There was no shortage of magic and good vibrations running amok at Beloved Festival in Tidewater, Oregon last weekend. From our talks with Beloved's festies below, it's clear that those vibes permeated everyone deep down to their cores. Enjoy meeting our new friends.

"I've been observing my relationship to people when I feel like I want to connect. A lot time connection can be driven by a desire to 'get' something from the other, or to 'be seen'. I'm focusing on containing my energy and honoring other people by not needing anything from them, not mixing my energy, while allowing myself to experience excitement and connection within. This is a great way to experience a profound life moment without leaving part of myself behind."

"The truth is you can stand in your own power and recognize that everything you’re attracted to in another is actually a reflection of something you can cultivate internally. You don’t actually need any allies, everything you need is already within you.”

“I experienced magic this weekend. I felt it. I bathed in it. I breathed it. Most importantly, I learned from it. I wondered and I wandered. I recognized people I knew in the faces of strangers I never met. I laughed from a familiar place within me that I neglected for so long that it almost felt foreign. I drank in the sunset at Mt. Shasta. I laid in a hammock drinking coconut masala chai, staring at the trees. I took off my shoes and danced in the forest under a canopy of redwood trees in Oregon. I lost track of time. My heart expanded. I confronted my own painful truths. I healed. In a society where it is exhausting to be black and to be a woman, I discovered what it meant to feel liberated. As a people, we are still held captive in so many ways, but I was rejuvenated this weekend and reminded that the most organic freedom we can ever experience is rooted in self. No person can ever own our spirit. There is power in that.”

“I’m entering my 29th year in just a couple weeks with a renewed sense of purpose, vision, and confidence in the work God designed me to do on this earth. Allow me to reintroduce myself: My name is Alysha Iceola English. I carry my great grandmother's name. I'm a creator. I'm a writer. I'm a performer. I'm a dreamer. I'm a hard worker. I'm a lover. I'm a fighter. I'm strong. I'm forgiving. I'm loyal. I'm a teacher. I'm prideful. I'm ambitious. I'm a giver. I'm a woman. I'm unapologetic. I believe in God and a universe bigger than any of us will ever understand. I will see the world. I will impact the world. These are my truths. I got my balance back. I'm focused and back in my zone. Now it's time to do the work.”

“This is my first festival like this. I trekked here from San Diego. I’ve been to Lighting In a Bottle but this is way better.”

“I love the nature, and the geography. I love being in the landscape of the trees and forest. And the people…everyone has a really uplifting presence.”

“I trying to help men and women come into great relationship with their sexuality. To help them activate the sexual energy in their body and connect it with their passion and purpose, and then integrate that with their heart so they can be that juicy, badass, activated being in the world.”

“What are the blocks you encounter when working with people?”
“People have a lot of sexual shame. Men in particular. They don’t wanna be that guy, but they go too far and shut down their sexual energy altogether, or it’s not something they’ve cultivated in themselves. I do a lot of hands on work getting into how you bring that energy into your body, wrestle and play, while still respecting boundaries. Once that energy is active it’s attuning it with the heart.”

“You two wanna take a picture?”
“Sure! Oh man, that’s awesome. Will you send it to me? I’ll give you my number.”
“Of course.”
“You know, I heard that’s how guys get girls' numbers. They take a picture and then say they’ll send it to the girl.”
“That’s definitely the reason I became a photographer.”

“I was just talking about transmuting negative energy into positive energy the way bees do and right then a bee landed on the jewel on my third eye and stayed there for almost a whole minute!"

“No matter how many times you experience magic…it never gets old.”

“The bird lady during Rob Garza’s set was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Everything was white feathers, white feather headdress, 20-foot wings. The way she moved on the stage…she was a bird!”

“I realized I don’t need to be working out all the time. I can gain some pounds and it’s okay. I teach yoga for a living and there’s all this pressure on women to be thin…I feed into that by not accepting that my body wants to be bigger.”
“What was it that made you realize that?”
“I smoked a little pot and I started to feel tired. I started to notice a tingling in my fingers and toes. I was high so I could feel my whole body really intensely and I had this thought, ‘I’m so used to having this tingly thing that I don’t even acknowledge that it’s not normal. I think it’s because I work out too much. I normally work out two hours a day, and for what? To be skinny? Fuck that.”

“My festival’s been really good. Sleep a lot last night, showered, did my yoga practice. I’m feeling really grounded. I’m on my way to a workshop about creating a five-year plan.”
“I would imagine you have a five-year plan already.”
“I probably do but I’m interested to focus my energy here and see what comes up.”

“Do you have any specific intentions for your time here?”
“Yeah, I wanted to more deeply connect with the community we live around in Sebastopol and a bunch of the people we’re friends with in that area came to the festival. Last night we came to the tea place and huddled up and spent time together. My other intention was about the inner Beloved, and cultivating that. I’m focusing on being in my own practice, enjoying the festival but not rushing anywhere or feeling like I’m missing out on anything.”

“I came here because I really wanted to celebrate love. It was a really strange journey to get here. We drove nine days from Wisconsin. There are so many synchronicities everywhere. There are no coincidences.”

“Is there one specific thing that was particularly mind-blowing for you?”
“Seeing the ocean for the first time! It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen. It made me feel so humble, not insignificant, just humbled. That was really nice. It was kinda like…looking out into the unfathomable.”

“What’s a highlight of the festival for you?”
“All the music Saturday night. All the dancing. The Silly-mony had me rolling, cracking up so hard.”

“Have you had any epiphanies?”
“There’s been a lot of powerful shifts I’ve been going through and integrating. Stuff that I’ve already been working on but its been solidifying. Centering in my heart and focusing on the positive. Not leaking energy on stuff that doesn’t make me feel good. That doesn’t need my attention, focus, verbalization, or thought.”

“What was your favorite part of the festival?”
“It was everything. You can’t even put it into words or break off a part of it.”