Other Festivals Connecting Rainbow, Bhakti, Gaiafest and Raven’s Knoll
Our previous research mapped relationships between the Ontario Rainbow Family environment, Eric Mandala, Bhakti in the Woods, Bhakti Bliss, Raven’s Knoll and KN¿WHERE.
But there was an obvious next question:
What happens if we stop looking only at those events and search for these same people across other festivals?
That changes the picture considerably.
Instead of one straight chain of relationships, we begin seeing several overlapping festival circuits.
And one festival in particular becomes much more important:
Gaiafest.
How I Am Classifying the Connections
For this comparison, I am using four basic categories.
- Confirmed: A reliable public festival listing, program, biography or event announcement identifies the person.
- Repeated: The person appears repeatedly or across multiple years.
- Organizer or leadership connection: Public material identifies the person as helping organize, establish or lead the event.
- Unknown: I have not yet found sufficient public evidence to establish the connection.
Importantly, unknown does not mean absent.
It simply means that I do not currently have enough evidence to responsibly mark the connection as confirmed.
The Expanded Festival Matrix
| Person | Rainbow | Paganfest / Harvest | Bhakti in the Woods | Peterborough Yoga | City of Om / 24Hr | Eclipse | Gaiafest | Rooted Wellness | Bhakti Bliss | Ozora | KN¿WHERE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Mandala | Repeated | Repeated | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Confirmed | Repeated | Unknown | Repeated | Confirmed | Unknown |
| Rebecca White Raven | Unknown | Unknown | Organizer / Repeated | Confirmed | Confirmed | Unknown | Confirmed | Confirmed | Organizer / Repeated | Unknown | Unknown |
| Kevin Guerette | Unknown | Unknown | Confirmed / Repeated | Confirmed | Unknown | Unknown | Confirmed | Confirmed | Repeated | Unknown | Unknown |
| Justine Hoang / Anjali Om | Unknown | Unknown | Confirmed | Confirmed | Confirmed / Repeated | Unknown | Confirmed | Confirmed | Repeated | Unknown | Unknown |
| Andrew Sass | Unknown | Unknown | Confirmed | Possible | Unknown | Unknown | Confirmed | Unknown | Repeated | Unknown | Unknown |
Gaiafest Becomes a Major Network Node
This may be the strongest finding produced by expanding the investigation.
Eric Mandala appears repeatedly at Gaiafest.
But Gaiafest is not simply another festival where Eric happens to perform.
Public festival material also places Rebecca White Raven, Justine Hoang and Andrew Sass within Gaiafest programming.
Rebecca and Kevin Guerette have also appeared there through their chanting and kirtan work.
That gives us something much more significant:
ERIC
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REBECCA -------- GAIAFEST -------- JUSTINE
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KEVIN ANDREW
This matters because these people also appear within the Bhakti network.
Gaiafest therefore represents an independent festival where several members of the same social network reappear together.
That is stronger evidence of an informal community network than finding one person appearing at several unrelated events.
Peterborough Yoga Festival Creates Another Cluster
Rebecca White Raven and Kevin Guerette have publicly identified Peterborough Yoga Festival among the festivals where they have led kirtan.
Justine Hoang also appears in Peterborough Yoga Festival material.
That creates another intersection:
Rebecca ---------+ Kevin ------------+---- Peterborough Yoga Festival Justine ----------+
Again, this is important because Peterborough Yoga Festival is neither Bhakti Bliss nor Gaiafest.
We are seeing members of the same regional community repeatedly appearing within independently branded events.
Rooted in Wellness Shows the Same Pattern
Rooted in Wellness Festival material also identifies members of this network.
Justine Hoang appears offering kirtan.
Rebecca White Raven appears through sound and wellness programming.
Rebecca and Kevin have also identified Rooted in Wellness among the festivals where they have led kirtan.
Rebecca ---------+ Kevin ------------+---- Rooted in Wellness Justine ----------+
This reinforces the possibility that we are looking at a recognizable Ottawa–Gatineau yoga, kirtan, wellness and alternative spirituality festival circuit.
That does not mean these festivals are controlled by the same organization.
It means they repeatedly draw participants, facilitators and performers from the same regional social network.
City of Om Pushes the Network Further Back
The connections also predate Bhakti Bliss.
Rebecca White Raven was publicly appearing at Ottawa’s City of Om by 2018.
Justine Hoang also appears within City of Om programming.
Justine has additionally participated in 24Hr Yogapalooza and related Ottawa yoga activities.
This tells us something important about the timeline.
The network did not originate with Bhakti Bliss in 2023.
Several of the people who would later appear together at Bhakti Bliss were already circulating through Ottawa-area yoga, devotional music and wellness events years earlier.
Andrew Sass Becomes Easier to Place
Andrew Sass remains a person for whom careful identification is particularly important.
His Bhakti Bliss involvement is strongly documented.
He has appeared in partner yoga with Justine Hoang, songwriting programming and musical performances involving the OMBuds.
Public material also connects Andrew Sass with the earlier Bhakti in the Woods community.
Gaiafest provides another confirmed festival environment in which Andrew appears.
His presently supportable network therefore resembles:
Bhakti in the Woods
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v
Andrew Sass
/ \
/ \
OMBuds Gaiafest
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\
Bhakti Bliss
I would still treat Peterborough Yoga Festival as a weaker Andrew connection until clearer documentation is located.
It is important not to upgrade a possible connection simply because it would make the network diagram look cleaner.
Eric Mandala Occupies a Different Network Position
The expanded matrix makes something else much clearer.
Rebecca, Kevin, Justine and Andrew are heavily concentrated within a regional yoga, kirtan, Bhakti and wellness network.
Eric Mandala enters that environment as well.
But his documented activities extend considerably farther outside it.
Paganfest
Eric Mandala and Zu Zen have appeared within Ontario Paganfest programming.
This provides a direct connection between Eric’s musical and spiritual work and Ontario Pagan festival culture.
Harvest Festival
Eric also appears within surviving programming associated with Wiccan Harvest Fest.
Again, that places him within a Pagan festival environment independent of Bhakti Bliss.
Eclipse Festival
Eclipse Festival provides another important bridge.
Its 2022 artist material includes Eric Mandala, Zu Zen and The Rainbow Tribe.
This moves Eric directly into a psychedelic, transformational and electronic festival environment.
Gaiafest
Eric then intersects with the Ottawa–Gatineau Bhakti and wellness network at Gaiafest.
Ozora
His network reaches internationally as well.
The official OZORA Festival program has listed an Eric Mandala ecstatic dance and chakra balancing experience.
This places him within one of the better-known international transformational and psychedelic festival environments.
Eric’s Network Looks Different
Ontario Rainbow
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ERIC MANDALA
/ | | \
/ | | \
Pagan Bhakti Gaia Eclipse
Fest Bliss Fest |
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psychedelic /
electronic festival
culture
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Ozora
This is a strong example of what Organizational Behaviour and social network theory describe as boundary spanning.
A boundary spanner moves between communities that are related but not identical.
They can carry:
- relationships;
- ideas;
- music;
- ritual practices;
- organizational knowledge;
- contacts;
- reputations;
- and opportunities.
Eric therefore appears to occupy a different network position than many of the other people we have been examining.
Two Networks Are Becoming Visible
The expanded investigation suggests that we can now distinguish at least two overlapping networks.
Network One: Ottawa–Gatineau Bhakti and Wellness
Rebecca White Raven
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Kevin Guerette
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Justine Hoang
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Andrew Sass
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OMBuds
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+---- Bhakti in the Woods
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+---- Peterborough Yoga Festival
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+---- City of Om
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+---- Rooted in Wellness
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+---- Gaiafest
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+---- Bhakti Bliss
The exact connections vary from person to person.
But the repeated clustering is becoming increasingly apparent.
This looks less like random festival appearances and more like a recognizable regional community of performers, teachers and facilitators.
Network Two: The Eric Mandala Boundary-Spanning Network
Rainbow | Pagan community | Eric Mandala | +---- Paganfest | +---- Harvest Fest | +---- Bhakti Bliss | +---- Gaiafest | +---- Eclipse Festival | +---- Ozora
These two networks intersect most visibly at Bhakti Bliss and Gaiafest.
That is considerably stronger than simply saying that Eric knows people involved with Bhakti.
Now Let’s Put the Two Networks Together
RAINBOW
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ERIC MANDALA
/ | \
/ | \
PAGANFEST ECLIPSE OZORA
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GAIAFEST
/ | \
/ | \
REBECCA JUSTINE ANDREW
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KEVIN OMBuds ---+
\ /
\ /
BHAKTI IN THE WOODS
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v
BHAKTI BLISS
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v
RAVEN'S KNOLL
^
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KN¿WHERE
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v
DNR / EDM