Festivals are without a doubt one of the staple activities in the pagan community no-matter where you come from. For those who come to festivals as attendees the experience can consist of several days of like-minded bliss, passionate workshops and rituals, and life changing conversation. Those on the planning and organization side of the festival experience spend at least a year before the opening of the gates  meticulously chasing down insurance policies, space, utilities,  supplies, and scheduling speakers, guests, etc.

PSG ( Pagan Spirit Gathering ) boasts one of the longest running and largest pagan-centric festivals in the United States. Since 1980 pagans from all over the world have flocked to the gathering to soak-up spiritual rays and share their knowledge and experience. This year PSG invited local author, witch, priestess, and community advocate Crystal Blanton and Activist Patrick McCollum as featured guests.

I was able to track Crystal Blanton down to ask her a few intimate questions about her experience.

DH: What was your general experience while there? What was the general vibe?

CB: The general experience at PSG was fantastic. I had such a good time talking, laughing, dancing, singing, hugging and “straight chillin” with the PSG community. The vibe was very supportive and loving. I always come from the mid-west with several new family members and this year was the same. And I got to spend time with others that I have strong bonds with. What a wonderful feeling to walk among fellow Pagans and know you are with family.

DH: What did you present while at PSG and what feedback did you get on the work?

CB: I presented four workshops at this years event; Pagan Cultural Integration, West Side Story Witches and two workshops on Restorative Justice in the Pagan community. I got great feedback from participants, especially in regards to balancing the multiple cultures we carry and also in regards to restorative justice to support healthy dynamics in our community.

DH: What, in your words, was the high-light of the event?

How could I chose a highlight? There are too many. I would, of course, include the incredible conversations around transgendered inclusion/exclusion, seeing Spiral Rhythm and Tuatha Dea perform, having Margot Alder play DJ in the car on the way to the airport, the Symposium put on by the PNC camp, laughing with Cara, David, River, Heather, Nels and Judy, and receiving hugs from my friends when the day was just so overwhelming. It is all of those things and more.

DH: Do you feel there was a difference in pagan culture in the mid-west? If so what were the differences and what were the similarities?

CB: The biggest difference in Pagan culture in the mid-west might be the use of or lack of clothing at Pagan festivals. I say that humorously, knowing that much of that has to do with the culture of outdoor festivals and the weather. It was very hot for the first four days of my PSG experience and I have heard rumors of previous years.

Outside of that, the mid-west Pagans are wonderful, friendly and have built great communities.

DH: Did you get to meet any of your own heroes? Who and what did you take from the experience?

CB: All Pagans in our community are heroes to me because they fill a void that cannot be replaced. If I were to choose heroes from my experience I would first start there and say thank you for embracing me and showing me community love.

In that I would add some specific people to my list of heroes, including Nels, Judy and Peter Dybing (my family), Cara, David, Heather and Laurie from PNC, Ed Hubbert, Michael Cheiron (my brother), Serafine, Alana and so many more!! Spending time with Selena Fox , Margot Alder and Damh the Bard was incredible. River Higginbotham and Shauna Aura are incredible people and new friends and I fell in love with Sharon, Blode and Cheri (PSG staff). And I salute Melissa Murry and Ruth Barrett for being incredible faces of change. In the end…. I took away a sense of humble respect for being able to rub shoulders with some of the most incredible people ever.

DH: What did you bring back with you from PSG spiritually?

CB: Spiritually I brought back another layer of connectivity to everyone and everything. I have struggled since the death of my mother to trust in others to be present for me and I believe this festival showed me again that I can. Nels (who did the main ritual) asked me to play a part and warned me that there would be fire. It touched me greatly that he remembered my struggle with fire since my mother died this way; Nels remembered to take care of me.

I also learned that the Gods will continue to give us roles as long as there is a job to be done. I have slowly began to embrace my job (given by the Gods) in my process of growth and coming back from PSG I know that it is important and the Gods know exactly what they are doing. I am learning to listen better and question them less.

PSG organizers have already released the dates for the 2013 event and you can find out more here.

Devin Hunter

PNC Bay Area

Pagan Spirit Gathering (PSG) is a week long annual gathering of Pagans in the mid-west in the month of June.  Rev. Selena Fox and the community of Circle Sanctuary have hosted this event for the last 32 years in varying different locations around the mid-west region.  This years PSG festival was a gathering of over 1,000 registered participants of the Pagan community at Stone House Park in Illinois.

Photo of press release via Bob Paxton/Circle Sanctuary

Saturday, June 23, 2010, a press conference was conducted at Pagan Spirit Gathering in Illinois over the issue of transgender inclusion in some women only rituals.  Pagan Newswire Collective Bay Area was a part of this conference and will be reporting at length on this issue.

Pagan Newswire Collective Minnesota has posted video from the press conference for our PNC readers to see.  Here is a link to the article regarding the press conference and the video captured.

More to come regarding this issue from PNC Bay Area.

http://pncminnesota.com/2012/06/25/building-bridges-between-dianic-and-trans-communities-at-psg/

In just a few short weeks ( July 7th and 8th) world famous author and mystic Gede Parma ( Spirited, By Land, Sea, and Sky, Ecstatic Witchcraft) will be presenting several workshops at The Mystic Dream in Walnut Creek. The Order of the Sacred Wheel, a small pagan community group based in the East-Bay, will be hosting this workshop series at The Mystic Dream as part of it’s on-going community outreach. Both free and paid classes/workshops will be provided to the community that weekend as well as a special “Meet the author” reception, readings by Gede, a book signing, and more.

Gede Parma expressed his excitement in a letter to PNC.

This 2012 ‘Ecstatic Witchcraft’ tour is exactly that. It is a potent recalling and re-membering of the lost, renewed, surviving and reclaimed parts of the old Shamanic Craft which is at the core of Traditional, Ancestral Witchcraft. How then do we meet these Ecstatic Mysteries and Techniques and integrate them with the ignited awareness that is the hallmark of the Witch? How do we surrender to the Infinite All and become a Living Potency, engendering a respect amongst the Spirits and enjoining ourselves to the Great Spiral?

This seven-week tour which I am undertaking will sing, hold and play with this. It comes from my experience having been raised in an open context of talking with the Spirits, honouring ancient Gods, meditation and trance, possession and sorcery and healing and wholeness. It derives from my work with the WildWood Tradition as a priest and initiate, and as someone who helped to midwife this wonderful and wandering phenomenon into the world once more. It comes from having encountered demons and having my soul torn apart (not metaphorically) and spontaneous Spirit initiations. I have undertaken the work of the Death-walker and Psychopomp; I serve my community as a Vessel, opening to the Gods to speak and act through me; I am a Sorcerer and Cunning Witch casting spells into the Nigh for others and myself; and I am a Seer and a Healer, inheriting a timeless tradition through my lineage.

I am excited to bring this work to the Bay Area this summer. I love and adore the San Francisco Bay Area and a feel a strong, vivacious magic alive in the land whenever I am present there – to be weaving potent Ecstatic Mystery and Magic at the Mystic Dream in July will be a grand opportunity, and one I hope many of you will share with me.

In Love, Truth and Wisdom – May the Beauty of Paradise crown us all!

Today, May 31, 2012, the Religion section of the Huffington Post released a list of 27 books that Pagans should have on their shelves.  This book list was created as a call for Pagans to compile titles of books that Pagans should read.  With the help of David Dashifen Kees, this list was put together and released for the public.  The author of the article, Jahnabi Barooah , posted a list that includes many notable books within the community and others that are from newer Pagan authors.

With well over 200 comments posted from community members so far, this article has generated a lot of discussion around books, authors and definitions of Paganism.  While some community members make note of the lack of Pagan focused news from the Huffington Post in the past, others are upset over several books that are not on the list.  Most widely discussed books missing from this list of 27 essential Pagan books include Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Alder, The Spiral Dance by Starhawk and the Pagan Book of Living and Dying by Starhawk and M. Macha Nightmare.

Several of the books highlighted in this list include bay area writers.  Books coming from the bay area included T. Thorn Coyle’s  Evolutionary Witchcraft, Diana Paxson’s Essential Asatru and the Shades of Faith anthology edited by Crystal Blanton.

The list can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/pagan-books-27-essential-_n_1556931.html?ref=religion

Crystal Blanton reporting, Bay Area Pagan Newswire Collective