Consensus Reality: Impressions From PSG

That’s a huge shift in perception walking through the gate. Coming from 51 weeks in which it’s not merely unheard of to see nude people strolling about but it’s considered unnatural and immoral, and then to walk through a gate where it is considered so natural as to be uninteresting. Such shifts in perception usually only happen in dreams or stories involving faerie lands.

There are other things that change. People dress differently. Military people don sarongs. There’s an explosion of tie-dye. People act differently. Folks who would generally be reserved about sharing their beliefs and lifestyle are very open and matter-of-fact. People who may not allow their kids to talk to their neighbors back home let their kids explore the festival with other kids and chat up the folks camped around them. What makes this possible is the consensus reality of PSG is built on two basic principles: harmony and safety.

Ordinary festivals think of safety in the physical sense. Pagan Spirit Gathering took that up a couple of notches and included privacy in their safety concerns. Las Vegas has a popular ad campaign stating that “What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas” with the implication that things naughty, reproachable and possibly unethical happen there and that’s ok. PSG takes a different approach. What happens at PSG stays within the PSG community, therefore you are free to be who you are without concern because in this community you are protected. You will not be outed in anyway to society at large. I spoke to people who could not be publicly Pagan for professional reasons, yet at PSG they are walking around sporting pentacles, Celtic knotwork sarongs, chanting songs to the old Gods and dancing around bonfires without a worry.

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