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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in Summerland Spirit Festival

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The Witch Doctor Clause

Saturday night we offered to Thunder.

Together we sang, danced, and prayed that He be merciful to our gathering.

Sunday night the big storm hit.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Gerald Home
    Gerald Home says #
    Steven, Thank you for leading that ritual to appease the Thunders. Though, I was one who teased you post storm, I was appreciative
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Along with the sheer animal fear, I'll admit to some moments of self-doubt while I stood there, water running down my back, knowin
  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    ah, as we often say in my Reclaiming Witch community - "This shit is real "

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Taking the Ash

You're walking down the street and there, sure enough, under the same tree as this morning, sits the holy man, stark naked, blue with ash.

Rishikesh? Benares? No.

Turtle Creek, Wisconsin, USA.

I've always wondered what it would be like to live in a place where, in the natural course of things, one encountered the blue men (and women) as part of everyday life. I've also wondered what it would be like to be one of the ash-clad, given to the gods, wandering like ghosts through the world: in it, but not of it.

Well, I'll soon find out.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Summerland Spirit Festival: Turtle Creek, Wisconsin, July 2014.

The Wild Hunt: post-industrial primitive. We've gathered in front of the hall: the hunters with our face paint and spears, along with the rest of the tribe. When the horns blow, we'll all process down to the Stones, where the Elders will call the Deer. We'll hunt, kill, and mourn him properly before we eat him and rejoice: the mysteries of life and death, the old, true ways.

A little girl whose name I don't know--she's maybe seven--comes up to me and asks very specific questions about the patterns of our face paint. Actually, she's already got it all figured out. The blue line across the nose and cheekbones means "hunter." The crossing line down the brow and ridge of the nose means "tribe." Right?

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  • Brenda Caudill
    Brenda Caudill says #
    Many people have worked very hard for this to happen and we will see more as our children grow.
  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    Thank you, this makes my heart happy.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Last July at the Summerland Spirit Festival, we enacted the Rite of the Bride of the Forest.

The village maidens dance before the elders. The elders select the Chosen Maiden; they veil and crown her with flowers. We lead her down to the ford and the elders call the god. The god comes from the forest and the bride crosses the ford to him; they go together into the trees. We dance to honor the God and the Bride and lo! she returns, already great with child, bearing the blessing. The drums come up and we dance indeed. Party.

It's a good ritual, and always deeply moving: a community entering into a story together, giving of its own.

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