It’s taken me a bit to recover from the Chrysalis Moon Tribe event. For those who read my Ping/Twitter/FB/Myspace update, we had a bit of weather, and I think between all the excitement, the travel and my previous travels in the month, I am spent. Had two Lammas Harvest celebrations this week – one that I ran for the Lap of the Goddess community in Boston, and another coven event that I graciously had little to do personally in the ritual besides call a quarter. I wish I had a good chunk of time at home, but I have one more event this weekend, speaking at a private retreat in New York state, then things are fairly quiet for me. Thank the gods! So happy harvest everyone.
Chrysalis Moon was a great festival despite microbursts and tornados in the county. We were not hit specifically by a tornado on the fest site as far as I know, but during a storm where tornados were sighted, our camp mostly blew away. It was a first for me. I kind of forgot I was in Indiana on Friday night. In most festivals, if there is a storm, you just hunker down where you are and ride it out. Not so in Indiana, because there could be tornados. My tent collapsed on me, waking me, and then sprung back up. So I thought no big deal until I heard one of my hosts, Marcus F. Griffen aka Lord Foxglove aka Foxy, yell at me to get in the van. He wasn’t sure if I was in my tent or still at the fire. I was in the van and there was a moment I wondered if it would tip, as it lifted up to one side…. I still don’t think I realized how bad it was. My open suit case was in a pop up changing tent, as we didn’t expect this weather, and much of it blew away. Thanks to Fox we recovered all of it, including some priceless things like my drum and my bog oak wand. Most importantly my notebook, with notes and ideas and classes was recovered thanks to Fox. He and I along with a lot of others went around the camp during one of the lulls to help folks out and make sure no one needed medical attention. It was weirdly fun. Nice to know in a crisis situation I can keep a level head for the most part. Fox let me and his lovely wife Becca sleep in the bed in the van while he caught some Z’s in the front and we continued onward from there. I was quite relieved to have a hotel Saturday night to dry my clothes, shave, take a long bath and get ready for my flight on Sunday. Fox and Becca took excellent care of me and were great fun. There were many festival organizers that also took great care of me to make sure I was doing well, including Dave and Gail, with help from Jan as well. Thank you all.
While the storm was a dominate theme at the end, the start of the festival was quite lovely and mellow. I had a pretty relaxed schedule and got to hang out and visit with people and make new friends. Our camp area was great, filled with lots of cool people. I particularly enjoyed spending time with Tim and Tina, friends of Fox and Becca and evidently I had met Tim before at the International New Age Trade Show when Fox and I were last there together in Denver, but INATS is a whirlwind, and that salient details escaped my memory. I’m glad we got to reconnect at Chrysalis, as we had some great conversations, particularly on the nature of teaching students, coven structure and the use of the Qabalah n the Craft. It was great. Tim and I got into a brotherly teasing back and forth that made it seem like we knew each other for many years, or perhaps lifetimes. I spent some time hanging out at the fire with folks, though dancing was not what I had hoped for. Perhaps it picked up when I was in the hotel. Sometimes I think my quiet nature around the fire, just sitting and talking tends to make things quiet. I noticed that a bit at Spirits of the Earth, though that was before the feathered boa came out and wheel chair racing. Sadly, the feather boa was the one real victim of the storm at Chrysalis Moon. It didn’t make it.
I made some new friends at Chrysalis Moon, including Dragon Bob, who is an amazing man of many talents, but was there to entertain the children with puppet shows, Lisa, Mike, the Foo Tribe, Tim aka Will and family and members of the local OTO lodge, who put on excellent workshops and rituals. They were a high light of the festival for me and I’m sad that I didn’t get to them all.
I don’t have another camping festival until I go to Between the Worlds in Ohio this September, then I think I’m done camping for the foreseeable future. If you have any gay/bi/queer boys who plan to attend, tell them to get on it, as registration closes soon. I am really saying no to a lot of invites in 2010 as I need some time home to work on home base projects – new books, new classes, the temple. So I might not be out as much as I have been. For those of my friends Down Under, I’m planning a tour in Australia if all goes well. Be on the look out for plans in January. That’s my last really big event and then I start winding down to perhaps only traveling every 6-8 weeks. Haha. That’s cutting down for me.