{"id":655,"date":"2017-07-05T06:55:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T14:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/?p=655"},"modified":"2017-07-05T07:07:23","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T15:07:23","slug":"in-which-i-survived-the-elements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2017\/07\/in-which-i-survived-the-elements.html","title":{"rendered":"In Which I Survived the Elements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It\u2019s hard for me to process the event right now, especially since we\u2019re now into just week two of a 6 week long tour<\/a>, but I wanted to capture a few thoughts before it\u2019s suddenly August. \u00a0The first week of the tour was covering a lot of long distances and covering new ground. \u00a0We had stops in Boise (6\/17), Salt Lake City (6\/18), Denver (6\/19), and Omaha (6\/20) before swing down to Vienna, IL for Pagan Spirit Gathering<\/a>. \u00a0It was wonderful meeting new folks and seeing some familiar faces as well.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo of The Mechanist & The Star Goddess by Arthur Hinds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We managed to make it down to PSG from Omaha in one day, with some breathing room before the gates closed at 7pm. \u00a0We had a great spot reserved for us next to our dear friend S.J. Tucker<\/a>, and got right to work setting up camp \u2013 our booth and our camping tents. When we finished, we ready quite ready for dinner \u2013 only to find out that the food trucks had closed (I think it was just a little after 7pm?). \u00a0Since we were on tour and short on space, we were planning on buying food versus cooking it, so that was a shock to find out the trucks closed so early. \u00a0Luckily, our friends Celeste and Loren came to the rescue with sandwiches, olives, pickles, and other protein goodness. YAY! \u00a0Shortly after, I passed right out in our tent and got some sleep. \u00a0(We had a hotel room the night before, but it seemed to have an invisible squirrel trapped inside of it, that tapped all night long, keeping me up\u2026)<\/p>\n

Thursday morning brought us some dubious weather that caused our main stage show at noon to be cancelled. \u00a0We were able to still perform in the food court stage, under the tent \u2013 with a great audience. \u00a0Later, I taught \u201cThe Authentic Witch\u201d in one of the workshop spaces. \u00a0When we drove in the day before, I thought I saw tables and chairs set up under the workshop tents, but I must have hallucinated them. So I failed to bring a chair with me to my own workshop, so I stood for 1.5 hours, but hey, I teach dance classes for hours on end, so it wasn\u2019t a big deal. (I just know better for next time.) \u00a0At the end of the workshop, a small bunny hopped out of the woods and joined us, so that was delightful.<\/p>\n

Thursday into Friday brought us a full-on deluge. \u00a0Water had managed to seep between the tarp and tent floor, so we got fairly damp. \u00a0The rain held on for most of the morning. \u00a0To keep myself from going nuts, I sat down in the booth and worked on some art until it cleared.<\/p>\n

(so about here is where I stopped working on this post about a week ago to go teach a workshop\u2026.so I\u2019m going to speed things up as I\u2019m remembering less now\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n

The weather cleared up, and things started to dry out! \u00a0And it looked like the second storm cell that was predicted to hit about the time of my workshop (Sigils In Motion: Ritual Movement), was nowhere to be seen. \u00a0Left the camp pretty much nearly dried out to go teach down in the ritual space. \u00a0The ground we were working on was a mix of mud, dirt, grass, and roots, so I couldn\u2019t do a lot of active movement without worrying about people getting hurt, but we still managed to do a lot without moving too far.<\/p>\n

Of course, just as we finished up the workshop, the storm showed up (2 hours late) and poured down on PSG. \u00a0Things that didn\u2019t get soaked the first time, definitely got wet. \u00a0Thankfully not my computer, but my tarot deck took the hit instead due to how my backpack was situated. (And my backpack HAD been hanging out in the nice dry van, but I took it out to get stuff for the workshop\u2026and it didn\u2019t go back into the van, so my bad.)<\/p>\n

\"Nathaniel
Nathaniel & S.J. Tucker practicing one of Nathan\u2019s songs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thoroughly a drowned rat (again), I was not in the best of head spaces, so I opted to take a hot shower (there was a shower trailer, solar-heated), and get my body temperature up\u2026and have dry clean feet in socks and boots. \u00a0It meant I missed helping out Jason<\/a> with his ritual but it sounds like that went over great. I got ready-ish for the Pan\u2019s Ball, but ran into folks heading to Arthur Hind\u2019s concert at the food court, so diverted off that way to enjoy the show. \u00a0We all headed down to the Ball\u2026but had forgotten our IDs\u2026derp. \u00a0Walked back and did more socializing and meeting folks, which was lovely. \u00a0Got some time down at the fire circle before folks arrived post-Ball, and turned in for the night.<\/p>\n

Saturday was a crazy, busy day. \u00a0I performed with Sooj at her concert, joining her for \u201cLa Siren\u201d \u2013 then vending, and getting ready for the Hekate at the Crossroads Ritual\u2026.which was scheduled for 3pm. \u00a0I wondered how this would go over, because I\u2019ve only done this ritual either indoors, in windowless hotel rooms (where time\/light shifts out of the normal) or very late in the evening. \u00a0Doing it in the open outdoors in the middle of a sunny day was certainly different. \u00a0Again, the surface of the ritual space also was prohibitive for the kind of movement it normally requires \u2013 not only from me, but also the participants. \u00a0So it was different, but still highly effective and profound in the end. \u00a0It allowed for personal one-on-one interactions with the attendees and the goddess, where time seem suspended as she visited 20-30 people.<\/p>\n

Afterwards was more vending, getting some food, and then participating in the big ritual on Saturday night \u2013 which involved burning a wicker man, which was cool. \u00a0Alas, the sun was nearly set when it was time for me to dance around the space to raise the energy (prior to lighting the man), and I realized afterward it would have been more effective for everyone to instruct them on some hand\/arm gestures vs leaving the dancing mainly to me, since it was hard to see me, and I\u2019m not sure how well folks could hear Nathaniel and Davis. \u00a0Oh well \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

And then we headed out to get ready for Bardapalooza \u2013 which is a great big jam where all of the featured bands come together and share the stage. \u00a0It was pretty darn awesome (despite the rapidly dropping temperatures). \u00a0Afterwards, thanks to Damh the Bard (and I think Mankey too, because it\u2019s fun to poke Jason), I was deep into Arthur\u2019s margarita mix and excellent conversation and suddenly it was 3:37am. \u00a0Oops.<\/p>\n

Of course, I woke up by 7:30am the next day. \u00a0Vending in the morning was great as folks grabbed last minute CD and arts\u2026and we packed up under a baking sun, heading out to our next stop in St. Louis. \u00a0I got about 20 more minutes of sleep in the ride over, and somehow taught a two hour workshop in a fairly coherent manner, despite the lack of sleep.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s currently July 5th, and I\u2019m still processing the PSG experience. \u00a0(Though to be fair, I\u2019m in the middle of a tour, <\/a>it\u2019s hard to process ANYTHING right now). \u00a0Definitely had a wonderful time, especially in terms of meeting new people and seeing friends. \u00a0I liked the vibe and the setting was lovely. \u00a0I have to seriously consider how to improve my outdoor camping experience though \u2013 and I may not want to do a camping event in the middle of a big ass long tour again. \u00a0But perhaps on its own (or flanked by a couple of stops to\/from). \u00a0We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know some of you have been on pins and needles wondering how I fared after my last post. Well, despite some commendable efforts by the elements, both I and my laptop survived PSG intact and somewhat functioning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2676,"featured_media":659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[299,302,304,303,301,272,4],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-camping","tag-festivals","tag-live-music","tag-outdoors","tag-pagan-spirit-gathering","tag-psg","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Which I Survived the Elements<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I know some of you have been on pins and needles wondering how I fared after my last post. 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