Sacred Snow at WAKAAN Music Festival

Sacred Snow: Building A Safe Space Within The Music Community

While a young Sacred Snow was still in the womb, Jerry Garcia practically sang the song “Cassidy” to her parents. Now, named after the Grateful Dead track, Cassidy Garber, better known as Sacred Snow, has had an overwhelming love for music since she was a child. 

She was raised by her parents on all different kinds of tunes, especially classic rock. As she got older, she began musically training with piano, vocal, and eventually guitar lessons. With her musical training came joining the theater and drama club, and the next thing she knew she was obsessed.

She developed a love for electronic music in high school when she discovered the low-end frequencies of bass. She vividly remembers watching Mala’s boiler room set and feeling as if it had changed her life. As her discoveries continued, she found her niche in the scene and realized that UK-influenced 140 dubstep and experimental bass music were what really connected with her. Alas, the Sacred Snow project was born.

The name Sacred Snow blossomed from a combination of Garber’s love for the snow and sacred geometry. As a child, she accompanied her family on an annual ski trip to Colorado, where she quickly began to realize that everything about winter completely encaptivated her interest. 

“The snow was the most magical thing for me,” said Garber. “Every snowflake that is formed is completely unique in its geometric design, so I really appreciated that aspect of nature and the sacred geometry. One snowflake falls and you can’t really see it, but it’s the collective movement of a million snowflakes falling and covering a mountain. That’s kind of how I feel like music works, it expands.” 

From early on, Garber has struggled with depression and anxiety. To her, music was an escape and a way to cope with what she had been going through. As an artist, she expressed her pain and struggles through her music early on in her career, and wanted to let people know that they were not alone. 

March 2020 was a memorable month for everyone. The world was turned completely upside down by the announcement of national lockdowns and the community struggled with the feeling of being isolated. The music scene had taken a drastic hit, completely cutting live performances and artists were not sure of where to turn next.

The isolation period proved to Garber just how vital the human connection truly is. She realized shortly after that she wanted to find a way to show people that the point of life is not to escape the pain that they are dealing with, but rather nurture themselves to embrace community connection to lift each other in these times.

She found herself constantly being put in an environment that wasn’t conducive to a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. The social pressures made it easy to slip into toxic cycles. She was stuck in a loop of feeling burnt out and unable to keep up with jobs, responsibilities, and her goals, which caused her an immense amount of guilt. When she decided she wanted to do better for herself, she felt alone in an industry that she had grown to know and love. 

The multi-talented artist further accents her belief in positive energy with her creation of the first-ever Sacred Sessions gathering in Saint Petersburg, FL. The event is a sober community gathering that she has initiated within the network of artists and friends she has crossed paths with over the years. What began as a potluck gathering with friends and an open mic, has evolved into an entire community of musicians, artists, craft vendors, tarot readers, reiki and sound healers, yoga teachers, cacao lovers, mushroom enthusiasts, and so much more.

“This is why the vision for what Sacred Sessions is has continued to evolve,” Garber said. “I know I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, and I felt there was a gap in the scene, a missing opportunity to connect on a deeper level with intention. I thought to myself, there have to be other people out there that are looking for a similar space whether that be at festivals or in my local community.”

It’s nice to go for a late night out every once in a while, but it’s also nice to be able to see your friends vividly, have clearly understood conversations, and connect in a different space outside of a party environment. 

In addition to creating Sacred Sessions, Garber is heavily invested in creating meaningful music that relays this message as well. Feeding off of the success of her 2022 album, Cold Soul, her most recent release is an icy single titled “Elevate”. The mesmerizing track incorporates all original vocals accompanied by woozy bass and futuristic snares. 

The meaning behind this song dives deep into Garbers emotional side. During the creation of “Elevate,” she was releasing a lot of emotional energy that she was going through. Over the course of the six months it took to write the song, she was able to use this process to finally overcome that dark feeling that she had been having for a while. 

“I feel like this song is a representation of breaking out of that place inside of me where I was struggling,” she explained. “Just me trying to elevate and do better. The song itself is just an explosion of that and is definitely very personal to me.” 

Shortly after the release of “Elevate,” Sacred Snow traveled to Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas, for the second WAKAAN Festival. Just a few years ago, she felt like another fan in a crowd at a Liquid Stranger show. Now, with hard work and dedication, she has climbed the ladder to be able to secure a main stage spot at his renowned WAKAAN Music Festival. 

Friday morning, shortly following LSDREAM’s LIGHTCODE set, Sacred Snow took to the stage with a killer performance alongside visual artist and confidant Stef.fx. Together, the two created an alternate reality of a winter wonderland with dreamy visuals and whirling melodies that had the crowd flowing. During the set, Garber called flow artists to take the stage with her during her song “Flow.” The incorporation of ski clothes, goggles, costumes, flow artists, and performers is just scratching the surface of what she envisions for the Sacred Snow project. 

After playing a major festival like WAKAAN, Sacred Snow feels as if being on the other side of the industry has given her a sense of responsibility to send the right message to people within her music. The experiences she has endured have brought her closer to the path of her true self. 

With the Sacred Snow project, she has high hopes to deliver the right message to people and considers it an honor to carry positive energy to her fans all over.

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Ashley is a founding member of the MP3 MAG team, as well as a recent Florida State University graduate. She currently resides in Tampa, Florida, where she has been immersed into the electronic music community and discovered her passion for music journalism. Her favorite hobbies include going to concerts, music festivals and traveling.