<b>LUCID DREAMS:</b> This year's festival arrives at a thematic Crossroads, where solutions to present-day woes are addressed through creativity, spirituality, and sustainability.

It is well-known that the Santa Barbara community is made up of many awakened individuals who deeply value art, music, and our collective consciousness. One of the most exciting events of the year for these free-spirited lovers of art and humanity is the Lucidity Festival, held at the Live Oak Campground April 8-10. For those looking for the complete lucid experience, Lucidity now offers a pre-event educational course week at the campground April 4-7. I recently sat down with Jonah Haas, Lucidity cofounder and marketing director, to find out how they create an experience that expresses the purity and joy of the human spirit.

Although Lucidity Festival has four stages and is centered around music, dancing, and having a good party, Haas said that it is unique for multiple reasons. “We are a transformational art and music festival; it’s a different genre of festival than your standard music festival,” he explained. “We have immersive art environments, art instillations, art galleries, and we have hundreds of workshops on-site that are designed to help people in their personal growth and healing.”

This year’s musical roster, which Keller Williams headlines, boasts more than 100 musicians alone. Add another bucket of fine artists and healers, and what you have is a truly impressive manifestation right in our backyard. Haas stressed that the festival carries a more profound intention for the planet, which revolves around being aware rather than desensitized. “We have workshops on permaculture, lucid dreaming, reiki healing, art and creativity, movement arts, and martial arts. The other thing that is distinct is that our intentions are to show what is possible in the realms of event sustainability and environmental responsibility,” he continued. “Last year we diverted 96 percent of the waste produced on-site away from landfills through recycling and composting.”

Lucidity has the resources to bring together some of the best healers and teachers in the world, and to also have a variety of top-notch courses all in one place — it seems almost too good to be true. Haas elaborated, “The Lucid University is our response to this year’s theme, which is Crossroads … it’s about the present moment and seeing the challenges the earth is facing right now and arriving with solutions. In alignment with that theme, we thought that hosting a course week with intensive trainings for students to delve deep into subjects that enhance their capacity to do good in the world would be a good idea.”

The festival concept came to Haas in a lucid dream four years ago, he said, and it is an eerily accurate portrayal of the world we’re facing today, as evidenced in the political race, economic instability, and the war in the Middle East. “Crossroads is the place between worlds,” reads the website. “It is a limbo zone where many of us are confronted by Shadow and a great fear of the unknown. This dark night of the collective soul represents our final push through the oppressive powers of mind control and socioeconomic domination.”

Of course there is always turmoil in the world, but presently it seems impossible to scroll through social media feeds without seeing someone combating the toxicity of the global news. Haas agreed: “It came through in a dream, that we should tell this larger story that speaks to people at a mythic level … and it’s been magical how the story reflects in our lived experiences.”

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For tickets and more information about the Lucidity Festival and its pre-event coursework, see 2016.lucidityfestival.com.

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