Pagan Madness

I'm back!!! Fresh from 4 days of pagan craziness! Man am I tired, but it was tons of fun. I heard some really interesting workshops and listened to some good music (provided by the Australian band "Spiral Dance) and also fought bravely against the invading hoards of insects that threatened to eat my tent with me still in it. That's right people, a tent. No sharing a cabin for me. Even though they are available in the campsite, and even though they have air conditioning and running water, I like my privacy and sharing a room with seven other people would put me on a homicidal edge that is not conducive to my good health, not to mention other people's lives.

I got there on Thursday afternoon, around 3:30. The campsite is really removed from pretty much everything. It was a pretty nice and a big area, with a generous view of Lake Sellers and lovely trees to camp under. By the time I got there, a lot of the tenting spaces under all those beautiful trees had already been taken, so I had to make do under one solitary tree in the western (more sandy) part of the camp. As it turns out, this was a much better spot than where I had wanted to camp originally. The eastern part of camp was much, much louder and was also infested with wood ticks. I only had to contend with some pesky ants, the regular and the flying variety, which was much better than disease carrying ticks. I pitched my tent an set my beach chair facing the far trees. It was a lovely spot. At night, I had the labyrinth they set up on my right side and it was all lit up with twinkle lights, so I could see it from my tent. The picture above I took sitting on my chair from my site. The flag on the tree is the one my sister made for me. Snake and Crow Army. Yeah!

That first night we had the opening ritual, to tune our energies to each other and to the place. Then we had a brief meet-and-greet session, just to socialize a bit. I was out of there in about three seconds. I retreated to my tent to read.

The next morning, after an interesting shower in the trailer they had set up, and after a HUGE cup of coffee, I went to the first workshop. That ended around noon, and before lunch I checked out Vendor's Row. This was where, you guessed it, vendors were set up to sell their various things. They had some really lovely things. I bought two dresses, a wind chime for my mom, a stress-relieving stone for my dad, and a cool wall sculpture for my sister.
After lunch, provided by my own tent's private cafeteria-in-a-backpack, I went to the next workshop. This one was about making a Witches' Cord. This is a device that has many uses, but mostly it is a portal between worlds. It's really complicated, but very interesting.
When that was over I went to see a Druidic ritual. Not many people went to that, so it was a nice intimate setting and we all got a private rune reading, which was cool.
At 8 that night the band played a concert, very nice music that got people dancing and just having a lot of fun. My only peeve with all of this is that everyone was pretty much drunk. I understand drinking, I do it myself, but when you can't enjoy anything without being drunk or high it is not normal. Being drunk to the point of having hallucinations does not a mystical experience make. No one got aggressive or particularly disruptive, but you could see some people were about to topple over. I don't know. It bothered me a little bit.

That night, I was getting ready to turn off my lantern and go to sleep (enjoying the low drumming in the background coming from drum circle). I turned off the light, lay down...and a bird started singing. Now, I was pretty sure that birds, apart from owls, do not sing at night. They can't see well in the dark, so they sleep. Think of the parrots that quiet down as soon as you put a sheet over their cages. Apparently, I was very wrong.
I looked around to see where the sound was coming from, and of course, the bird was using the tree above my tent as his personal stage. He warbled, tweeted, chirped, squeaked, pretty much any sound his little throat could make he made throughout three long hours. You can imagine my surprise slowly but surely turning to irritation. I love birds, but I think this one was a bit off his rocker. I think I had a loony-tune bird on my tree.

After that night spent being the very much reluctant audience to avian opera, I had an even bigger cup of coffee and headed off to another workshop. This one was about raising energy for healing. After that, I went to the workshop that I was most interested in: Past Life Regression. The presenter led us through a guided meditation to help us see something from one of our past lives. It went very well. That's all I'll say about that.

We had the main ritual that night. It was a Native American, Cherokee, ritual that had been given to the High Priest to share with us. Truthfully, I was a bit disappointed. There was too much ceremony and not enough energy. I didn't feel anything at all, and I was bored. I wasn't the only one. Behind me, there was a bunch of teenagers that would not stop making comments and laughing at what was going on in the middle of the circle. If you think it's bullshit, why show up? This isn't school, no one is forcing you. But I guess that's teenagers.

That night the bird did come back, but only sang for about twenty minutes and then he blessedly shut up. The next morning I packed up my tent and started the looooong drive home.
Air-conditioning is a gift from the gods.
I really enjoyed the experience and hopefully I'll be able to go to the next one in November.

While I was gone, my sister took care of my babies. I had fed Topkapi before I left, but the other ones hadn't eaten yet so I fed some of them last night. Damascus and Talulah ate without problem, but Tybalt and Coral are shedding, so they did not eat. CocoRosie again refused food, so I'm pretty sure the fact that it is mating season has affected her eating patterns. I will continue to tempt her every week and try to keep the panic at bay. She IS an adult snake so she can go a bit without eating. Very rational, but means nothing when I see her reject food.