By Veera Neva

I am deeply grateful that I was able to experience the unique spirit of the Ancient Week for two years. In both years (2025 and 2026) I was involved as a musician in both concerts and ancient excursions. An interesting diversity of wonderful Finnish and international artists from a wide range of backgrounds created a complete magic together with music and nature. I felt like I was being pulled into Heinävesi from the so-called vertical forest – I didn’t know anyone, nor the whole place before, but pretty soon I felt like I was among my own.

Beautiful connections to people, sounds, nature and ancient sites. As if some wordless soul space, a shared dimension of spirit had opened up between us. The layers and mycelium of connection glowed and pulsed, creating bridges between us, between the past and the present – ​​overlapping into a space where creativity, play and friendship could breathe freely.

Each of the ancient sites spoke to me in its own way. At several sites, I felt very strong currents. The deep, pulsating embrace of the mother earth, vibrations that rose from deep within the earth and the rock, energetic traces from somewhere far away. Sometimes the connection came as a sound, sometimes I just wanted to let it vibrate in silence and presence. Each place invited me to meet with respect and stop to listen to what wanted to rise. Sometimes, in addition to my own voice and saxophone, the instruments were stones and sticks found at the site. Before going to Pilppa court stones, I saw a vision of a circle formed by people in the middle of the forest at the previous site, which we then realized on site, producing free sound. Our voices slowly merged from the silence to the sound of the wind and the resonance of the place, tuning into a multi-level connection again. 

The second year, Pilppa table stone called me under. To my complete surprise, I received an inner urge to crawl under the stone. I felt like the place carried some kind of transformative code. Something was left inside the stone, something that I was no longer supposed to carry. The music or sound improvisation that emerged in each place always seemed to be much more than just music. In a way, the entire surrounding nature and the unique essence of the places resonated with it.

It has been meaningful to be able to participate in the Ancient Weeks. We formed an international community of artists, created magical moments and great music together, and I gained lifelong friends, soul sisters and brothers.