13th Annual WorldFest (May 18, 2014)

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; WorldFestEvents.com UPDATED

WorldFest: LA's biggest Green, Compassionate-Living, Music Festival

(WFLA) Come spend the day with fellow lovers of Earth. Get inspired while having fun! Woodley Park is next to the Metro line, with easy freeway access, in the San Fernando Valley.
 

Ascetic Siddhartha and Mara's daughters under the Bodhi tree (jeffpartridge.tumblr.com)

 
The festivals of ancient India -- like the massive Rajgir Fest the Buddha's chief disciples attended before setting out to become spiritual seekers wandering in search of truth -- could hardly rival what we have today. And all of Mara's daughters pale in comparison to the cornucopia of Lululemon yoga pants and sheer hippie wear -- none of which distracts from our quest for enlightenment. Our illumination is guaranteed so long as we persevere. Carry on, our wayward sons and daughters. For if "Not everyone who wanders is lost," we grow as we keep touring!

• Worldfest 2014, Woodley Park, Sunday, Lake Balboa
• World Fest Los Angeles 2014 (Facebook)

Gay Pride Festival 2014 (longbeachpride.com), Sunday, May 18th

When in Long Beach, as numerous Cambodian temples celebrate Vesak today, also see the Kwan Yin/Virgin Mary in a shell (seen here at left) Sagely Buddhist monastery, across from the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose, PCH, Long Beach (longbeachmonastery.org)

Aum & Garden's Body, Mind, Spirit Expo

Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; AumAndGarden.com; KPFK.org

Aum & Garden is a retail gathering place in Sherman Oaks, California that celebrates life by offering a variety of products and services for inner and outer sanctuaries. 

Statues for the garden, candles for the home, books for the soul, A&G has much to add beauty to life. Meeting home and garden needs, classes, workshops, and media events in the Valley are all part of a mission to bring the world more peace, joy, and beauty. More

• Aum & Garden, 13363 Ventura Blvd.
• Sherman Oaks, CA 91423, (818) 788-3400

Topanga Earth Day 2014 (April 19-20)

Xochitl, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Moonbeam, TopangaEarthDay.org

Native Americans of coastal Southern California

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Chumash Life (March 2014), SantaYnezChumash

(santaynezchumash.org)

The Tongva lived in Los Angeles foothills and basin, but the coast from Malibu to Paso Robles (SLO County) was the domain of the Chumash. Who were they?

• A look into the life of a modern grape juice-maker: a tribal member who's breaking down barriers for women and for Native Americans.
• Learn about the fight to reclaim land that was home to Chumash ancestors and could be home to the tribe's future generations.
• See spectacular treasures and historical artifacts that will be part of the tribe's museum and cultural center.
• Meet some extraordinary canines who travel the world to save human lives during this profile of one of the tribe's valued community partners: the Search Dog Foundation.

• Obama approved oil drilling in Alaska: No protests, only Native Americans notice (Investigator Greg Palast)
• "We're all some kind of Native now" (Greg Palast)
• Overturn McCutcheon (Public Citizen)

Inter Tribal Powwows

Buddhism among Pueblo Indians

This weekend, April 12-13, was the 16th Annual Chumash Day Powwow and Inter Tribal Gathering in Malibu at Malibu Bluffs Park, 24250 Pacific Coast Highway. All drums and dancers were welcomed with Head Gourd Saginaw Grant, MC Bobby Whitebird, Arena Director Victor Chavez, Northern Host Drum Blue Star, Southern Host Drum Big Medicine, Head Man Dennis Garcia, Head Woman Sarita McGowana. Powwows continue in other cities. 

The earliest Native Americans were Buddhists from the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China, seen here in Mahavairocana purifying ritual 2014 (Ven. Janyang Zangpo/flickr.com)

  

Powwow (UCDavis.edu)

Next weekend, April 19-20, is the 4th Annual Cal State University Dominguez Hills Pow Wow honoring the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas (11am-8pm) with Spiritual Laeader: Jimi Castillo (Tongva/Acjachemen), Head Gourd Dancer: Earl Steen (Muscogee Creek), Master of Ceremonies: John Dawson (San Carlos Apache), Arena Director: Victor Chavez (Dine), Host Southern Drum: Sooner Nation, Host Northern Drum: Changing Spirits. All Drums and Dancers welcome! SEE VIDEOS. Open to the public, FREE admission (parking $4 on Saturday, free on Sunday). Location: Cal State University Dominguez Hills Sculpture Garden, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson, California 90807, Steve Rosales (Yaqui/Cora-Huichol) 310.872.7515. More
 

Behind Malibu Beach is a forested canyon (Santa Monica Mountains) that opens into the SF Valley at Topanga, which hosts Earth Day 2014. Come "Back to the Garden" 10am-sunset.

The Herb Walk, Bee Canyon, California

Wm. Broen (FYH), Xochitl, Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Herbalist Broen distributes Follow Your Heart water and trail mix (Wisdom Quarterly)

Beware of toxic fires! (WQ)

For the Japanese Mahayana version of the Buddha's birthday -- which we traditionally celebrate as the three-times-blessed day of VESAK on the full moon day in May (5/14/14) -- we went out on the Follow Your Heart HERB WALK with Herb Pharm herbalist William Broen into Bee Canyon in the Santa Susana Mountains.

The turn out was overwhelming, and it slowed the walk with repeated safety warnings. All we wanted to do was touch everything, nibble, and find artesian springs bubbling up after the recent rains on the drought tolerant chaparral. 

The crowd was large as we set off (WQ)

The lore was fascinating, the Sun was spectacular, the breeze was unexpected, and there was even a Native flute interlude under a coastal live oak as one participant took out elderberry branch instruments and entertained us. A kind garter snake dashed by, we were told never to touch Moon flower (datura, Jimson weed), and we planned our hike for the following day.

City denizens enter the wild (WQ)

• Medicinal Plant Herb Walks
• VIDEO: Science: Plants talk to each other
• The Real History of St. Patrick's Day
• Buddhist Dream Interpretation
• Buddhist JOKES! Do Dalai Lamas laugh?
• Buddhist Christmas: Xmas in Japan

Know Your GMO interactive board (pinterest.com/followyrheart/good-to-know)

Native American Herb Walks (April 5, 2014)

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Moonbeam (FollowYourHeart.com)

Bee harmlessly collects nectar and sunflower pollen under an approving Surya (S-K)

The Heart Center, (818) 348-3240

Follow Your Heart (FYH) and Wisdom Quarterly invite everyone to join in a very fun, beautiful, and informative Herb Walk through Bee Canyon.
 
Our guide William Broen will identify and talk about medicinal and edible plants of California. Broen will focus particularly on the traditional Native American and modern uses of 2-30 different native and introduced plants including: elderberry, mugwort, yerba santa, milk thistle, nettles, black sage, and many more. Our guide will also discuss folklore and legends associated with many of the plants. The three-hour walks will be on easy trails well suited for people of all levels of hiking experience.

• FREE, Saturday, April 5, 2014
• 11:00 am-2:00 pm + 3:00-6:00 pm
• O'Melveny Park, Granada Hills

Wear comfortable shoes, dress in layers, bring hat and sunglasses and sunscreen. Water and trail mix will be provided by FYH.

 

O'Melveny Park: Bee Canyon (AllTrails.com), O'Melveny (Yelp reviews), O'Melveny (LAMountains.com), O'Melveny (LA Trails), O Melveny Park (LA Times), Lookout Loop (Nobody Hikes in L.A.)

 

Sacred lands

Follow Your Heart on Pinterest, Facebook

Indigenous Tongva (Los Angeles) and Chumash (Malibu) and Tataviam (NW LA/Ventura) and Acagchemem (Orange County) peoples were lovers of Nature, lovers of flowers, lovers of herbs and herbal cures. Plants cure what ails human beings and other earthlings. But with the loss of Native languages, lineages, the lore, plant knowledge is disappearing only to be revived by Americans passionate about what was lost/displaced when we overran the original inhabitants' subsisting on their native lands.

DIRECTIONS: From Follow Your Heart [21825 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA 91303, (818) 348-3240] take Topanga Canyon Bl. north to Hwy 118 East. Exit Balboa going north for about two miles to Sesnon Ave. (just past Crozco). Go left on Sesnon and drive about 1/4 mile until reaching the O'Melveny Park parking lot on the right side of street. Group will meet at the far end of the lot at 11:00 am and again at 3:00 pm sharp.

WILLIAM BROEN attended Pacific School of Herbal Medicine in Oakland, CA. He works as an educator for Herb Pharm (Herbal Healthcare Products), a company which produces high quality organic and wild herbal supplements sold at FYH. He is also the Herbal Expert at FYH, working Fridays from 4:00-9:00 pm.

St. Patrick's Day celebration, SoCal

Seth Auberon and Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Moonbeam, FollowYourHeart.com

I'll destroy the pagans and make sure snakes do not return with their nature worship! (CP)

Flowery bhumi-deva Pagan ceremony, Avebury (Solar/Shahmai Network/shahmai.org)

   

It might be better to be in Amherst, Mass.

CANOGA PARK, California - Deep in "The Valley," the world-famous stretch of suburban flatlands that end only as the sea and mountains and desert get to be too much, there is an interesting old park. Well, it's less grassy "park" than asphalt town: Canoga Park held its St. Paddy's Day party with a parade that began at the Madrid Theatre on Sherman Way with a sidewalk march. There were stilt walkers, bag pipers, the sanctified patriarch himself, and friends all over Old Town Canoga Park. It culminated in a lot on Owensmouth with live Irish music from Jerry McLean and tales by True Thomas the Irish Storyteller. (CanogaParkCal.com)

Follow Your Heart!

For health, longevity, spirituality, love, and herbal cures, FYH has it all at (818) 348-3240.

  

Yoga unites body, mind, and breath (spiritus).

The jewel of the city, however, what puts it on the map and makes it worth visiting, is an awesome institution called Follow Your Heart (FYH)! It's a health food store, a vegetarian restaurant, a health center with free seminars and group meditation, a yoga studio, a product brand, a hippie haven, a hangout bar none near the California communes of Topanga in the wooded hills above and behind Santa Monica and Malibu beaches. More

• So Bohemian: Topanga: Malibu's hippie cousin? (CNN)
• VISIT: 21825 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA 91303
• The Real History of St. Patrick's Day
• St. Patrick's Day: 5 places to find a bit of blarney

Feed the needy: Food Not Bombs (volunteer)

Pat Macpherson, Irma Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; FoodNotBombs.net

WANTED: Looking for enthusiastic and committed new members for the Reseda Chapter of Food Not Bombs. Help is particularly needed from those willing to drive and/or those with transportation to carry goods.

Willing to cook and prepare healthy food using goods provided? All help is welcome!

We provide fresh produce and vegan food FREE for the community. If interested, please contact us via Craigslist email. We appreciate all volunteers! We are active only on Sunday afternoons. For more information about the organization, visit FoodNotBombs.net.

No Satanic sex killers, please. Unless you have a van with the windows blacked out...or other transportation. No, no, not even if you have transportation. Thanks!