I've just come home, tired, sunburned and happy from the annual East Bay gathering of the Pagan tribes, namely the festival and parade sponsored by the Pagan Alliance. We could not have asked for a better day for the festival, which was held in the heart of downtown Berkeley, California.
I arrived at the site at 7 a.m., joined shortly thereafter by some of my coven sisters who helped build the west altar. (At large Pagan events, we generally have an altar for each of the directions. Last year I did the north altar, which featured a huge bear with arms extended over an altar centered with a large bouquet of vegetables).
This year we did a simple altar for the west--which is associated with water and emotions--with a backdrop of three sheer veils, on which I appliqued lines of waves and, on one veil, a leaping salmon. We used some unusual materials, including rebar, gator board, and vast amounts of white duct tape. Here we all are just after finishing the altar and a solo shot of Raven resting from her labors.
The theme of the festival this year was "Evolving Spirit, " and, as you can see, the folks who built the east altar--associated with air and intellect--were celebrating the peaceful coexistence of technology and nature. This altar was made by members of the Sacred Well.
The north altar--we associate north with the earth itself--was built by Jim Fish, a Druid and a member of the Spark Collective. He's an altar builder after my gardener's heart because he used all sorts of scented plants and invited festival-goers to touch and smell the leaves. Here's Jim in his Druid garb, complete with shiny brooch he made from a Celtic-patterned CD. And to the right, you can see his lush and fragrant earth altar.
My coven sister LotusFire built the south altar. South is associated with fire and passion. Her altar was an eclosure of red and gold veils, centered by a (symbolic) fire. Here's LotusFire (on the right) and her altar.
And here's the west altar, with the salmon silhouetted behind the waves, and a simple clear glass goblet of water in the middle of the altar. There's also a shot of it earlier in the day, before it was backlit. For a big public ritual, I like to make altars that are mainly graphics, so people can see from a distance exactly what the altar is about. I don't like to put a lot of small objects on this kind of altar because it's too easy for prize possessions to get lost.
Some people built special non-directional altars, including this one honoring Kali Ma, created by my former coven sister Caitlyn.
Joi Wolfwomon --look for the woman with a green dress and green hair-- priestessed the opening ritual, one of the very best I've seen at a large public gathering. She was aided by the Radical Faeries , which is largely a group of gay male Pagans. (But everything is very fluid in the Pagan community including the membership of this group).
Here are some shots of the ritual circle. As you can tell from the photos, it was a fun and colorful ritual (complete with lots of glitter flinging), albeit with serious intent. I'm still shaking the glitter from my hair.
During the ritual, M. Macha NightMare handed the Keeper of the Light staff over to Anne Hill. The title Keeper of the Light honors someone who has made significant contributions to the Pagan community over the years. Macha, who is the author of Pagan Pride, Witchcraft & the Web and co-author of The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, heads the Public Ministry Department at Cherry Hill Pagan Seminary, where I also teach). Recently Macha has started a new blog, Broomstick Chronicles.
Anne is the founder of Serpentine Music, has produced a number of Pagan CDs, and is co-author of Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions. This book and CD combination is considered the single very best source of information for Pagan parenting. Anne's excellent Blog o' Gnosis can be found here.
Here are Macha (left) and Anne in the ritual with the Keeper of the Light staff, and, later, Anne addressing the festival from the stage.
At the ritual's end, cookies were passed out, given with the traditional phrase, "May you never hunger."
This was after the ritual, but here's Glenn Turner, proprietor of Ancient Ways, on her way to assuage a few folks' thirst. (We say "May you never thirst" when we give others something to drink in a ritual context).
We had vendors selling everything from corn-husk goddess dollies to beaded burnt-out velvet shawls, to drinking horns made from real cow horns to silver and amber jewelry (Most Pagans love amber jewelry).
Max Dashu's booth featured much of her original art relating to the Suppressed Histories archive she has assembled over past 35 years, and gave us a preview of her new poster celebrating women's right to reproductive choice. (Max will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this poster to the Pine Ridge Oglala reservation. This community will be opening a new clinic called "Sacred Choice" to provide South Dakota women with reproductive choice, notwithstanding the state's new law banning abortion). Here are some of the other vendors' products.
Patrick McCollum, the Wiccan chaplain to the California Department of Corrections, brought his new book, Courting the Lady. Patrick, who also teaches at Cherry Hill, is on the board of the Lady Liberty League, a network that supports Pagan religious freedom. Here's Patrick with his book.
Pagans love to dance, and at the festival we had circle dances, whirling suns and moons, a giant dancing puppet with pine boughs for arms, and multi-generational freeform dance.
We also love to wear festive garb. Check out Scott's home-sewn kilt with perfectly matched witches. He whipped it off to show me his careful matching job and now I know what he wears under his kilt. (I'll never tell).
Here are some other major Pagan festival fashion statements, including a well-dressed Pagan dog.
The best part of any Pagan gathering is just hanging out with friends. I was thinking today, on my way home from the festival, about the fact that my husband died of AIDS nine years ago last month. That first year after his death was so awful. I felt so alone and isolated and couldn't figure out how and where to begin my life anew.
But at the festival, I realized how blessed I am with this big diverse, inclusive, accepting and creative --albeit sometimes disfunctional--Pagan family to which I belong now that I am dancing with the Goddess. So I'll just close this posting with photos of just a few of my many friends in the Pagan community who were here at the festival today. (And the very last shot is of me, a deliciously happy Pagan crone). What a great and joyful religion I have found. Blessed be!
