Guardians
Jerry Riverstone (Spiral Walker)
Core Team
Jerry is a walker of spirals, a guide, mentor, and ecosomatic explorer. He has been accompanying groups and individuals on their paths of inner development for over 15 years, and is a trained Wild Mind facilitator through the Animas Valley Institute. In recent years he has been apprenticing in embodied imaginal practices — accessing overlooked natural capacities within us for healing, wholeness, and living a soulful life. In prior chapters he worked on native land rights issues in Latin America for a decade, and helped organize a pilgrimage along the full length of Hudson River.
At Forest and Village you can expect to find him somewhere between the central hearth and the feral edges, listening for wood warblers at dawn, and dream-tending over breakfast; gazing intently into mica or mossy mountain brooks at odd hours; holding council or vigil in the flickering firelight, and inviting deep contemplation of our place in the Milky Way well into the night.
He’s following a calling to cocreate new evolutionary vehicles with fellow travelers, and weave ourselves back into the sacred web. In a time when much is unraveling, falling more deeply and wildly in love with Life and Mystery is a radical practice.
Anthony Buruca
Core Team
Inspired by the radiant life force of the Sun, Anthony is dedicated to nurturing the sacred masculine energy on our planet. He works closely with men to foster their empowerment, support women, and protect all that he holds sacred. As the founder of SolRise, an organization devoted to creating safe, accessible and intentional spaces for men, Anthony facilitates opportunities for individuals to reconnect with the living world, learn from nature-based masculine role models, and find solidarity with one another.
In addition to his focus on men’s work, Anthony actively protects land and animal kin as a volunteer for the Nature Conservancy and supports several initiatives aimed at alleviating the suffering and cruelty faced by animals. Walking the path of the beauty way, he honors his lineage as the son of a Salvadoran refugee, expressing deep gratitude for the sacred gift of living out his ancestors’ dreams.
Rooted in Western New Hampshire, Anthony tends to Abenaki land with his love Kiely and black cat familiar, Murrlynn. Together, they celebrate the interconnectedness of all beings and strive to create a harmonious relationship with nature.
Learn more about Anthony and SolRise here: SolRiseMen.com
Nick Thorndike
Core Team
Nick is an extreme, adventure loving, rabbit hole diving, builder of whimsical dreams, and a Dad. After a profound awakening to the deeper magic of our reality, he moved back to his family land and became the founder of Sacred Nectar Sanctuary. A 290 acre plot of undeniable beauty in Sandwich, NH. A place to connect with nature and share our gifts to create “the better world our hearts know is possible.” He runs a campground and can be found outside almost any time building and tending to the land.
His desire to build meaningful community is fulfilled through his passion of up-cycle building and local consumption to minimize our footprint as a more sustainable human. This path has lead his journey on a synchronistic destiny which manifested the Forest and Village and Men’s Pilgrimage community of light warriors to this land of new. Here we will begin to discover what it means to be human on a more harmonious path in line with the knowing of nature.
Nick will be here as a steward of the land with confidence in the wild to provide a space of our own unfolding. As well as a participant to the magic, Nick is a brother awaiting for us all to step into the unknown and leave the forest as greater men than the ones who entered.
Mitchel Doherty
Core Team
“What’s alive for me is this great dance of life, love, the baby… I feel I am relying on what’s inside me and the dedication of everyone. In my dedicated times I always show up in a big way. I am an in-person person. I show up best when I’m submerged and immersed.” Pilgrimage roles include: tending the sacred fire, leading the Dance Meditation Technique, and showing up for the boys. Lead tarpologist.
Mason Epstein-Cohen
Core Team
Mason is a canvas of connection, both a blank slate and a painting, being made of the brushstrokes of his community, and his relations to morethanhuman world. Context on Mason’s story in relation to this emergent Village, is, of being one of the founding men who began dreaming and creating the first Men’s Pilgrimage a few years back in New Hampshire with this brotherhood. He’s been apprenticing to the land of the northeast, and specifically the land of Sacred Nectar Sanctuary, and this community for about 5 years now. It’s with a full heart he calls this land and community his home. He loves practicing, and hopes to share with others, following the flow of wild landscapes, being intuitively guided through the subtleties of Gaia and her many forms, elements, and movements. This has often lead him to profound encounters, sometimes as simple as meeting a glint of sunlight resting in a dewdrop in a moment of awe, meeting a turtle in reverent silence, or coming directly to medicine being offered from the land, for the community.
Gliding on the person-level, Mason is in his mid-twenties, does a variety of work ranging from carpentry, landscaping/land-work, House and Animal sitting, to cooking as chef, amongst other things. He’s passionate about meditation, self-enquiry, storytelling, and engaging in practices related to myth and imagination.
His intention in being a member of the Village of Men is to deepen his roots in soulful community, continue learning how to navigate the messy aspects of being human, while being of service in authentic ways, having fun, and evolving in wholeness, alongside other conscious and compassionate men. He’s believes this work is making a difference in the world and is an offering for the coming generations. And lastly, Mason is excited to redefine and rediscover healthy masculine life ways with everyone coming to “The Men’s Village.”
The photo is Mason (L), after a Vision Quest with Sky Otter (R).
Satya Moses
Satya Moses is an artist, writer, and storyteller. He grew up in the shadow of Mount Monadnock and travelled extensively in his teens and twenties, driven by an insatiable curiosity and love for the many realities of humanity. He has worked with children and teenagers in outdoor settings through organizations such as Vermont Wilderness School, Forest School Camps (UK), and Boys Sacred Fire Initiation (an adolescent rite of passage). More of his artwork and writing can be seen here: https://satyamoses.com/ or https://sacrificetheworld.substack.com/
James Bird
James is a poet/musician/bard local to Western MA. A live musician at heart, he has shared music in a diversity of spaces like festivals, farmer’s markets, funerals, wedding ceremonies, ecstatic dances and grief rituals. Myth is a central theme in Bird’s music, using ancient stories to speak to the timeless human experiences of love, loss, friendship, mystery, death and rebirth.
Jacob Lewis
Boys’ Guide Team Coordinator
Jacob Lewis has guided people on transformative educational experiences for 13 years. After working as an outdoor educator and summer camp leader for 6 years, Jacob founded Gap at Glen Brook, a gap semester program that empowers young adults to create sustainable lives and resilient communities. He has designed adventure learning programs for schools, camps, and for adults since 2015, as well as staff trainings for summer camps and experiential programming. He combines that “dirt time” with a deep study of the human psyche, a playful spirit, and a reverence for participation.
A trained actor, transformational facilitator, outdoor leadership educator, and mythseeker, Jacob has found his true home in the world as a storyteller. His heart and vulnerability are always on display making the unfamiliar seem eerily familiar and the jump from wonder to personal reflection easy to make. Studying with Stephen Jenkinson at the Orphan Wisdom School and training with Dr. Martin Shaw’s School of Myth, Jacob learned the art and form of myth-telling, and to hear him spin a yarn brings the listener to a place of both wild exploration and quiet introspection. Jacob lives into his storytelling so thoroughly that, in the spirit of A.A. Milne, he has created a storied world of his two sons’ beloved stuffed animals where wonderment and small life lessons abound. They love it there.
Andrew Harvey (Rise)
Rise has been involved in men’s work for 20+ years and facilitates men’s programs in Massachusetts and New York. After launching two children as a single dad, Rise’s life focus shifted in 2018 following a vision quest in the Gila Wilderness. He completed his 200-hour yoga teacher certification in 2020, discovered the tantric connection between spirituality and sensuality in 2022, and subsequently retired from his information security career in 2023. Rise thrives with somatic and energy work. He is trained in Holotropic Breathwork and Shalom Process facilitation, psychodrama, non-violent communication, co-counciling, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Reiki. He moves with 5Rhythms and Biodanza. He is a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, a graduate from the University of Connecticut and currently resides in the Pioneer Valley area of Massachusetts.
Jeff Kidman
In 1994 Jeff Kidman started with a Men’s group that became an organization called Mentor Discover Inspire. This group focuses on supporting adult men to become the best version of themselves. Jeff has been an active member of Mankind Project since 2014. Mankind Project supports men to be emotionally mature and purpose driven men. Through these groups Jeff has experience as a small group and weekend event leader and facilitator. With the support and training from these groups Jeff has been able to continue his leadership in Mentoring to Manhood, a non profit focused on young men aged 13 to 17 which is currently in two schools in central Mass. Jeff has been working with Mentoring to Manhood New England since 2008 and is currently their event leader.
Jeff holds a degree from Ithaca College in Film Production and has been in the entertainment industry his whole career. He grew up in Needham, MA and currently lives in Milford, MA. Jeff met his wife Laura through an associated Women’s group and has been married to her since 1997. Jeff has a 27 year old son and a 24 year old daughter.
Shivanga
Shivanga is a student of the great mystery and is an avid explorer of how it reveals itself ever so beautifully and beatifically. After studying with a kriya yoga master from India for a decade, he expanded his study with indigenous wisdom keepers from Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica and Gabon. He is a father to a 9 year old and a new born son, raising them in western MA with his cosmic mirror. Shivanga is passionate about protecting young boys from the perils of the digital jungle and is working on an offering to guide them through this space with clarity and knowing. He is called to be in service to the divine feminine and seeks to continually sharpen his sword through his committed daily practices connecting him to source.
Joe LeVasseur (Ghost Fox)
Joe GhostFox LeVasseur is a husband, a father, a brother, a mystic, a Druid Eldar and a spiritual guide. Having confronted death multiple times. He is deeply dedicated to helping others fully engage with their own lives in all dimensions. This often begins by traveling inward to confront difficult inner truths but also involves embracing the beauty of their own true inner spirit. GhostFox serves others in navigating this challenging task as well as embracing their inner spirits in their everyday lives. He has trainings in depth psychology, tantra, shadow work, Druidry, shamanic journeywork, theurgy, mysticism, and men’s work.
Bobby Dolan
Bobby is an educator, scientist, musician, and dancer whose mission is to help people find their brilliance. In his work in education, he focuses on making learning accessible, engaging, and meaningful for a wide range of learners, including neurodiverse individuals and those with disabilities.
Bobby has been leading outdoor and wilderness trips since high school, and brings a lived understanding of the power of the natural world to teach, challenge, and heal in an age of “nature deficit disorder.” He helped establish the Boys to Men New England program in 2008, and is honored to continue creating spaces where youth can grow in confidence, connection, courage, and self-knowledge. He is the father of two amazing young adults now out in the world, and lives in a wicked old farmhouse in Western Massachusetts.
Graham Hanuman Taber
A father, wood worker and Sanātan Dharmi, I grew up in the mountains and forests of western Maine and now live on Deer Isle on the coast. I have always felt at home in the wild—cliff jumping and whitewater swimming the rapids along the Sandy and the Swift, backpacking through Mahoosic and Grafton notch, swimming in the icy pond atop Tumbledown mountain. My heart has always found peace walking amongst trees, scaling along a rocky coast or listening to the rush of a waterfall.
I came to men’s work through Robert Bly and The Great Mother-New Father Conference of the Mytho-poetic Imagination. From there I was tossed into a spiritual current, carrying me to sing and dance with Sufis, chant Kirtan with Bhakti Yogis, study biodynamic farming, apprentice with a master cheese maker and eventually settle down as a householder. Currently, I provide mentorship through my carpentry business, I am studying and training for my Maine Guide licence and do my best to study Sanskrit grammar, Vedic philosophy and scripture in the short windows of time between work and family life. I serve the Great Spirit through serving my family and community and I live to be humbled. Tat-hāstu.
Merle Russell
Hello my name is Merle Russell and I am a carpenter a farmer and a father. I live in Vermont and have three sons, my youngest is ten and lives in the house while the others are grown up and living their own lives.
I have been involved in The Mankind Project for going on four years now and meet on zoom every week to do deep men’s work. Mainly focused on how to listen and support other men. Before that I was involved in a local men’s hike where we walk a talk about the men specific issues and how to be a community. We also did fire ceremonies and sweat lodges together.
Fathering three boys has taught me a lot about what I got wrong and shown me where my shadow lies. I’m have grown so much in the last ten years and will continue chiseling away the harder edges of myself until I pass away better and far from finished. I am intimately familiar with anger and have danced with triumphing over it for twenty plus years. It is my teacher and my master. I bring a deep understanding of not only what anger is but what it covers up and what befriending it can cost. My intention is to help young men learn how to express anger in a healthy way and to share how it has taken things from me.
I also feel called to help them uncover what is underneath anger, sadness and pain. I would like to share that vulnerability is not only good but necessary in order to be a healthy man. I’d like to give them the tools to express their vulnerability as well as the space to do so. I am not perfect by any means and I’m glad to be held by other heart centered men who truly care about the future of men and what they can be. We want to together create healthier relationships and habits that can ultimately spread into the world and give hope to these dark times. So I will give what I’m able and be a small part in a larger dream of one day years from now there can be a society filled with healthy men. Thank you for helping us dream this together.
Patrick Morency
Patrick is a multidimensional facilitator of men’s work, communication and connection practices, somatic bodywork, and vibrational sound healing. He’s studied trauma-informed somatic bodywork at the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork in Kauai, craniosacral therapy with the School of Inner Healing in Denver and Fluid Healing in Tucson, somatic psychology at Naropa University in Boulder, and Relatefulness in Austin. He’s a NARM Therapist with advanced training in the NeuroAffective Relational Model and spent 3 years as a training assistant for the NARM Institute. He also interned with the Naropa Center for Psychedelic Studies. Patrick holds a degree in Wind and Solar Technology and carries a vision for bioregional regenerative futures. In his free time he enjoys reading books, playing basketball, and building things.
villagekeepers@forestandvillage.org
