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FAQ / It Happened in Woodstock (IH/W)

1. Image of Pan on the book cover—Pan is a Greek demigod of fertility and nature, said to have the ear of the “major” gods and known to act as a messenger between them and the minds of humans. D.H. Lawrence is quoted in IH/W as saying “…still in America, among the Indians the oldest Pan is alive….” Pan has been adopted in Woodstock, New York as resident spirit and muse.

2. Manitou—The Mohican Indians felt that their Indian god resided on Overlook Mountain. They noticed that the pull of the mountain exerted a drag upon their footsteps and they were careful to give it a wide berth unless they were prepared for a long stay. People often come to Woodstock for a weekend and then find themselves staying a month or longer before finally tearing themselves away.

3. Turtles—Indian lore states that Manitou sent down from the sky the first woman in the shape of a tortoise. To the Algonquins, another New York-based Native American tribe, the turtle is a symbol of the planet earth. Nelle Thornton Jones Blelock (one of It Happened in Woodstock's authors) called turtles “the foot soldiers of the blue ray.”

4. Blue ray—Be aware of the cobalt blue ray that streams through the book. The blue ray corresponds to the fifth chakra, or the throat. It facilitates a link between the cosmic plane of perfect ideas and our conscious, creative mind. According to Anita M. Smith, “the Indians called the mountains [hereabouts] the Onti-oras which means 'mountains of the sky,' although they also referred to them as the Blue Mountains because the forests of enormous hemlock trees colored the hills….”

5. Anita Miller Smith—(1893-1968) Miss Smith wrote the first official history of Woodstock in 1959. It was called Woodstock History and Hearsay. IH/W (It Happened in Woodstock) is based upon this prior work and was first published in 1972.

6. Reverse lithography—The process of printing in which ink covers the white page so the text appears “white.” Frederick R. Rinehart, publisher, said of IH/W “It is most unusual and stunning in format. I don't think I've ever seen so successful a use of reverse lithography.”

7. Piscean/Aquarian—In 2001 the planet moved into the astrological Age of Aquarius. We are transiting from an age of self-fixation to one of brotherhood, from consumerism to eco-consciousness via light energy, and from self-consciousness to pan-consciousness.

8. Festivals —These have long been associated with planting and harvesting crops. Others have religious significance—such as Mardi Gras, which is celebrated before Lent. In 1915 the first Woodstock music festival was held on the Maverick. The festival tradition in Woodstock has continued to the present day and includes the famous Woodstock Festival of 1969.

9. 1902-2002, Centennial Celebration—Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead together with Hervey White and Bolton Brown founded a utopian art colony at Byrdcliffe in Woodstock based on the teachings of John Ruskin and William Morris. 2002 was the centenary celebration of this event. In its heyday, the colony attracted a number of renowned painters such as George Bellows, Birge Harrison, Henry Lee McFee, Lucile Blanch and Anita Smith.

10. John Ruskin—(1819-1900) The English author and critic was considered the first environmentalist. In his book, Modern Painters, he essayed that art as a principle was based on national and individual integrity and morality. In the mid-1860s he attacked the underlying foundations of the English merchant classes, saying that modern art mirrored the ugliness and ungainliness of modern industry when taken as a basis of contemporary life.

11. William Morris—(1834-96) English artist, writer, painter and socialist. Inspired by John Ruskin. Worked with Edward Burne-Jones to invoke high ideals of medieval designer-craftsmen in a series of arts and crafts ventures. Morris sought to shift workers out of numbing factory jobs into uplifting crafts where a healthy mind, body and spirit could be achieved.

12. Arnold Toynbee—(1889-1975) This English historian, like Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, was inspired by John Ruskin. He was a professor of the Greek language and history. He is best known for A Study of History in which he chronicled the rise and fall of 22 civilizations. According to his law of progressive simplification, a “measure of a civilization's growth is its ability to shift energy and attention from the material side to the spiritual and aesthetic and cultural and artistic side.” This thesis is cited by Duane Elgin in his book, Voluntary Simplicity, and the Byrdcliffe colony in Woodstock provides a working example.

13. Cultural Creatives—Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson co-wrote their pioneering study, The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World. This book captures the shift away from the Modern Age to a time of living more lightly on the land. Through actual examples it pinpoints how the transformation is taking place. To find out if you are a Cultural Creative, visit their website at www.culturalcreatives.org.

14. Woodstock Nation—The concept of the “Woodstock Nation” was popularized at the time of the Woodstock Festival of 1969. Baby Boomers who came of age in this era were seeded with the idea that community spirit can avert disasters, as it did at the Festival of '69. This energy can be tapped as we begin our journey into the future. As the world leaves the Piscean age there is a need for new planetary stories to bring about reconciliation between history and herstory. The account of the Woodstock Nation—which really began with Turtle Woman, then proceeded through farmers' encounters with witches...which included the founding of the utopian artists colony at Byrdcliffe...and then culminated with the Woodstock Festival of 1969—is one such story.

15. Spiritualist Association of Great Britain (SAGB)—In 1970 to 1971 the Blelocks (authors of IH/W) attended numerous lectures and classes in conjunction with drafting the book. Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, the Byrdcliffe Colony's co-founder, was originally from the UK and was an early sponsor of the SAGB.

16. Time warp—The Catskills are a place of mystery and spiritual high jinks-similar to the Bermuda Triangle, where two dimensions intersect. This has led to such episodes as the legendary “sleep” of Rip Van Winkle. Woodstock is a chakra or vortex for the blue ray and as a result, intelligence can be piped through from other dimensions and disseminated outward to the world.

17. Critical review—It Happened in Woodstock was never submitted for a formal book review. Its publishers felt that it should resonate (or not) with each individual buyer, uninfluenced by “critical review.” The book was certainly promoted, however, in many different venues, and during the 1970s was used in a number of different educational and cultural initiatives. Then it was withdrawn from the market; only now is it being re-launched in concert with the activation of the blue ray.

18. Removable rivets—It Happened in Woodstock features two such rivets. These are provided to enable readers to handle the book as an art folio, and to help activate the blue ray. Pages may be removed and returned to the book using these rivets.

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