We laughed, we cried, we marveled at the courage found in a beautiful folk tale - we even learned how to tell the difference between black bear and grizzly bear tracks while traveling in Alaska...
 

This evening of music, laughter, story and insight was the first annual EarthWalk benefit concert, Music from Mac's Heart, Mac Lister, long a holder of Grandfather wisdom for our community, came forth to share that wisdom and love in the form of folk songs, spiritual music and an old Russian folk tale about a hero’s journey to find his true love. Mac was joined by several talented members of our community to share a story from “The Maiden King” by Robert Bly and Marion Woodman. The tale is about a young hero who is tricked into missing three meetings with his true love – he must then undergo several adventures in order to be reunited with her. Mac divided the telling of the tale into several threads, which he wove together with musical interludes into a moving rendition of his personal hero’s journey to wholeness. At the end of the tale and during the second half of the evening, Mac was joined by his true love, our own Reverend Lorraine Weber, and together they shared their own special love songs with us all. Throughout the concert we as audience were called upon to add our own voices to the tapestry of the evening, singing songs that reminded some of us – and perhaps taught some of the younger ones – what it can feel like to come together as a community and sing the convictions of our hearts. As for the difference between brown bear and grizzly bear tracks – well, you’ll just have to come to next year’s concert to hear that one…

Mac’s musical love offering was a tremendous success on all levels – musical, emotional, and spiritual, as well as being a great financial success for our community. EarthWalk raised approximately $2000 from the event after expenses – a tribute to the time, dedication and support of Mac, the sponsors and the volunteers who came together to make the evening a special tribute to our community. A great thanks to all – now let’s get ready for next year!

Special Thanks are due to Joy Messick, who was kind enough to allow EarthWalk to be the first organization to hold an event at her wonderful, enchanting and peace-filled new retreat facility.