Phew.
Back from a week (Tuesday through Sunday afternoon) at Free Spirit Gathering. FSG is a beautiful event. The camp is lovely, and the setup is easy; cabins, a swimming pool, a dining hall. Real luxurious compared to most camping events. The people are great. There’s a lot of vending, but not so much it becomes overwhelming. The program is pretty active, although I don’t usually have time to attend much. The music is a plus; Kiva performed Saturday night and that’s always a pleasure.
Tuesday was mostly catching up with people, seeing old friends, making connections, and relaxing. There was getting settled and all that, but I do love a cabin; makes it so easy.
Wednesday night I led a healing ritual for Orien Rose. I have to say, it was absolutely beautiful. We had about fifty people. I never wear black in ritual, I always have colorful robes, but this time I ended up in black, and my partner Dave, to my left, was also in black, and to my right was Arthur all in white, and to Dave’s left was Abraham, also in white. So the altar and those of us leading the ritual created a hot visual impression.
Roberta held the space for the first part of the healing, and she totally channeled eight year-old girl energy, and danced around the circle gathering energy into her. Then Abe led the second part, creating all of us as parents of an injured child, and then creating hope and strength and peace in each of us as those parents. Finally, I had Arthur, representing the Pagan kids, holding the pictures of Orien Rose to charge and send home with people. Abraham and Gordon also led the fundraising effort, which was wonderfully successful.
The love and energy poured out to Orien Rose was amazing. The Amber Rose School, which does classes for the Free Spirit kids, sent energy to her every day, and sent us home with gifts for her. (This is the first year that Orien Rose hasn’t attended Amber Rose school. I cried like a baby at the graduation ceremony.) Just about all of the eighty photos I brought with me were taken by people who wanted to continue to pray for her at home.
After the ritual Abe did my new tattoo, and also touched up my Kali tattoo from last year. It was weird shifting from the love energy of the first tattoo to the hot spiritual energy of the second, but it was wonderful.
Thursday night I led (facilitated) a Group Leaders Conclave, which had about 25–30 people. It was a lot of fun to form connections with other group leaders, and I emphasized that people needed to look around, know who other leaders are, because that is your support group.
Was it Wednesday or Thursday that the huge thunderstorm blew through? That was exciting. Also wet. The weather got cool and stayed cool for most of the event, and I discovered that I really hadn’t brought appropriate cool weather wear, so I was annoyed with myself. You wrap yourself up in layers you end up looking like a Pagan bag lady. Pagan because of the purple and velvet, but still.
Friday I taught “The Way of Four,” and I love teaching that one. It is always different, and I am confident of the material.
Saturday was my first time teaching “Pain Management for Pagans.” I was nervous about how well my material would be organized, and I screwed up one of my exercises, but I got a lot of positive feedback. I had envisioned it as primarily addressing brief-term pain, like tattooing, body modificiation, wound healing, and childbirth, but just about everyone who showed up (about a dozen people) had a chronic pain condition they were living with. So I had to shift focus.
Also on Saturday, I attended the “Young Magick” workshop. It was for Pagans in their teens and twenties, but since my new book is written for that audience, I got permission to attend. And I have to say it was grounding to be with real, in-person young Pagans rather than just talking to them online.
Sunday it was pack up and go, and of course that’s when we got the ninety degree weather. Phew, that was tough. The drive, wow. Normally three hours, traffic and construction stretched it to five and a half.
