EarthHouse Project's 11th Annual
Midsummer Gather for 2011Litha 34,255 S.W.R.
By Rev. Jack Green of Hollow Hills Coven
If you like Labyrinths or home brewed mead this is the place to be. If you don't mind camping in drizzle and lots of earwigs visiting while you're hanging out with a bunch of pagans and singing, drumming and dancing around a roaring fire, then this is it. Jenny Green and I left Paganistan for the Blue River and Eagle Cave on Dyad 19, the 19th day of Dyad Moon (that's Sunday, June 19th in the Roman calendar.) It took about 5 hours to get to the campsite. We had done our Esbat, our Full Moon rite the night before (Saturday) but the Full Moon was on Dyad 15, Wednesday June 15th three days before. It's always on the 14th or 15th day of the Moon when you start the day count at New Moon so we circle on the nearest Saturday.
THE CAMPSITE AND ITS HISTORY
Eagle Cave is in Southern Wisconsin (An Ojibwe word) in what was Dakota Country around 1600, then Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Country by 1800. By 1860, what was left of the First Nations after the wars and the plagues were all pretty much rounded up and corralled onto the various reservations. The Nearest Reservation is the Ho-Chunk Rez about 70 miles almost due north. Despite Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's modern depredations the names of the land itself still tell the story. The old native tribes are now numbered with our spiritual ancestors and our future allies for though we are only Second Nations here we are the First Nations reborn in the Old Country: Europe.
"PRACTICING THE ABBOTS BROMLEY HORN DANCE"
SETTLING IN AT THE CAMPSITE
Once there, we set up our camp. It had been a while since we had been camping and it took a bit to get my woodland legs back. Fortunately, the EarthHouse registration packet included a list of things to bring. Unfortunately, we got there just as the opening ritual had begun, so we waited until the gate was again open. Then we pitched our new tent and borrowed a tarp for our sheltered area. The brand new tent was larger than we thought so we used two tarps underneath rather than just one as planned. The community fire was already going and the first night's drumming had begun by the time we finished our set up. This is the same overall site as the old Pagan Spirit Gatherings I had attended in 1988 and 1996 and it was just as hilly so my legs and ankles got a good work out. While finding a relatively level spot for the tent was tricky, it was possible.
Jenny and I attended some workshops together and others separately to better cover our bases, but we couldn't see everything we wanted to. We were frustrated we couldn't get going right away, but it had rained the night before, and it was very difficult to start a fire. We finally got a fire going and had a late breakfast and I finished setting up our campsite while Jenny went to a drumming workshop. It was pretty rainy and misty until Thursday and we had to use our rain ponchos a couple of times. The rest of the time was quite nice and sunny. We got to star gaze a couple of nights and I gave some informal star walks. On Friday night Jenny and I saw the International Space Station pass over. It moved like a satellite but it was much brighter. Now that it's finished some people say they can see its oblong shape. Godspeed to the heroes who have died trying to open up the next frontier not just for humankind but now for All Gaian Life.
PAGAN UNIVERSITY
In addition to a series of workshops and kids programming, there was Pagan U or Pagan University which focused on more advanced topics and I was asked to do a session on Pagan History. These classes were generally right after morning meeting and the first one was an "Herb Walk and Plant Identification". Presentations included "Ecological Restoration, a Spiritual Perspective" which involved a hike in the local woods on Monday with Chris. "Divination: What, How and Why" on Tuesday and "To Know, To Dare, To Will, To Keep Silent" on Wednesday, both by Estelle Daniels. Thursday's was "Understanding the Labyrinth" with Mama Cat and my "Pagan History" was on Friday. While I did get to explain the broad sweep of the topic, the detailed discussion only got us up to Stonehenge and the Megalithic Tribes.
The feasts and the music shows were awesome! The Midsummer Feast on Wednesday, 22rd Day (June 22rd) of Dyad Moon was huge and we made turkey chili for the vast potluck collection and the Barbarian (camper's leftovers) Feast on Saturday, Dyad 25, June 25th. "(Note: it is quite rare that a Roman Month such as June starts on the day of the New Moon of a lunation like Dyad Moon so Month and Moon days match up but it does happen. When it does you can often get several moons in a row that do it, like the next moon: Buck... it was just as big)"
"SMILEY FACE IN THE FIRE"
MUSIC, RITUAL AND OTHER WILD THINGS
The musical guests were great too: "Folk Magic' played Wednesday night. On Friday, the 24th Day of Dyad Moon, Cat Gut did a violin concert on that put us in the salons of 18th Century Europe while we lounged in a 21st Century Wisconsin forest. Amazing. Jenny and Bear sang folk songs afterwards, including a few requests. That night the amazingly talented Cat Gut also gave us an awesome fire-spinning show during the drumming and dancing of the community fire circle. (See above photo). The previous evening, Cat was practicing with her light spinning LED wands that created a number of very interesting optical effects, but my camera's batteries were dead at that point.
The Rituals are of course what a lot of folks come for. The Chocolate ritual on Monday was funny and tasty. The Summer Solstice rite on Tuesday was not the usual celebration of the union of the God and Goddess, but more of a magical rite on what we wanted to get rid of in our lives. Wednesday was the Midsummer Feast and Thursday Mama Cat led a Labyrinth Walk. There was a closing ritual on Sunday, which we attended as we were packing up. We made sure to get as much contact info as we could from our new friends before we left.
Nature and the local wild life as usual had it's own agenda. In addition to the mists and rains in the first part of the week, we had a startling large number of earwigs getting into every nook and cranny; plus gnats that well, bugged us. There were tons of birds of all local species. Skunks patrolled for trash at night--I could hear their little growly voices at times. A Barred Owl debate woke Jenny and I up around 3:00 AM Thursday morning. We think they were arguing about territory as the screeches came from two different sides of the tent.
EarthHouse Midsummer Gather was a blessed relief from Mundania, the Muggle World. I still get a little culture shock after every pagan gather but the spiritual recharge is well worth it. After the gather, Jenny wanted to somehow to make our alarm clock say "It's Coffee and Hot Water too!" just like the morning call of Rick's Caf and the village herald we were greeted with each morning at 7:00 AM. All in all it was a great, engaging weekend and we had fun relaxing, meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones as we 'recharged' our pagan batteries.
Origin: theartofastralprojection.blogspot.com