humour and song.
Solo performance by Ola Milena, Senivoda’s lead singer and writer. ‘Sen’ means dream and ‘voda’ means water in Polish, Ola’s native tongue. Dreamy stories of love, lust, connection and chipped hearts. A waterfall of emotion from the heart and soul. A passionate performance from a Polish-Kiwi mountain siren.
vaudevilleofthevulva.com
senivoda.wix.com/senivoda
Ee’da
Songrise
Ee’da’s work encapsulates diversity. She is a spokenword performance artist, a dancer, an arts educator and a musician. Her sound traverses hip-hop, soul, folk, reggae and electronica, bound together by a unique style resonating with vitality, passion and grace.
Their songs span early choral madrigals to folk, world and popular music, exploring themes of peace, hope, humour, environment and social justice. Songrise give voice to their passion and love of a cappella music, which they also share as leaders of community and school singing groups around Melbourne.
eedamusic.com
facebook.com/SongriseQuartet
Ruby Whiting Ruby is a folk singer/songwriter from the Mornington Peninsula. She uses delicate fingerpicking, open tunings and honest lyrics to tell stories and evoke emotions. soundcloud.com/ruby-whiting
EE’DA
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THE WITCHING HOUR Ritual Space Saturday 8:45pm Be taken on an enchanting journey of mystical landscapes, beating drums and haunting vocals. Join us for this exclusive showcase at Ritual space on Saturday night, including moonlight labyrinth walk.
Kaisha Kaisha are a Middle-Eastern influenced acousticrock band from the hills of Melbourne. An all-female trio with mixed Armenian-Australian heritage, Kaisha are an exceptional union of progressive, shamanic soundscapes, intense acoustic rock and traditional Middle-Eastern rhythms. kaisha.net.au KASHA
Wendy Rule Having recently relocated to the USA, Australian visionary songstress Wendy Rule is making a special trip back to Oz to share the magic of Seven Sisters. Joined on stage by cellist Rachel Samuel, together they create a powerful and otherworldly soundscape of magic, passion and transformation wendyrule.com WENDY RULE
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LUNCH
YOU GOT THE MUSIC IN YOU! Circle Singing Melbourne
BREAK
5 ELEMENT ACTIVATION DANCE Rani Thomas
WELCOME TO COUNTY
OPENING CEREMONY
FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT
GO DISCO
1:00pm
2:00pm
3:30pm
4:00pm
5:30pm
6:30pm
8:30pm
8:30pm
ASANA & OUR INNER GODDESS Nikki Blackwell
PHAT YOGA
9:00am
saturday
7:00am
BASKET WEAVING
Eva Tan
5 TIBETAN RITES
Katherine Cunningham
Kirrilee Heartman & Yia Alias
MOON BLOOD RITUAL
YOGA FOR THE BLISSFUL WOMAN Atira Tan
DON’'T TAKE IT LYING DOWN Dr Kaali Cargill
MENSTRUAL WELLNESS BASICS
THE BOUNTIFUL BOUDOIR Waratah Karleu
SONGS OF SACRED CIRCLE Talulah Gough
sacred space
CRAFTING A SACRED YONI
LUSCIOUS WOOL FELTED ARM CUFFS Soulfelt Threads
Monika & Mishka
EXPRESSIONS OF CUBAN DANCE Tania de Silva
11:30am
Cathy
Arts and Learnings
BASKET WEAVING
GATES OPEN
6:30am
FRIDAY
Bodywise
SACRED SMOKE
THE LEMURIAN TONES Nili Fisch
Danica Lani & Emma Power
TANTRA IS LOVE WOMEN FOR WOMEN
Janoel Liddy & Sally Graff
LOVING WOMAN OVER 40
WHO IS THE GODDESS? Frances Billinghurst
SELF CARE FOR THE NEW MOTHER Gabriela Tudor
circle of stones
DEATH: BIRTH OF THE MOTHER
Grace Darling
YIN YOGA
Moana Pearl
WISDOM OF MATERNAL LINEAGE
Jane HardwickeCollings
SACRED ECOLOGY OF WOMAN
THE MAGIC OF THE LABYRINTH Wendy Rule
UNITE: YEAR OF THE SHEEP Lizzy-Rose
Ritual space
the hub
MESSY KITCHEN PANTRY MAGICK
Prem Kalpa
TIGRESS YOGA
CONCERT
Fiona Edelstein
FROM STRESS TO BLISS
FOOD AS MEDICINE Emma Park
SOUL CIRCLES DRUMMING Djulz Chambers
FESTival program
EMPATHY CIRCLE
CALLIGRAPHY YOGA Simone Dole
Jean Thomas
INTO THE JUNGLE
Jenny Leather
RECLAIM YOOUR POWER
WEALTH MASTERY SECRETS Claire Henry
WHY DO I DO WHAT I DO? Lisa Greenfield
LiFESKILLS
YONILATES PELVIC EMPOWERMENT
WOMEN WHO FLOW WITH WATER Sara Shivani
KEEPING YOUR HORMONES HEALTHY Andrea Strand
YOGA FOR THE VAGINA Tamra Mercieca
FIVE MINUTE MEDITATIONS Pip Coleman
Vitality
YOU GOT THE MUSIC IN YOU!
TAKETINA- RHYTHM FOR EVOLUTION
4:00pm
DANCING EROS
8:30pm
PHAT YOGA
8:30am
EXPRESSIONS OF CUBAN DANCE Tania de Silva
DANCING EROS
1:00pm
3:00pm
4:30pm
LUNCH BREAK
12:00pm
CLOSING CEREMONY
Vanessa Florence
JUNGLE CITY DANCING & AFRO Kitty Cat
10:30am
Lucille Loveday
ASANA & OUR INNER GODDESS Nikki Blackwell
6:30am
sunday
PACIFIC ISLAND SONG & DANCE Nuholani
7:00pm
Vanessa Florence
DINNER BREAK
5:30
Meredith Greenwood & Nina George
BREAK
3:30
Circle Singing Melbourne
LUNCH BREAK
2:00pm
Cathy
GO DISCO
Lucille Loveday
12:30
11:00am
CRAFTING A SACRED YONI Kirrilee Heartman & Yia Alias
ANIMAL GUIDE PAPER SCULPTURE Ursula Dutkiewicz
LUSCIOUS WOOL FELTED ARM CUFFS Soulfelt Threads
INTENTION DOLL SELFIE Lisa Hyde-Mills & Deb Noonan
Eva Tan
TAI CHI
ANIMAL GUIDE PAPER SCULPTURE Ursula Dutkiewicz
LANTERNS OF LOVE Lauren Woodman
INTENTION DOLL SELFIE Lisa Hyde-Mills & Deb Noonan
Monika and Mishka
MOON BLOOD RITUAL Sequoia Kropp
Michelle Buggy
SPRING TIDE
Katherine Cunningham
MENSTRUAL WELLNESS BASICS
THE WISE? THE WILD CRONE! Red Catherine Johns
YOGA FOR THE BLISSFUL WOMAN Atira Tan
DON’'T TAKE IT LYING DOWN Dr Kaali Cargill
Michelle Buggy
SPRING TIDE
THE WISE? THE WILD CRONE! Red Catherine Johns
THE BOUNTIFUL BOUDOIR Waratah Karleu
Sequoia Kropp
Mardi Star Woman
SACRED SMOKE
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS Danella Connors
BENEFITS OF HAVING A DOULA Gabriela Tudor
LOVING WOMAN OVER 40 Janoel Liddy & Sally Graff
THE LEMURIAN TONES Nili Fisch
WHO IS THE GODDESS? Frances Billinghurst
THE LESBIAN SPIRIT Chris Sitka
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS Danella Connors
WHAT IS A WOMENS CIRCLE Mary Soderiou
Mardi Star Woman
WISDOM OF MATERNAL LINEAGE Moana Pearl
Jane Hardwicke Collings
EATING DISORDERS AND BODY IMAGE
MASKS OF THE SACRED FEMININE Kerryanne Ansari
"MOTHER SONG" BIRTHING CHANTS 13 Moons Blood Mysteries
Grace Darling
YIN YOGA
CLEANSE, PROTECT & CUT CORDS Pip Coleman
UNITE: YEAR OF THE SHEEP Lizzy-Rose
THE MAGIC OF THE LABYRINTH Wendy Rule
MASKS OF THE SACRED FEMININE Kerryanne Ansari
Rachel Vines
Ee'da Brahim & Katt Beames
EMBODIED VOICE
MESSY KITCHEN PANTRY MAGICK Felicity Chapman
PLANT-BASED PALEO LIFESTYLE Daniella Hogarth
Anne Huxtable
SOUND HEALING
Prem Kalpa
TIGRESS YOGA
CONCERT
HEART SEX - BY TANTRA IS LOVE Emma Power & Vidya Sofia
DAUGHTERS AND SEXUALITY Janoel Liddy
AUTUMN WOMAN, HARVEST QUEEN Jane HardwickeCollings
Felicity Chapman
MEND YOUR MONEY Liz Mellor
WHY DO I DO WHAT I DO? Lisa Greenfiled
5 KEY ABILITIES FOR LEADERSHIP Tania Morgan
DELVING INTO INTIMACY Elisse
CALLIGRAPHY YOGA Simone Dole
RELEASE YOUR EX ENERGETICALLY Virginia Gross
CREATING SACRED SPACE Samantha Levy
THE GIFTS OF INNER CRITICS Liz Scarfe
RECLAIM YOUR POWER Jenny Leather
Sarah McCure
Nel Da Silva & Felicity Meisel
PLACENTA WHOLING & HEALING
INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER Terri McClure
THE ALCHEMY OF ACUPUNCTURE Jemima Rose
YOGA FOR THE VAGINA Tamra Mercieca
WOMEN WHO FLOW WITH WATER Sara Shivani
Vidya Sofia
LIBIDO BOOSTERS
Jenny Blyth and Stef Arvinitakis
LOVE IT UP
Andrea Strand
KEEPING YOUR HORMONES HEALTHY
FESTIVAL OF FERMENTS Laura PickleThat & Ivy Lane
Laura-Doe
THANK YOU 2016 EARLY TICKET PURCHASE In 2016, the festival will be held again in March with the exact dates still to be confirmed. Super Early Bird Tickets at $200 are available at the information tent for the first 100 women.
THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED IN THE 2015 FESTIVAL. The Seven Sisters Festival team would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the amazing volunteers, performers, presenters, healers, readers, contributors, sponsors and partners who came together to make the third annual festival a success. Without you, this festival would not be possible. A very special thank you to the remarkable women of our core team, whose passion, motivation and love is woven into every fiber of this festival. If you see them please share your gratitude to these inspiring women. (include photos) • Corinne Pettersen – Assistant Director, Event Manager • Mary Soderiou – Presenter/Healer/Reader Manager • Marisa Cartland – Music and Performance Manager • Pip Richardson – Volunteer Manager • Renae Sassmannshausen – Production Manager Thank you to Say Heidi Photography for our Festival and Booklet Photography: sayheidiphotography.com.au And thank you to 46&2 for our program and design: forty6and2.com
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COMING SOON MAP, MENUS & LIST OF ADDITIONAL FESTIVAL FEATURES COMING SOON
2nd Release of Program Due Late January BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW- AS WE WILL SELL OUT!
HERE’S WHY YOU WANT TO JOIN! For three magical days be part of a thriving community of women dedicated to connecting, transforming, and moving from the ordinary to the extraordinary. • Experience Profound Mind-shifts, Heart-felt Connections and Groundbreaking Ideas • Enjoy An Amazing Line Up Of Female Musicians, Artists And Performers • Network And Bond At Such A Deep Level You’ll Discover Your New Best Friend • Connect With Conscious Women In A Luscious, Exquisite Space • Evolve And Open Your Spirit To Take Your Life To New Heights • Get Access To Over 200 Incredible Speakers, Entertainers, Healers And More...
It’s your time to make a difference - you deserve it.
BE PART OF SEVEN SISTERS
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27TH-29TH MARCH 2015 Mt Martha, Mornington Peninsular, VIC