Last summer I had the opportunity to discover a remarkably inspiring and consciousness-shifting cultural phenomenon that has been evolving for more than 15 years yet has remained predominantly "below the radar" of mainstream awareness: the transformational summer festivals movement.

As writer, DJ, and speaker Jeet Kei Leung says during an engaging and dynamic TED talk about transformational festival culture (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8tDpQp6m0A), these transformational festivals are “convergence points for many forms of cutting-edge content. They are playing a significant role in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” and this has a palpable ripple effect into society at large.

With participant-driven art, ceremony, healing spaces, music circles, and a wide variety of forms of creative and spiritual expression, transformational festivals invite us to “come together and inspire and empower each other to be our best selves, our brightest selves, to find our place in value within a community, to step into our leadership and our mastery and to start to create real change” (Jamaica Stevens, producer of Tribal Convergence; www.tribalconvergence.com).

Festivals such as Beloved Sacred Art and Music Festival, which I found to be exceptionally remarkable, boast more than 30 different cutting-edge empowerment workshops as creative and varied as Ecstatic Life in Dark Times, Classic Raga Singing of Sufi Pakistan, New Relationships/New World, and Daoist Full-Moon Qi Gong Ritual.

I spoke with Elliot Rasenick, the producer of Beloved, and he told me that he was inspired to create the festival by asking himself, “What am I saying yes to?” From that place of consciousness, Beloved was born.

Live visionary art painting, prayerformances, spiritual workshops, nature mandalas and mini temples all around, combined with the late-night tribal ecstatic dance to sacred, prayerful music, made Beloved Festival an incredibly magical and uplifting experience.

At festivals such as these, thought leaders, change agents, and evolutionaries can come together to revitalize their spirits and fill their cups. Additionally, with Beloved Festival staff and volunteers living together during the month the festival is held, exploring their edges, and seeding new systems for being together sustainably and harmoniously in community, measurable positive outcomes are being generated that can then be brought back into the communities these leaders are a part of.

I was particularly struck by quotes from festival participants, speaking to the profound places that these experiences were able to touch and transform in their personal process: “We went deep! Many of us are now calling it a “work,” much like an annual ritual or ceremony where we drop away what we do not need and invite in what has been knocking on the door all along.”

Phil Lindsey, founder of Mystic Garden Gathering, shared the following insights with me: “I deeply resonate with the Dalai Lama’s interview in Ode Magazine where he says that what the world needs at the moment is more emphasis on friendship, community building, and gathering together for festivals. Through holding space for Mystic Garden Gathering, we are casting the net far and wide for resonant people to come plant their seeds and play in this safe, heart-centered garden where we can really drop our armor and bloom into more of our truest selves in an energy field which is infused with intention and the expansive exuberance of collective awakening. Festivals like Mystic showcase some of the highest-level emergent spiritual and holistic-wellness offerings, art, and workshops from our evolutionary West Coast culture, and many of these teachers and workshop leaders serve as significant role models and mentors for the next generation of cultural-creatives.”

I was inspired by how vibrant and dynamic so many of the people who flock to these festivals are, and by how much coactivation takes place when they converge to exchange inspiration, teachings, spiritual practices, healing, arts, and music.</p>

Councils of elders and wisdom holders are often held, sharing prayers and visions for ways of being in community and being in connection with the land that merge our new reality with ancient wisdom, and that create a bright legacy to pass on to our children. The idea is not that one festival organizer or spiritual teacher has the solution, but that we can come together and find the solutions collectively.

Another potent aspect of these events is that emergent fusions of healing arts, both new and ancient, are synergistically joining together, and as Kei Leung notes and I have also personally experienced, these healing containers “support spontaneous episodes of healing catharsis” and clearing out unexpressed emotional trauma that is often bottled up in our mainstream society. In these supportive and resonant energy fields, we realize that it is safe to let our guard down and speak and act from our hearts. These gatherings create a safe testing ground in which to explore the co-creation of a new reality and new ways of being with one another.

These festivals are often timed in harmony with the moon cycles and seek to bring participants back into greater harmony with the earth’s rhythms.

Ancient tribal rituals such as shamanic trance dance, vocal toning and sounding circles, and full moon ceremonies are rediscovered, catalyzing many vitalizing experiences of personal metamorphosis that are a deeply welcomed contrast to our fast-paced, high-tech daily culture.

As Kei Leung fittingly sums up: “These temporary autonomous zones [allow us to] escape for a moment from the hierarchies and agendas embedded into the very material of our mainstream consensus reality, and we are freed to co-create and share the momentary realization of the liberated world we would wish to live in.”

A tremendous number of uplifting and activating transformational festivals are being offered this year and this list is just a small taste of what’s on the menu for 2012. Here are my picks for several of the the top transformational summer festivals this summer, in chronological order by date:

 * Mystic Garden Gathering: "This activating gathering of the tribes features some of the highest-level emergent spiritual and holistic-wellness offerings, top musical acts, visionary art, yoga, and workshops from our evolutionary West Coast culture." July 18-23, Lake Selmac, Oregon, www.mysticgardengathering.com.
 * Wanderlust Festival: "One-of-a-kind festival bringing together the world's best yoga and wellness teachers and top musical acts and DJs, in a setting of breathtaking natural beauty." July 26-29, North Lake Tahoe, California, www.wanderlustfestival.com.
 * Gaia Festival: "Dedicated to serve a growing community of conscious people who are seeking sustainable ways to negotiate the emerging paradigm." August 3-5, Laytonville, California, www.thegaiafestival.com.
 * Beloved Sacred Art and Music Festival: "Open Air Sacred Art and Music Festival: A sneak-peek of the new paradigm." August 10-13, Tidewater Falls, Oregon, www.belovedfestival.com.
 * Tribal Vision: "A gathering of music, ceremony, prayer, and dance." August 17-19, Taos, New Mexico, www.tribalvisionfestival.com.
 * Water Woman Festival: "International gathering of the tribes to honor the creative force of the feminine, activate a hub of light and awareness, and join hands in consciousness, sustainability, beauty, and celebration." August 30-September 2, Vilcabamba, Ecuador, www.waterwomanecuador.com.