Pagan Spirit Gathering (PSG) preview: Old traditions new beginnings

May 25, 12:17 PMPagan Travel ExaminerPaula Jean West

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Pagan Spirit Gathering has long been the best gathering of the summer and has many reasons for its well deserved ‘best of the best’ reputation. Simply put, no other gathering offers what PSG does. Sure, there are some fabulous gatherings around the nation, of various size and features, festivals that offer incredible guest authors and teachers. Other gatherings have music where you just can’t stop dancing, and workshops of every subject imaginable; but no festival puts it all together and offers all that plus the community, spirituality, rituals, laughter and heartfelt bliss along with the yearly spirit and gift of coming home. You know you have finally arrived at Pagan Spirit Gathering, whether it was a short venture down the road, a sixteen hour road trip or a day and a half on airplanes, because every year you hear the same sacred greeting “Welcome Home!”

PSG is coming home to its 29th year and fifth location. Through three locations in Wisconsin and twelve years in Ohio, there is considerable excitement for the PSG tribe that gathers each year the week of Summer Solstice to once again build the village in the festivals new home snuggled in the Ozarks at Camp Zoe. PSG offers something for everyone, including a camping experience that allows folk from across the country and often times other nations to commune with nature, build community and be spiritually and physically fulfilled. Many details are considered in the creation of the village and camp layout, including special camps like Amethyst Circle. It is a meeting and camping space for Pagans in recovery from alcoholism and other addictions. A safe, clean and sober space with daily Pagan-oriented twelve step meetings and a campfire area for socializing. I so value that this support is a part of the PSG experience! Another important and often rolling with lots of laughter is the Crone Camp. This temple is for all women who are 50 years plus, and are walking the Wisdom of the Crone's Journey. Disabilities Camp is an essential and growing encampment at Pagan Spirit Gathering. This camp is for those with mobility challenges, located within walking distance of portatoilets and food merchants. There is even an on-call on-site shuttle that taxis folks around. This camp assures that Pagans with mobility challenges can continue to camp and enjoy outdoor, nature focused festivals. There is a special place for RV camping too.

My longtime favorite is the infamous Drummer's Camp. This is the camp where it always is happening…and is located near the huge Bonfire Circle for drummers, dancers, and any others who enjoy late night drumming. You will sleep like a baby in this camp as the heartbeat and life-force energy from the drums lulls you into dreams and deep regenerative rest. Rainbow Center puts a huge and heartfelt Cheshire grin on my face. Rainbow Center is an encampment with an altar and commons area to facilitate community-building and networking among the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) attendees and their friends and supporters. It’s also home to the let-your-hair-down bring your most outrageous costume and dance party for adults at the end of the week lovingly known as Pan's Ball. In the spirit of inclusion, the Amethyst Camp offers a clean and sober version of this famous romp called Pan's Other Ball. There are camping areas for every camping preference, including the Quieter Area. Aptly named Quieter as tent living is a stretch to be fully silent, but this is an area for those that really need a good nights rest and regeneration.

Wherever you camp at PSG, you will find helpful and welcoming neighbors. If you forget to bring something, don’t worry, your neighbors are usually happy to share theirs with you and keep you comfy.

The Music and Entertainment is a sure bet. Some of the best Pagan and earth centered musicians in the land bless the stage every night for concerts. The Guest Presenters are top name and top of their game. To be able to attend several workshops, have face to face interaction with these folks for an entire week affirms the value of this very affordable festival. Where else for under $200 can you be in Pagan village, attend all the workshops you want, a concert every night, a ritual, parade, party or rite of passage for every event in life? Hands down Pagan Spirit Gathering is the best vacation value for your money. My family would not dream of missing it!

Shopping! There are 100 vendor slots and vendors of wares from home crafted treasures to imports from foreign lands…Complete with a Midnight Madness late night sale, you are guaranteed to take home some of the most amazing treasures you will ever find at a Pagan Festival! Raffles and Silent Auctions are another way to bring home the Pagan goods, and sometimes some real bidding wars get underway! There are diverse Food Vendors too, everything from fresh fruit smoothies to french-fries. While people often make food and enjoy the fun of camping, the hot, fresh and tasty food makes for ease and can be a real time saver between so many incredible things to choose from and do!

Childcare Center is one of the most special jewels of PSG. The crew builds a fenced play area and offers continual quality care for our children, so parents can be free to attend workshops, rituals or even get in some personal down time. This gift to the community is staffed by community and is another shining example of why PSG is the best of the best in the festival realm.

Fire rings dot the campsite and invite people to sit for a bit. Folks stop by for a visit and reflect on the events of the day, or to make new friends and cherish some special times with old ones.

Workshops and rituals are as diverse and amazing as the Pagan Sprit Community. There is truly something for everyone!

Special events are scattered through out the week, including a daily morning meeting to bring the tribe together for a little AM drumming and dancing, daily announcements and schedule adjustments including a preview of the concert entertainment to happen later that night. From the candlelight processional and site blessing where the Sacred Fire is set ablaze in the Opening Ritual, it is non stop rock and roll, and it’s up to the attendee to pace yourself to avoid sheer exhaustion. Also on the first day is a community Ritual of Remembrance for the PSG community members that have crossed over to the Summerland the previous year. There is a Summer Solstice Sun Ritual, Summer Solstice Community Ritual and a breathtaking Candlelit Labyrinth with over a thousand candles that offers a meditative journey and remains lit until sunrise.

The Zodiac Potluck is lots of fun to see! Meet and feast with those of like sun signs and do some community building. The Potlatch style Magickal Gift Exchange is another annual event to pass on and receive a magickal gift that calls you to the altar and package that is meant for you. Some of my favorite treasures are gifts that have come to me from this exchange, including a multi-layered twisted copper pentacle that a young woman gave away. When we met up after the exchange (you get to meet your gift giver) she told me it was her first ever pentacle that she had made years ago when she dedicated herself to the Pagan Path.

The kids work all week to present the tribe with a Faerie Play with song and dance and they do an amazing job! There is a Womens Ritual and a Mens Ritual. The Warrior Blessing Ritual is to acknowledge Pagan US Military warriors serving around the world. In sacred space we ask for their safe and speedy return after accomplishing work that they need to do. We also acknowledge those who have died while walking the warrior path as well as provide comfort and a venue for family and friends of those warriors to express concerns and pride.

Sweatlodges of several traditions and focus happen every day and night, and are overseen by a Native American medicine woman trained in traditional ways . Rites of Passage for young women and young men of the community offer transformative experience and community recognition. The entire PSG community proudly honors its young women that have started their moonblood and have stepped into the circle of women. The Sacred Hunt is an ecstatic ritual for that happens deep in a forest glade, amid firelight, dancing shadows, and rapid drumming, and then the spiritual hunt ensues... ecstatic movement, drumming, and nurturing community support a deep transformational experience. The other not-to-be-missed all night experience is the Sacred Fire Circle. From midnight to dawn this magickal fire and space uses voice, music, movement and service, and personal change. This sacred space is so visually invoking it is worth taking a look-see, even if you don’t plan to participate.

After a week of deep fulfilling experiences in nature, the time to journey home finally comes. Farewells, long firm hugs, huge smiles, shining suntans and a tired festival community bid goodbye for another year and a day…it’s always the same…“We will see you here next year, and I can’t wait to tell you ‘welcome home!”

Nora and her husband agreed to attend a PSG together on their very first date, after sharing she had always wanted to attend a PSG, and learning her husband had been attending in Wisconsin for several years. She can’t imagine missing PSG.