The Women’s Visionary Congress 2007

The Women’s Entheogen Fund will hold a conference next summer to raise money for continuing grants to women who spend a significant portion of their professional lives researching psychoactive plants and chemicals.

The “Women’s Visionary Congress: Consciousness, Wisdom and Social Justice,” will be held at Wilbur Hot Springs on the weekend of July 27, 2007.

Co-sponsored by the Sibyl Society and MAPS, the event will feature approximately twenty female speakers and will be open to women and men. A few of the confirmed speakers so far include Carolyn (Mountain Girl) Garcia, Kathleen Harrison, and Steph Scherer, founder and executive director of Americans for Safe Access (ASA).

Two hundred tickets to the WV Congress will go on sale in early 2007 and will range in price from $200 to $300 dollars. Tickets will include the cost of camping or lodging, food, and the conference itself. A scholarship fund is being created to assist women who cannot afford the full ticket price.

The Congress will feature women who work with entheogens, medical marijuana and harm reduction. Presentations will focus on the unique approaches that women use in their entheogenic investigations and in their efforts to secure social justice for medical cannabis patients and other drug-using populations.

Women who apply progressive harm reduction techniques and those whose art is inspired by entheogens will speak as well. During the conference, we will also take time to consider women’s perspectives on planetary survival, global warming, and population issues. A particular emphasis will be placed on honoring older women and the wisdom they have acquired.

Unlike the US Congress, the WV Congress will offer both visionary speakers and an environment responsive to women’s needs. The event will offer healthy, well-prepared food, on-site childcare, and daily yoga classes.

In addition to a pool and four hot soaking baths, Wilbur Hot Springs includes a comfortable turn-of-the-century solar-powered hotel that sleeps 60 and a large meadow for camping. It sits on exquisite land in the Coastal Range foothills of Colusa County, California, 22 miles west of the town of Williams and two and a half hours northeast of San Francisco. You can check out their web site at www.wilburhotsprings.com

Those wishing to volunteer to organize and/or help at the WV Congress are welcome to contact Annie Harrison at ah@well.com or 415-637-5262. A web site and list of speakers for the event will be posted in early 2007. Save the date and come join us for a healing soak and a series of conversations with visionary women. •

Julia Onnie-Hay has moved forward from working with the
MAPS Membership & Sales Office to pursue higher education and
adventure. She wants to express love and gratitude to all those
working for the healing of our selves, communities, and world.
A full statement from Julia, “Moving Forward: Adventuring
Towards the Vision,” is posted at www.maps.org/julia.html