A Senior Festival Experience – Interview

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Larksong is a new Sacred Harvest Festival festivant and joined Harmony Tribe last February. At age 70 she is possibly the all time senior in both categories. I asked her about her experiences.

Larksong

Have you camped before?

When my kids were little we camped, but this is the first time we have camped in quite some time! At least twelve years ago, and then we had a pop-up camper.

What does it feel like to travel 600 miles from Michigan to be with people you don’t know and spend a week?

Great! It really has been great. We brought our three nieces, so that they could have a drama free week and we have just been having a ball. They have been having a ball. The only problem for me here is everything is so far away. I’m in the middle, but it is a long walk either direction. After two or three trips I need to take a nap! Continue reading →

Restorative Justice, Restoring Communities – Editorial

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We live in tumultuous times as a society and as a Pagan community. Conflict has caused many divisions, often accompanied with the drawing of lines. These can easily become permanent fractures, solidifying within what might be a unified and joyous community of similar beliefs. Often these conflicts are personal, or begin as personal disputes, or emerge in community settings. Just as often a community gets drawn into them. I participated in a restorative justice circle at Sacred Harvest Festival (SHF), facilitated by Crystal Blanton, and will refer to that experience.

Restorative Justice (RJ) is an idea and method to repair some of the damage these conflicts cause in community. It was developed and used in criminal victim-offender mediations in the 1970’s and has been adapted and applied to a broad range of conflicts, from within our schools to whole societies as in the The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid . It can be used in a community setting through ‘restorative group conferencing’ or ‘peace circles’.

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Sacred Harvest Festival survives The Tower

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The Tower card from the Rider-Waite deck

When the Tower card appears in a spread it is not greeted with cheers and smiles. Although Pagans recognize the cycle of destruction must happen in order for new growth to thrive, it isn’t an enjoyable process. It’s painful. At times it can be downright ugly. While a group or organization is in the midst of conflict and tearing down of the old, it can be difficult to manage the process in a way that achieves a positive outcome.

Local festival in crises
For the last year Harmony Tribe, the group that produces the Sacred Harvest Festival, has been dealing with the aftermath of the Tower. Shortly after last year’s festival the board, Tribe members, and festival attendees became embroiled in a serious conflict. Tensions came to a head after a controversial move was initiated by Harmony Tribe to ban two Tribe members and the walls came crumbling down as the entire board of Harmony Tribe resigned en masse early last fall. A rift formed and community members began to choose sides. To make a painful situation worse for all involved, this played out in public.

For many in the wider community, the escalating conflict and subsequent rift struck from out of the blue. “This entire episode was so hurtful and angry. It wasn’t anything like the community I had come to love,” said one attendee who asked not to be named. “I was stunned. I shut down. I almost didn’t come this year.”

Continue reading →

Pagan Sweats – News? No, an Interview!

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Jim Esralian, and Karen have been leading Sweat Lodge ceremonies at Sacred Harvest Festival (SHF) for many years. He is so unassuming many don’t know his connection to this ceremony. I interviewed him at SHF.  He first off declared proudly he was Armenian, “A conquered people as well”.

Traditional Sweat Lodge

You have a pretty deep connection to Native American traditions?

Back home I live in central Michigan, near the Saginaw Chippewa reservation. In addition I have become friends with folks from Turtle Mountain reservation, and other places, that have brought traditions from that area, to Michigan. They are actually mixed traditions themselves. They are combinations of Metis, Cree, Ojibwe, Ashinabe, and Lakota. A lot of the medicine that was passed down was already fairly multi-national. Turtle Mountain is in North Dakota, in an area where several tribes border each other and their cultures inter-mingled. People came from that area bring with them what is called the ‘Thirsty Dance’, very similar to a “Sun Dance”. They also brought some of the Lodge traditions, as well as some of the songs. Continue reading →

Community Notes; August 22-28

The Minnesota Ren Fest is happening.

The Twin Cities Pagan Pride celebration is coming up September 10 from 10am to 6pm at Minnehaha Falls Park. There’s lots of great entertainment lined up; Celia, Murphey’s Midnight Rounders, Beth Kinderman, Folk Magic, Future Lisa, and Aillinn the Bard. There will also be vendors, workshops, and fun for the whole family. It’s a huge location and space is still available for vendors, groups, rituals, and workshops. More details are available here.

Registration is open for Paganicon March 16-18, 2012. Christopher Penzack will be the guest of honor, and SJ Tucker will be the special musical guest. Early registration for Paganicon 2012 is only $50 until September 12th. You can register now here.

Registration for Winter Witchcamp February 16-20, 2012 is now open.

People keep talking about the latest Sacred Harvest Festival being a complete love fest. You can read about it at the PNC:
It’s one of The Mysteries
The best thing about Sacred Harvest Festival was…
Festival Fashion
Celia, on the road at Sacred Harvest Festival
Community Notes is reposted courtesy of Twin Cities Pagans