Events Calendar

  • PAGAN HOLY DAYS: Fall Equinox (Sept 22), Samhain (Oct 31), Winter Solstice (Dec. 21) -- all celebrated at OLHA
  • HOWL, women's poetry evening, third Sunday at Nightbird Books, S. School St. in Fayetteville

5.9.08

Festival Ramblings

By Cynthia Huelsmann
This year I gave myself the gift of free time, choosing not to dive back into work after my job ended in December 2007. I have long had the dream of attending as many womyn's festivals as I could manage, and I decided this was the year to do it. In a series of articles I will attempt to share some of my experiences and thoughts on three of the festivals I was able to attend this summer. This article will cover my experiences at Womongathering.
http://www.womongathering.com/the_festival.htm

Held June 12—15 at a summer camp in northeast Pennsylvania, 2008 was the 20th year for this festival celebrating spiritual ritual. This was a Water and West year, honoring the Crone aspect of the Goddess. I was a festie virgin, driving alone up to the gate, after a day and a half on the road, and I was a little anxious and a lot excited about what was to come. I arrived on Thursday almost an hour after the gate opened, comforting myself in the knowledge that some friends attending were long-time festie-goers, including our own locals, Cedar and Esyule. Luckily for me, my housing assignment required changing and, at my request, the lodging assigner was happy to assign me to White Buffalo cabin with my friend Carol and her partner and friend. I felt like the goddess was looking out for me. I drove to the cabin to unload and there were Carol and Paula, and I had a home nest at fest! As I unpacked, I noticed another couple of friends setting up camp, and had another reunion. Shelley and Kathy were there to lead a singing workshop that I was really looking forward to attending.

Feeling somewhat settled, I dove into the flow of the festival. I had a bit of time to wander around the grounds and go through the welcoming gateway—a special spot with a couple of tents decorated in the water motif, occupied by womyn just waiting to give new arrivals a hug and tell them they were so happy they came. A womon could sit there and visit a while and spend a little time releasing what she wanted to leave behind and bringing her spirit together (grounding and centering) to be really present for the weekend.

Next on my agenda was finding the dinner hall and figuring out how that worked. We all brought our own plates and utensils and washed them in a communal sink area after meals. The food was great, and there was plenty of it. At dinner I joined my first workshop—a Sisters’ Sing-Along, led by an energetic group of womyn called the South Mountain Singers. They clearly loved singing and sharing their passion with all of us. I had great fun as we sang (from booklets they passed out) such standards as “Amazing Grace” (a witch version they had rewritten) and “Wade in the Water.” We sang songs that were new to me (the vagina songs), as well as many familiar chants—“We Give Thanks,” “I Thank the Earth” and “We All Come from the Goddess,” for example.

These same womyn were in charge of the procession and portal to the community ritual to light the sacred fire. So I found myself becoming Kali as I carried a large puppet with two other womyn and sang for what seemed like hours as hundreds of womyn slowly streamed through the portal to be blessed and purified. This year eight directions were recognized. In the center was the infinity symbol with fire in one loop and water in the other. Womyn took part in calling all the directions, led by Sappho as she lit the fire which she and a few others would lovingly tend for the entire weekend. We watched as it grew and we waited as it ate the big pile. The direction of its fall would indicate special meaning for our time together and for the coming year. [I think it fell to the northwest, and I have no recollection of Sappho’s reading regarding the direction’s special meaning.] This sacred fire is a real vital part of this festival and I wish I had had more time to spend there. I did go back for the closing circle which I will describe later. One thing I noticed, even this first day, was the flexibility of these womyn in their ritual and their openness to experimenting with different ways to do things. There was a joy in playing with the energy and an open inviting spirit. I felt welcome right away in this group.

Friday began for me with my turn at the sweat lodge, times having been assigned at registration. I was happy to have this purification early in the day and early in the festival. The Lakota Inipi ceremony was facilitated by Beverly Little Thunder, who is amazing and an early leader in sharing and teaching this ritual to womyn. As we arrived, we each made prayer ties to take into the lodge—one tie for each direction. We stooped as we crawled in, a prayer on our lips for “all my relations.” We entered as we had left our mothers womb into this womb of the mother earth. We were wedged in as close as possible, as we were told to “leave only the space of a tissue between you.” At final count there were twenty of us, and I think this was not a crowded lodge to Beverly.

The ritual was amazing. As we all sat in that dark hot space and sweated and prayed together, I felt our connection, heard how we had common desires and hopes. Most of us started with gratitude for all we have and then begged for a clear connection to our spirit to lead us to serve where we are needed. There were tears running down my cheeks as I heard the prayers of other womyn there and knew them as my own. It was hot but bearable. Beverly doesn’t believe sweats should be a form of torture; still, in some lodges—not ours—that weekend, womyn did have to leave. The door was opened four times to receive glowing, red-hot, local rocks representing the ancestors. I felt thankful that I ended up in a spot with a bent sapling, holding a little coolness, behind me. Leaning against it, on and off, enabled me to remain for the duration. This ritual was magic and I have not given all the details here; you need to come and experience it for yourself.
(to view the entire article, go to http://spinsterhaven.blogspot.com/)

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