About the Festival of the Animals

Every year since 1990 the IIVR has held a Festival of The Animals. It is a gathering of the community to celebrate the work of the Personal Totem Pole Process®. It is a time to meet old friends and to make new ones; a time to try new workshops; to laugh, grow and to have fun.

The event can be as short as three days or as long as a week. Workshops, usually 3 hours in length, take place both morning and afternoon. All the workshops have some element of deep imagery involved. The morning workshops tend to be mainly a time to journey while afternoon workshops can often have a combination of Imagery and crafts.

The workshops are offered voluntarily by participants of the Festival and you will find workshops offered by very experienced Workshop Leaders and by newcomers, trying out a new workshop or idea. It is a chance to explore new topics, offer new workshops, test skills or simply return to old and successful workshops that mean a lot to attendees.

As a means of support for people attending, usually during the Opening Ceremony, every one journeys to find their animal of the festival. These animals usually can group together in loosely similar groupings, like the “Earth Animals”, “Sea Animals”, “Large Animals”, “Winged Animals”.These form the basis of our clans for the length of the Festival. The clans meet each day and the members support each other as they need for the length of the Festival.

On the last or second last night of the Festival of the Animals, the community gathers for an evening of expression. This is a time for fun and celebration as clans and individuals gather and offer an expression of their Festival experience.

Past Festivals

1990 Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
1991 Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
1992 Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA
1993 Roscommon, Ireland
1994 Phoenicia, New York, USA
1995 El Rito, New Mexico, USA
1996 Switzerland
1997 Phoenicia, New York, USA
1998 Corrymeela, Northern Ireland
1999 Germany
2000 Vadito, New Mexico, USA.
2001 Germany
2002 Numimba Valley, Queensland, Australia.
2003 Santa Rosa, California, USA
2004 Traunstein, Austria.
2005 Germany
2006 Villa Bacio, Tuscany, Italy
2007 PEEC, PA, USA
2008 Villa Bacio, Tuscany, Italy
2009 Mormon Lake Lodge, Arizona, USA