SprialGround Beltane- REVEALED! [Long, without cuts. Get over it!]
Bless us.
This past weekend, I was invited to SpiralGround's Beltane celebration: Feel The Fire. And the rain happened in ways to not affect the weekend! I was asked to teach a class on Tarot, and lead a discussion about being LGBTIQ and/or single during Beltane (Lucky me, I was both!). As usual, I will go into the events of the weekend, in great, graphic detail...
It all started Thursday evening. shamantigre arrived for a late supper and a sleep over. I was ready to pack the car, but it was decided to pack it Friday morning. There was a spirited discussion about what time to awaken. I was pushing 6am, because any later and you're burning daylight. It was pointed out to me I am not my father, and we would sleep in til, at the least, 8am. It was a nice cozy visit for all of us. And the cats got to sleep with Unca Tigre!
Friday morning, I threw the car together... hmmm... I packed the car loosely. Cuz I could! And we trundled off. There was a stop in Dumfries for MickyD's brekkies (There was a banner for 99cent hamburger meals on Tuesdays). The iPod speaker thingie wasn't loud enough for the road noise, so we talked instead. Again, lovely visiting. I never get enough of it. I swear all the human interaction, outside of home, is meetings. I need to have a boundary here.
We were trying to arrive, at Spiralground, by lunch. We were successful! We arrived, and were promptly greeted by about 10 people, some of whom I knew! [And the rest I knew by the end!] There was visiting, and moving in (some cold hearted friends would have called it an occupation of the castle), and visiting, and the explosion of fabulosity!
A word about the Fabulosity. For some reason, when I was invited to this event, my SCA chord was struck. I spent too much time looking for a sun shade and other accoutrements. Finally, I distilled it down to a box. In this box, I packed the following:
Two full place settings of my Mom's fine china;
The sugar and creamer of my Mom's fine china;
Gold flatware, to match;
A lead crystal dish for our afternoon cookies with our caffe;
A silky tablecloth for;
The long tables;
Silver and white throws for our chairs; and,
A hammered metal goblet, with a castle shaped stem and a gold treasure chest at the base.
Loose in the car was the purple vase for the bunch of silk purple pansies.
In the SCA, this would be tame and usual. Here it stuck out like a sore thumb. But it showed what I was for the weekend...
I was an inciter. I left meme seeds in people and the group think. I tried to ignite. Change through small ideas. It just was.
Friday was a hang out day. Which was lovely. Visiting, meeting new people, getting to know them, seeing what they did (OY! The LOVELY witch hats! The GLORY in fire building!) It was FABBOO!!!
The weekend's rituals were about the myth of the Phoenix. Friday night was the first ritual. In which we met the Phoenix as it was about to change. We made its nest, anointed in oil and herbs and spices, and waited for it to roost. In the meantime, we thought about change, especially in us. It was a moving start.
Saturday was full of class! As in, it was when the classes were. First up, Vicki's Phoenix Feathers class. I loved this one, and she put her spirit into it. We each received a red Phoenix feather and a red and a yellow strip of cloth. On the yellow, we wrote what we wanted to grow and be. And, on the red, we wrote what was to leave. We tied the yellow to the feather, and the read was tied, loosely, to the yellow. The feather shows up later.
Next, was class about tribal spirituality, attuned to Spiralground's community. It was very interesting, as the teacher used a steam engine train metaphor/example. There was great participation in creating the train. And the teacher was great!
Last item in the morning was my led discussion: Beltane Jello Mold- What Do You Do When You Don't Fit It In. In short, Pagans spend a lot of time looking at Beltane as a sex party, and cover it up by calling it a fertility celebration. I tried to put forth to the group the following ideas:
-Fertility needs ignition to bring forth fruition/harvest. Sex is a physical plane ignition. As spiritual people we need ignition on all of our planes and levels of our being.
-GLBTIQ people were left out of the celebrations because they are single-sex couples. However, GLBTIQ people are two-spirited. They hold the duality/bi-polarity/both-all-neither within themselves. Fortunately, SpiralGround people get this. I also included the idea that single Pagans get a double whammy: Beltane and Valentines Day.
-Everyone needs inclusion in the celebration.
There was lunch! Fabulous lunch!
What came next was my Tarot class: Thoughts on Tarot- Now With Divination. I had a new, just blessed, Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Everyone was doing a 2 card spread, but each person pulled one card. I explained how colors meant different things, and the placement/object of the color influenced the meaning (a red hat usually symbolizes thinking about one's passion before expressing it, etc.). I asked everyone to read their card, and Tigre and I helped. Then, I told them to imagine a line running down the center of the card, with the left being the past/has happened, and the right being the future/coming toward. And I told them to read their card, and Tigre and I helped. Finally, the second card of the reading was held by someone else, and they had to partner up for the second of their reading. I asked everyone to read their cards, and Tigre and I helped. It was a two hour class, and I feel it edged on that good pandemonium: energy and wanting to learn. Fabulous!
Unfortunately, I was spent after all of this. And I took a nap. At Tigre's suggestion.
Things moved pretty fast after I woke up. I was informed I was in the MAYDAY! MAYDAY! The Pageant! Because I was selected the May Queen! OMG! OMG! OMG! How FABBOO is that! And I was fought over by the Winter Queen King and the Summer King! With light sabers! OMG! OMG!OMG!
I am the May Queen!
We went right over to dancing the Maypole. It was fabulous! Besides nearly tying two people to it, I was an agent of change. The music selected had a bar of soft music which was nearly inaudible at times. During those times, I yelled out a dance move. The can-can was warmly accepted. It was fun!
Supper happened! It was lovely and needed. Thank you! To all the chefs, cooks, and preparers, thank you!
The ritual that night included the lighting of the nest, throwing our red strips of cloth into the fire, welcoming and applauding the first flight of the reborn Phoenix, and sharing/swearing what we wrote on our remaining yellow strip would come forth (I wonder if anyone else put together that we were swearing oaths before the God/dess/es?). This was followed by some heavy duty partying! There was mead with cookies, and some had wine, and some of us toasted marshmellows/made s'mores. T'was a moving ritual, it ignited my fertility, and I got to be with an accepting tribe for the holiday! May your God/dess/es bless each of you and SpiralGround!
Sunday morning, no one else was moving much, so I got my shower. I used a lemon verbena shower gel I had. It was wonderful! Then, there was visiting, tarot reading, visiting, packing, visiting, brunch, visiting, visiting, closing ritual, farewells, and departing.
There was a caffe stop, and a supper stop on the way home, along with slowdowns at Fredricksburg. All usual. I got home around 9pm. And I slept well after.
I want to thank everyone who made this festival possible. It was wonderful, moving, and wow. I feel fortunate to have been asked to teach, and more fortunate to have been accepted by you all. I am blessed and honoured by you.
Bless us, and especially SpiralGround.
This past weekend, I was invited to SpiralGround's Beltane celebration: Feel The Fire. And the rain happened in ways to not affect the weekend! I was asked to teach a class on Tarot, and lead a discussion about being LGBTIQ and/or single during Beltane (Lucky me, I was both!). As usual, I will go into the events of the weekend, in great, graphic detail...
It all started Thursday evening. shamantigre arrived for a late supper and a sleep over. I was ready to pack the car, but it was decided to pack it Friday morning. There was a spirited discussion about what time to awaken. I was pushing 6am, because any later and you're burning daylight. It was pointed out to me I am not my father, and we would sleep in til, at the least, 8am. It was a nice cozy visit for all of us. And the cats got to sleep with Unca Tigre!
Friday morning, I threw the car together... hmmm... I packed the car loosely. Cuz I could! And we trundled off. There was a stop in Dumfries for MickyD's brekkies (There was a banner for 99cent hamburger meals on Tuesdays). The iPod speaker thingie wasn't loud enough for the road noise, so we talked instead. Again, lovely visiting. I never get enough of it. I swear all the human interaction, outside of home, is meetings. I need to have a boundary here.
We were trying to arrive, at Spiralground, by lunch. We were successful! We arrived, and were promptly greeted by about 10 people, some of whom I knew! [And the rest I knew by the end!] There was visiting, and moving in (some cold hearted friends would have called it an occupation of the castle), and visiting, and the explosion of fabulosity!
A word about the Fabulosity. For some reason, when I was invited to this event, my SCA chord was struck. I spent too much time looking for a sun shade and other accoutrements. Finally, I distilled it down to a box. In this box, I packed the following:
Two full place settings of my Mom's fine china;
The sugar and creamer of my Mom's fine china;
Gold flatware, to match;
A lead crystal dish for our afternoon cookies with our caffe;
A silky tablecloth for;
The long tables;
Silver and white throws for our chairs; and,
A hammered metal goblet, with a castle shaped stem and a gold treasure chest at the base.
Loose in the car was the purple vase for the bunch of silk purple pansies.
In the SCA, this would be tame and usual. Here it stuck out like a sore thumb. But it showed what I was for the weekend...
I was an inciter. I left meme seeds in people and the group think. I tried to ignite. Change through small ideas. It just was.
Friday was a hang out day. Which was lovely. Visiting, meeting new people, getting to know them, seeing what they did (OY! The LOVELY witch hats! The GLORY in fire building!) It was FABBOO!!!
The weekend's rituals were about the myth of the Phoenix. Friday night was the first ritual. In which we met the Phoenix as it was about to change. We made its nest, anointed in oil and herbs and spices, and waited for it to roost. In the meantime, we thought about change, especially in us. It was a moving start.
Saturday was full of class! As in, it was when the classes were. First up, Vicki's Phoenix Feathers class. I loved this one, and she put her spirit into it. We each received a red Phoenix feather and a red and a yellow strip of cloth. On the yellow, we wrote what we wanted to grow and be. And, on the red, we wrote what was to leave. We tied the yellow to the feather, and the read was tied, loosely, to the yellow. The feather shows up later.
Next, was class about tribal spirituality, attuned to Spiralground's community. It was very interesting, as the teacher used a steam engine train metaphor/example. There was great participation in creating the train. And the teacher was great!
Last item in the morning was my led discussion: Beltane Jello Mold- What Do You Do When You Don't Fit It In. In short, Pagans spend a lot of time looking at Beltane as a sex party, and cover it up by calling it a fertility celebration. I tried to put forth to the group the following ideas:
-Fertility needs ignition to bring forth fruition/harvest. Sex is a physical plane ignition. As spiritual people we need ignition on all of our planes and levels of our being.
-GLBTIQ people were left out of the celebrations because they are single-sex couples. However, GLBTIQ people are two-spirited. They hold the duality/bi-polarity/both-all-neither within themselves. Fortunately, SpiralGround people get this. I also included the idea that single Pagans get a double whammy: Beltane and Valentines Day.
-Everyone needs inclusion in the celebration.
There was lunch! Fabulous lunch!
What came next was my Tarot class: Thoughts on Tarot- Now With Divination. I had a new, just blessed, Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Everyone was doing a 2 card spread, but each person pulled one card. I explained how colors meant different things, and the placement/object of the color influenced the meaning (a red hat usually symbolizes thinking about one's passion before expressing it, etc.). I asked everyone to read their card, and Tigre and I helped. Then, I told them to imagine a line running down the center of the card, with the left being the past/has happened, and the right being the future/coming toward. And I told them to read their card, and Tigre and I helped. Finally, the second card of the reading was held by someone else, and they had to partner up for the second of their reading. I asked everyone to read their cards, and Tigre and I helped. It was a two hour class, and I feel it edged on that good pandemonium: energy and wanting to learn. Fabulous!
Unfortunately, I was spent after all of this. And I took a nap. At Tigre's suggestion.
Things moved pretty fast after I woke up. I was informed I was in the MAYDAY! MAYDAY! The Pageant! Because I was selected the May Queen! OMG! OMG! OMG! How FABBOO is that! And I was fought over by the Winter Queen King and the Summer King! With light sabers! OMG! OMG!OMG!
I am the May Queen!
We went right over to dancing the Maypole. It was fabulous! Besides nearly tying two people to it, I was an agent of change. The music selected had a bar of soft music which was nearly inaudible at times. During those times, I yelled out a dance move. The can-can was warmly accepted. It was fun!
Supper happened! It was lovely and needed. Thank you! To all the chefs, cooks, and preparers, thank you!
The ritual that night included the lighting of the nest, throwing our red strips of cloth into the fire, welcoming and applauding the first flight of the reborn Phoenix, and sharing/swearing what we wrote on our remaining yellow strip would come forth (I wonder if anyone else put together that we were swearing oaths before the God/dess/es?). This was followed by some heavy duty partying! There was mead with cookies, and some had wine, and some of us toasted marshmellows/made s'mores. T'was a moving ritual, it ignited my fertility, and I got to be with an accepting tribe for the holiday! May your God/dess/es bless each of you and SpiralGround!
Sunday morning, no one else was moving much, so I got my shower. I used a lemon verbena shower gel I had. It was wonderful! Then, there was visiting, tarot reading, visiting, packing, visiting, brunch, visiting, visiting, closing ritual, farewells, and departing.
There was a caffe stop, and a supper stop on the way home, along with slowdowns at Fredricksburg. All usual. I got home around 9pm. And I slept well after.
I want to thank everyone who made this festival possible. It was wonderful, moving, and wow. I feel fortunate to have been asked to teach, and more fortunate to have been accepted by you all. I am blessed and honoured by you.
Bless us, and especially SpiralGround.