Are Pagan Festivals Dead - Part 3

This is part 3 of a three part series about Pagan Conventions, Pagan Festivals and Intensive Camping Ordeals.

Witch Camp Intensives - Only Serious Adherents Need Apply

Witch Camp is an on-going and rapidly growing type of week long gathering whose focus is facilitating an intensive, ordeal-like experience, where attendees are assisted by mature elders to achieve a transformative experience. This event is nothing like a festival or a convention; it has none of the partying atmosphere or convivial socializing that either a festival or convention has. Yet what it does have is a powerful sense of commitment and a serious desire to push the envelope in regards to practices and beliefs, seeking to evolve and develop them through ecstatic experiences and powerful visionary insights. Gatherings are small, dedicated and committed. They occur at remote locations and small camp grounds where privacy is absolute. Yet Witch Camp is not for everyone, since the physical and psychological requirements are severe; only those who are mobile and in reasonably good health should consider such an ordeal.

The history of Witch Camp is quite fascinating and it hails from the bay area of San Francisco, developed by members of the Reclaiming Craft Collective, a group of individuals whose beliefs and practices are well represented by the writings of Star Hawk. They were zealous guardians of anarchy, pure egalitarianism, steadfast promoters of equality, and they believed in sharing resources, work and practical spiritual knowledge. They did not believe in initiatory degrees, seeing them as boundaries erected by privilege or personal charisma or power, and they couldn’t accept that some can represent or channel the gods or deities while others can’t and need to be guided and led. All are equal, regardless of the amount of experience they have. However, facilitators do take the responsibility of organizing and directing the Witch Camp experience, but they also don’t have any exclusive authority. That authority is only found in the consensus of the collective.

“The Reclaiming Collective was a group of women and men in the San Francisco Bay Area which formed in 1978-80, originally an outgrowth of classes in magic taught by Starhawk and Diane Baker. The Collective was a working group which published a quarterly newsletter; organized and led public rituals for the Sabbats, the eight seasonal holidays of the year; and taught classes from a feminist perspective in Magic and Witchcraft, including week-long summer programs which came to be known as Witch Camp.” (See the web based article written by Vibra Willow at this web site.)

While we can forgo the specific details of the Reclaiming Tradition because that is a particular branch of Witchcraft, the idea of Witch Camp as an intensive retreat is compelling and profound. Such an intensive retreat that facilitates an ordeal producing personal transformation has a central and important place in the various types of gatherings and social networks. This is not a new type of gathering, since its roots are shamanic, and spiritual retreats and intensives have been a part of other religious organizations for a very long time. However, it is new amongst witches and pagans.

One of the known problems with the Witch Camp put on by the Reclaiming Tradition is that the intensive retreat espouses the beliefs and practices of reclaiming, which can have a very political and ecological perspective. This political and ecological perspective, although very much in line with reclaiming, doesn’t represent the beliefs of many other traditions of paganism and witchcraft. There have also been claims of aggressive coercion and narrow mindedness associated with these exclusive gatherings, but Witch Camp does reflect the teachings of the reclaiming tradition, so the retreat would be a proving ground for those practices and beliefs. 

Those who would not agree with the basic premises of this tradition would find themselves at odds with how such an intensive retreat is conducted. So for this reason, Witch Camp is probably an event intended for a small minority of practitioners in the larger population of witches and pagans. However, the idea of promoting an intensive retreat is very appealing, since it seems to answer a need that other kinds of gatherings fail to satisfy. So I will use the term Witch Camp to loosely define an intensive retreat that could be organized and assembled for other groups of witches and pagans outside of the Reclaiming Tradition.

So what would a Witch Camp be like? Since I have not had the privilege of attending one of these events, I can use my knowledge of how transformations can be elicited from small groups of individuals, since this represents some of the in-depth knowledge that I have developed over a long period of practice and also from undergoing personal ordeals of one kind or another.

A Witch Camp would consist of a small group of individuals bonded by a desire to achieve personal transformation. There would be experienced and seasoned facilitators who would manage the event, and there would be attendees, who would seek to maximize their understanding and insights regarding their faith. An operational assumption would be that the attendees have some kind of internal psychological barrier that keeps them from achieving greater awareness and deeper spiritual perspectives. They are committed and intensely desire to overcome this barrier and to experience a profound personal breakthrough. The facilitators guide and assist the attendees in achieving this goal and they also take personal responsibility in assisting and taking care of the attendees. In addition, there can be other attendees who have already undergone this ordeal and they can help the facilitators in their tasks. The group as a whole is completely committed to this operation, from beginning to end, but everyone is a volunteer and no one is there except by their own free will. Anyone who desires to end the ordeal prematurely can do so, none are forced to stay.

An intensive retreat would first require a rustic or rugged camp site that would offer few amenities to those attending. It should be remote and perhaps even a little difficult to find, thus affording absolute privacy. Living in this space for an entire week would require that everyone is involved with the tasks of keeping the camp in order. Food preparation would be communal and limited amounts would be offered, although some attendees could opt for fasting (although such a regimen would take them out of doing much in the way of heavy camp work). 

Eating, sleeping and waking up would be regulated by the facilitators, as would the work of acquiring and chopping wood, lighting fires, cooking food and cleaning up. Bathing could be something that is not required daily or might even be a luxury - the more rustic the setting the better the ordeal. Also, abstaining from drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or doing any kind of drugs except those required for one’s health, would also be part of the regimen. This would include behavior and activities that would be out of balance with the objectives associated with the intensive retreat. There would be times required for silence and meditation, and also requirements for performing devotional services, which would occur throughout the day and the long week of activities.

The cost of the event would be shared amongst all of the individuals attending, either facilitators or attendees, so the overall price of everything would be equally divided. This means that a Witch Camp would be expensive to attend, although costs could be negotiated, and work could be substituted for the entry fee (although this might violate the requirement that everyone works, and that one person is no more engaged in camp work than anyone else). If the group is very efficient and frugal, finding ways to make the individual price as affordable as possible, then that would be optimally acceptable to everyone involved. 

Most of the activities that foster transformation in Witch Camp would be psychologically based, seeking to address individual issues head on and attempting to overcome them. Each attendee, and certainly, even the facilitators, would be expected to give up something (usually some habit or personal crutch), confess their errors, admit wrongs and imperfections, and seek to understand themselves in a manner that ordinary life would prohibit.  Much time would be devoted to individuals abasing themselves to their gods and examining their faults and bad behaviors. Stress would be applied by facilitators and assistants on each individual attendee. However, it would be important that everyone retains their dignity and sense of self - no one should be indiscriminately hurt or unfairly picked on. 

The whole purpose of this regimen is to assist individuals in letting down their boundaries, eliminating fears, and letting go of their petty egos. It helps to rid them of false pride and personal self-worth in order for them to be able to achieve a sense of union with the gods, and therein, to be truly and spiritually empowered. The first half of the ordeal would focus on breaking down barriers and eliminating personal illusions, while the second half would focus on identifying with nature and the gods, and seeking to be inspired and empowered selflessly through them. The daily giving of devotions to the gods and the time spent meditating in groups and alone would give the over-all atmosphere of the retreat a potent spiritual perspective. Also, during the entire event, attendees would be subject to the judgement and peer review of their elders. Every vision or experience they have would be offered up for examination and group analysis with no exceptions.

These daily tasks and activities would build to a climax, scheduled (hopefully) to occur in the middle of the allotted period for the retreat. Evenings would be used for ritual work and activities that would aid the attendees in achieving transformation. Being bound, blind folded and led around, lightly scourged, and forced to uncomfortably stand or squat for periods of time could also be part of the regimen. But the main idea is after a climactic ritual in the middle of the week, then a period of rebuilding and positive reinforcement would be actively engaged.

The climactic ritual could be based on the typical archetypal underworld ordeal of divestiture and psychic reduction to one’s essentials, followed by the presentation of mysteries and induction into a fellowship of secret devotees of the gods. As part of this induction, attendees would receive (and also determine for themselves) a new identity and name, and would learn the secret identities of sisters and brothers who had acted as facilitators or assistants. The rest of the week would involve personal empowerment exercises and the sharing of insights and personal teachings - something that would be avoided until after the achievement of the central ordeal.

Roles of facilitator, attendee and assistant, would not be static. Facilitators could return to the event as attendees or assistants, and attendees could become facilitators at a later event. Also, these roles do not grant any privileges nor define any kind of personal power. A facilitator functions under the same requirements for work, study and ritual performance that the attendee also functions under. The event is ruled by consensus, voluntary engagement, equality and everything occurs as a function of pure egalitarianism. The facilitators have the responsibility for the event and they know how it should be run and when activities should be done. They have this responsibility, but they do not have any authority to tell anyone what to do or how to do it. 

Everything is done by those electing to do it, knowing that the whole operation is either successful or fails due to the work and cooperation of everyone. As a sign of this freedom, each evening before bedtime is marked by a community meeting, used to discuss the events of the day, give out accolades for achievements or work well done, discuss any problems or issues, and determine the work for the coming day. No one is taken for granted, and no one is either coerced, bribed or exploited in the individual tasks or overall process of the retreat.

While it is customary at Witch Camps to offer only vegetarian food, this can be determined by the group facilitating the retreat, whether it is in their interests to follow this example or not. I would recommend it, since it would add another regimen to the ordeal, especially for those who are meat eaters or followers of no particular dietary discipline. Since the food is communally prepared, then the times of eating, and the amounts consumed could be controlled. The absence of alcohol, caffeine or any kind of soft drink or junk food would also be a part of this regimen. Groups could consider any kind of alcohol or other substance as a sacrament to be associated strictly with offerings and sharing with the gods, or forgo them entirely. 

Prior to the climactic rite, the amount of food consumed could be marginal or might even involve some fasting. Certainly one could forgo three meals a day, and perhaps reduce it to a light morning breakfast and an afternoon main meal - the evenings would be dedicated exclusively to ritual work. Drinking water would be an exception, and abundant sources of pure water for drinking would be a requirement.

Such a strict ordeal, engaged in voluntarily by facilitators and attendees, and whose every waking minute was focused on the objectives and tasks of obtaining a powerful and ecstatic transformative experience could hardly fail to produce one. These kinds of experiences are very relevant to the practice and building up of the traditions of paganism and witchcraft, since they require individuals to experience the inner domains of spirit and to test the validity of one’s beliefs and assumed traditions. While it is comfortable and pleasant to socialize and party with like minded individuals, it is far more important to push the envelope and learn what is behind the various beliefs and practices that we typically take for granted. An intensive retreat would also be an opportunity for attendees to be examined and constructively judged by their elders and peers, something that never happens during a festival or a convention. We pagans and witches need to develop far deeper insights and perspectives than what has occurred previously, and we need to do this as an ongoing process for many decades into the future.

A Witch Camp is probably the most sustainable types of gathering especially if it is local to the community, but it’s not for everyone. It should also be noted that the nature of egalitarianism, so crucial to such an event as this, cuts through all of the illusions and assumptions that are part of the doctrine of traditional witchcraft, such as that practiced by Gardnerians or Alexandrians. Attendees, whether they are simple first degree witches, non-initiates or self initiated, or a high priestess witch queen are treated equally, and their outside spiritual or mundane personas or roles are left at the boundary of Witch Camp. There can be no associated perks or special considerations for anyone who is either attending or facilitating, for all are treated as equals. 

This fact might be undesirable for some who belong to a traditional witchcraft tradition, and they can elect to avoid such an event. However, such an avoidance speaks volumes to one’s commitment for building and evolving the newly derived earth-base spiritual traditions. Those who choose not to grow or evolve their faith will certainly end up left behind, and Witch Camp is one such type of gathering that aids this growing and evolving.

(For a list of active Witch Camps, see the website located here. I would also advise interested parties to be aware of the fact that these intensive retreats are part of the Reclaiming Tradition. If that isn’t your cup of tea, then attending an existing Witch Camp may not be an option. )

***

We have examined the various types of gatherings that witches and pagans can attend, and we have also looked at them in regards to relevancy, sustainability, and examined their virtues and failings. While it is certainly not my place to either recommend or denigrate any type or specific gathering, it seems evident that seasonal and annual local pagan festivals, along with associated witch camps and intensive retreats, are the most likely candidates for the future of our spiritual movement. 

Large regional festivals and conventions probably face a limited future, and will not be likely to persist in the decades ahead, what with the impact of limited resources and the necessity to adapt to changing times. Large gatherings may be more likely to occur once a decade, if at all. Local organizations and events are much more sustainable and these will likely persist and flourish in the future. Yet the most profound kind of gathering will be the intensive retreat, called Witch Camp by some, and perhaps spawning many variations in the future, each established for different regional areas and different traditions, practices and beliefs. It is my opinion that the future of our spiritual movement will be shaped not by social gatherings or even by individual groups or covens, but by intensive retreats that will give a level of spiritual authenticity to our beliefs and practices which normal activities and engagements fail to offer.

The future of wicca and paganism will be forged in variations on Witch Camps, and from them new traditions, beliefs and practices will be established. This is my theory and my belief, but only the future will reveal whether or not I am accurate in my prognostications.   

Frater Barrabbas

Are Pagan Festivals Dead? - Part 2

This is part two of a three part series on Pagan Conventions, Festivals and Intensive ordeals.

The Pagan Festival

The other model for pagan gatherings was oddly based on the rock concert, most notably, Woodstock. This is a gathering that occurs at an outdoor location and is fully immersed in nature, usually a campground. But unlike Woodstock, it’s not a highly publicized event that attracts a multitude of individuals who have nothing in common but a love of music and partying. This type of gathering is called a pagan festival, and because it’s generally easy to organize and inexpensive to put together, it has become the most common sort of pagan gathering. The one main difference between a pagan festival and a pagan convention is that a festival is held outside in nature, allowing the attendees to commune with all the vicissitudes that nature has to offer - the good and the bad. 

Anyone who has attended a pagan festival will happily remember the times of optimal weather when mother nature appeared to cooperate with the camping pagans. Yet there is also the hardships brought about by having to endure bad weather, like violent summer rain storms, sweltering humidity and a plethora of bugs (chiggers, no-see-ums), flies, mosquitoes and the varieties of poison ivy, oak and sumac.  However, a gathering of Pagans and Wiccans at a pagan festival will enjoy and endure both the good weather and the bad in a kind of communal egalitarianism. Some may bring campers and trailers, others, tents, and some may even sleep in their vehicles. Certainly, a pagan festival is more intimate, secluded and exposed to nature in a way that a pagan convention is not.

Like a pagan convention, a pagan festival has its pros and cons. The pros are that it’s relatively cheap and easy to organize and put together. It can be open to the general public or it can be kept exclusive by invitation only, requiring new attendees to be vouched for by previously known attendees. It’s more sequestered and private, since it is being held at a campground or a piece of land in the open country. If the campground or piece of land is esthetically pleasing and has inspiring locations and vistas, then it can shape the gathering and offer even greater esthetic appeal.

The pagan festival is also relatively inexpensive for those attending, since they are usually responsible for feeding themselves and seeing to their needs for the duration of the event. There is a sense of shared and communal living space, potluck repasts, the sharing of drink and good cheer near a roaring fire. There is also a high degree of cooperation between the attendees and the staff, since everyone is required to take responsibility for themselves and their group, functioning as a key part of the temporary community. There is greater intimacy, privacy from the general public, and the attendees can be much more engaged in group rituals, dancing around the fire or circle, and partying. Nudity and being scantily clad is more tolerated and everyone is closer, at least temporarily, to nature (whether they want to or not).

Pagan festivals create a sense of community, as if the camp ground has become a temporary pagan village, which is something that the pagan convention is unable to achieve. Pagan festivals can also last much longer than a pagan convention, often a week or even more, which is plenty of time for folks to get to know each other and forge a community. Pagan festivals can be theme driven and even sponsor big name authors, musicians or regional spiritual leaders, although there are usually a lot of quality local talent facilitating workshops and rituals as well.

The cons are also quite formidable. Not everyone is able and willing to camp and some have medical issues that would preclude them from attending. Camp grounds usually have insurance requirements, but private land typically doesn’t have insurance and the organization must purchase it at a fairly high cost. Some individuals need to be designated as temporary medical staff in case of an emergency, and there has to be some kind of communication service to call in an ambulance if needed or to get someone to the nearest medical facility.

Choosing a good camp ground that has all of the needed amenities is not easy and getting that camp ground for the exclusive use of that scheduled period of time is also difficult. Selecting the duration of the pagan festival is also key, since it can last anywhere from around four days to a week or more, and the longer it is, the more expensive it will be to host it. If a camp ground has bathing facilities (shower stalls and sinks), toilets, access to commercial ice, a communal dining area, locations for workshops and large gatherings which can be accommodated rain or shine, then it could be considered fairly optimal. An optimal camp ground will ensure that a pagan festival will be successful, even if the staff and the organization putting it on are fairly incompetent. However, a bad camp ground will adversely affect or even wreck a gathering no matter how good the organization is that’s running it.

I can distinctly remember camping at a camp ground where the top soil had been bulldozed off of the site and piled in mounds on the outside of the camping area. One of those mounds was located in the middle of the camp ground near the designated ritual area. That was the infamous pagan festival known as Pan Pagan 1981, and it became an example of how a pagan festival can profoundly fail. Unbeknownst to the planning staff, the owners of the camp ground had the idea that it would be good to put down some new turf or perhaps even grow some nice grass instead of the weedy field that it had been. They started this project late and then never got around to completing it before the event started. So we had to set up our camp on the bare earth, which wasn’t too bad, except that it later rained for a whole day in the middle of the festival. This had the effect of turning the camp ground area into a treacherous mire. Some even had their tents swept away in the temporary rivers of mud that had formed. It was, in a word, a disaster, and even more ironic, it was an ecological disaster!

Pagan festivals can be open or closed to the general public. They can gather together as many as a thousand attendees, like the Pagan Spirit Gathering, or they can be closed and only allow a hundred or two, like the former Avalon Elders’ Revel. The larger the festival, the more taxing it is on the camp ground, resources and staff members who are responsible for its orderly function. The better camp ground will keep the staff from being burned out and the poorer camp ground will exhaust them and nearly everyone else who attends. A smaller pagan festival is more manageable, but may have resource issues in regards to renting the campsite and ensuring that there are adequate facilities, not to mention the fact that there are less staff members. Of course all of these issues can be overcome, and even problems can be overlooked if the attendees manage to have a good time despite logistical problems.

The biggest issue with the pagan festival is that folks have to drive to the site and they have to bring whatever they need with them or at least have enough money to purchase what they need. Local pagan festivals seem more efficient and draw just local attendees, many of whom already know each other. The resources required to get to the site and back home again are also not too steep. Large pagan festivals that are regional can attract attendees from all over the country, but these require a lot more resources and often require many attendees to drive halfway across the country. Camping equipment is heavy and cumbersome, not to mention the equipment needed to cook and eat food, the food stuff itself, camp chairs, first aid supplies, bug spray, special garb, robes, rain coats and boots - the list is almost endless. This would probably preclude most from flying, so it becomes a cross-country drive. If someone is hauling a camper, an RV or even a trailer, the consumption of gas becomes quite a concern. Certainly, these kinds of cross country treks using gas or diesel powered vehicles are likely unsustainable and will ultimately be curtailed by the future high price of fuel. So it is my prediction that the first casualty in the changing times might be the large regional pagan festivals.

Even if the local pagan festival survives, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t, there are some things that they can’t accomplish. Often rituals and workshops have to be open to anyone who wants to attend or the sense of community can be stressed or even violated. Men or women only rites are acceptable and understandable, and even Gardnerian or Feri only rituals could be tolerated as long as they are not excessive. For the rest of the pagan festival venues, some will be taking them really seriously while others will not, and this could be a problem if the planners are thinking of doing anything that is ambitious or cutting-edge.

Also, pagan festivals tend allow anyone to run a workshop or lead a ritual whether or not they have the knowledge or expertise to do so. Egalitarianism does not allow for much peer review, and often individuals who put on bad workshops or rituals are met with smiles and pats on the back, while those who had to suffer through it grit their teeth and quietly grumble to their close friends and associates. For someone to tell the facilitator of a workshop or ritual that what they did was unacceptable or even problematic is to violate the harmonious sense of community. These differences could create rather large rifts between attendees, and the obvious criticisms (if heard) could be perceived as a personal attack on the facilitator, which would be unfortunate and also completely unacceptable.

So the really serious work of performing deep and powerful rituals, ordeals or having substantive discussions on cutting edge issues or topics is likely beyond the scope and range of most local or even regional pagan festivals. It’s also my opinion that such rites, ordeals and discussions should take place and perhaps they even desperately need to take place. But the pagan festival is probably not the venue for such activities, unfortunately. This means that a local pagan festival might not be actually relevant to the Pagan and Wiccan movement as a whole. It could also indicate that some local pagan festivals might eventually fold and stop occurring simply because they have exhausted all of the possible venues that they might be able to provide a community. Still, there is another alternative to the pagan festival, and I will discuss this in the next section.

I would also like to state one other issue in regards to pagan festivals, and that concerns the core staff or facilitators who organize and put together these gatherings. Optimally, these groups are constantly rotating, drawing in new people with new ideas and allowing others who have been involved for some time to gracefully retire and do other things. Such an influx and outflow of individuals would require a very egalitarian organization, and it would also preclude certain individuals from seeking permanent positions of authority and power, especially if the organization was run by consensus.

Usually, organizations that put on pagan festivals are led by individuals who are more authoritarian and set in their ways than what is healthy or good for the gathering or the community. A larger pagan festival requires the group of facilitators to be larger, and that might mitigate the “cult of personality” that can grow up around an individual or individuals who consistently lead a pagan festival gathering. Static organizations that have the same key individuals making all the decisions every year can only be sustainable for a period of time, depending on how open, generous and magnanimous the leader or leaders are to those who might not agree with them on how something should be organized or accomplished.

However, lacking an egalitarian approach to authority and ignoring the needs for consensus building and unity, even the most generous leader or leaders ultimately become petty tyrants, irregardless of how they govern. This, of course, doesn’t even take into consideration the natural effects of exhaustion, running out of ideas and becoming burned out by the process. These natural factors will most likely cause even the best run pagan festival to unravel and fall apart. No one is perfect, but imperfections in static leadership positions tend to become amplified over time, and when the community that makes up the attendees decides that it has had enough, then the pagan festival will dwindle down to only a few dozens of people and become unsustainable.

To recap: pagan festivals have their good points and their bad points. They seem to be sustainable if they are local, but perhaps they are not deeply relevant to the future of Paganism and Wicca. Ultimately, they are social gatherings with some rituals and workshops offered that allow for groups and individuals to exchange ideas and engage in group activities and moderately deep rituals (if they are properly facilitated). They are not places that individuals can go to be examined and evaluated by their peers, challenged spiritually and physically, engage in cutting edge discussions about the issues of the day or experiment with new ways of thinking or performing rituals. Pagan festivals were designed to be community gatherings that promote harmony, positive exchanges and the egalitarian sharing of responsibilities and work. They are meant to be fun, enjoyable and pleasant for a wide group of attendees. While it may be important to have a social venue to connect together all the various individuals in the wider local spiritual community, that importance has its limitations.

So where do individuals go if they want a more substantive or deeper experience than either a pagan convention or a pagan festival? They go to a kind of boot camp or outward-bound type of gathering that caters specifically to their beliefs and their faith, which is an ordeal that was originally derived from the teachings of Star Hawk, Diane Baker and members of the Reclaiming Craft Collective, and they called it ‘Witch Camp”, and this is the third type of gathering.

(To be continued..)

Frater Barrabbas

Are Pagan Festivals Dead? - Part 1

Introduction

One of the most exciting and thrilling experiences that I have ever had was attending a pagan festival for the first time back in the summer of 1980. It was called the Pan Pagan Festival, and it was held at a rather dreary campground in the northwest corner of Indiana. The campground was shared with a Baptist camp revival, which at least was separated by a small lake. Over 500 people showed up for that event, and all of the big names were there. There was Gwyddion Penderwyn, Z. Budapest, Selena Fox, and many other notables as well.

It was my first outing after having escaped from the Coven from Hell and it was my first experience meeting almost every shade of Pagan and Wiccan. I even met a few members of the left hand path and that was quite amazing. Yes, even a few Satanists managed to attend (but don’t tell anyone). I had just graduated from college and for me this whole venue was an incredible experience. I also got to meet some of the best craft friends that I had ever made, so it certainly was a pivotal event for me and I suspect for many others, too. Yet this event wasn’t very ideal as far as pagan festivals go, since it was over crowded, the campsite was right next to the freeway so you heard vehicle traffic at all hours and we had an uneasy peace with the Baptists on the other side of the small lake.

Other festivals and conventions that I have attended since then were certainly better organized and had much better camping or lodging facilities, but this one was my very first pagan festival, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Now that we are living in the early 21st century, there are many gatherings and festivals that happen every year, whether local, regional or even drawing an international crowd. I have even helped found a pagan festival, which is the Heartland Pagan Festival (started in 1986), and I helped to run it for its first few years. Heartland Pagan Festival is still happening today during the Memorial Day weekend, even after 27 years.

So why am I asking such a stupid question, “Are pagan festivals dead?” Obviously, they seem to be thriving and appear nearly everywhere in the country. What a foolish phrase to use as the title of an article about pagan gatherings! However, as Bob Dylan has said, “The Times They Are a-Changin'” and indeed they are changing with a vengeance. There are many factors that are shaping the future in which we will live and they will probably have a profound impact on Pagans and Wiccans being able to assemble in large groups, unless of course, those groups are local and sustainable in the long term.

We should also examine the relevancy of these gatherings so we can look at them more objectively. Back in the seventies and eighties, it was critically important for us to assemble in large gatherings since it was the only way to communicate (outside of writing letters or talking on the telephone), and we were still forging an overall kind of cohesive identity. Sharing ideas and thoughts in an open, free and chaotic manner helped the founders and key members of various Pagan and Wiccan organizations to clarify and develop their traditions. It also helped us as a group to find a common ground and learn to identify with others who were somewhat or even startlingly different. We learned to be tolerant towards a divergence of beliefs and practices and to respect each other. We also learned to fiercely defend our rights to believe and practice our faith as we saw fit. All this occurred as the encroaching and ever popular fundamentalist Christian organizations gained in political power and popularity, starting in the 1980's.

Still, times are indeed changing and the need for such large gatherings may have achieved the upper limit in terms of both usefulness and sustainability.  By usefulness I am saying that merely getting together for what would seem to be mostly a social gathering with sprinkling of some workshops, presentations, rituals, live music and the selling of obscure books and goods may not represent what is really needed or relevant for our growing population of practitioners and followers. By sustainability, I am thinking of the availability of resources to gather together in large regional or even international groups. Traveling by car or plane does impact the environment with pollutants and it also uses up precious resources, namely fossil fuels. These resources will probably become a lot more expensive in the decades ahead.

It would also be smart for us to consider the impact of the internet on inter-faith communications and social gatherings. What this means is that lots of people can communicate and even engage in one-way (email, blogs and pod casts) or even two way voice and/or video conferencing at a fraction of the cost and trouble of actually traveling to a location to meet and exchange ideas. It’s even possible that some future gatherings might become entirely virtual events. Certainly, this technology is already having an impact on how people communicate with one another, and the relative ease and frequency of those communications.

As followers of earth-based spiritual traditions, we should be sensitive to the issues concerning the use of resources and sustainability. What this means is that in the future, it’s very likely that long distance transportation by car or by plane may become quite expensive, making local gatherings or virtual gatherings more financially attractive and sustainable over the long run. So with that being said, we can at least agree that regional and international gatherings are probably going to become more rare or they might even completely disappear in the future, because only those who can afford the transportation costs would be able to attend. We can assume that the cost of transportation will become a limiting factor for gatherings in the future.

These changes are probably going to greatly affect the way we live and what we eat, the location of our homes and how we travel to non-local destinations. When crude oil becomes far less abundant than it is today (and that is indeed a fact we can bank on), it’s going to become too expensive for individuals and small groups to travel by car or plane, and that more energy efficient systems of mass transit will become the norm for most. We will also see a decline in the kinds of foods that we find in the markets today, so that seasonal availability will once again affect what we buy in regards to fruit, vegetables and even meat, as it did when I was child. The world is facing the immanent reality that human population growth and resource consumption will have to drastically change in the next fifty years or we will face catastrophic repercussions.

Our habits and lifestyles in this country will probably start being impacted in the next couple of decades by these events, as it already has in the third world and to some extent, Europe. We are going to have to become much more “greener” in our approach to life and the use of resources. Pollution and greenhouse gases will also have quite an impact on how we live and we will ultimately be forced into using more efficient transportation systems that will produce vastly less levels of pollution than the average car or plane does now. As followers of earth-based spirituality, we should not only be aware of these facts, but actually embrace them and start planning and acting as if those times were already here.

That being said, I would like to discuss a little bit of history with you and examine the different kinds of gatherings that exist today, their possible origins, and what may still be sustainable in the difficult decades ahead. I also want to discuss what I think is really needed in our communities that is lacking, which would help us to mature our spiritual perspectives and practices, because compared to the other world religions, we are very new and just starting to coalesce our spiritual beliefs and practices.

How Gatherings Evolved and the Three Types of Gatherings

We will now consider three types of gatherings that are currently employed in the Pagan and Wiccan communities. This, of course, doesn't include local community gatherings or sectarian gatherings that would occur for a single day or night.

The Pagan Convention

The very first kind of gathering that occurred for pagans and various other kinds of religious groups of that ilk was probably a gathering that was not really intended for them in the first place. That was the Science Fiction convention, which was expanded to include the genre of fantasy writing, and this, of course, brought together science fiction geeks with fans of alternative worlds of magic and wonder. It was also the most frequented watering hole for quite a number of the budding pagan revival groups as well.

Science fiction as a literary body has produced a least one very well known religious organization, and that is Scientology; founded by the science fiction author and occultist, L. Ron Hubbard. (I will forgo talking any more about that topic.) Science fiction and fantasy novels, such as “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein was responsible for the founding of the Church of All Worlds, and Tolkein’s Ring series certainly spawned all sorts of creative endeavors that attempted to bring a degree of reality to stories that were mythic, timeless and enjoyed by many. Scifi Cons, as they are called, spawned other gatherings as well, not to mention the huge following for comics and comic heros (Comicons), Star Trek, and numerous others.

Probably the grand daddy of them all was the electronic consumer convention, which was based on other kinds of gatherings, such as political party conventions.  It’s not surprising then that some of the first gatherings of pagans may have occurred at some of these conventions, and that they naturally would have used the model of the fan or consumer convention as a format for a strictly pagan kind of convention. There are at least a few pagan conventions that happen every year, and these tend to draw a more international audience. They are also less formal and much more public.

The critical element for planning a convention type of gathering is to first find a hotel that will accommodate a large gathering of like minded people. There should be meeting rooms, conference rooms and even large halls for larger congregations of people to enact rituals or musical concerts in a large public setting. It’s also critically important to be able to publicize such an event so that a large group of people will attend, enabling the hotel to book the hotel rooms in advance and make a profit from the gathering. The key is getting enough people together so that the gathering will be able to meet its expenses. This requires a fair commitment up-front to the hosting hotel from those putting on the gathering, and it’s necessary to be able to spread the word so that enough people will attend. 

If a convention doesn’t get enough people, then not only will the organization that attempted to host it probably go broke, but some individuals will likely be responsible for the out-of-pocket unmet costs for the organization, the hotel and any other parties supplying food, vending or other services. So this kind of gathering is risky and is better served in areas with a large population, such as large cities or metro areas.

The pros for such a gathering are numerous, such as providing a safe and comfortable venue for people of like mind to socially meet, network, put on discussion groups, workshops, sell obscure or hard to find products and generally have a good time eating and drinking with fellow Pagans and Witches. Successful conventions are usually located in dense transportation hubs, so they are easily accessible and can accommodate large fluctuations of people coming and going.

The cons for such a gathering are also numerous. First, in order to be sustainable, conventions must attract a large group of people, and that means that anyone in the general public who is willing to pay the entry fee are able to attend. Often, hotels are accommodating more than one gathering or convention at a time, so there is a mix of various attendees and other folks who happen to be there at the same time. Seldom is a hotel exclusively held for a specific convention. Even the largest ones, such as Pantheacon, which is held outside of San Jose near the local airport, have to share some space with outliers. Smaller conventions would have to share resources with individuals who are not into Paganism or Wicca, and who may find the whole event to be annoying or even obnoxious.

Hopefully everyone will be patient, tolerant and get along when rubbing elbows together in the hotel lobbies, hallways and at the local eateries and restaurants; but that doesn’t always occur. There’s always the possibility of some kind of problem developing even between attendees who are supposed to be peacefully meeting and greeting other folks of the same or similar persuasion. Perhaps that’s why Pantheacon bans the carrying of actual weapons or magickal tools on the premises. Large groups also means that there is little privacy and absolutely no control over who attends, not to mention the appearance of the local press and other gawkers or unwanted spectators. These events are also shorter than other kinds of gatherings, typically lasting over a long weekend. This is because hosting a convention that lasted a week or more would be too expensive and couldn’t attract enough people to make it financially feasible.

I suspect that the convention model for gatherings will probably occur for some time in the future, so long as large groups of individuals can afford to travel to regional metropolitan locations. However, certainly the attenuation in fossil fuels and the expenses associated with energy and food consumption will take their toll, and it’s quite possible that conventions will become less attended and eventually fold, particularly pagan conventions. These may even become events that are planned once every few years or even once a decade, ensuring that many people will be able to plan and save up their money to attend. Yet one of the major drawbacks to this kind of gathering is the fact that there isn’t much privacy outside of one’s hotel room. It’s also not a good venue for sharing intimate spiritual experiences and performing deep and involving workings in small groups outside of the privacy of one’s room.

(To be continued..)

Frater Barrabbas