Stella Natura: The Light of Ancestral Fires 2012

It's been nearly five months since Stella Natura and I'm only just now ready to post about it. I think part of the reason that this post has been so late in coming was the dread of knowing that I would need to verbalize the experience somehow.

There isn't a lot that I can add that others haven't already said better (Stefan Raduta--incredible photographer and all-around good dude--comes to mind). Three days spent in the Sierra Nevadas with friends old and new rejuvenated me in ways that I hadn't realized I needed. It was a surreal, wonderful experience (sleeping in the ferns, getting lost in the woods at 2am, the sounds of an all-night Manowar sing-along drifting from a nearby camp). I was blown away by the music, seeing many of the bands live for the first time, the setting transformative.

Music is the main attraction for people, sure, but there seems to be a more vital undercurrent, something much deeper than the appeal of three nights spent in the woods and seeing amazing performances. It moves something inside of me, the same part of my spirit and intellect that is inspired by DIY punk and hardcore at it's best, some sense of people coming together to actualize something greater. 

I think maybe this attempt to build something foundational is part of what Adam Collins-Torruella and his colleagues and collaborators are trying to create here. It was a weird (and I mean this in the best sense of the word) congregation of people from various traditions and interests, and I think it will be incredible to see what is created in the coming years by the common ground and meeting place that Stella Natura is providing. I can hardly wait until this September.

Ash Borer

Blood Axis

Changes

Fell Voices

Menace Ruine

Hail / Sterling Sisters

Waldteufel

Servile Sect

HELL

Wolvserpent

Many thanks the Ash Borer/Servile Sect peeps for being my home base, to Aluk Todolo for sharing a van, and most especially To Adam and his crew. See you next Mabon.