Complaint Review: Raw Spirit Festival - Prescott Arizona
- Raw Spirit Festival 4395 Lake Fork Ln Prescott, Arizona United States of America
- Phone: 928-7761497
- Web:
- Category: Festivals & Event Services
Raw Spirit Festival: SCAM ALERT Founder taking in a 6-figure income from a struggling non-profit! Prescott Arizona
*UPDATE EX-employee responds: really Happy?
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 4
*Consumer Comment: Happy Oasis suffers from dementia
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 3 of 4
*Consumer Comment: HAHA
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 2 of 4
*Consumer Comment: NO MORE HAPPY!
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 1
*General Comment: RSF IS A JOKE
*UPDATE EX-employee responds: It's true. Raw Spirit Fest is a CON
*REBUTTAL Individual responds: More revealing bio background about Happy oasis
*Consumer Comment: I Have Known Happy Oasis Well For 20 Years
*Consumer Comment: Raw Spirit Rebuttal
*Consumer Comment: Raw Spirit Rebuttal
*General Comment: Rebuttal to "Scam Alert" re: Raw Spirit Festival
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Here is a report compiled by the last Vice President of the organization!
RAW SPIRIT FESTIVAL COMMUNITY REPORT:
(Compiled by community emails, previous staff, and presented by the former VP)
Disclaimer* For legal purposes, every sentence you are about to read is a matter of personal opinion, and it is my constitutional right to be able to express it.
Date: 10/24/2008
Organization: Raw Spirit Festival
Status: Non Profit
Purpose: To research and inform the community on the use of public funds.
Greetings to the Raw Community,
I want to thank you for the 100's of you who have voiced your concerns about the organization and its status. I also thank you for respecting the level of details that I'm allowed to disclose. Now, I have been swamped with e-mails from people who have had less than desirable dealings with Raw Spirit festival and primarily with Happy Oasis the Festival founder. Many of the e-mails came from past members of the board, independent contractors, vendors and presenters who worked closely with Ms Oasis.
It has been the general theme that individuals became involved with the Festival because they believe in this Raw Movement. There is a consistent desire to see the Festival succeed. It was primarily the way in which they were treated by Ms Oasis that they are no longer involved. Because this is a non-profit/public 501c3 organization, many have considered going public with the information regarding Ms Oasis, but they did not want to harm the movement. I had heard some of these comments prior to accepting my position on the board of directors and was optimistic that my involvement could have a positive influence. It is still my hope to have this be positive. The momentum of our entire movement could be shifted unless we become proactive as a compassionate family and work together to elevate the integrity level of the Festival which represents our collective intention. Do you want to turn on "60 Minutes" to watch this information come forth to cast dispersions upon all of our efforts? We could end up looking like the 700 Club or a cult taking advantage of the uninformed public. I will attempt to unbiasedly present the information and to allow you to make your own decisions:
Happy would like to paint an image of me as a 'disgruntled employee', but this argument fails to work because it doesn't explain her past-employee track record of dozens of people quitting and stating her as the reason for their departure. For the record, I am very grateful to Ms. Oasis and feel the festival is an amazing concept! I am no longer involved with the festival and I'm currently shooting a pilot for the Travel Channel. Me doing this only inconveniences my life, and I have nothing to personally gain from it, except that I made a promise to serve this community and I will continue to do so. Please note that this isn't 'gossiping', 'rumoring', or 'negativity', as some would like to imply. This is the former Vice President of the organization stating a claim that is backed up by the previous Vice President. If two Vice Presidents and dozens of staff members and 100's of members of our community are all saying the same thing, there must be some truth behind it and of course it exceeds any 'personal revenge from a disgruntled employee' that they would like to project onto you. I am sacrificing my reputation, my time, and energy to speak out against the injustices that I see and which are preventing this Festival from becoming the truly empowering event it could become! I can't just stand on the sidelines and allow this misuse of power to continue, because it has and will continue to stunt this movement.
I have deeply meditated on the issues and the answers, and just know that I am coming from the most ego-less place that I can possibly come from, but still have to get out what must be said.
We are a conscious caring community and that's the ONLY reason why Happy has even lasted this long. If this was ANY other business or ANY other organization, she would be held responsible for her actions; But because this is a conscious and compassionate, business, we allow her to walk over everybody as we try to 'hold space' for her. But enough is enough. I chose to serve on this board, because 1000's of people are trusting us with their money. It is up to us to use these public funds to make this organization run the best possible way. I don't feel that one person taking in a very large income while insisting that general volunteers are worth only $10/hour is the best action for a struggling non-profit. The greed of one person can destroy an organization and movement that's just getting off the ground.
The Raw Spirit by-laws call for a 5 member board. Following the Festival this year, 2 members of the board were voted off by the remaining 3.( A similar situation occurred after the Festival in 2007). The reasons given for these actions by the board, was that these 2 members had ongoing disagreements with the way Ms Oasis managed the Festival and it was disruptive. The remaining 3 members earn money as a result of their involvement with the festival.
Much of our board time this year was spent trying to clear up prior conflict of interest issues as well as co mingling and misappropriation of funds issues. It was my intention to work this year to completely resolve these matters and to insure that they did not happen again in the future. I have been contacted by Ms Oasis advising me that she would sue me for liable if I disclosed any of these issues. The truth is that if there was nothing to hide, a non-profit should make public of where there funds went and not be threatening law suits if the truth is revealed. So for the purposes of this letter, I will present only that which is public information and most will be included on forms required to be filed with the State of Arizona and the IRS each year:
In 2006, Ms Oasis filed Raw Spirit festival as a non-profit in the State of AZ,. As director, she also filed form 1023 with the IRS to earn 501c3 status, so that the Festival could begin to accept tax deductible donations and grant money. In that document, she stated that total compensation for officers, directors and trustees would be $35,000 ($25,000 was listed as her personal compensation) in 2007, 45,000 in 2008 and 50,000 in 2009. Immediately after receiving approval from the IRS, the then 3 member board met for the first time and the only agenda item was to give each other a raise. Happy herself was placed at an annual salary exceeding the total not only for 2007, but the following 2 years as projected as well! She also wanted the salary to be retroactive to the beginning of 2007! In addition she began charging the festival $8400 for office rent which was not mentioned, as required, in form 1023. She also earned rent from the independent contractors who lived in her home and sacrificed their lives for the festival. In summary, Raw Spirit became very lucrative for Ms Oasis, despite her saying publicly to anyone who would listen that the festival lost money and she needed more donations and support from the community so the Festival could continue.
Many items including saunas, ozone machines etc were purchased by the festival for Ms Oasis's home, she claimed that she did not know anything about business and that the people she bought them from advised her that it was legal to do so. Ignorance is not a defense when dealing with legal issues. There were hundreds of hours wasted by staff to try to separate out this co mingling of funds, and neither I nor the then Treasurer were satisfied that this was properly and completely addressed. Yet all of these discussions resulted in aggressive attacks on myself and anyone who disagreed with her. I decided to focus on the Festival and to deal with these items after the event. The final weeks before the festival, Ms Oasis convinced the board to advance her over $8,000 from the Festival funds. Although I won't tell you where these funds went, I AM allowed to invite you to visit her home and check out her newly-installed swimming pool. On a side note, anyone who takes in over a $100,000 in one year should be running a FOR-Profit. Back to the topic at hand.
This placed a strain on an already tight financial situation and immediately thereafter Ms Oasis implemented a no refund policy for vendors or attendees for any reason. Many disgruntled vendors and participants who paid over $500 lost their money, and the festival 'double-dipped' and sold these already-purchased vendor spots to 2sometimes 3 people, without offering a refund. People lost $1000's of dollars. There were certain people who couldn't make it because they were sick and they were begging for refunds to be able to pay their medical conditions. I would think a festival of ours would at least have a heart for certain situations. I've never seen such a military-strict practice of taking and keeping people's money as Happy has practiced.
I do not wish to diminish all the good work of the hundreds of volunteers and independent contractors who helped bring this festival into reality. I do feel you have a right to know the truth about the behind the scenes activity of the leader of this non-profit organization. I do feel it would be appropriate for Ms Oasis to step down from her involvement with the festival so that it can continue to support this community in integrity. Many former contractors and board members will verify my statements as long as they do not have to worry about being personally attacked by Ms Oasis.
Please keep in mind that this festival is owned by the PEOPLE of the state. NOT by Happy. Happy herself has claimed that she wishes this was a 'For Profit.', so she can eventually start making a quarter million a year. When our last Vice President was in position, Happy actually tried to justify it by saying, "It's spiritually not right to call it a Non-Profit, because 'non' means lack of." This was her attempt to try to make even more money then she's collected. I don't feel that she has the non-profit spirit, but instead is driven by financial gain and egotistical power. Now what kind of Non-profit CEO would REGRET the fact that it's a non-profit!? Are you doing this for the community or not?
Now, she even admits it herself, that she doesn't have any work-related skills. She treats her employees like they're slaves, making them pay her bills, make her juice, vacuum her room, do her dishes, and go way out of their contractual job duties to try to keep her Happy. Jayasri & Chaitanya, who handled vendors and volunteers, were originally bought on to be Gardeners and got forced into their overwhelming positions. After a year of slave work, they decided to leave Happy's home just one week before the festival and were forced to sleep in their cars throughout the entire week leading up to the festival. They described feeling like 'dogs' when working for Ms. Oasis. Happy insisted that our workers, who were making just $10/hr PAY to get into the festival. I've also never heard of a festival that charges $200 for people to VOLUNTEER. I've never heard of an eco-friendly festival that's held on chemically-sprayed grass. Happy doesn't even believe in recycling, nor does she practice it.
I understand many of you have had amazing kind conversations with Ms. Oasis. I'll just say that there are certain people who have mastered our language and characteristics, but have different motives. Did you know in the raw spirit contract it actually states You are not allowed to speak about lizard-people. I read that and then I saw how Happy borrowed $550 from an employee to purchase a pendant that repels aliens' off of Ebay. scratches head-.You can read that story off of a blog from another past employee here: http://rawtraveling.blogspot.com/2008/01/plan-q.html
Please don't allow these momentary encounters to allow you to pass positive judgment on somebody. That is just as judgmental as casting a negative opinion on somebody based on a few minutes of interaction. Everyone should be held accountable for their actions.
My intention isn't to destroy her, or the festival, or to 'take over' the festival. Perhaps after a year off, she can come back and assist with marketing.
And if you think that this is just ME who has these thoughts, I challenge all of you to ask EVERY single person who has worked for this festival in the past and no longer works for the festival, what they think of Happy.
(Happy has bad-mouthed every single person you can think of. She's spoken negatively about almost every single main stage presenter including David Wolfe, Dr. Doug Graham, Gabriel Cousens, Matt Monarch, her entire staff, and many more.)
The bottom line is that these people didn't leave because they were BAD people. They came to this festival and dedicated their entire lives to the festival because they LOVED the cause. But once anybody gets to know Happy, and her true character, they become disgusted at her intentions and the way she treats people.
Just look at the last few months
Kim Left because of the unprofessionalism
Tonya Stormed out within a couple of weeks because she was completely offended when she heard Happy speak about everybody, including all the staff and main presenters, behind their backs. The police had to show up twice because their argument got that intense.
Frank , Our Former Vice President - Many of you might not know his story, but if it wasn't for his behind the scenes legal work, there would be no festival. He's the main reason why the festival grew like it did and stayed on the legal route. Definitely an unsung hero. He left because of unethical business practices and verbal abuse from Happy Oasis.
Susanne Left because of questionable business practices
Noelle Left
Diane Left
Sharon- Left
Aeon He would back everything I'm saying in this email. He has experienced things you wouldn't imagine working for this festival. And when I hear her constantly badmouth him, it truly breaks my heart to see good people become used.
Laura Fox Did an amazing job, clashed with Ms. Oasis on many topics, and then left
Dan Left because of how he was being treated. Thank God he came on board to help with parking again this year.
Claire Left because of how she was being treated. She claimed she was an energetic slave to Happy and that Happy didn't care about anyone but herself.
BethAnn & Sashi: Both wanted to work as much as possible, but they both couldn't stand how disrespectful she was towards them. They left in absolute disbelief that this self-imposed 'guru' was really this verbally vicious character.
The list goes on and on and on..
If you ask EVERY previous staff member if they would vote Happy on or off, you'd likely get a 99% result to vote her off.
Now the following sentences are hard for me to repeat because of how delusional they are, but these are just some of the racist, sexist, and prejudice statements that have came out of Ms. Oasis's mouth. And I will stand under oath in court and under the honesty and integrity of the karmic world that this is all true. Hollywood couldn't script some of these lines
This might come as a shock from the public image we have of Happy, but these are just SOME of the sentences that have came out of Ms. Oasis's mouth (to dozens of staff members)
"I am a guru who's worshipped all around the world"
"All men find me attractive. It must be the blond hair."
"This is MY festival. Happy = The Festival.The festival = Happy. Got it?"
"I don't like their name. You can tell they're not raw fooders because of their name"
"Noelle is emotionally imbalanced likely due to deep personal life long psychological patterns, and this pre-disposition is heightened by too much fruit.:"
"Laura Fox is trying to take over my festival"
"Frank is trying to take over my festival"
"Apollo is trying to take over my festival"
"He looks unhealthy. You can just tell"
"Photoshop that mole off his face before you put him on the website"
"Look at their face. You can tell they don't eat raw foods"
"Only put the good-looking people on the flier"
"Jewish people are very vindictive"
"Jewish people are very cheap and s****."
"Someone came up to me and said 'Wudup ((((REDACTED FOUL LANGUAGE))).' And I was shocked! He then explained to me that now a days it means 'friend', so I told him, "Ok, I guess I AM your ((((REDACTED FOUL LANGUAGE)))' (coming from a hiphop background, this offended me the most, but I know it's pure ignorance on her part. Just watch Happy at the end of the Heather Salmon video, when she stereotyped the entire community by giving her a 'gangster hug'. Happy even asked to bring more black people to the festival so it seems more 'diverse.')
Shocked? Me too.
But there is even more
"We can't put Mohammad on the site. It sounds like a terrorist.. Can we just use his last name instead?"
"We need ALL volunteers to send their photos before they're hired, because we can't hire a blind person to do the parking"
(yes, I scratched my head at that one too.)
"Aya is my puppet. He'll do whatever I say"
"Aeon is a drug-addict convinct"
"Frank is a secret government spy trying to kill me"
"If the festival ever gets shut down or taken from me, I'm just going to take all the money, change my name and move to another country"
"I'm taking all the money and leaving"
"One day, I'm just going to disappear and not tell anyone where I'm at"
"Doug Graham can NOT come no matter what. He's extremely dangerous."
"Apollo. You shouldn't even be working for this festival. You're not even 100% raw'
(Now I normally wouldn't include that line, but first, we shouldn't judge people based on their diets. It just disgusts me how she judges people for not being 100% raw, when she herself isn't even raw.Or a veganOr even a VEGETARIAN for that matter. YES. Her entire diet is a 'front'. Not only does she eat fish regularly, but when came back from Mexico with a prior staff member, she was caught talking about how she had a beer and a beef burrito in Los Olganes. She claimed that she does it to "keep in touch with the 'regular unenlightened people'Please! On top of that, she has people who secretly-shop for her and sneak food to the patio door of her house. It makes me sad to think about the level of judgment she must receive that she has to sneak her food in and has to pretend that she's a raw vegan when she's not even a vegetarian!)
Is this the person who should be in charge of the festival? Is this the person that you trust is running the festival with the highest intention?? She's judged people, criticized people, and has disrespected everyone who's given their lives to help HER vision. I feel that she is an EXTREMELY high risk to this organization and this movement.
All of this might lead to a civil lawsuit against her as well.
Ms. Oasis has also been accused by prior staff of using public funds for mock personal trips around the country.
As long as she's the president of the festival, it will always be run the same way. It's not because we don't have the sources to organize it, but because she won't allow that to be done.
Ms. Oasis was also told by her psychologist that she's schizophrenic. The entire last staff actually tried to submit her to a MENTAL CLINIC!! (She even tells people about this story. I don't know about you, but if my entire staff was trying to get me submitted to a mental clinic, I wouldn't go around sharing that).
Do you think it's a coincidence that all these people have all tried to remove her from this position? Her stubbornness and power-trip that she's on is extremely dangerous to the future of this festival.
Somebody has to be strong and stand up against this dictatorship and free the festival back into the raw community. The community in which we are of service to. The community which has thousands of people spending up to a $1,000 each for travel, accommodations and tickets to support what we're doing.
I want to see this festival happen in cities all around the world. I want to see this organization doing fund-raisers, educational seminars, and actually making a difference in people's lives. Once we remove the negative egotistic energy out of this picture, we will start attracting volunteers and people of the highest good. As long as Happy is in power, the organization will not be sustainable, (including on an energetic level)
Kim, Tonya, Frank, Susanne, Noelle, Diane, Aeon, Laura, Sharon, Dan, Claire, BethAnn, Sashi, Amie, Apollo, Terry, Chaitonya, Jayasri, Morgan, Puma, etc..
The list goes on and on of people who use to be involved and are no longer involved. Put the 2 and 2 together and trust your intuition to guide you in whether or not you want to support future events.
We had a staff in 2007. We had an entire new staff in 2008. And now they're scrambling the country to find a new staff for 2009 because nobody wants to stick around and deal with Happy's disrespect.
And rest assure, that Happy will respond saying that I'm a manipulative young angry person who got removed and became 'emotionally unbalanced. And that I'm not even into raw foods and that I'm a 'dark energy who's trying to stop you, etc..etc..etc. The reason I know this, is because she's done the same routine over 20 times with the last 20 people who worked with the festival. And I'm fine with sacrificing the abuse that I'm going to take. It took a lot of courage for me to willingly put myself through this, but this is the final chapter of it and I am so grateful for all of you who have supported the truth being revealed. I urge you to see past her fabricated language and go by what your intuition tells you. Feel free to email Happy at heavenly@rawspirit.com voicing your concerns, and I encourage you to be as honest as possible with your experiences. Happy Oasis is no longer welcome to spread chaos in this community of harmony and peace. Let us make room for new festivals to emerge out of this transition of truth.
And please know that MANY people have tried to heal her. She has been surrounded by more love and light-workers then one could ever hope for. She's had many opportunities to step into a leadership position and has failed to do so.
We know what needs to be done and I'm confident that we can make the raw movement grow. Sometimes we need to get together and shine as much light as possible, so the dark energies are even more apparent to the rest of the people. Let us remove all negativity from this festival. All disorganization. All manipulation. All gossiping. And anything else that gets in the way of our growth. We are an example to the raw community. We are the pioneers in which 1000's of people have trusted their hard-earned money with. As long as we have drama-creating people within our festival, we will constantly be disorganized, and what kind of example would that be to the world that we're trying to heal?? We have the power to do something amazing with this. This will be the most important decision the festival has had to make, but I do feel this is a necessary one in order to move on and grow like we deserve to. Our decisions echo and create ripple effects in the world. Let's throw in a positive stone and ride that beautiful wave all the way back home into raw bliss. Thank you for speaking your voice and allowing truth to resonate deep into your souls.
At your service,
Former board member
phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/03/2008 11:04 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/raw-spirit-festival/prescott-arizona-86301/raw-spirit-festival-scam-alert-founder-taking-in-a-6-figure-income-from-a-struggling-non-387456. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#15 UPDATE EX-employee responds
really Happy?
AUTHOR: Miss Jones - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Did Happy start off her last post quoting herself?? Who does that?
You guys are right. This lady just brags about herself and is clearly an egomaniac. I dont trust a word she says. No wonder all the vendors stopped working with her.
I can also personally vouch for hearing racist terms out of her mouth. But its probably more from a place of ignorance from a wealthy white woman who is so out of touch with the rest of the world.
I have worked with businesses who have gone through far worse than a Rip off Report but their customers and clients stay loyal to them because they trust them. The only reason hundreds of vendors stopped working with RSF is not because of a Rip Off Report but rather because they genuinely do not trust the organization.
I am so proud of the hundreds of people who stood up against this corruption and did not fall for their fake words.
I followed this story years ago. Not a smart move on Happy's part to bring the discussion back up when everybody forgot about it and nobody cares anymore. She must really be losing it considering she wrote an entire book about a dead topic.
I feel bad because people are so open and loving in the spiritual communities and it leaves room for egomaniacs like Happy to take advantage of that. I am proud of the truth seekers and info warriors who see past the veil and have enough guts to call them out.
I really hope Happy is done responding before she buries herself any deeper. If that's even possible.
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#14 REBUTTAL Owner of company
Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 4
AUTHOR: Happy Oasis - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
"Think twice before you think", wisely advised ee cummings.
Indeed, "As we speak, our minds are on parade." ~ Sai Baba
"The ability to forgive is the most important indicator of a spiritual aspirant." - Happy Oasis
Continued From Part 3:
When volunteering with the Raw Spirit Festival, I did require a basic income to replace at least some of what I'd been earning doing other things as a successful eco-entrepreneur, adventure anthropologist, best-selling inspirational poet, and internationally-abiding creative prior to Raw Spirit.
Of all of the false claims on this Rip Off Report, the "six-figure income" claim was the first and perhaps most tragic untruth, because had there been more funds available, we would have expanded internationally and offered even more scholarships to those in need.
Over the past nine years my Total 9-year income from Raw Spirit has been only $100,000 ~ approximately $10,000 per year. However, the total debt that the festival owes me in loans I made to the festival and keep making even today to pay its bills totals well over $100,000, most of it due to me lending my personal sizable pre-festival savings to the festival which will most likely never be repaid to me. The first two years the fest was little more than a hobby. I've had zero festival income during these past three years. However, during 2007, my salary was $25,000.
During 2008 when I was also working +90-hour weeks running such a large festival that I could no longer be a fire lookout, I had to give it up to work on the festival only, and so the Board agreed to replace my lost income from elsewhere and I earned $45 - 50,000 that year alone. That was the top year and was what our Board agreed should be my permanent salary. This is far less than most CEOs earn who are generally doing much less work.
However, I was inspired, and, unlike apparently many other members of my team, I was not at all driven by income. Had I been, I would have done something much more financially lucrative, as I have in the past. In 2009, I earned just under $20,000 because I stopped paying myself when other bills were more pressing, and have not earned even a penny from the festival since June of 2009. Thank goodness I love to volunteer! And always will. This has been my commitment since youth with the following expression permanently etched in my heart: "At first I thought that life was joy. Then I learned that life is service. Now I know that service is joy."
My aim was to channel any extra monies back into the festival to grow it internationally. In 2008 and 2009, I was having conversations with leaders in many nations. For example, in Oct 2009, I had planned to go to India to meet with a team of doctors who wished for me to start a Raw Spirit in the foothills of the Himalayas. I was excited to do this. However, due to Apollo's posting of this Rip Off Report, I had to cancel the trip. Though we offered approximately 104 events in the 18 months after this slanderous Rip Off Report, most of our sponsors, vendors and participants some how found out about it, somewhat believed it, and were thus leary to join us.
Due to reading this report, the new Raw Spirit CFO felt inspired to embezzle from Raw Spirit, and, due to sudden inexplicable-to-me debt, which kept mounting within 6 months to more than $135,000, I had to cancel my Raw Spirit business trip to India where I had been invited by several doctors to set up a festival, thereby returning raw vegan cuisine back to the land of its greatest popularity in ancient times, India.
Being someone who pays someone to the best of my ability when I say I will, I placed all of these surprising debts of the festival, accrued cleverly in my absence, on my personal credit cards, due to bills arranged to be paid later in my absence, after the festival's one card was maxed out. Would you have placed all of a festival's debts on your personal credit cards? Most people would have claimed bankruptcy. I took a vow long ago to honor my word to the very best of my ability, so bankruptcy is not my style of operation.
The enormous embezzlement by my CFO staff person was very clever. Bookkeeping is admittedly not my forte. I have never been enthused by book keeping or accounting, finding other aspects of life far more fascinating. Therefore, I was unable to catch Kashi before she left the company, as she invisibly directed money from the festival's accounts into her own and others' without leaving a trackable trace. Today, I am still paying off the last $26,000 of these credit card debts from Raw Spirit.
However, it is an incredible achievement that I have paid down more than $115,000 of the debt thus far because every one of the Raw Spirit non profit's pro boon attorneys advised me to declare bankruptcy for both the corporation and myself since there was no way that I could overcome such a debt ratio that occurred due to the embezzlement that I could not prove since it was so cleverly done via moving money from Raw Spirit bank account into her own, that I could not follow how exactly it was done.
I agreed to going bankrupt for a night, then awoke the next morning to this realization: going bankrupt is so counter to my personality that I would be deeply depressed and soon even non-existent by taking this route because when I say that I will pay someone, I honor my word. This is apparently old-school and out-of-fashion, even counter both the American main stream and counter culture. Contrary to hundreds of people's advice, I am still paying off the credit card debts each month to the "Banksters." Whether they deserve it or not, is irrelevant. I borrowed money from them to pay the festival's debt, and my word means everything to me.
So, to pay down the debt and see if I could avert the apparently-inevitable bankruptcy, I opted to use the raw vegan diet to the benefit of many and to forego sleep for the year of 2010, which was nothing new since 2008 - 2010 were the year when I produced approximately 100 events (!), albeit many of them Raw Spirit potluck celebrations, but also three major festivals in Santa Barbara, CA, in the Maryland countryside and in Prescott, Arizona. Incredibly, I defied the odds, and a just over year and a half later payed down nearly $100,000 of the debt, throwing every penny from my book sales to my rental income, from my speaking fees to my health and spiritual coaching income, into paying down the festival's debt. Whew!
After eight years of ceaseless service to the Raw Spirit / Raw Vegan Movement, at the 2nd the Raw Spirit Maui Festival during Valentines Weekend of 2011, I burnt out physically due to the festival volunteers who were individually in vacation mode, enjoying the sunshine on various beaches, thereby leaving me to do all of the work alone. While resting in recovery after the festival, I realized that I could no longer work 18-hour days, but only 8 - 10 hours per day. Maui lifestyle and pace had entered me as well. In a year and a half, I by working around the clock I had paid down approximately $100,000 of the festival's debts without sponsors or donations ~ a miraculous feat ~ and now it was time to slow down and take care of my own neglected health.
I flew home in April, and the remainder of 2011 was plain good fun~work~rest where all activity was one sweet love offering, mostly out-of-the-office for a change, as I loved hosting loving little Raw Spirit retreats home sweet home at the Happy Oasis throughout the summer.
Fabulous friends flew in from around the nation and world to join us in "educational, inspirational celebration" in Arizona's Gorgeous Granite Dells at Raw Spirit's remarkable headquarters, the HappyOasis Retreat. [See HappyOasis.com] We hosted two precious Raw Spirit Mini Fests, as well as Slow Down & Sleep Retreats, a Yoga & Meditation Celebration, Havasu Falls Helicopter-Swim-Hike Vision Quests and an array of private retreats which included swimming in the lake and pools, group trampoline yoga, hiking and bicycling along Arizona's most spectacular trails that commence in our back garden of cliffs, preparing Raw Vegan Cuisine from our organic gardens and fruit trees at the budding Raw Spirit Non-Electric Culinary College.
2011 proved to be yet another wonderful summer of love and laughter, this time at home with visiting friends including live-in Raw Spirit partner, Sher Shah Khan, as we co-created many miracles, and enjoying it all, even though we were both essentially volunteering for room and board, any dollars earned went toward paying down Raw Spirit's remaining debts. These debts were caused by someone reading this RipOff Report, who determined that everything in it must have been true since it was in writing. The person told me this, then decided that stealing from the festival was justified, so embezzled, then encouraged other staff to do likewise.
May all beings access ever greater wisdom, honesty, compassion and lovingkindness! The few betrayals only makes the many dear deep friendships all the more greatly appreciated. Galaxies of gratitude to so many golden friends, universal superstars, beaming blessings who light up the world and my life!
In 2012, I am loving life more than ever, and I hope you are too. As has been a Happy habit for several decades, it has been a year of ceaseless miraculous celebration. Thanks to the Universe for directing me to "let the festival hibernate", we are midstream along the ongoing "2012 Lovingkindness with Infinite Abundance Tour".
Thank Goodness for my precious beloved, musical, poetic, traveling heart & soul mate, who is a kind, honest, fun, diligent, intelligent, affectionate, loving, peaceful, scientist, nature boy and earth angel.
Moreover, as we travel in our simple, humble, cozy eco-rv, are blessed with ample time in beautiful places to enjoy It All with so many amazing wonderful friends from around the planet, the best of the very best! We feel so infinitely blessed! When committed to embracing the Blissiplines, we are all so blessed! The miracles of rental income, speaking honorariums, Blissful book sales, musical performance income, cd sales, Sleep Coaching, Wholistic Supernatural Health Counseling, and many other creative projects enable me to continue paying down the monthly Raw Spirit Fest debts while living in the beauty way.
We are most grateful to be able to play with Creation while traveling through the ten most astoundingly-beautiful western states and provinces, visiting phenomenal friends in their charming, love-filled homes along the way, between national parks, climbing mountains, swimming beneath falls in rivers and alpine lakes, kayaking, singing, offering retreats, interactive talks and dynamic play shops, while being peace and love.
I am grateful for this entire experience, including the RipOff Report, that I have been surrounding with love all the while enjoying visiting this precious planet as we continue to create heaven on Earth every day in every way. Have you noticed? It is indeed getting better and better!
I invite you to take the higher road and, rather than adding to discord and complaint, to be a friend of all, by embracing the blissipline of seeking out the good in people. There is so much goodness everywhere when we cultivate the vision to see. I bless all and forgive all, just wishing to live, as always, a simple, joyful, loving, peaceful, creative, life close to nature and my ever-expanding family of truly special friends, perhaps including you. How are you celebrating the day? What is your joy of being? What are the blessings in your life? What is the subject of your enthusiasm? Who most inspires you and why? What is sacred in your life?
I invite you to join me here in the state of freedom and joy. We are camped aside a pristine stream and rumbling waterfall, gazing up at the Sierras preparing to lead yet another Play Shop for Blissologists.
Insight into the future: Blissology will be the next big happy movement. Just as millions have benefited thus far by knowing what raw vegan cuisine is, billions will benefit greatly by getting in touch with the causes of deep and lasting happiness via the Blissiplines as we enter what I call the "Ecstatic Economy".
Joy, Contentment, Honesty, Harmony, Compassion, Cooperation and Lovingkindness comprise the currency in this new economy where being is more important than doing, where communing (=becoming one) being loving is more necessary than being right.
Have you noticed that the whole world is slowing down?
Since the HappyOasis.com is completely booked until June 2013, until then, feel free to join us as we continue along the Lovingkindness Tour offering frequent, ecstatic events in AZ, NV, CA, OR, WA, BC, AB, ID, MT, WY, CO, and NM throughout the summer of 2012. We return to Arizona to lead our Sept 28 - 30th Havasu Falls Helicopter-Swim-Hike Adventure Vision Quest in paradise. Come celebrate with us! Feel free to invite your friends to sign up for the Raw Spirit Community Newsletter and share your own events at RawSpirit.com. Let's play music, dance, swim, meditate, affirm, celebrate life and be Love.
I wish you all the best on your ventures, and hope that you start up a festival or company of dreamy, inspirational, educational, vegetational, raw, eco, peace, creative, playful, music, art, giggling, benevolently scientific, compassionate, lovingly kind and/or Whatever-You-Most-Love so that together we can step into this ecstatic economy, fully supporting each other from the highest spiritual perspective possible. There are thousands of us already aligned and doing this. May you proceed from your highest, most loving dream outward.
Would love to hear from your most expansive, noblest, kindly, compassionate essence.
Let's Activate The Miraculous! May all hearts be deeply healed. Let us Send Love to Apollo and all Beings Everywhere including Your Very Own Special Self. You are a blessing in my life. With Love From Your Friend,
Happy Oasis
928.308.2146
Founder:?www.HappyOasis.com
www.RawSpirit.com
www.WildVegetarianAdventures.com
Blissologist Health & Happiness Consultant Sleep Coach Energy Enhancement Explorer Wilderness Guide Fitness Friend Songwriter Poet Meditation Friend Author of Best-selling books Bliss Conscious Communication and Uncivilized Ecstasies Founder of Raw
Spirit Festival, Happy Oasis Retreat & Wild Vegetarian Adventures.
Books, Play Shops, Retreats & Appointments available with Happy Oasis.
Call 928.308.2146 to reserve.
If you are in Arizona, Check Out Our Pages at the Source for Community
Evolutionaries & Become a Free Member:?www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis (Happy Oasis)?www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis922 (Happy Oasis Home)?www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/RawSpiritFestival (Raw SpiritFestival)?www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/WildVegetarianAdventures(Wild Vegetarian
Adventures)
If you are in Oregon or California, Check These Pages Out:?www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis482 (Happy Oasis)?www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis (Happy Oasis Home)?www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/RawSpiritFestival (Raw Spirit Festival)?www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/WildVegetarianAdventures(Wild Vegetarian
Adventures)??Thank You for staying in touch! Let us know how you are. Don't be surprised if there is a rebuttal(s) to this by one of Apollo's many reactionary aliases. I hope this clarifies what actually happened from a higher, more loving and compassionate perspective. A person who writes so negatively must be in tremendous mental and emotional pain. May healing take place.
Whether you are clear or still confused, I send love to you, invite you to meditate with me from afar, and wish you all the very merry best.
Thank you for your precious friendship. As the "Mother of the Raw Food Movement" I have succeeded in enthusiastically inspiring countless thousands who rippled into millions of others to join the raw food movement. Now its your turn to take the torch, burn it brightly, and bring it to everyone who is still suffering needlessly with diseases in every hospital, school, college, prison, church, temple, office, supermarket, doctors' office, country and community. Shine On!
Joyous Journey To You!
Forgive All. Love All,
I Love You,
Happy Oasis
Mother of the Raw Spirit/Raw Food Movement
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#13 Consumer Comment
Happy Oasis suffers from dementia
AUTHOR: Prescott Gal - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, July 10, 2012
I personally used to work for Happy and her responses here proves to me what I've always known.
Raw foods can help most health issues. But there are very rare circumstances, where even a health advocate like me, sees the necessity of prescription medication.
I say this with love, but unfortunately, Happy Oasis is one of those rare circumstances where medication and being checked into a mental facility would really help her.
I dont want to say my name because honestly. I'm afraid of her and her delusions and I don't want to put my children in her line of fire. She will probably accuse me of being Apollo as well. Typical paranoid delusions. You wanted to accuse him of slander, then you turn around and commit it yourself. which is pretty stupid since it can be proven in a court case who posted what.
I just browsed through what you said and it is a shock to me that you have held on to this for so long and are now bringing it back up after all these years. You are just reawakening an issue that has been dead for years and making it even worse. You must be in a very desperate place.
You are obsessed with this idea that you are this saint and do nothing but boast about yourself. It's nauseating. And I just hope you get the help you need.
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#12 REBUTTAL Owner of company
Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 3 of 4
AUTHOR: Happy Oasis - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, July 10, 2012
HERE'S WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:
Now that Raw Spirit in is hiatus as of spring 2012, there is, alas, a moment to breathe and share with you, Respected Reader.
The author of this RipOff Report (and the ensuing unkind rebuttals) is Sevan Adyian, of Phoenix, Arizona, who calls himself "Apollo Poetry", or "Michael of Phoenix" in his most recent RipOff Report Rebuttal Submissions. Because Apollo was my friend, said I was "like a sister" to him, and wished for me to meet his family, we visited his parents at their upscale spacious home in Phoenix soon after we first met, eight months prior to him authoring this RipOff Report in Oct 2008.
In the RipOff Report, Why did Apollo not mention his name but only that he was the former Vice President? He was attempting to hide from his RipOff Report mischief. Although none of his names are Michael, Apollo has been recently also posing as Michael of Phoenix (creator of the rude, crass RipOff Responses #6, #7, #9 and future others in various fictitious names in which he repeatedly heralds himself as for example, the "brave Apollo'. If you know Apollo at all, you will well know that this bravado-esque boasting, between insults of others, reveals that indeed Michael = Apollo.
Raw Spirit hired a sizable staff; however, never in all these years hired any staff member named Michael of Phoenix or of anywhere else. Therefore, Michael of Phoenix, what is your last name, what was your position with Raw Spirit Festival and when? Identify yourself.
Dear Reader, Partly due to not fully completing his tasks as Performance Coordinator for the Raw Spirit Festival, the author of the RipOff Report's (Apollo's) 1009 contract ending the day after Raw Spirit 2008, was not renewed.
Therese Lucek, Raw Spirit Festival's General Manager and Apollo's supervisor, reported to me that she did not want to renew his contract because his attitude was "unmanageable" and his performance substandard. Apollo's main task was to ensure that all of the performers' contracts were completed and signed; however, when the festival started, less than 20% were completed. To add to the difficulty, when Theresa, 30 years his elder, would assign 23-year old Apollo a task, he, on more than one occasion responded, "I am also the (interim) Vice President of Raw Spirit Festival, and as the (interim) Vice President, you, Theresa, cannot tell me what to do." Because a board member had resigned and being new to running a non profit corporation in the USA, I mistakenly thought that we needed to have a Vice President immediately, so had asked Apollo eight months prior, when he was my housemate, if he would like to be the (interim) Vice President.
Eight months later, When Apollo learned that his contract would not be renewed, instead of taking responsibility and apologizing for his poor performance, whereupon Theresa may have rehired him due to his change of attitude, he decided to take revenge. Being very ambitious and into-self-adulation, throughout the summer of 2008, he had had been plotting behind my back to to other board members to oust me as president so that he could become the president. Two other board members showed me several extremely scathing, untrue letters attempting to smear my character that he had sent to them on numerous occasions. They both knew me well, so did not believe Apollo. However, they did not tell me about these letters until our Board Meeting, knowing that it was my way to stop working until I was in harmony with everyone. There was
much work to do, and having harmony with someone who wishes to have your presidential position was in this case, as the two Board Members explained to me, impossible.
This RipOff Report was initiated as a letter that Apollo sent out to 35,000 people as revenge after Raw Spirit voted him off the Board and would not renew his job. He did not have permission to hack into our email list to send out these letters since he did this after he had been let go. I responded to his email letter's long list of false allegations; however, when I did, Apollo got even more outrageous with his libelous assertions and wrote 3 more letters to our email list. This upset thousands of people and caused needless work, jamming our systems with concerned phone calls and letters of sympathy.
QUESTION: Why did Apollo not come to me if he had real complaints? Why did he not talk to me directly? Why were his last words to me "Happy, I love you"? ANSWER: Because he had no honest complaint with me. He was paid well, on time, for doing minimal work. And since he lived in Sedona and I in Prescott, and was managed by our General Manager, Apollo and I almost never spoke for several months prior to his concoction of this "Report".
All of the people he mentioned that he falsely purported as despising me remain my friends or acquaintances today. I made a vow as a child to not hate anyone. Hatred is not part of my vocabulary, as I am a friend to all. I have no enemies from my side. I have experienced miscommunication mistakes sometimes, as we do, and love to immediately say "I'm sorry" with all sincerity and make up ASAP (as smiley as possible). My love is all-inclusive, and I bar none. I love forgiving everyone, and looking for the good rather than condemning, thus am free to be friendly to all, including Apollo, despite the harm he has needlessly caused to so many.
Why would Apollo only speak nicely to me to my face, then, do a 180 degree turn around, creating slanderous accounts of me at first behind my back, then to 35,000 friends of Raw Spirit on our mailing list four times, and finally file an unkind, untrue letter permanently on the Rip Off Report? The behavior was so bizarre and alien to my way of being that it took quite a long time and much meditation for me to begin to understand it.
The last time we met, in Oct of 2008, Apollo walked straight up to me with a smile and said, "Happy, I love you!" then kissed my cheek and gave me a hug. This was the typical way he greeted me. It was sweet, and I would generally say, "I love you too, Apollo". I was polite, caring, funl-oving, and generous with him. He was paid by Raw Spirit Fest in a timely fashion every 2nd Friday by his manager, Theresa. Apollo was well-paid, especially for the little work and quality of work that he did, according to my friend, our former GM Theresa, who moved to Prescott Valley from Chicago to work as the GM with Raw Spirit. She still lives in Prescott Valley today.
At the end of the summer of 2008, Theresa, Raw Spirit's GM and Apollo's manager, observed that he was "unmanageable" and asked if she could please end his contract the day after the festival and not renew it. I told her it was entirely up to her since she is the manager, and since I almost never saw Apollo (only twice briefly except for during the festival weekend) after he
moved from my home to Sedona in April of 2008, and having myself found him a little difficult to work with at times since he often thought his ideas were better than the rest of ours. For example, AP argued, "It is hard enough being a vegetarian.
We should make Raw Spirit a vegetarian festival, not a raw vegan festival." I knew that he was struggling to get off of fast food, (which was and still is not allowed at the Happy Oasis Home Retreat), and tried to explain that there are plenty of vegetarian festivals, and, moreover, that "Raw" is in our name and is the crux of our mission statement, and a primary purpose of our festival. Apollo adamantly disagreed with this.
Apollo and I shared poetry in common because I had written the best-selling poetry book, (currently completely sold out), Uncivilized Ecstasies, that he admired, and I appreciated that he was, and still is, a passionate performance poet. We differed, however, on the content and approach to performance because his choice of words and style of expression were sometimes too angry for my peaceful, quiet, sensitive nature. "It is easy to express anger on stage, but try enthusiastically expressing peace and kindness," thusly I would challenge him. This made him angry, which was not my intention.
Nonetheless, we were still friends, because before really getting to know him, in Jan of 2008, I had offered Apollo a room in my home, where he lived as if a member of my family until April, 2008 when he said he wished to move to Sedona so he could go hiking every day. That winter, while he was a guest of my home and employee with Raw Spirit, I treated him the way I would a dear friend, a son or a younger brother, with lots of laughter, funlovingkindness and enthusiasm.
We would massage each others shoulders, work, share ideas, fun, and generally have a good conversational time.
When I returned home from gratefully living for a month as a guest at David Wolfe's beautiful Noniland under the fun-loving management of Nick Good on Kauai in February of 2008, because Apollo and I had become good friends and associates, I invited Apollo to be the interim Vice President of Raw Spirit.
We would have pillow talks in Apollo's room (in my home). While we were talking about Raw Spirit projects, I'd gladly made him smoothies and salads each day, teaching him how to be a raw vegan, since he was struggling with even being a vegetarian, which was new to him.
I helped him wean himself from fast food restaurants and dairy, as he did the best he could, but struggled with it. Though I was 99% - 100% raw, (I simply preferred this because I felt much
better eating this way), I've never been fanatical about it, and never required my staff to follow the raw regime, though hired people who were striving for it, each in their own special way.
Today I have returned to my pre-festival loves of being a Blissologist (as the author of Bliss Conscious Communication 2004), offering "Playshops for Blissologists". I am also a Health & Happiness Consultant, Sleep Coach, Energy Enhancement Explorer, Wilderness Guide, Fitness Friend, Meditation Friend, Author of Best-selling books Bliss Conscious Communication and Uncivilized Ecstasies guide with Wild Vegetarian Adventures, which I founded nearly 30 years ago. Feel free to contact me if any of these inspire or interest you.
What broke my heart about this Rip Off Report written, was that someone I loved like a
family member, who obviously loved me and told me so frequently, saying "I Love You!" sometimes more than once per day, then hugging me enthusiastically and kissing me on the
cheek, would be so lusting for power ~ to be president of such a little corporation as Raw Spirit, that he would be so ambitious, embarrassed and angry that he was let go, and most of
all that he would jeopardize the prospect of lifelong friendship and a lifelong home (when he wished) at the Happy Oasis, plus attempt to destroy a movement including so many vendors, sponsors, performers and participants. What about our friendship? Did he completely forget the many salads, smoothies, good times and philosophical conversations we shared? Is this the way to treat a person who you repeatedly claimed to love? Someone who took you in, adopted you, and loved you like a family member?
This inexplicable behavior leads the topic of infiltration. For the first two years, I adamantly told my well-meaning advisors that i believed they were paranoid that such a small movement was being observed. However, after a few years, I had to agree with them after the evidence was overwhelming. I learned that when someone is denouncing the leader of a movement, doing their best to make the world a better place to live, it is wise to look very closely at the denouncer.
What we say about others reveals more about ourselves than it does about the others. What is their real motive? How do they benefit? What and why are they attempting to destroy? Who are they representing? To my astonishment, I found a vastly organized scheme to destroy not only Raw Spirit, but also similar movements by this formula: 1. denounce the leader(s) and 2. cripple the leader(s) financially.
It was surprising and encouraging when so many other movement's leaders ~ several famous people who you know ~ personally reached out to me to say "Welcome to the club!", "This RipOff Report is a sign of your success!" and similar words of support since infiltration via character assassination, embezzlement, death threats, false accusations, even imprisonment and death (I was spared these last two aspects) are what often happens strategically when a movement threatens certain powers that be. Who or what kind of corporation would be threatened by an organic raw vegan spiritual festival?
It is true that we had planned to start lobbying for various aspects of healthy living in DC, with particular emphasis on insisting upon a prevalence of organic non-genetically modified genuinely-raw foods (unlike misnamed 'raw' almonds in the USA today). Would any country's medical association or corporation focused on producing gmos mixed into any govt be interested in not seeing information about the power of eating uncooked fruits and vegetables get out? If you are of above average intelligence and knowledge, the answer is clear. The easiest way to disrupt a movement is to denounce its leader. Being too trusting, I unwittingly hired several people in at first apparently unrelated succession who were getting paid by the Festival and simultaneously were being hired by other forces to destroy it. Was the author of this RipOff Report included among them? Do some family-background research on Sevan Adyian/Apollo Poetry to answer that question for yourself.
For years I resolved to not respond to the slander, libel, threats, including death threats, so that despite myself becoming the movement's scapegoat, that the movement I founded would grow without fear, grow some more, grow endlessly, flourishing until everyone knows that we all have the option to be healthy ever more so today since "raw vegan" is a well-known cleansing diet that can help prevent and overcome hundreds of diseases and adverse conditions.
Why did I choose to not fight back? I sacrificed my reputation because, 1) I was very busy with much higher vibrational pursuits and 2) when I did respond, Apollo would respond with even more vitriolic language, including swearing that I did not feel should have been before the sensitive raw vegan-friendly ears and souls of my Raw Spirit Friends 3) had I agreed to fight these absurd, slanderous allegations in court, [that anyone with even modest IQ could determine are incongruent with who I am], the focus would have detracted from organic raw foods and spirituality, and would have been about who is giving Happy death threats over the phone, etc, and trying to destroy this amazing movement ~ a much lower vibration, other than on point with my mission of bringing loving messages of health to everyone who wishes it from every walk of life in every continent.
In other words, I sincerely wished to spare people from this false, concocted, irrelevant, on-line drama, so that the much greater movement could blossom and abundantly fruit around the planet, despite the opposing forces.
In retrospect, my thinking was correct to let Destiny work out the details, according to the nobility of people's minds. For example, in the later years the festivals admitted only those who had gone through the spiritual tests of higher consciousness and faith in the goodness of the festival, whereas those who boycotted the festival due to believing the RipOff Report, as ludicrous as it was, were not allowed in by their own inadmission. This created a wonderful situation where only Earth Angels attended the later festivals thereby creating a really sweet, loving, mature, non-dramatic, harmonic field within the attending Raw Spirit community.
Due to allowing me to be the scapegoat for others' less than honest behaviors, yet not giving up on the festival in order to spend it's little money to "win" at court, I was meanwhile enthusiastically advising many new leaders how start the next generation of festivals, which are now happening, as you likely know, in many nations, thanks to many long distance and international conversations, as was my dream, around the world!
These new festivals may or may not exactly exude the spiritual vibration that we achieved, because unlike Raw Spirit Non Profit, many of these new festivals are not non profits, but are money-motivated.
As a slight side note, may I offer you unsolicited advice? If money is your aim, don't start at festival! Every festival producer (except perhaps Burning Man which has a different aim), can tell you that festivals, almost as a rule, do not make money due to there being way way way too many unseen expenses. Fortunately, I went in to give rather than to get. And give I did ~ all of my heart and all of my savings! Plus, all of my personal credit cards which were maxed out in 2009 for the first (and last) time in my life. Good heavens. Every month I am still paying about $1000 toward the festival's bills that I've been slowly chipping away at on my closed credit cards since 2009, when I was originally paying more than $3000 per month, which nearly bankrupted the festival and me, such was the extent of the clever embezzlement team's workings, whose charges showed up slowly over the period of a year after they left Raw Spirit.
Today raw food information continues to spread at new festivals, though one must read
carefully between the lines. Realizing that one cannot become rich on promoting avocados and kale, for several years there has been a push in some raw circles to sell the next panacea products which may be zany-fun to try out. However, more truthfully, in contrast, it is fresh, simple, organic, local, often foraged raw fruits and vegetables that comprise the actual mainstay of a radiant health-giving raw vegan diet. Packaged bottled boxed foods in wrappers
best be treated as occasionally snacks, rather than essential daily supplements.
One well-known speaker commented that it doesn't hurt anyone to sell them goji berries at inflated prices because even a handful of goji berries won't hurt anyone. I responded, that instead of buying a pound of internationally-grown, old, dry goji berries, they could have harvested or bought two locally-living salads and a dynamically-charged green drink, vitally-fortified.
Meanwhile, without Raw Spirit as the main festival, fruitarians are now making an upsurge by starting their own festivals with renewed vigor. Simultaneously, dozens of regional raw vegan festivals are now based strongly on the Raw Spirit model which was the first raw vegan festival to not only feature a line up of doctors lecturing about nutritional deficiencies (which makes me yawn after a few hours) but instead invited dynamic doctors who spoke in engaging ways as well as stages offering inspiring dance, music, heart-and-mind-expanding playshops, organic raw vegan demos, meditation, yoga, other sacred exercise, and kids programs. The next generation of these festivals are sprouting up around the world!
Because for 15 years, I have enthusiastically encouraged virtually everyone I met to "Go out and start your own festival or restaurant or retreat or raw-friendly eco company before we speak again", to my delight, they DID! Today's billionaire-dollar (?) (so I've been told) raw economy is testimony to the mentoring and encouragement offered to thousands who consequently started up their own corporations and founded other creative organizations, events, services, products and ideas that uplift humanity and the state of the planet. I applaud you all!
This Raw Spirit leader was creatively maligned, as pioneers so often are. It may seem initially that I have "lost" from the outside; however, I am content beyond measure on the inside! My lifestyle is amaaaazing. Plus, it seems that most of the people were not fooled after all...
Yes, even more exciting is the bigger picture that WE HAVE WON, because this Ripoff Report misinformation about Raw Spirit and me actually served to create a powerful diaspora that is so widespread that there are today raw-friendly folks in every city and state in the nation, as well as around our one shared planet! I succeeded in my goal that "raw vegan" become a household phrase, and for this actualization of my dream, I am most deeply grateful.
I deeply love my friends and enjoy inspirational gatherings, both essential for the rise in consciousness of humanity. I am a happy hermit and, some insist, a bodhisattva by nature, who never wished for anything personally from Raw Spirit but creating a loving world-wide community and making "raw vegan" a household word so that no one would have to go through the needless, extreme longterm suffering from diet-caused diseases as did I due to my erstwhile dietary ignorance.
On a personal level, the most extraordinary gift given is that today thousands of loving friends love me and I them. This is my greatest treasure beyond measure! Thank You! I Love You So Much!
Meanwhile, remain a very few who may be sometimes prone to gossip and envy, who like to imagine the worst in people, are and are generally less emotionally stable, those who have never engaged in a meaningful conversation with me, have opted to dislike me without having met me. That is fine too. I now accept as a leader that though I am a friend to all, not everyone will be my friend. Look at Gandhi, Jesus, and Martin Luther King who were all murdered. Is the glass half full or half empty? That, my friend, is up to the quality of your perspective. What we say about others reveals more about ourselves.
"When we speak our mind is on parade." said Sai Baba. What does your parade consist of? May it be delightful, fun, loving, rich with laughter, affection and kind, gentle encouragement.
This Rip Off Report been a great blessing to clarify those who are friends from those who only pretend to be, leaving me with only the most amazing gifts of the most deeply loving friendships of the sweetest, most spiritual, highly-intelligent, creative, caring, happening, fun-loving, affectionate, successful and angelic leaders from all around the planet! You precious wonders know exactly who you are. Your support has been a deep blessing. You, brilliant treasure troves of wisdom, inspire me more than ever! Galaxies of Gladitude, eternally, from my grateful heart to yours.
Years ago, after reading this fallacious "report", I consulted lawyers to start a court case for the obvious slander and libel within this report. I was advised by a few loving friends, who happened to be Raw Spirit-friendly lawyers, that I could either put all my energy into this Ripoff Report's slander and libel case and win, focusing my and the festival's resources on a court case, OR to possibly let the damaging allegations toward my reputation spread but save the Raw Spirit Festival movement, by ignoring the creative slanderous allegations on this Ripoff Report, eating my ego and risking my reputation, so that the movement could expand. I chose the latter option. It was wonderfully humiliating (as in humbling), and therefore, a great spiritual test to not defend myself. However, people do wish to know the real reasons of what inspired this report so that the truth can be more comprehensively and compassionately understood.
Some of the allegations in this Rip Off Report gave me a giggle: that I would eat meat at midnight by someone bringing meat to me through my backdoor? Hee hee. Please join me in guffaws of laughter! You must admits, that is very funny, is it not? Can you imagine? That, as the founder of a raw vegan festival, with often a dozen house guests with whom I harvest from our fruit trees and grow a garden, as well as share breakfast, lunch and dinner - all raw vegan - that I would wake up in the middle of the night to tiptoe into the house (since I sleep outside in the cliff dwelling) then toward the back door to await the delivery of a slab of meat? Yum. Yum. Giggle. Giggle.
It was funny to learn that I regularly go to Mexico specifically to eat beef burritos. This is hilarious. For some reason, I feel that Apollo has a quirky but pretty good sense of humor. What a great way to get sick. Ole!
Why would I speak badly about the amazing presenters and performers who I admire therefore personally invited to a festival of my own creation? Moreover, why would I steal from my own non-profit?
And run away with "the money" to Europe when I've never yet really been to Europe? Not that I am at all opposed to Europe, but it just turns out due to Destiny thus far that I've only been to Europe changing planes twenty-five years ago in the Amsterdam Airport. Why would an adventure anthropologist such as I be racist or bigoted or anti-anyone? I am gleefully not any of these. Why would I be making a six-figure income? Now that untruth I do wish was true because then I could pay off the rest of this lagging $26,000 of debt on my credit cards remaining today from the 2009 and use the rest to offer the start-up funds for another festival as I did for every festival all these years.
Not including the more than $100,000 of loans given to the festival that have never been able to be returned, I earned perhaps a grand total of $2 per hour. The 1st year about $1500, the second about $2500, the third about $25,000, the 4th a salary of $45 - 50,000 though I worked 16 - 20 hour days 7 days per week, and so gave much of it back into the festival as soon as I received it that there was nothing left, the 5th $20,000, the 6th year No Pay At All, the 7th year No Pay At All, and the 8th year No Pay At All and now the 9th year still no pay at all and continuing all the while to pay down the debts ~every time I sell one of my books, rent a room at my home, perform a Blissology PlayShop, speak as a guest minister at a church, lead a Let's Get Wild Edible Foraging Walk, offer a Healthy Living Seminar or Sleep Coaching Seminar.
What was also sad about the report was that it claimed that I spoke poorly about some of the leaders of the Raw Spirit movement. This initially confused some of the presenters and performers who were falsely named. Of course, I love all of the performers and presenters as brothers and sisters which is why I personally invited them to present and perform! It would not only be illogically bad for the movement but also an absurdly poor business practice if I were to disdain those who constitute the very event that I am whole-heartedly promoting.
As a spiritual teacher, rather than responding immediately again as I did to the identical email list letter that he sent out, which escalated Apollo's attacks even further, I considered it wisest that people have the opportunity to look within and decipher for themselves what the highest truth really is. This was the approach of Jesus. In retrospect, I realized, however, that Jesus was not treated any better than I.
Though the end of Jesus's life has been glorified for millennia, that is not my aim! I am not a martyr, but instead, I am a content, happy forest and mountain-loving human who loves to live a simple life with Nature. Today I am committed to no longer being a scapegoat for anyone for any cause.
Apollo created this report apparently partly due to his obligations to destroy the Raw Spirit movement from another agency source who was apparently encouraging him to due so. However, his motivation was also because he did not want anyone to know that he not only got laid off due to lack of ability to cooperate with his Raw Spirit manager Theresa, then a few weeks later, that he was also voted off of the Raw Spirit Board in September of 2008 due to his unkind, unrealistic attitude, so he felt he had to devise a wild story, namely this Off Report so that no one would know. Sadly, what he did not realize is that had he not made a scene trying to point the finger away from himself, I would have never told anyone, because we were too busy creating too many marvelous projects to take much note of having to let someone go.
I give Apollo credit for being very outlandishly creative with his far out yet almost believable stories! I imagined that anyone who knows even a little about me would know that this "Report" is very silly, untrue and quite malicious.
For example, I have not touched beef since I was 17, except for occasionally lovingly petting a cow.
To set the record straight regarding finances, I have lost far more money with Raw Spirit than I earned, and have not earned a penny in three years, though have agreed to with pay off Raw Spirit Festival's debts each month. These debts were accumulated in my absence in 2009 while I was on Raw Spirit tour, putting on dozens of festivals and mini festivals around the nation.
For many years in India during my 20s and 30s, I was a middle-class philanthropist, self-made, through much sweat, prayer, humor and effort, having bought the Happy Oasis Retreat 20 years ago, long before a thought of Raw Spirit Festival existed.
Though Apollo tried to harm me in order to protect his reputation, what he apparently did not realize (because he never asked me since we almost never saw each other or spoke since I was not his manager) is that firstly, I was not the one who refused to rehire him. Theresa was. Secondly, I was not the one who initiated voting Apollo and Morgan Langan off of the Raw Spirit Board. Board Members Aya Schiff and Theresa Lucek did. My vote was the last and final vote.
THE GREATEST TRAGEDY of Apollo's selfish act of filing this false Rip Off Report is
that it adversely affected tens of thousands of innocent people, including vendors, sponsors, presenters, performers, and most importantly, participants who needed to be there for health purposes.
In the rashness of his youth, perhaps Apollo did not fully consider the extent of the damage he was doing by filing this fallacious RipOff Report, damage to so many innocent families, individuals, performers, presenters, health-seekers, healing professionals, and businesses involved.
Therefore, to allay the fears of those 35,000 Friends of Raw Spirit who received four extremely unkind, untruthful letters from Apollo, I chose to not respond to the allegations so that the online drama would stop, knowing that it takes two to fight. Apollo insisted on having the last word with the Raw Spirit email readers, and his rude manner of communication was so contrary to our kind, loving manner of writing, that it was disconcerting and shocking, to say the least. Due to his RipOff Report, Raw Spirit lost nearly the entire email list, something that had taken years to build, and had to start over again. This cost the festival substantially.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes Raw Spirit continued to be amazing! As the clearinghouse and inspirational mother organization, Raw Spirit Festival Inc had faithfully built today's said-to-be billion dollar Raw Food industry in less than a decade. There were 375 vendors and 3300
attendees at our 2008 event, and that was just one festival of 200. The 2008 festival happened just prior to this Rip Off Report. However, despite a significant loss of participation by former guests who read this RipOff Report and discussed it extensively on Facebook and other chat groups for a long time, due to the sheer momentum of the festival's growth, in 2009, we nonetheless continued to grow, serving over 10,000 participants at multiple events throughout the nation.
According to the then-Secretary, Aya Schiff, and then-Board Member & GM, Theresa Lucek, Apollo and to a much lesser extent, another board member, Morgan, the then-Treasurer, had been plotting throughout the summer to oust me from the Board by sending extremely unkind, defamatory letters about me to the other Board members, Aya and Theresa, in an attempt to arouse Aya and Theresa's sympathy so that Apollo could take my position as President, and the Treasurer, Morgan, who wished for Raw Spirit to remain in Sedona to encourage participants to stay at his then-new retreat center, could invite his partner Puma to join the Board, thereby giving these three the majority control. This is what was reported to me by Theresa and Aya. Morgan apologized to me for his several rants, attempting to put me down for no apparent reason but to convince others to wish to oust me from my own organization, that would land me in tears at our board meetings. I long ago forgave Morgan for his ambitiousness back then, and wish Morgan and Puma the best with their retreat center.
Apollo and Morgan, not being in the office head quarters at my home retreat, did not understand at all how very much work I was doing around the clock to make these enormous and enthusiastic events manifest. Little did they consider that by taking a child (the festival) away from its nurturing mother (me), the child would perish. The festival was the closest I have experienced to being a parent. Birthing the festival felt like a miracle that came through me. Such a wonderful feeling.
I did not realize that a detrimental situation that was festering because the well-meaning Board members tried to keep this divisive news from me so as not to lower my spirits since I was devotedly, overly-innocently, and enthusiastically laboring 16, sometimes 18 or 20 hour days with a joyous spirit to make these festival happen.
Why did I have so much energy? When one is aligned, one is given apparent infinite energy. After just 3 or 4 hours of sleep, I would wake up renewed night after night, year after year. This was amazing though there was no time to think about it.
Being a non-profit, none of the Board members were paid. Contrary to Michael (Apollo's) assertions that our Board members are paid, All Raw Spirit Festival Board positions are all voluntary positions. This has been in our by laws since the beginning. It is a standard practice that small non profit boards are voluntary, non-paid positions.
In Oct, 2008, at our post-fest Board Meeting, Apollo and The Treasurer had planned to vote me off of the Board. However, their attempt was foiled, because Aya and Theresa did not concur with the mischief, and to everyone's surprise, Aya initiated that those two be voted off of the Board instead. Theresa seconded this, and, though all of this was surprising to me, I made the final vote to oust the self-serving, fame and fortune-motivated, rebels from the Raw Spirit Board. Though he never expressed it to me directly, Apollo was evidently enraged. Hence, the tone of the RipOff Report.
According to several friends, Apollo, was unemployed for quite awhile in order to work full time at creating negative gossip about the Raw Spirit Festival. He stayed in Sedona to personally meet as many people as he could to tell them not to be involved with Raw Spirit.
Many of our mutual friends advised Apollo, both via email and via phone, on numerous occasions to give it up and get a job. As a spiritual leader, my concern is and was that Apollo was creating extremely bad karma for himself. Bad business and bad health. I would never harm him. I forgive him. I have been open to reconciliation with Apollo via mediating friends. However, he has never accepted this. However, as more conscious spiritual aspirants know, the Universe does not appreciate people condemning and creating other obstacles for those who are only do their best, mistakes and all, to make a better world.
Apollo did not know that he could not harm me individually because he could not understand that I did not create the Raw Spirit Festival for me - AT ALL. It was a purely philanthropic gesture, envisioned while I was meditating upon it over a long period of years, on a mountain top during the summers in Arizona and in a Buddhist Jungle Monastery called Wat Suon Mok, in South Thailand, where I was the monastery's coordinator and meditation teacher, as well as at several ashrams and mountain passes in the Himalayas along the trails.
More details came into view while being a Forest Fire Look Out Tower (i was a Look Out where I looked in for more than ten amazing 6-month seasons) during long dreamy summers on extremely secluded,forested mountain tops of Arizona, and at the luxuriant ocean-front island retreat in New Zealand where I authored my first two books, Bliss Conscious Communication and Uncivilized Ecstasies (thought-provoking poetry about the ecstasies of living internationally, outside of civilization as an adventure anthropologist).
Prior to the festival, I was quite happy and content ~ habitually blissful, most of the time ~ being a mountaintop fire lookout in remote locations for so many remarkable years in 'solitary refinement' in some of Arizona's most wild and beautiful wilderness areas, and successful to boot as a best-selling author (of Uncivilized Ecstasies, New Zealand's #1 best-selling poetry book (currently sold out ) as well as author of the very fun, popular and interactive Bliss Conscious Communication book). I was also a seasonal trekking (hiking) guide in India, during Octobers - Novembers, and manager of my Happy Oasis home, a paradise that I've been creating slowly over the past 20 years.
Prior to Raw Spirit, I lived in virtually-continuous joyous enthusiasm, was well-off, self-made, with tremendous amounts of free time, excellent health, unusual energy, and high-quality international friends of great influence with noble characters. All this remains. I spoke several languages and had been volunteering on and off overseas for decades on wonderful, uplifting, social and spiritual projects, including joyfully serving at orphanages, refugee camps, monasteries, ashrams, and with many more organizations, as well as my own.
Raw Spirit Festival was always treated as another of my many voluntary projects. Choosing to be childless in this life time offered me more freedom to serve more children, thousands of 'children' of all ages thus far!
Whew! That was the longest part. END of PART THREE Dear Reader, I ensure you that Part Four will be short and uplifting. Thank You For Your Time and Depth of Understanding!
Let's Activate The Miraculous...
With Love,
Happy Oasis
928.308.2146
Founder:
www.HappyOasis.com
www.RawSpirit.com
www.WildVegetarianAdventures.com
Blissologist Health & Happiness Consultant Sleep Coach Energy Enhancement Explorer Wilderness Guide Fitness Friend Songwriter Poet Meditation Friend Author of Best-selling books Bliss Conscious Communication and Uncivilized Ecstasies Founder of Raw Spirit Festival, Happy Oasis Retreat & Wild Vegetarian Adventures. Appointments available with Happy Oasis. Call 928.308.2146 to reserve. If you are in Arizona, Check Out Our Pages at the Source for Community Evolutionaries & Become a Free Member:
www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis (Happy Oasis)
www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis922 (Happy Oasis Home)
www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/RawSpiritFestival (Raw Spirit Festival)
www.sedonaresourcecenter.com/profile/WildVegetarianAdventures (Wild Vegetarian Adventures)
If you are in Oregon or California, Check These Pages Out:
www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis482 (Happy Oasis)
www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/HappyOasis (Happy Oasis Home)
www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/RawSpiritFestival (Raw Spirit Festival)
www.ashlandresourcecenter.com/profile/WildVegetarianAdventures (Wild Vegetarian Adventures)
Thank You for staying in touch! Visit us this summer along path as we continue on the Lovingkindness With Infinite Abundance Tour throughout the year around this amazing planet. Feel free to sign up for the newsletter at RawSpirit.com or ask us to add you. Please let us know where we can best serve you in ceaseless celebration! We would love to deeply commune along the way as we tour the most beautiful treasures of AZ, NV, CA, OR, WA, BC, AB, ID MT, WY, CO, & NM until September whenwe return to offer our final Havasu Falls Adventure Sept 28 - 30th. Hoping you can join us in gorgeosity. Thank you for your precious friendship. Joyous Journey To You!
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#11 Consumer Comment
HAHA
AUTHOR: Michael - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, July 08, 2012
I fully invite you to check my IP address or post your so-called evidence. I should sue you for slander. Or better yet, I'll come up to you when I see you and introduce myself first-hand. By the way, Apollo is on a television show on ABC right now so there goes your theory, nutjob.
I highly doubt he gives a crap about this, considering he hasnt said a single word about this topic in five years! There is one truth that you cant admit to.
One person having an opinion does NOT bring down a company.
Do you know how many bad reviews and complaints there are about every organization in the world? Apollo isnt the reason the festival went down. And if he was, that just means your organization wasn't strong enough to begin with.
No. The reason your festival went down is because the entire community knew about your scam. Think about it. If you treated people good, word would have spread, and your friends wouldn't have turned their backs on you and your festival over ONE persons opinion.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing Apollo move on past this and become very successful over the last few years from what I've seen. And seeing you scramble like a desperate angry witch trying to cover up your failures. Karma is a b***h and she's screwing you like you deserve.
All you do is talk about yourself and cover your anger with fake poetic words.
I met you twice and knew you were a fraud. You screwed over at least 20 people I personally know.
You don't know me. And let's hope that you never do.
The good thing is. Nobody is reading your Part 1 of 4 ramblings because nobody cares about the ghost of a failed organization ran by a scam artist. You're yesterdays news.
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#10 REBUTTAL Owner of company
Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 2 of 4
AUTHOR: Happy Oasis - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, July 08, 2012
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Part 2 of Message From The Founder by Happy Oasis
Please note: that we have confirmed that the three recent rebuttals by the so called "Michael of Phoenix" have all been authored by "Apollo Poetry" who is also of Phoenix. Apollo, the author of the original Rip Off Report, has been recently pretending to be his fictitiously-contrived character "Michael of Phoenix". You will see how "Michael" applauds "Apollo's bravery" repeatedly and how their style of vicious, libelous communication is almost identically scathing.
And now to continue, Dear Reader, with Part Two:
My goal was not material. I was already middle class and It was philanthropic. Hence, instead of forming a for profit corporation, as would anyone with financial goals, I created a non-profit. We never wrote grants to receive donations, we simply wished to keep our expenses minimal and exercise frugality so that donations would be directed to the greatest good. Great Spirit apparently appreciated this and guided me through many obstacles. For example, though I was told that filing for a non profit was highly complicated, requiring a lawyer, etc, and at least 4 months, it took only an afternoon for me to fill out the 26-page 501c3 form alone, and just two months later, in record time, to all of my lawyer friends' astonishment, I received an official letter in the mail stating that the non profit had been approved.
Being a longtime international traveler (with more than a decade of living abroad as an adventure anthropologist) and observer, I could see the symptoms for what changes a first world nation into a second world nation, and wished to prepare my fellow and sister Americans for the coming shift of both the world and American economies.
Therefore, to boost relatively-ethical, conscious "Right Livelihood" employment, I created pre-festival Raw Spirit Business Dinners, held the evening prior to each festival, where any "raw vegan-eco-peace economy" vendor, sponsor, business leader or interested person could join us and share her/his latest and greatest business developments. It was a wonderful way to come to know each other, share innovative ideas, and enthusiastically support each others' highest visions as we prepared for the changes ahead.
As a result, hundreds of raw-friendly companies were formed, including most of the raw nutrition bar and super food companies of today. Unfortunately, in the year following the writing of this RipOff Report in Oct of 2008, about half of them failed, in part due to the public perception, due to the report, that there was no longer a strong Raw Spirit Festival supporting them, though it was, behind the scenes, growing stronger than ever. In 2009, Raw Spirit grew by 300% to dozens of new locations across the country.
In addition, during each festival, intuiting the future situation, I felt it important to further stimulate the raw vegan-eco-music-art-peace economy by providing a Job Fair, usually on Sunday morning in order to give both employers and employees a chance to have time to find out about it. This helped employers as much as employees, especially during the days when today's unprecedented "Raw-Friendly Economy" was new (since we invented this concept at Raw Spirit in 2005) and burgeoning as numerous new, raw-friendly business owners were calling me, seeking employee and investor assistance.
I created the "Entrepreneurs Meet Investors" dining table that we marked as an exclusive area throughout each weekend. This was often a packed dining table where only those who were either entrepreneurs or investors could sit together so that they could brainstorm on how to start new companies together. As a result, a plethora of new companies were formed, hundreds to my knowledge, and capitol was attained to expand a numerous other health-oriented corporations and LLCs.
Meanwhile, hundreds of vendors and sponsor booths convened in artful configurations around beautiful, mostly-outdoor setting at parks or park-like resorts. We featured exquisite art and excitingly diverse state-of-the-art eco technologies including an eclectic array of electric cars that drove folks hither and thither around the festivals, over the golf courses, around the ponds, and through the hilly woods. Even my friend's rare yet famous DreamCatcher Mobile was part of Raw Spirit.
Behind it all were hundreds of volunteers who i personally trained, on numerous conference phone calls and at the beginning of each event. What set us apart security-wise was my invention of Raw Spirit's Hug Patrol. You may remember the pink Hug Patrol shirts that both men and women wore instead of yellow security shirts. The idea was to hug and love vibe everyone to transmute any confused energies to such a high state that crime would be minimized. To a miraculous extent it worked.
The City of Sedona reported that, unlike every other festival with thousands of participants in Sedona's history, at the Raw Spirit Festival there was not a single crime reported, including any drinking, drug or traffic violations.
Hundreds of youthful elders such as Viktoras Kulvinskas, David Carmos, and Katharine Clark, who have been involved with raw and living foods for 30 or 40 years, said that they have never experienced anything nearly as powerfully-transformative, deeply-loving, comprehensively all-inclusive and humungous as Raw Spirit Festivals were. It gave us hope that we were entering a golden age. On a personal level, many of us were. My daily prayer was to create heaven on earth, and we achieved it. Today, wherever my beloved and i go, we continue to create heaven on earth in beautiful places with the most wonderful people of the heart.
In contrast, back to the RipOff Report, the power of the written word to fool the public surprised us. It was disappointing, though no more disappointing than what other spiritual leaders such as Gandhi, MLK, and Jesus have experienced, and almost equally as dangerous. Immediately after the RipOff Report, I received two anonymous death threats on my cell phone. I went to the police,who told me to go to the FBI. They said they would look into it, and despite my many appeals, and never did. Meanwhile, I was working 16 hours per day 7 days per week (thanks to the energy afforded by raw foods and pure inspiration), on creating dozens of Raw Spirit Festivals and mini feasts for 2009, starting with the one in Santa Barbara. [I've been just recently slowing down enough to reflect upon it all.]
Our lawyers said that suing Apollo for slander and libel would be a lengthy court case taking a lot of energy, time and money. They said that we would win, but Apollo had no money, so we would likely end up paying for our lawyers' fees. I had a choice: either put on another Raw Spirit Festival and totally ignore this RipOff Report, focusing my energy on higher vibrational goals, or sue Apollo for his extremely selfish Report so that we would "win" the case. [In most circumstances, does anybody ever really win a case but the lawyers?] Taking Apollo to court back then would have spelled the demise of the Raw Food/ Raw Spirit Movement, since it would detract energized focus on saving lives at our growing inspirational educational celebrations that were spreading around the nation.
I decided that the non profit corporation's monies were not supposed to be allocated for court fees because it was not the highest use. Instead, for years we had been offering scholarships to hundreds of individuals who asked, those who could not afford to come, or were too ill or old to volunteer. To stay out of financial trouble while serving thousands, it was necessary to be frugal, and offering scholarships to those earnestly seeking healthier solutions was a far nobler use of the festival's monies than giving it to the legal system.
The following troubling thought inspired me to get out of bed every morning to do my cheerful best to volunteer another miraculous 16-hour day for Raw Spirit Festival, with no pay and no weekends off: "How many people are needlessly dying as a result of this Rip Off Report? Thanks to Apollo Poetry's libelous RipOff Report, how many people are afraid of me, Happy Oasis, (boo!) without knowing me, therefore, were afraid to bring their mother with cancer or father with diabetes or spouse with obesity or child with acne, angina or Crone's or other serious issues to the festival? And consequently died
prematurely or are suffering needlessly without our support today?"
Due to the RipOff Report, the Raw Spirit Community who used the internet were divided. About half of the participants did not return. However, we were at the same time growing so rapidly, that in 2009 we served many more participants, in multiple locations, than in just the one Sedona, Arizona location in 2008. Because Apollo not only hacked into the Raw Spirit Festival participant list of approximately 35,00 readers but also lso alerted the vendors and sponsors email lists to his vicious RipOff Report, our Raw Spirit Team lost 90% of our vendors and sponsors. This cost the festival more than $200,000 in lost revenues in 2009 and in 2010.
Due to the sudden lack of sponsors from the RipOff Report, I could not afford to pay as many staff, so had to reduce the staff by half. Moreover, I forfeited my very modest salary, which unfortunately was not anywhere near a six-figure income, as Apollo so well knew when he reported this falsehood as the headline to his very creative RipOff Report. I have not been paid a penny from Raw Spirit Festival since June of 2009, yet continue to bail it out.
Perhaps more importantly, these new businesses who were counting on Raw Spirit Festival as their main expo and support for sharing new products and strategies, felt they could no longer trust Raw Spirit, due to this RipOff Report. Consequently, many new raw-friendly businesses struggled and failed due to no longer trusting or therefore having our assistance.
Managing a non profit corporation in the USA was interesting because, having lived abroad for so many years, I was new to my own country. People, including staff and clients, imagined that I was simply American because I sounded and look American, but I had lived abroad for so many years, that my views and ways were much more akin to an Asian monastic.
I was accustomed to living at monasteries and ashrams where we all volunteered, truly volunteered in the real sense of the word, not for admission to an event or for work exchange as is what volunteerism is usually these days in the USA, or for any kind of personal gain, but simply for the pure sake of giving of themselves for making a better world. In some circles, this is almost an alien concept in the USA today; however some of our parents, grandparents and great grand parents know and knew full well what volunteering is about. It's prerequisites include idealism, selflessness and nobility of character.
Prior to Raw Spirit, I had never worked at a corporate office and never entertained a desk job, not even as a secretary. I was a hiking guide in the Himalayas, poet, meditation guide and visionary. Thus, my staff were incredulous that I was learning how to file and answer phones and use a computer along with the rest of them, and often from them. To confuse matters even more, I often asked them for advice, including about how to use a computer and cell phone. My business friends said I ran the office more as an ashram than as a corporate office, which was likely true, since I had no corporate reference point.
We would often sit in a circle to begin the day, either on the trampoline or in the swimming pool as we would ask and answer these questions: 1) What would I love to experience today? 2) What would I love to manifest today? and lastly, 3) What would I love assistance with today? I encouraged open answers so that we could really support each other in deeper ways than merely work.
To save money and create a lovelier, more casual workplace environment, Raw Spirit headquarters was located at my home retreat center with organic gardens and fruit trees from which the staff enjoyed their lunch in the countryside of Arizona where the job pool was extremely limited. Looking back, I had a very naive, trusting policy of hiring almost anyone who walked in the door and wished to participate because, at all of the ashrams and monasteries where I had lived, we had an open door policy where nobody was turned away.
Back in Asia, for many years, our focus at the large jungle monastery (where I resided longest) was studying and discussing ethics and well-being. I love studying ethics and (inaccurately) imagined that most other people do too. Because taking the vow "to refrain from unkind gossip" was followed, I (inaccurately) projected this anti-gossiping standpoint onto others; therefore, could not fully imagine the vastly, apparently-detrimental consequences of this RipOff Report. [On the up side, the diaspora that ensued was in PDO, Perfect Divine Order, as new festivals and retreats sprouted up and people stepped into hundreds of leadership roles that were left vacant since some of the raw community decided to no longer trust Raw Spirit Festival.]
Because taking "the vow to refrain from taking what is not given freely" was proclaimed by each of us daily at the monastery, there was no stealing. At All.
Thus, it surprised me greatly that sometimes some of my Raw Spirit staff stole, with gusto. In 2007, at least $100,000 cash must have gone missing from registration. Only a few thousand dollars of cash sales were reported. However the ticket price was over $300 and the lines were long for three days. When I asked where it went at our meeting, most of the staff looked away from me, apparently trying to minimize this enormous crime. I never did learn who it was, who they were exactly, though a keenly observant friend tried to convince me that it was the entire registration management staff, and likely beyond.
I have never been seriously concerned about my reputation. I sleep very well at night because I am a loving, caring, truth-loving, forgiving human being. In fact, I am a professional Sleep Coach who assists others in sleeping more soundly as we examine the entire lifestyle, including ethics, exercise, relationships, service, values, diet and how all of this and more relates to sleep. Thus far, when people take my "prescriptions" which are often simply behavior modifications, the results have been very empowering.
Not being into negative gossip myself, I wrongly imagined that Raw Spirit participants were too smart and benevolent to imagine for even a moment that even an iota of this report had any resemblance of truth in it whatsoever. To even those of modest understanding, intelligence and life experience, it was obviously the workings of some errant individual seeking revenge. Or perhaps at a deeper look, someone who was hired by the powers that be. However, negative gossip goes hand in hand with envy, which was apparently the partial cause of this RipOff Report in the first place:
someone simply vying for my presidential position and failing to achieve it.
Ironically, I had been seeking a worthy person to replace me as President. Apollo Poetry was not worthy since, among other reasons, kind, honest communication are prerequisites. Derek Lamptey, our most loved Volunteer Coordinator by far, did such an outstanding job that he was invited to be Raw Spirit Festivals second President in 2010 and still holds this position today.
This concludes Part 2 of 4. Dear Reader, please continue to Part 3.
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#9 Consumer Comment
NO MORE HAPPY!
AUTHOR: Michael - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Friday, July 06, 2012
So I just saw part 1 of 4, which means that Happy is going to do 3 more posts.... Excuse me. I just threw up in my own mouth.
This woman truly is psychotic. The original post was done FIVE YEARS AGO and she's been holding on to this bitterness and wants so desperately to be relevant and important.
All she does is talk about herself which makes her look completely self-centered. She is the epitome of an egotistical maniac who's entire life is only validated by what people think about her.
I'm usually full of happiness and compassion, but during very RARE occasions in my life, I just need to say "SHUT THE HELL UP" and this is one of them. SO HAPPY. SHUT THE HELL UP WITH YOUR RANTS!
You can use all the "hippie" "happy" words you want but everybody sees through your bullsh*t.
Hearing Happy go on and on and on is just the saddest and most pathetic thing I've seen in the raw world. Nobody cares about your self-promotions. You're a has-been who was exposed by 1000's of people in the health world. Now go away like the flying gnat you are.
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#8 REBUTTAL Owner of company
Message From Raw Spirit Fest's Founder Part 1
AUTHOR: Happy Oasis - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Friday, July 06, 2012
Good Tidings, Celestial Terrestrial,
This is Happy Heavenly Oasis, founder and CVO, Chief Visionary Officer, of the Raw Spirit Festival, the world's largest, leading inspirational, and longest-lived inspirational educational raw vegan-eco-music-peace celebration. Alas, I am
able to catch my breath, since following the very sweet Raw Spirit NewYears at the Desert Ridge in Phoenix, Arizona, I opted to let the Raw Spirit Festival hibernate in 2012, to pursue other loves including a profoundly-satisfying
relationship, precious friendships, singing, music, hiking, traveling, art, yoga, inventions, authoring the next book, creating cds, and being in the beloved company of many amazing friends around the world, possibly including you.
After many years of service, I offer this moment to reflect upon it all with you, hopefully answering any outstanding questions you may have regarding not only the absurd, untruthful, unkind, premeditated false allegations which were made to cover up the ignoble behaviors of an over-ambitious employee determined to destroy the Raw Spirit movement via a Rip Off Report, but also an insight into Raw Spirit Festival's remarkable history.
Once in a rare while something so positively transformational is invented, something so unique transpires, that it changes the course of history, and inspires us to change our lives for the better. For the 21st century's raw vegan movement, that monumental shift of a gathering was called the Raw Spirit Festival, which for the first time, expressed educational inspirational ideas from a Higher Source rather than for personal gain since the founder had nothing to gain. She gave up a dreamy lifestyle of being a forest fire lookout during the summers, and in the winters she was a meditation teacher/coordinator at a Buddhist jungle monastery, trekking guide in the Indian Himalayas, a volunteer at
orphanages, refugee camps and snorkeling with marine biologists on tropical islands. The founder rarely spoke at her own events, and rather than any financial gain, the founder lost all of her tens of thousands of invested monies as perhaps the most munificent philanthropist in the raw vegan movement.
After loving living in solitary refinement for more than ten years during six-month Arizona summers on a remote pine-clad mountain top as a fire lookout with the other six months of my years living out of a backpack, primarily coordinating
meditation programs and teaching at ashrams and monasteries in the Orient, the Raw Spirit Festival was conceived while deep in meditation on a mountain top, born out of a vision while deep in meditation, prayer and lovingkindness, for
the betterment of humanity and our one shared earth.
Never before or since has a raw vegan event featured so many stages (nine) simultaneously and been so infused with Spirit, hence the name "Raw Spirit" which in my heart's mind, always has had an emphasis on Spirit, as in the Spirit of Lovingkindness, much more than the secondary Raw aspect. Thousands of loving souls were attracted to Raw Spirit. So much joy! Laughter! Sharing! THANK YOU ALL for your efforts, small and large, seen and unseen, intelligent, innocent, wise, and magnanimous, as the Spirit of Goodness pervaded so many hearts as people felt the possibility of creating a better, more loving, healthy world. That we did!
For those of you who were there at the larger festivals, you may remember the manifestation of my dream's Nine Concurrent Raw Spirit Stages including:
1) The Main Stage featured dynamic presentations and performances revealing the then-mysteries of the power of organic raw vegan food, spiritual blissiplines (quietly infused with meditation, ethics, humor, singing, exercises and/or
affirmations), healthy-living and eco-sustainable solutions, primarily by relatively-enlightened researchers, out-of-the-box physicians, and an eclectic array of intriguing eco-spiritual-poetic-health leaders.
2) Raw Vegan Demo & Tasting Stage focused on educating us how to create delicious nutritious dishes to enable everyone interested in how to prepare meals of this health-giving diet wherever we may be. This stage featured dozens
of the world's leading healthy-living Raw Vegan Chefs, most of whom are authors and/or raw/vegan restauranteurs today.
3) Creative Children's Program attended by hundreds of kids, including funloving parades, a children's chef program, art classes, yoga classes, meditation classes, supervised swimming and hikes along the trails, interactive music
playshops led by performing musicians & presenters, and much more.
4) Inspirational Music Stage's criteria was that an eclectic array of music would inspire friendly interactivity while creating healing, loving, joyous vibrations for the participants who often spontaneously danced and sang along. Singing,
dancing, playing music and creating art are essential aspects of healthy-living that are often overlooked by the medical establishment. We attracted phenomenal musicians. We love you! Thank you for infusing your wisdom, beauty and
playfulness into our essence. For the first time at a raw vegan event, music was a central feature. Amazing artists performing live art, an uplifting spiritual art gallery, and opportunities for children of all ages to paint,
draw and play music were wonderful additions that enhanced the already beautiful ambiances. [The ambiance of a Raw Spirit Festival had to include these aspects of paradise: slightly uneven terrain of rolling hills or mountains, a water feature such as a lake, river or ocean, dappled sunlight due to lovely trees mixed with open meadows, with natural beauty and peace in all directions, yet easy access by a paved road.
5) Sacred Exercise Area or Yoga Beaches featured a moving medley of inspirational yoga teachers, uplifting tai chi guides and an intriguing menu of fun-loving fitness leaders offering unique styles of exercise that were performed usually
on beautiful lawns or cliff sides with extraordinary views.
6) Meditation Area at the edges of forests on the most sublime grassy patches or sandy beaches or rocky promontories with impressive escarpments, were always lovingly placed in the most sacred sites, sometimes in a teepee or dome,
usually beneath a stately tree, with an eclectic array of ongoing guided lovingkindness meditations taught by a variety of wonderful presenters throughout the day.
7) The Sharing Leadership Circle is where up-and-coming leaders would succinctly present a topic for 15 minutes, then lead a discussion for 15 to inspire leaders, meaningful conversations and new friendships.
8) Business Dinners, Job Fairs, Entrepreneurs-Meet-Investors Tables, Open Mike Poetry, Music & Innovative Ideas Opportunities, International Welcoming and Cultural Programs focused on different groups to create a greater sense of
inclusion and diversity such as the Native American program in several teepees during the Prescott Arizona Raw Spirit years, African Outreach, especially on the East Coast, and Mexican-American, Japanese and other language
interpretation/translation programs.
9) Interactive Workshops and Playshops were given a designated area so that participants could communicate and interact while learning, and enjoy a more personal experience in a festival of thousands.
What would inspire someone to do all of this? It's an unimaginable amount of behind-the-scenes
effort! Understatement. Since birth I had serious health issues. Having been raised on serious junk food, as an adult, these health concerns were increasingly and seriously impeding my active, adventurous, joyous, vegetarian,
international way of living, and threatening my very life. When through empirical (personal) experience, I discovered the power of raw vegan foods when it healed my diabetes, arthritis, pneumonia, tuberculosis and chronic fatigue.
Back in the early 90's, raw vegan was such a rare and seemingly-bizarre diet that many of those with whom I enthusiastically shared my marvelous new diet did not support me. Instead, they warned, "You're gonna die by eating only raw fruits and vegetables!" or "It's impossible to sustain yourself that way!" or "That is the craziest diet I've ever heard of!" etc.
Due to it being mysteriously-to-me riddled with disease, my life was at stake, so despite the many warnings, I was not deterred. However, it was a lonesome path. There were no raw food recipe books or restaurants to
my then knowledge. I thrived on eating mostly mono-foods, meaning one food at a time. I would nibble
on a carrot like a rabbit, then eat a cucumber, then an apple. To be fancy I'd eat a few leaves of kale or cabbage filled with avocados, calling them "cabbage boats." I foraged for feral arugula let loose from gardens, including my
own, purslane found in fallow fields, fruits of old abandoned orchards, watercress by streams and dozens of other wild or feral plants. Sometimes I would go several weeks at a time without visiting a grocery store due to the habit of foraging for breakfast and dinner. To my surprise, not only did I survive, but I thrived! My sleep needs went from 10 hours per night to only 4 or 5. My energy and clarity of mind felt phenomenal. I looked a decade younger. I became stronger than ever. Even my unusual athletic abilities were enhanced.
Seven years went blissfully by during more amazing, international, peripatetic peregrinations, slowly backpacking while volunteering my way around the planet. Having decided at an early age that I would not bring children into the world,
due to a belief that the world is seriously overpopulated coupled with aforementioned health conditions that would make motherhood difficult for my children and spouse, I therefore enjoyed a lifelong commitment to volunteering
instead. I had been 100% raw the entire seven years, remarkably, to my astonishment without even a sniffle. This was nothing short of a miracle, because before adopting a raw vegan regime, I had nearly constant colds and clogged
bronchioles throughout my lifetime.
In contrast to my weak immune system, I had always been fit and unusually strong, as an international trekking
guide in the Himalayas and long distance backpacker for 25 years. At the Buddhist Forest Monastery in Thailand where I was the coordinator and meditation teacher, visions began occurring in my heart of helping those with
seemingly unresolvable health issues, just like mine were, rather than merely assisting the spiritual seekers, orphans, refugees and international students learning English who were also my charge.
In 2003, excitement for the Raw Spirit Festival was in the very air. In my heart I knew were going to change the world! Over the next 8 years, we did.
One of my foremost goals was to inspire the creation of raw vegan restaurants in every city in the USA. When the concept of Raw Spirit Festival was founded ten years ago, there were only 3 raw/vegan restaurants in the USA. Today there are approximately 300! In addition, due to international outreach efforts there are now nearly 200 raw-friendly restaurants overseas. Raw Spirit hosted one of the first Raw Vegan Meet Up Groups in the nation, and encouraged hundreds of others to do the same. The result? Today there are thousands.
My main inspiration came from compassion. For years, I learned at Buddhist monasteries how essential it is for us to think like a Bodhisattva, one who sees how to escape a fire, and once safe from the fire, to go back in to help
save others. To me the "fire" was cooked, processed, canned, wrapped, old 'food' combined with a pervasive lack of ethics, especially in the USA. At the monasteries where I abided for many years, we diligently practiced these
precepts: I take the vow to refrain from killing unnecessarily, I take the vow to refrain from taking what is not giving freely, I take the vow to refrain from untrue, harmful or malicious speech or gossip, I take the vow to refrain
from using intoxicants including prescription drugs, tv and shopping, I take the vow to refrain from sexual misconduct. If as a nation we could adopt even a vegetarian diet and revive verbal honesty, generosity instead of theft, and ahimsa (non-violence), America would be heaven on Earth!
My efforts at inspiring people to exercise discipline in thought, speech and action, often went unnoticed or misunderstood. When I would not fight, instead of a being appreciated as a peacemaker, I was seen as a doormat. When I would not gossip back, instead a regarded as a noble friend, I was seen as an easy scapegoat.
When I would not take an employee thief to court, instead of coming to me as a kindly employer with regret, the thief and other employees might have seen me as a daft opportunity and easy target for a free financial ride.
I had hoped that my generosity of spirit would inspire such confused, misled youth to think more deeply about what they had done so that they would change their ways as did many in Asia. However, pragmatic spiritual philosophy did not
interest many in a deep enough way to honestly look within. I was new to this way of thinking
amidst the huge, growing criminal class in the USA, having spent most of my adult life convinced that nearly everyone was akin to those I'd grown accustomed to living with for years ~ noble, honorable, honest, generous,
monks, nuns, sages, parable-tellers, ascetics and so many other holy people living together in the beautiful harmony in gorgeously situated mountain temples of many lands.
Having gratefully enjoyed many years of phenomenal health and wellbeing, my greatest
Raw goal was to make the words "Raw Vegan" common household words.
Thus, if someone had a health issue, as did I, instead of needlessly suffering while searching for decades in health food stores and on book shelves (prior to Googling), they could cleanse on a raw vegan diet to overcome it, the way I and
tens of thousands of others have successfully done.
This completes Part 1 of 4 brought to you by Happy Oasis, Founder of The Raw Spirit Festival. Please continue to Part 2.
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#7 General Comment
RSF IS A JOKE
AUTHOR: Michael - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Monday, April 16, 2012
Also, there is a REASON why this festival once charged over $300 and had over 3000 people show up and now they're begging for a $100 and have a few hundred show up. It's not a coincidence that this happened after this report went public. The person who posted this post was the Vice President of the organization. Now that people know the truth, the light shines the brightest.
This organization is considered a complete joke by any real health advocates and theyre scraping to get by. Greed always gets the best of people and I am glad that the greedy founder Happy Oasis got what she deserved. A collapsed run down broken festival with no money to get by.
Happy Oasis is like Karma and Karma's a b***h.
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#6 UPDATE EX-employee responds
It's true. Raw Spirit Fest is a CON
AUTHOR: Michael - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Monday, April 16, 2012
I cant believe this report is from years ago. Apollo is quite the brave young man to stand up for what is right. Unfortunately, everything he said is 100% true. It is now 2012 and everybody who has ever lived at the Happy Hell Hole has left. Nobody has survived her "sanctuary" including the man Aya who responds to this post. There is a reason he no longer lives there himself. That place has seen more people than a Vegas whorehouse. People show up because of the marketing of fluffy words. But once they're there, they realize that behind her crazy smile is a psychotic money-driven woman who has severe mental issues.
Over 100 people have been tenants at Happy's "retreat" in the last few years, and ALL of them left for a reason!
Do not fall for these fake manufactured rebuttals. They are ALL by 1 or 2 board members who have financially benefited. To me, these are the most evil people on the planet, because they have trained themselves to use language in a way to manipulate people while they're vulnerable. Do not fall for the airy words they use. it's a fraud and its a cover up.
The greatest hope for humanity are people like Apollo who stand up in the face of evil, regardless of the public backlash they initially get. I was one of those people who was MAD at Apollo when he first posted this.. But now, after experiencing everything he's mentioned, I realize how chillingly prophetic his words were and salute this young man. It has taken me a lifetime of experience to gain the same level of courage. And I am no longer afraid of exposing the TRUTH.
Any individual or presenter who supports Raw Spirit Festival is part of the problem, not the solution.
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#5 REBUTTAL Individual responds
More revealing bio background about Happy oasis
AUTHOR: Aya aka J. M. Schiff - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, August 28, 2010
More
Happy Oasis Happy Heavenly Oasis is the Founder and CVO of Raw Spirit Festival As the primary sponsor of the Raw Spirit Festival for which she Founding editor-publisher of Inspiring Times, Happy's prolific A lifelong, gentle-but-persistent, environmental, peace, cultural An inspirational orator at symposiums, retreats, temples, Happy concocted the idea of the Raw Spirit 100 Club in August of Happy, affectionately called 'Heavenly' by close friends, is in a Sincerely &
A Raw Spirit
To all you
Let us join If the some 50
This is OUR call
In the rejoicing |
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#4 Consumer Comment
I Have Known Happy Oasis Well For 20 Years
AUTHOR: Milton Johnson - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Monday, May 17, 2010
Dear Friends,
It's only recently come to my attention that our good Miss Happy Oasis has been misrepresented to those in the raw food healthy living world. I have known Happy well for nearly TWENTY YEARS, since the early 1990's when she was a forest fire lookout, international backpacker, mountaineering guide, hermit, wild ediblist and wilderness poet. Before she founded the Raw Spirit Festival, she lived a natural outdoor life of grace and ease. I must say that she deserves our love and compassion for her daily sacrifices of her time, energy and unlimited enthusiasm for the purpose of spreading the good news about becoming healthier not only in body, but also in spirit. She is the walking embodiment of a person who started out in this life with many illnesses and through self education and much discipline has overcome many sicknesses that would kill most people. It is an Honor for me to know Happy, and I have witnessed first hand her JOY and unbridled LOVE for people. This is Who She Is!!! I have worked and volunteered with the Raw Spirit Festival for many years and stand behind Happy and her vision 110 percent. We all should if we truly wish for a better future and healthier world.
Milton Johnson May 16, 2010
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#3 Consumer Comment
Raw Spirit Rebuttal
AUTHOR: Frank - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Friday, May 14, 2010
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#2 Consumer Comment
Raw Spirit Rebuttal
AUTHOR: Frank - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Friday, May 14, 2010
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#1 General Comment
Rebuttal to "Scam Alert" re: Raw Spirit Festival
AUTHOR: Aya aka J. M. Schiff - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Friday, May 14, 2010
My name is Aya, aka J. M. Schiff, President of the StarWheel Foundation and founder of the School of Sacred Geometry, in Sedona, Arizona. I am a graduate of the Sorbonne University, the Institute of Political Sciences and the School of Oriental Languages, Paris, as well as a former French diplomat in Singapore. I have been on the Board of Directors of the Raw Spirit Festival since its inception, and I am still currently serving on it.
It came to my attention that an ex-board member instigated an internet campaign of loose accusations against the Festival and its founder Ms. Happy Oasis. I am writing here to attest to an entirely different perspective.
I have known Ms. Happy Oasis for seven years, including two years prior to the first Raw Spirit Festival in 2005, when she was a spiritual poet and professional author. All along, it has been my privilege and honor to witness the extraordinary spirit of global service, dedication to the welfare of humanity and commitment to sustainable and natural life styles that has inspired Ms. Oasis let go of her personal career in order to launch, with minimal resources, the first Festival in Sedona, AZ with more and more successful festivals in the following years. This indomitable spirit of compassion for all humans was nurtured during her years of being a traveling anthropologist, visiting and living with indigenous tribes in many remote places on the planet. Everywhere, she was adopted as a beloved sister. Add her personal success story of a self-cure of serious diseases through the raw vegan diet, and today, years later, we have a growing international event called the Raw Spirit Festival, an event that already has made a large global impact by showcasing how to overcome diseases through the natural life style of an organic raw diet, exercise and techniques of consciousness expansion.
I have directly seen how Ms. Oasis has poured her heart, time, energies and all available resources, way beyond any normal call of duty, into making this Festival a fast expanding focus of global eco-peace and healthy, sustainable solutions to the many challenges we are facing. In the process, she has had to face organizational challenges that would have daunted all but the purest pioneer that she is. I can say that her life would have been a lot more simple and easier had she been choosing to pursue a path for her personal benefit or ego-based greed rather than making available to many thousands this unique opportunity for education, health, growth, creative inspiration, and joyful reunion with many kindred souls rediscovering, through the Raw Spirit Festivals, the power of sheer togetherness, the hope of co-creating a better future for our children and the pure spirit of celebrating life.
We live at the extraordinary and exciting times of a collective transformation to a higher order of human consciousness. We are co-creating together an emerging global civilization based on a renewed respect for nature, life and each other. As conscious and responsible humans, we are relearning the power of love, unconditional service, mutual support and forgiveness - all essential evolutionary attributes of the Universal Web of Life. We are progressively replacing the obsolete drive for competition and exploitation with new creative solutions of fair exchange, sustainability and vibrant health. All of these facets of an awakening humanity are highlighted in the Raw Spirit Festivals, a phenomenal school and playground about how we can again live happy lives on this beautiful planet Earth.
I, for one, would come from across the earth just to attend the next Raw Spirit Festival, in Prescott, AZ. I hope to see you there, September 24-26.
Thank you Happy Oasis & Raw Spirit.
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