June Festivals
BABALON RISING
Location: Camp Midian, Springville IN
Dates: June 7-10
Cost: 65 in advance, 93 at the gate (of course)
Names: TBA, Lots of Rituals, lots of music and performers this year too!
This festival sort of breaks my rules because it’s mostly focused on Thelema but it has “Pan” in the title and past presenters come from a variety of traditions, but Brandy Williams asked me to add it last year and when Brandy asks me to do something I’m generally pretty compliant. Part of that is because I’ve been married for 13 and a half years now and have become pretty good at following directions/orders. I think I’d love to go to this festival because it’s focus is so different, but since it’s outside I’d still have plenty of time to release my inner Pagan. Also, as a Wiccan-Witch I realize that about 45% of what I do in ritual was stolen from Crowley.
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: SERPENTINE FIRE by Earth Wind & Fire. I had to pick something here that was kind of sexy and magickal sounding along with being elemental, so a song by Earth Wind & Fire was pretty obvious. Also, Earth Wind & Fire was (and is) a super great band that has kind of been forgotten about over the years. This song is also sexy as all get out.
ISHTARFEST
Location: Old Bridge Township, New Jersey
Dates: Saturday June 9
Cost: 35 to 25 dollars
Names: Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali and Inanna. I also assume Ishtar.
This is another event that breaks my rules, but last year it was a three day thing, and this year you can also camp overnight so it’s technically I guess more than one day. This has always caught my eye just because it sounds unique and different. We always get so caught up in Celtic, Norse, Greek, and Egyptian deities, but what about Sumerian/Babylonian ones? They are cool too!
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: ALWAYS AND FOREVER by Heatwave. Ishtar and the Goddess are always and forever of course!
WICCAN FEST
Dates: June 13-17
Location: Mansfield Outdoor Centere, Mansfield Ontario Canada
Cost: 192 with camping, 209 for a spot in a cabin until May 1. Prices raise some after that. Meal plans for 75 dollars and day passes available.
Names: Ian Corrigan, Judith Olson-Linde and Nels Linde (Last year’s presenters, 2018 TBA)
This is one of those festivals I used to go to when I lived in the Midwest and could drive to more places than I can in California. I think I went to Wic-Can Fest four or five total times which means I went because I liked it. I will always contend that they have the absolute best drum circle/everyone meeting space in all of Pagandom. I miss this festival pretty terribly, even though there were times when temps would drop into the upper 30’s at night which is about 3 degrees Celsius. It’s been nine years since I’ve been at Wic-Can Fest and everyone I met there still talks to me like I’m a part of the extended family.
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: SOMETIMES WHEN WE TOUCH by Dan Hill. Hill is Canadian, and putting Canadian performers with Canadian festivals seems like the way to do things. But really, I chose this song because it’s so full of THE EMOTIONS(!) and sometimes I get that way when I think about this festival. I legit miss it.
FREE SPIRIT GATHERING
Dates: June 12-17
Location: Ramblewood Retreat Center, Darlington Maryland
Cost: 279 for the whole event, 304 at the door, sliding scale and day passes too.
Names: THORN MOONEY, Raven Kaldera
Thorn is teaching classes! This always blows me away because when she comes out here for PantheaCon she doesn’t teach things. And her class “How to Start and Run (Not Ruin) a Pagan Group” (with her friend Corvus) should probably be a MUST go to workshops for most Pagans. How many Pagan groups out there are ruined due to poor leadership? More than events on this list I’m willing to guess. Thorn is also teaching something about the Book of Shadows and doing a class on archery, and has another one called “Reconsidering Wicca.” As much as people love to bad-mouth Wicca today I hope she records this one so I can listen to it. So yeah, go to this festival if you live on the Eastern seaboard. I’ve also been to Ramblewood before and it’s fantastic, and I know lots of people at this festival. I wish I was going to be there.
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: TWO OUT OF THREE AIN’T BAD by Meatloaf. Over the years Meatloaf has kind of become a giant piece of rotten meat (like two week old meatloaf in your fridge), but Bat Out of Hell is an incredible album and one of my all time favorites. I’m so old that I first bought this on cassette and then bought it on CD several years later which gives you an indication of how much I like it, sort of like the people at Free Spirit Gathering.
PAGAN SPIRIT GATHERING
Dates: June 17-24
Location: Tall Tree Lake campground, in Southern Illinois
Cost: 265 to 290 dollars depending on when you register
Names: Selena Fox, JENYA T. BEACHY, Gus diZerega, ASTREA TAYLOR, BRIANNE RAVEN WOLF
The first major Pagan festival I ever went to was Pagan Spirit Gathering, way back in 1997. I returned for the first time since then last year, and let me say that after that week I have deep feelings and love for PSG. You hear the word “community” get thrown around a lot when it comes to festivals, but PSG truly creates a community. I met so many great people, sold out of books, and got to drink a lot of fantastic mead. I loved this festival so much that I’m going back in 2019 whether they officially invite me or not. I know that there have been some issues with PSG the last couple of years with the flood, and some truly HOT weather back in 2017 but if you are sitting this festival out over those issues I think you are making a big mistake. Last year’s festival was one of the all time great festival experiences I’ve ever had, and not just because I met Astrea Taylor there (who now writes here at Starlight Witch) along with Brianne Raven Wolf (who writes here at Between Two Worlds), but that might be part of it.
Also, Midwest friends, Jenya Beachy is awesome and you’ll love listening to her. Go to her stuff! Go to her stuff!
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE by the Bee Gees. I know some of you will scoff because you are not enlightened enough to truly love the Brothers Gibb, but the Bee Gees were incredible and my love for this festival is now very deep indeed.
WISTERIA SUMMER SOLSTICE GATHERING
Dates: June 18-24
Location: Wisteria Campground, near Athens Ohio
Cost: 175 for the week, Weekend passes at 70 bucks
Names: TBA, there’s always good stuff here
I’ve written many times how I think Wisteria has the best stage for music in all of Pagandom, and how it’s cool that there’s big chunk of beautiful land down in Southern Ohio that is owned and operated by Pagans. But I believe in those two things so much that I’m going to write them again in this space because I want to and it’s my blog. I’ve always loved Wisteria, and while Circle was my first large Pagan gathering, it was at Wisteria that year so there’s this little heart-twinge on both sides. So that was 21 years ago, and Wisteria is still standing and hosting all sorts of events. That’s great. And when you think about twenty years ago that was nearly pre-internet. I know the internet existed back then, but many of us were still reading magazines in those long ago days. Think about that, magazines! Also, Wisteria is now old enough to drink!
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: LIFE’S BEEN GOOD TO ME SO FAR by Joe Walsh. Joe Walsh is probably most famous for this song, and for being in the band The Eagles, but in my family he’s famous for marrying my Dad’s cousin. That’s right, Joe Walsh and I were related once. My Dad told me that he met up with his cousin and Joe in Chicago once and that Joe was kind of a jerkface, but still, elbows with rock stars! Also, Life’s been good to Wisteria since it’s celebrating over twenty years now!
EARTH HOUSE MIDSUMMER GATHERING
Dates: June 17-24
Location: Eagle Cave Campground, Blue River, Wisconsin
Cost: 150 dollars for the week, Three day passes for 95 bucks, day passes too!
Names: TBA, Ivo was there last year, and their theme this year is “Dancing in the Underworld”
One of my favorite things to read on a festivals information page is “Hot showers and flush toilets available 24/7.” When you’ve got hair as pretty as mine it needs to be well taken care of, and that means hot water and daily showers. So yeah, if Earth House ever said “Jason, we’d like you to come in and do some workshops” I would totally say yes! There are also cave tours (it is the Eagle Cave Campground!) and mini-golf, I talk about the latter every year during this list, but that’s because I’m really good at it and kicked Angus’s ass when we played (that’s not true, but I did win by one stroke!). I was looking at their schedule from last year and I was impressed! Lots to do all around!
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: WITH A LITTLE LUCK by Paul McCartney and Wings. When I think of caving, miniature golf and shuffleboard (they have that too!) I think of luck. Mini-golf is often all about luck, and angles, and with any luck there will be no mishaps while caving, so there you go. Also this is probably the only entry to feature a song by an honest to Goddess knight! That’s SIR Paul McCartney to you!
CHRYSALIS MOON
Dates: June 19-24
Location: Monterey, Indiana, Rising Sun Camp Ground
Cost: 85 dollars, Weekend passes too
Names: Reverand Bill Duvendack, Brian Henke, Burning Sage
It’s a new home and a new month for Chrysalis Moon this year! (I pay attention to these things.) This year the festival moves to the Rising Sun Camp Ground on the banks of the Tippecanoe River and from July to June. I also think Chrysalis Moon is the coolest name of any festival on this list, and the competition is pretty fierce. I always want to be outside under the moon at a Pagan festival and the name Chrysalis Moon conjures up those sort of images to me.
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: READY TO TAKE A CHANCE AGAIN by Barry Manilow. Confession time, I’m a Fanilow. I listen to lots of music and I am unabashedly a Barry Manilow fan. Anytime a festival has to change campsites they are taking a chance, so this song felt appropriate here.
GODDESS GATHERING
Dates: June 21-24
Location: Raven-Wolf Nature Sanctuary, near Cambridge, OH
Cost: 50 to 60 bucks for the whole event, or 15 a day.
Names: Don’t know yet, but there will be drum circles, workshops, and rituals.
Midsummer has always seemed like the biggest week of the year when it comes to Pagan festivals, and this year is no different. Goddess Gathering is one of six on this list, and that’s probably not counting the nine hundred hundred local events going on in every neck of the woods across North America and Europe that are open to the public. This year’s Goddess Gathering is scaled back by a day, and all events at the Raven-Wolf Nature Sanctuary are free to the public. You can find out more about that on their event page.
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: IT’S A HEARTACHE by Bonnie Tyler. Bonnie Tyler is a goddess, and while she’s most well known for her hit Total Eclipse of the Heart, Heartache is every bit it’s equal, but without the bombast. Her voice is the yin to Rod Stewart’s yang in that they are both kind of scratchy but I love them anyways. In fact, Tyler is one of my favorite singers ever. She also lives in a gigantic house if I remember my VH-1 Where are they Now? specials from the early aughts.
MICHIGAN PAGAN FEST
Dates: June 21-24
Location: Belleville, Michigan
Cost: 75 to 85 dollars, day passes too, and family rates. Camping and a local hotel room next to the ground are both available.
Names: Byron Ballard, Orion Foxwood, Brian Henke
There’s Bryon’s name again. Seeing her name so much is starting to make me feel lazy since we haven’t seen my name even once yet (but we will!). However, I love you so much that I wrote this big long thing, what has Byron done for you? I kid, I kid, Byron and I are buddies and I adore her. I also adore Michigan Pagan Fest which I was a guest at about eight years ago. Back then I was a “local headliner” even though I had flown in from California as I had moved after I booked the event (starting doing cartwheels when I was asked to show up). One of the things that’s really great about this festival is that there’s a hotel right next to the festival spot if you don’t like to camp! Brilliant. Also attending is Brian Henke, whom I like, even if he suffers from the delusion that he has better hair than me. I will admit he’s a much better guitar player than me, but then again, my cat is probably better than I am.
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: STILL THE SAME by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. Seger is a Detroit guy and this is the Michigan Pagan Fest so it seems like a perfect fit. This festival has always been in the same spot since it started about ten years ago. It’s constantly evolving and changing, but it’s location is still the same. See what I did there?
American Librarians Association Annual Conference & Exhibition
Dates: June 21-26
Location: New Orleans Louisiana
Names: Mickie Mueller, JASON MANKEY
This is not a Pagan festival, but I will be signing galley copies of sort-of-my newest book The Witch’s Altar (co-written with Laura Tempest Zakroff). My Dad says it’s the best book he’s ever read about altars.
Terrible Awesome Song From 1978: SHADOW DANCING by Andy Gibb. According to Billboard this was the number one pop song of 1978. As most of you probably know, Andy Gibb tragically died young, but I never realized he was such a big deal. Had he not passed so early, he would have eventually joined his older brothers in the Bee Gees.
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