Category: Festivals

Sacred Harvest Festival – rebuilding, changing, and staying the same

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Harmony Tribe, the group that produces Sacred Harvest Festival (SHF), a Pagan camping festival held in SE Minnesota, celebrated their 15th year last week.  While the festival experienced ups and downs over the years, most recently a split in Harmony Tribe in 2010 resulting in the board resigning en masse, it appears to be back on the upswing with higher attendance and new and returning merchants.

In 2011 the festival faced several challenges.  A wounded community tired of drama, a new zoning restriction on the park which limited night time drumming, and lack of board continuity and experience.  These challenges showed in the attendance numbers.  Approximately 150 people attended SHF in 2011.

To meet these challenges the board brought in Crystal Blanton, author, mental health counselor, and High Priestess in California to hold a Restorative Justice circle and begin the healing at the 2011 SHF.  The success of that move, which rippled out through the community after last year’s festival, can be seen in this year’s festival numbers.  Although final numbers won’t be out until Sunday, Harmony Tribe Council Officer Judy Olson says the numbers topped 200.  Ms. Blanton returned to SHF this year to continue the community healing that was started in 2011.

Crystal Blanton, Cara Schulz, Judy Olson, and Heather Biedermann

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Sacred Harvest Festival – Shrines Unveil the Sacred

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This years Sacred Harvest Festival ended Sunday and down came at least twenty five festivant shrines expressing worship and devotion to deity. Festivants were asked to bring shrines and they sprouted like fall mushrooms after a rain. I am sure I didn’t photograph them all, they had to be sought out in both public and hidden spaces. Some shrines had a clear focus, others were a reminder of our diversity. These photos on a windy day give a casual look, at night they transformed and were all lit and tended, and offerings of incense and libation graced many of them. Some grew as the week progressed, others disappeared or re-appeared in new forms. The theme of the event was “Unveiling the Sacred, Immersed in the Luminous Light of Love”, and shrines were an important aspect of this years festival experience.
Enjoy!

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Nels Linde

Glamping, Pagan Spirit Gathering style

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When you’re camping for a week or longer, bringing a few creature comforts is not a bad idea.  A blow up mattress, a folding table, perhaps even a coffee pot.  You think you’re camping in luxury until you notice the camp next to yours.  An oven?  A chandelier?  Air conditioning?    Those people know how to glamp (glamorous camping) at a Pagan festival.  Here’s a slideshow of some of the very best camps and glamping ideas from 2012’s Pagan Spirit Gathering.

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Keep this article bookmarked to use for ideas for your next Pagan (or non-Pagan) camping trip.

 

Amateurs show off talent at PSG

The talent show at Pagan Spirit Gathering is an opportunity for amateur singers, storytellers, and poets to perform.  It’s an opportunity for the audience to discover hidden depths in their fellow attendees.

The show took just over an hour and was watched by just under 200 people.  As performers waited their turn some silently rehearsed, others paced nervously, and a few appeared more at ease, joking with those around them.  As most performers exited the stage to appreciative cheers they wore smiles.  One young guitarist said, “That was such a rush. I can’t wait to do something like that again.”

Popular musician Arthur Hinds coordinated and MCed the show since Ed Francis, who’s done the honors for years, was experiencing medical issues.  “I love watching people embrace their own creative spark and over come the fear that is holding them back,” said Hinds, “It is something that everyone should do and I find that quest extremely attractive. Of course, I also enjoy performing art in general, and there is always plenty of good stuff. I thought that this year were quite a few real gems, some of them surprising ones.”

Below is a sampling of the 2012 PSG Talent Show.

Talent shows have become popular events at various Pagan festival including Sacred Harvest Festival which starts on Monday and is located near Geneva, Minnesota.

Pagan Spirit Gathering (PSG) is one of America’s oldest and largest Nature Spirituality festivals and is sponsored by Circle Sanctuary.  Started in 1980, PSG has been held in locations in Wisconsin, Missouri, and lately in Illinois.

Yeshe Rabbit – Sacred Harvest Festival Guest – Interview

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Lady Yeshe Rabbit
Sacred Harvest Festival Guest

I talked to Lady Yeshe Rabbit of the Come As You Are (CAYA) coven. We talked about her work in the San Francisco Bay area, her appearance at Sacred Harvest Festival, and her thoughts on gender issues in the Pagan community.

How do you like to be addressed?
For the most part you can call me Rabbit. My title in my coven is Yeshe, it is a word that has a few different meanings. In Tibetan it means “primordial wisdom”, and that is why I took the title, because I wanted to be guided by that primordial wisdom that resides within. It was also a childhood nickname, because I am Polish and my birth name is Jessica.

Tell me about CAYA?
CAYA coven is my coven.   There is within CAYA several different layers of membership. Some people have a casual relationship and may just attend our rituals. There is also an inner circle of trained clergy. These are people who have been with the group for a number of years. They would be my ‘closer’ coven you might say.

What is the role of CAYA in the Bay area?
CAYA stands for “Come As You Are”, and it is a coven that is built around the principles of eclecticism, inter-faith, and support for a wide variety of different paths. An individual who maybe has a very strong personal path, or, one who might be  just starting out and wants to learn about many different paths to see which one is the right fit, would find themselves very comfortable in CAYA. Each of us in CAYA feels that it is the utmost importance the we determine our own personal relationship with the divine. We then share our own individual practices and spiritual beliefs in the spirit of generosity without presuming that we know the one way that is right for everyone. What that means is that we are a coven “filled with solitaries” (jokingly), because everyone has their own individual practice. When we come together we join around a central core of protocols of how we do rituals in an outlined format, a baseline of ethics that we have all agreed to, and principles of community that we think are essential:  Cooperation, conflict resolution, clergy conduct and comportment. When people come into CAYA they feel very welcome, even if a beginner, or if they are extremely experienced and just don’t want to be told what to do because they are confident in their own path.

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