Rainbow and Janet Farrar

I was able to connect back up with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone after twenty years or so at Heartland Spirit Gathering  last week. I am transcribing over two hours of recorded interviews into something manageable for publishing next week.  Our interview was interrupted by  a personal ceremonial commitment, and so I left them on their own to relax in our merchant booth.

A young lady of eleven, Rainbow, had been working all day for various merchants, doing service and selling what she found to raise money for a small drum for herself.  She started earning by helping me deliver ice as a community service task that morning. She came to the booth frequently to report her fund-raising progress and so returned with a report in my absence that she gave to Janet Farrar.  Just a few dollars short now, Janet took her by the hand and went visiting merchants and shoppers, explaining her young friends plight. Within a few minutes the balance needed for the purchase was secured, and when I returned the drum was purchased, and Rainbow ran off overjoyed. The interview then resumed.

The next day I tracked down Rainbow’s parents for permission for a photo, and I learned more about Rainbow than I knew from the experience the day before. She had announced to her family she was going to get a drum that day, and they had every confidence somehow she would make it happen.  We rounded up Rainbow and took her over to Janet for this photo.  She only knew Janet as that nice lady who helped her, and was delighted to discover she was also a guest of the event.

The interviews next week will include a lot of Pagan history, assessment of the present, and a view of the future. Janet and Gavin have strong views of what it means to be a priest or priestess, to speak with the gods, and where the leaders of the Craft of the future will come from. This selfless aid to help fulfill a young women’s goal illustrated to me a beautiful example of the daily work of a priestess, and the simple experiences that empower a determined priestess of the future.

Watch for the interview series with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone next week.

Nels Linde