As part of
the process of explaining my recent painful decision to leave my religious
community of 30+ years, I offer my experiences of the five Dandelion Gatherings[1]
I attended over the past ten years.
The first four are here; the most recent DG, held near Portland, OR,
deserves a post of its own.
I don’t know
who first proposed doing an all-Reclaiming convocation (perhaps too formal a
term for a more casual event). I
suspect it arose from within the WitchCamp[2]
or teacher discussion lists.
Dandelion Gathering[3]
is an all-Reclaiming gathering especially for the far-flung folks who identify
with Reclaiming
Tradition Witchcraft but open to all.
Regardless of whose idea it was, it was the intrepid Witches of Tejas Web who convened the first one in
Texas hill country 2004.
Prior to the
institution of Dandelion Gatherings, I had found a comfortable place for myself
on the periphery of Reclaiming. I
actively worked in the Covenant of the Goddess
(CoG), the oldest and largest organization of Witches of many denominations in
the U.S., founded in California in 1975, for many years.[4] I had been involved, off and on (more
on than off) with the Reclaiming Collective in San Francisco, from whence
sprang the tradition, from its inception until its dissolution in 1997. During those years I had taught classes
and participated in the production of public sabbat rituals. I didn’t make a career of it; I had a
family and a job. I taught only
when teachers were needed. After I
moved from San Francisco to the other side of the Golden Gate in 1983, I continued
to participate in most productions of the annual Spiral Dance Samhain ritual. I remained connected with most of my old
colleagues, and participated in all of the Collective retreats that resulted in
the issuance of Reclaiming’s Principles of Unity[5]
and subsequent dissolution of the Collective, per se.
I did,
however, continue to work in some of the “cells,” as small working committees
are called, such as the e-cell that maintains the traditions’ Web presence and
lists. I did not participate in
regular face-to-face meetings on task-specific matters such as teaching or
public rituals. The most recent
basic series of classes I taught (co-taught with another teacher, per
Reclaiming tradition) took place in Marin County where I live in the early
1990s. I also participated in the
Marin Ritual Cell that presented local public sabbats; that cell dissolved
sometime in the mid-90s. Some of
the students in those classes have grown to be local and WitchCamp teachers.
I also
applied to teach at three WitchCamps at one point (to be detailed in a future
blog), because that was the venue in which I observed the tradition evolving
and it felt only right that if I were going to be seen as speaking on behalf of
the tradition to other Pagans and the general public, it behooved me to learn
how it was changing, and to participate in its shaping, as I had done since
before Reclaiming had emerged as a distinctly recognizable tradition in its own
right. I did not teach at any
WitchCamp. I will explore this
topic in a future blog.
So when the
announcement about the first ever all-Reclaiming gathering arrived, my
curiosity was piqued. I
contemplated whether to go. I
talked with friends. Between their
encouragement and my curiosity, I decided to register.
Dandelion Gathering, Texas Hill Country, 2004
When I
arrived at the site, I found a bed in a cabin had been reserved for me. As an older woman with severe lumbar
arthritis, I was really glad to have a bed in a cabin, with accompanying
bathroom and shower. I shared the
room with Ann Flowers and Ursula, two Reclaimers from England. Since then, Ursula has passed through
the veil.
Opening Ritual: At least one of the planners of the
opening ritual and I had been in dialogue about it. They (ritual planners) wished to begin by having the three
of us who had been in the original Reclaiming Collective recite together the
Principles of Unity. This seemed
to me like a good place to start, so of course I agreed. We three were Starhawk, Rose May Dance,
and myself.
Now I have
to say that one of the things that really bugs me about Reclaiming public
rituals is the general casualness and slapped-togetherness of them. Only very rarely are they rehearsed,
regardless of whether they contain new and/or unfamiliar parts or personnel. (More about ritual in a future blog.) I think that the gods we honor deserve
the best we can provide, and that rehearsing a ritual offers the most assurance
that it will be smooth and clean and beautiful. In any case, we were rushed at the last minute and had no
time. Besides, we all knew them,
we had a script, there was no extemporaneousness.
I had
assumed, mistakenly as it turned out, that we would be reading the words with
some inflection, some conviction, some grace, some élan. I was mistaken. I tried to do this, while the other two
just spoke the words flatly. That
meant that we were not speaking in unison. I was way behind.
This should have been a clue to me about the disconnect that I couldn’t
recognize at the point in time.
We concluded
with a spiral dance, which I had agreed to help a newer person to lead. I like to milk a spiral dance, to
continue spiraling the line in and out a few times to build up the energy. After a single coil in an out, some
people began to drop hands and drum.
The spiral became fragmented and dissolved. Both the leader and I were bewildered, and I think she was
annoyed that I had urged her to continue beyond the first cycle. In any case, I later figured out that
in the WitchCamps, they evidently only do a single cycle. I had just assumed we would dance as
long as we could. My mistake. One that offers more evidence of
disconnect on my part.
Macha and Andy |
I am not and
have never been part of the Pagan Cluster. According to its website, the Pagan Cluster is in some way
affiliated with, or perhaps grew from or was inspired by, Reclaiming Tradition
Craft. Reclaiming does work to change things in the
mundane world to make them more in accord with our values. We do believe that we can help make the
world a better place with our magic, and that religion and spirituality are not
a refuge from “real life,” but rather an enhancement and enrichment of life.
That said,
there is no requirement that one must work for change in any particular
way. I am not a street activist,
except in some extreme situations like the massive demonstrations in opposition
to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2002.
I find my involvement in such things as the interfaith movement,
advancing Pagan studies within academia, and working to establish the first
Pagan seminary to be a more effective form of magical activism for me to be
doing. Others within the large,
amorphous collective of Reclaiming communities are active in their many unique
and different ways.
I felt the
general meetings went well. I felt
included. I felt that everyone who
wanted to be heard was heard. I
did feel that the presence of the Pagan Cluster sought to dominate, in the
sense that they assumed that everyone
should be doing the kind of activism they were doing. I also found most of them, whom I had never encountered
before, to be more focused on the political and less “witchy.” For me, this was a gathering of
Witches. So again, I’m
experiencing a bit of a disconnect, or perhaps an incompatibility. I have no objection to the Pagan
Cluster’s forms of activism; I just don’t share it. I would hope for mutual respect for the efforts of those of
us who do not choose that route.
Someone
found a dead deer on the way there, so we had venison meatballs for those of us
who eat game. Someone built a
compost toilet. Someone created a
bio-brew to remediate a place on the property where lots of oil had accumulated
from vehicles and farm equipment.
Thistle and Macha |
The food was
fine. There were a few kids
there. I really liked having them
there. I got to visit with old
friends like Thistle from Florida, and to meet with a CoG colleague who lived not
to far from the campground and drove out for a visit.
One afternoon we danced a beautiful spiral in a meadow.
All in all,
I had a pretty good time. I left
feeling a bit out of the mainstream of Reclaiming happenings, but overall
retaining a sense of belonging. This was my trad and my community.
Dandelion Gathering,
Western Massachusetts, 2006
The second
DG was the one I liked best. My
old pal Penny Novack picked me up at the airport and drove me to the site,
affording us the first of several opportunities to enjoy one another’s company.
People had
created a beautiful altar in the center of the dining hall/main meeting
room. There were lots of kids,
including some who mischievously got into the coffee and got jacked up one
day. We sang a blessing of the
food and our work when we lined up for meals. I visited many old East Coast friends. I made some new friends like Jason. Lisa Fithian and her partner gave us a
report and showed a video about the work they’d been doing in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina. I gave a brief
talk about the interfaith work I’d been doing. For the most part, we had interesting mealtime table
discussions, although, to make the most of the brief time we had together, we
talked mainly about prescribed topic.
Some of us met together to write each morning.
Like a
witch’s cauldron, the bioremediation brew mentioned here sat at
one side of the dining hall where it was stirred off and on throughout the weekend;
the tub sometimes served as a tool in ritual.
This was the
DG at which BIRCH (Broad
Intra-Reclaiming Council of Hubs – a forced, awkward acronym, I must say) was
formed. I volunteered to serve on
the “Identity” cell and to coordinate “History & Lore-Keeping.” I was so encouraged by Reclaiming’s
arrival at this attempt at creation cohesion, expectations, and accountability
that when I got home I sent out an announcement to all the reporters, religion
journalists, and Pagan studies scholars I knew.
At this DG
was my first exposure to a “healing ritual” that apparently is commonly
performed at larger Reclaiming gatherings. Confidentiality forbids me from describing it in any detail,
but suffice it to say that my reactions were twofold and in opposition. On the one paw, I found some of what I
consider to be extreme gullibility, too much emoting on the part of both
healers and healees for my sensibility, while on the other I found the
chanting, drumming, and the amazing circle dance powerful and compelling. I closely watched the ritual-- from the
periphery, from a walkway above the main room, from among the dancers when I
danced, and from within the center when I entered to attend to someone I felt
called to give healing touch.
Dandelion Gathering,
Northern California, 2008
Attending
the third Dandelion Gathering was easy, since the venue was less than an hour’s
drive from my home. And since
several of my pals were among the planners, of course I wanted to go, both to
support them in their efforts and to see what was going on.
I enjoyed
the opening ritual, for which I had been asked to do one of the
invocations. The sense I had from
that ritual was one of warmth and camaraderie. I had no big expectations for the rest of the weekend,
since, as I’ve said, I’d been operating from the periphery. I chose to remain open to whatever
arose.
I attended a
couple of workshops that I found worth my while. I especially enjoyed singing kirtans with Evelie. I joined in
most of the mealtime table discussions, although we didn’t stick closely to the
agenda provided. We celebrated a
handfasting. Towards the end there
was another one of the healing rituals I’d first encountered at the Western
Massachusetts Dandelion Gathering.
I shared a cabin and lots of good talks with my friend, and later
initiate, Vajra, and made a special new friend, William.
It was fun
to spend more time with my local friends, more than we do when we’re home and
distracted by all the many things we do.
I left feeling pretty good, except for not quite understanding the
pressure for changes. I don’t
remember gender identification being much of an issue, although there were
folks that whose gender wasn’t entirely evident to me but who seemed comfortable
with who they were and seemed welcome. I do remember more talk about involving minorities.
Dandelion Gathering,
Diana’s Grove, Missouri, 2010
Not such a
good experience, see blog on
hissing. Even so, I got to hang out with some wonderful folks, two of whom are here:
Jason, Macha and Matt |
DragonWing and Macha |
Macha and Grove |
Dandelion Gathering, Molalla, Oregon, 2012
My
experience at this DG borders on the surreal. I will return to this topic in a future blog.
[1] There
are several links to Dandelion Gatherings on the Web; none appears to be
current. This is the most recent. I took some notes at the times I
attended these events, but I don’t know where they might be so I’m writing this
from memory. It will necessarily
be more impressionistic than specific.
[2] WitchCamps are week-long retreats for
teaching and learning Reclaiming Tradition Craft held around the U.S. and in
other countries. They began with a
Summer Apprenticeship Intensive held in San Francisco around 1981, followed by
a camping retreat at Jughandle Farm in Mendocino County, and from there camps
spread to Michigan, British Columbia, and many other locations. I have not been a part of WitchCamp
culture, fodder for a future blog.
[3]
Point
of Information: All of the organizers of every Dandelion
Gathering – Morgana, et al. in Texas; Beth, et al. in Western Massachusetts; my
local community in Northern California; Jason, Matt, and Kris in Missouri; and Craig,
Misha, Serenity, Otter, Topaz, Rosemary, Panther, horizon and Satya in Portland
– have been courteous, professional, warm, accommodating, and pleasant to deal
with. Nothing that I write here is
meant to be critical of any organizer.
They’ve all been wonderful.
[4] I
am only minimally active in CoG currently, being one of five National Interfaith
Representatives.
[5] I
am not providing a link to the Principles of Unity because they have been
changed as of Dandelion 5 and I made my decision to withdraw from the tradition
prior to the adoption of the revised Principles of Unity. However, the original PoU are included
in the entry on Reclaiming
Tradition Witchcraft on The Witches’ Voice.
1 comment:
It seems that every couple years you keep going back, hoping to heal and reconnect the disconnection. Totally get your disconnected feeling -- I usually express it as "I don't know what this is, but it's no kin o' mine." Seems that every time you try to return, there is a bigger ... what's the economics term, barrier to entry! ... obstacle in your way.
Also truly grok how sad it is to give your time, work, life essence to a tradition only to have it grow up disappointing. (Rudeness in the downline is one thing I interpret as disappointing -- my words, not necessarily yours, as I expect people to pick apart this post as they have your others.)
Just wanted to acknowledge the sadness underlying the anger -- and let you know that a) you're not alone in that, and b) it's not just your tradition wrestling with these changes.
Best and blessings -- :Dana
PS -- I submit for your consideration the thought that the current generation is not trained to lengthy ecstatic ritual expressions. ::grin:: Long way to say the young'uns don't have the focus or stamina (or training or discipline) for hours of ecstatic dance. Much as the interwebs have given us in communications, I think it has also cost us in discipline and focus.
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