From the Oak: Let’s hear it for the God!
Many are those that focus on female divinities, leaving male divinities in the shadows if they get mentioned at all. This is a shame. Here I will share my thoughts, stories and prayers on male divinities. Currently focusing on divinities placed in an atheist "graveyard".
Returning to Mundania
So for the last two weeks, I find myself spinning in place, a bit bewildered by mundania. In comparison to where I've been, the mundane world seems cold and barren.
I recently spent a wonderful 10 days camping with my heart family at Dragonfest. I have been attending this small Pagan festival/retreat held in the foothills just west of Denver for 20 years. My husband and I have been on staff for the last 8 or 9 years...honestly I'm not sure. We've seen it grow into a very large festival then move to a new location and shrink down to barely supportable numbers and then start growing again.
The festival has seen me, fresh from leaving Christianity behind, through all the twisting and turning of my path. From searching to Wicca to searching to eclectic Hellenic Pagan to ADF to Hellenic Polytheist to declaring my dedication to Isis and reaffirming my dedication to Zeus. I've attended workshops on henna, drumming, Dionysos, tarot, Mary Magdalene, Persephone, poppett making, chanting, polyamory, body painting, mead making, polytheism...so many wonderful workshops put on by able volunteers.
Oh yes, there are polytheists that attend this festival. In relatively small numbers in comparison to the Wiccans and Witches, but our numbers are growing. There are Heathens, ADF, ATO and I don't know who else. I'm probably the only Hellenic polytheist but that's ok. For many years, Denver area Pagans were not aware of Polytheists, but as we grow and become more vocal, they learn about us, from us and us them. Tolerance is the general theme at this festival. I've been to women's rituals, to blot for Thor, rituals for the Wiccan God and Goddess, for Innana, for Dionysos...so many rituals over the years. The biggest one is always the multiple Drawing Down where I've come face to face with many a deity and never left unaffected.
What can I tell you about this festival? Here I am free to be me...to wear my skin proudly, walking my path without fear of negativity. I get to learn about other paths and share things about my own. I get to meet new people and reconnect with old friends. I get to learn new things, try new things, feel the dynamics of a large ritual that I do not get in my own home, in my own practice. I get to be reminded that the world is a large place filled with wonderful differences. I get to experience a community that treasures its young, where parents "hunt in packs" (which, as my 8 year old will tell you, means that it isn't only his parents he has to mind), teenagers step up when needed, where old wisdom and new ideas come together. I get to share my hearth, my fire cauldron, with others and in return receive hospitality at other hearths. I get to be apart of something bigger than my private practice.
Yes there are problems. No community or gathering is perfect. More often than not, however, there is a live and let live attitude. A willingness to agree to disagree. For me, this festival, this community is family. It is my spiritual home and I only get to visit for a short time every summer.
So excuse me while I stare into space, humming chants under my breath and fidgeting with a neon green bracelet that reads in purple lettering "30th Dragonfest 2015: Love, Laugh & Learn" for I find mundania rather cold and unaccepting. I long to return home...
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