SpiritFire strives to offer daytime workshops and affinity groups while continuing to create an event flow that allows for a variety of experiences without feeling hectic. You’ll start to see our amazing presenters here as they are put into the schedule – stay tuned! We anticipate being able to post initial workshops and presenters in March 2023.
For now, below you can find 2022’s amazing list of presenters to give you some context and a taste of our offerings:
Rob Wandell (You Are A Drummer – Yes, You! PT. 2)
Rob made his first drum in 1986, in the very early days of the hand drum phenomenon in this country. His love for percussion and people grew, and soon he was exploring every aspect of ethnic percussion. Now, he makes and sells drums, teaches, gives seminars, runs drum building workshops, and owns Primal Beat Percussion, a 20+ year old drum company, as well as Imagicka, an eclectic shop in Binghamton , NY.
erin feldman
erin feldman is a writer, soup maker, and student of the changing sky. Among her many hobbies are gathering wildflower seeds from the side of the highway and baking the perfect snickerdoodle (recipes welcome). She’s held some interesting jobs, too: book seller, high school Language Arts teacher, produce seller, backpacking instructor, marketer, business owner. erin lives in a landlocked oasis in Western Ma with her beloved family and lots of books.
Irene Glasse (All Levels Vinyasa Yoga)
Irene Glasse is a Mystic Witch and ERYT-200 based in Western Maryland. She is President of the Frederick Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, organizing and offering Pagan events, rituals, classes and workshops to a large, vibrant community. She is cofounder of Blackfeather Mystery School and coauthor of ‘Blackfeather Mystery School: The Magpie Training.’ Irene also offers readings, healings, pastoral counseling services, magickal and ritual work, guided study, yoga classes and more both in person and remotely through her website, www.GlasseWitchCottage.com
Diane “Cayenne” Johnson (Returning, Resiliency, and Renewal: Our Coming Home to the Fire)
Diane J. Johnson, Ph.D., M.Div. also known as Dr. Di or Cayenne by her fire family members is a cultural weaver, change agent and organizational transformation catalyst. As CEO/Founder of Mmapeu Consulting, a national firm that works at the intersection of spirituality, organizational capacity-building and social justice. Cayenne has worked with more than 12,000 leaders and entities across all sectors including business, faith-based, non-profits and philanthropy. Her current work focuses on collaborating with clients navigating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, conscious capitalism/business for good and impact investing; community building; and international multi-sector initiatives. She credits her paganism and spiritual eclecticism as one of the gateways to doing such impactful social change work. Cayenne has worked with organizations as diverse as Reclaiming Collective, the national offices of Unitarian Universalism Association, the American Sustainable Business Network, W. K Kellogg Foundation and the U.S. National Park Service.
The daughter/mother team of Erica Martenson and Rebecca Young Allen have been facilitating music in community for more than a decade, at the Wisdom School of Sophia, at the Vermont Wilderness School and in community celebrations in their hometown of Montague, MA. Erica has been a part of a song circle that began in the first days of Covid and has continued daily for more than 760 days. In blazing heat and freezing snow, these song lovers gathered outside in our town green and have collated a repertoire of hundreds of varied songs, many of which will be shared in the workshop.
Carl Bridge is a multi-disciplined artist and educator. With early experience in a range of visual art forms, he was drawn to backstage theater and shaping environments where the realms of concept, form, light, color, sound, and language came together to create an immersive experience for the audience. Beyond his work in the Film and FX industry, he embraced opportunities to play with masks and costumes in interactive circumstances. The fire circle helped re-ignite Carl’s passion for rhythm and led to the study of Malinke percussion. Within the circle, a similar potential for immersive experience enticed him, with the spectating audience removed and all those who gathered becoming players within an unfolding story. Carl is happy to be deepening his role at Spitfire in supporting this crucible of experience and connection.