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the shamballah tribal community is growing in south africa, and we are set to grow in leaps and bounds!  we had our first event of the year, 1st may, in cape town at the beautiful and rustic assembly hall of the novalis ubuntu institute.  we danced, meditated, played, and joined together with one heart!

a gorgeous centerpiece and altar created by julia tiffin - we all locked hands and skipped playfully around the altar, before closing the evening with a few centering 'OM's"

yoga instructor annie pearson-adams led us in yoga postures to help us open our hearts!

songstress extraordinaire danelle de vries graced us with her original songs, one of which was written specifically for the event!

then, to follow that up we brought this energy to the garden route and had our first ever event in this area!  it’s so important for us to bring shamballah to the garden route, after all, it’s aptly named Eden, and shamballah is all about going back to our original state of innocence, abundance, peace, beauty, love, passion, and magick!

a colourful altar to hold the energy for our event... ganesh the elephant also wanted to be present, to represent the amazing elephants that live around this area

we served raw corn tortilla chips from corn, flax, and sunflower seeds and fresh salsa pico de gallo, and some crudites with a creamy dip! raw food nourishes the body and soul, so it's the perfect food for shamballah!

there are so many exciting things on the horizon for shamballah tribal community, both in south africa and worldwide!  come join us and experience the amazing shamballah energy that everyone is talking about.   our next events will be in cape 5th june, and in the garden route 19th june!  we hope to see you there!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ep7fwusv90]

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twindragon [aka matek + vanessa nova

The last few months have been pretty crazy and we’ve been busy with some exciting projects, and it’s been a while since we’ve posted something. So here’s a bit about what we’ve been up to:

Early in March, we shared some of our songs at an amazing event in Cape Town, The Prayer of Peace for the Princess, an event in partnership with Dr. Masaru Emoto, Dr. Gudni Gudnason of the Modern Mystery School, The Golden Pyramid of Peace & The Blessing of Lake Biwa.  

It was an honour for us to be among the diverse musicians and performers to participate.  Many different people from varying backgrounds, religions and tribes–including Xhosa, Khoisan, Rastafarian,  Jewish, Sufi, Muslim, Hindu, and Afrikaans–were invited to offer up prayers to bless the water and to bring in the vision and vibration of peace on Earth.  Craig offered up a sincere and heartfelt personal prayer and Vanessa offered up this beautiful prayer by American Poet Laureate Maya Angelou: 

Father, Mother, God,
Thank you for your presence
during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.
Thank you for your presence
during the bright and sunny days,
for then we can share that which we have
with those who have less.
And thank you for your presence
during the Holy Days, for then we are able
to celebrate you and our families
and our friends.
For those who have no voice,
we ask you to speak.
For those who feel unworthy,
we ask you to pour your love out
in waterfalls of tenderness.
For those who live in pain,
we ask you to bathe them
in the river of your healing.
For those who are lonely, we ask
you to keep them company.
For those who are depressed,
we ask you to shower upon them
the light of hope.
Dear Creator, You, the borderless
sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the
world that which we need most—Peace.
 

the raw food world in cape town is ever expanding, much to our delight!  after teaching our 2nd smoothies class with smashing success, we drove off to pinelands to pick up our takeaway pizza made lovingly by natalie reid of earthshine.  she snipped fresh chives from the garden just out the kitchen door onto the artfully scrumptious pizza and tucked it into its cute brown takeaway box and we were off to devour the precious pie at home!

pizza = happiness

edible work of art!

the crust was delightfully crispy and light which was a nice compliment to the richness of the tomatoes and olives.  the fresh and fragrant basil and chives were just the extra magick that filled our mouths with joy!  the cheese was a little on the sweet side but went well to balance all of the other flavours.  well done, natalie!  sign us up for next time!

ok, another trip to kwalapa’s raw food wednesday buffet and we were in heaven!  we’re so glad that raw food is catching on here in cape town.  so above, clockwise from left is mini pizza on essene bread, stuffed mushrooms, crackers with cauliflower pate, massaged cabbage, apple, and fennel salad, and summer veg salad!  yum yum yum…  can’t wait til next time!

craig under kwalapa's gathering tree

we heard from beryn @ superfoods that there is now a raw food buffet lunch in town on wednesdays and thought it would be a perfect date, since we rarely go out to eat these days, due to the lack of anything raw and vegan or remotely alive at local restaurants.  we made our way there today after a lovely and powerful 11/11 meditation.  when we arrived at kwalapa in newlands we were disappointed to find out that due to their launch party there was no buffet today, but we were delighted to be personally invited by patrick, one of kwalapa’s co-founders, to today’s festivities which included food tasting, live music, and talks.

in addition to having a raw food buffet every wednesday created by annie, kwalapa is a wholistic concept in itself, housing an organic wholefoods store and deli centered around organic, local, and seasonal farming and building an eco-conscious community.  we were quite impressed, not only by the food itself, but by the vision and passion with which it was presented.

yum yum nasturtium

though the weather could have been much better for cape town going into summer, we enjoyed sitting outside under beautiful fairy lights and stylish lanterns, under the arms of a giant ancient tree as platters of food were brought around for tasting and guests treated themselves to a number of delights.  we enjoyed a passionate and inspiring talk about the importance of organic farming called “growing happy food” given by liz eglington, who has been running a  magical organic olive farm in the klein karoo since 2001.

stuffed mushies

and despite no raw food buffet today, after “tasting” cucumber rolls, some absolutely divine olives, fresh juices, flax cracker bites, dehydrated stuffed mushrooms, dehydrated apples and pears with nut butter, and raw chocolates (!) we were satisfied and stuffed with raw food by the time we headed home in the rain.

raw chocolate, oh my! yes please!

so we had our raw food buffet date after all!  yay for 11/11 synchroncity.  we were in the right place at the right time, for sure.  and we’ll definitely be back next wednesday for the raw food buffet.

craig:

1. to have lots of energy

2. because it’s delicious!

3. i like being creative with my food

4. i prefer eating food that is as close to its natural state as possible

5. it’s better for the environment

vanessa:

1. i want to eat food that’s alive not dead

2. i want to be healthy and vibrant into old age

3. i love desserts, have a sweet tooth, and sugar is evil

4. i suspect i’m allergic to wheat and dairy, and replacing it with delicious things is the way to go

5. i want to make the conscious choice and eat delicious things at the same time

one of our favorite bands, gothenburg’s little dragon, has a new album in the queue, and we are just loving it!  the cd hasn’t left the car for a week and we’ve been driving around all over cape town from century city, to newlands, to town, to camp’s bay, to seapoint, and back, with the majestic mountain looking down on us, while we blare this album on repeat.  fresh music.  yes!

since craig did peter and beryn’s elements of health course in 2007, he’s been inspired to eat raw vegan but often reverted back to cooked foods.  i decided to go raw around july of this year, and i was making delicious magick in the kitchen when i arrived in cape town with my vita-mix and craig’s dehydrator.  things got a little busy for us and we got lazy. i started craving hot food and cooked grains.  we fell off the wagon a bit, so to speak.

thankfully, we’ve recently been inspired to stick to 100% raw food after going back and forth between raw vegan food and cooked vegan food for the last 2 months.  but with the help of a couple raw food teachers you may or may not know of, we are diving in head first to stay 100% raw.* these are all worth checking out if you find yourself needing a little support, inspiration, or encouragement.

*maybe 99.5% would be more accurate.  certain things like nori aren’t available here raw, that we know of.  we use technically un-raw spices and seasonings (braggs, nutritional yeast, himalayan salt) from time to time, but try to find cold-pressed oils and any other raw ingredients that we can find

boutenko raw family

*victoria boutenko and her documentary “12 steps to raw foods”

i love victoria boutenko, because she sees cooked food as an addiction and gives you a plan for overcoming that addiction and eating raw food instead!  she is one of the early pioneers of raw food and has so many amazing stories to tell from her 15+ years of being raw with her husband, daughter, and son.

karen knowler

*karen knowler and her “7 Simple Secrets to Going & Staying Successfully Raw”

karen has 16 years of experience living raw and is a raw food personal coach.  she presents some very valuable information on 10 different types of eaters and their behavior when making food choices.  her website has tons of free resources and her free tele-seminars are packed with info, tips, and support.  her emphasis on the transformation that the raw food lifestyle affords is truly inspirational.

talifero family

*and “breakthrough” a documentary made by storm talifero, about his beautiful raw vegan family… very DIY, home movie, but with lots of heart and very inspirational.

hope things are delicious and delightful in your world!

cheers,

vanessa + craig