Trillium: Cooler Than Knife-Fighting Monkeys
I arrived home, safe and sound from Trillium last night, unpacked, and eventually went to bed early. It was a pleasure to arrive both at the festival and then at home before nightfall this year.
seamus_mcnasty is rapidly becoming my favourite traveling companion: we come up with so many good ideas in the car or on airplanes . . . Most of which are still considered "good ideas that we won't get in trouble for" when we get out of the car (some fail in one or the other column, though, with a bit of hindsight). He even went thrifting with me at my favourite thrift store, but I have a feeling that the current economy has led to all the good stuff being taken by people who actually need it this year.
We arrived and set up, and then stood around and talked to people for a while. Then we went to the opening ritual, which was very simple and straightforward. I was able to attend Seamus' class on the Order of the Crane and do a meditation for Meeting the Crane as well. I love doing that at festivals and places: my theory is that if we "expose the Crane" to enough captive audiences, we'll either end up with more Order members or a strongly worded restraining order. Either way, more Orders!
I fell asleep very early on Friday night and missed the Bardic Circle entirely. But, a major project was mostly finished that night. Shortly after Beltaine, more will hear about the project. I have another two weeks of working on it at my own pace before I need to be more vocal about what I'm doing, with a targeted turn-in time around Wellspring.
The next morning, Seamus and I were in the shower when a beautiful voice drifted over from the ladies' side of the showerhouse. It was quite lovely, and we never did find out for sure who was singing, but it made the shower much more enjoyable. I didn't get to go to too many workshops on Saturday, but I did get to mine (obviously). This was pretty good, and having Ian there to ask some specific questions and provide his own long-term working knowledge was very helpful to me.
One of the many things I'm trying to do is get out to meet as many of our CTP and IP candidates as possible, since it's partially my job to approve their entrance to the programs. We're definitely at a point where more and more people will be applying to the CTP/IP, many of whom are people I haven't ever met. I was fortunate that this weekend I was able to get to meet one of those recent candidates and get to see her do work in ritual. While I never expect a candidate to be an issue after approval, it's always nice to see that we made the right choice, and I certainly think that we did, especially after watching her call to Brigid in ritual.
Apparently, I "broke" her while Seamus and I were discussing our mysterious shower maiden that evening, but sometimes he and I are more like an Abbott and Costello routine than a couple of ADF Priests.
At that same ritual, I was present for the consecration of our newest ADF Priest, Rev. Crystal Groves (acousticdryad). She did great, and I got most of it on video. After the consecration and dinner, we took her back into a cabin and did some of the private Clergy Order Work with her so that she could also have access to those places and beings that ADF's other Priests do. It went very well, also.
athenamsb sang for some time during Ian and Sue's intermission on Saturday night, and it was great to have a Crane up there singing: she continues to make us very proud.
Finally on Sunday, it was time to pack up and leave. valkyrvolva asked me to call to Garanus at the closing rite, which I was more than happy to do. It was nice, if quick.
Then it was "load up and move out." We managed to get out at a reasonable time, stopped by the little New Age store in Berkley Springs, WV, for a few minutes (where we were shortly joined by sleepingwolf, or "Sleeping Dog," as he was called this weekend), and did some shopping around. Then, back on the road to get home and wash the festival dirt off.
Trillium is always one of my favourite festivals, and this year was one of the best I can recollect. It's a kind of funky Norse-Celtic-fusion sort of place. This year made me very, very happy. And very relaxed. I feel good about the festival movement and about where we're going. I feel confident about ADF's membership and our desire to reach for and grasp at excellence. I feel joyful that there is a living current of Druidry and that Trillium will continue to amplify it.
And man, I cannot wait for Wellspring!
seamus_mcnasty is rapidly becoming my favourite traveling companion: we come up with so many good ideas in the car or on airplanes . . . Most of which are still considered "good ideas that we won't get in trouble for" when we get out of the car (some fail in one or the other column, though, with a bit of hindsight). He even went thrifting with me at my favourite thrift store, but I have a feeling that the current economy has led to all the good stuff being taken by people who actually need it this year.
We arrived and set up, and then stood around and talked to people for a while. Then we went to the opening ritual, which was very simple and straightforward. I was able to attend Seamus' class on the Order of the Crane and do a meditation for Meeting the Crane as well. I love doing that at festivals and places: my theory is that if we "expose the Crane" to enough captive audiences, we'll either end up with more Order members or a strongly worded restraining order. Either way, more Orders!
I fell asleep very early on Friday night and missed the Bardic Circle entirely. But, a major project was mostly finished that night. Shortly after Beltaine, more will hear about the project. I have another two weeks of working on it at my own pace before I need to be more vocal about what I'm doing, with a targeted turn-in time around Wellspring.
The next morning, Seamus and I were in the shower when a beautiful voice drifted over from the ladies' side of the showerhouse. It was quite lovely, and we never did find out for sure who was singing, but it made the shower much more enjoyable. I didn't get to go to too many workshops on Saturday, but I did get to mine (obviously). This was pretty good, and having Ian there to ask some specific questions and provide his own long-term working knowledge was very helpful to me.
One of the many things I'm trying to do is get out to meet as many of our CTP and IP candidates as possible, since it's partially my job to approve their entrance to the programs. We're definitely at a point where more and more people will be applying to the CTP/IP, many of whom are people I haven't ever met. I was fortunate that this weekend I was able to get to meet one of those recent candidates and get to see her do work in ritual. While I never expect a candidate to be an issue after approval, it's always nice to see that we made the right choice, and I certainly think that we did, especially after watching her call to Brigid in ritual.
Apparently, I "broke" her while Seamus and I were discussing our mysterious shower maiden that evening, but sometimes he and I are more like an Abbott and Costello routine than a couple of ADF Priests.
At that same ritual, I was present for the consecration of our newest ADF Priest, Rev. Crystal Groves (acousticdryad). She did great, and I got most of it on video. After the consecration and dinner, we took her back into a cabin and did some of the private Clergy Order Work with her so that she could also have access to those places and beings that ADF's other Priests do. It went very well, also.
athenamsb sang for some time during Ian and Sue's intermission on Saturday night, and it was great to have a Crane up there singing: she continues to make us very proud.
Finally on Sunday, it was time to pack up and leave. valkyrvolva asked me to call to Garanus at the closing rite, which I was more than happy to do. It was nice, if quick.
Then it was "load up and move out." We managed to get out at a reasonable time, stopped by the little New Age store in Berkley Springs, WV, for a few minutes (where we were shortly joined by sleepingwolf, or "Sleeping Dog," as he was called this weekend), and did some shopping around. Then, back on the road to get home and wash the festival dirt off.
Trillium is always one of my favourite festivals, and this year was one of the best I can recollect. It's a kind of funky Norse-Celtic-fusion sort of place. This year made me very, very happy. And very relaxed. I feel good about the festival movement and about where we're going. I feel confident about ADF's membership and our desire to reach for and grasp at excellence. I feel joyful that there is a living current of Druidry and that Trillium will continue to amplify it.
And man, I cannot wait for Wellspring!