This year's event, the third annual Summerstar, was held the weekend of July 9 through 11. The site is a lovely large meadow, with primitive camping facilities: good water from a single tap, outhouses and a few shelters. Approximately 150 people attended the festival, which featured workshops, games and of course ritual.
Philosophically, Summerstar looked to the East this year, with a pronounced emphasis on aspects of Hinduism, Tibetan philosophy and Tantra. This theme was reflected in the presence of the Tantric Temple, the main ritual retelling of the story of Krishna and the Gopi women and a lot of bellydancing (yum!). A wide variety of informative workshops on Eastern topics "Devotees of Shiva," "Tantric Ritual," "Taoism" coexisted peacefully on the schedule with events featuring traditional Western paganism (for instance, Druidic practice), contemporary innovations (technopaganism), and timeless concerns (pagan parenting).
A further overreaching theme of the weekend was "The Tribal Alternative," toward understanding diversity within our own community, as well as "develop(ing) an awareness and acceptance of tribal community, panfidelity, polyamorous relationships and personal responsibility." To acknowledge those of us who live askance of society's gender definitions, Summerstar held a drag show (which was nothing short of fabulous, darling) in addition to men's and women's mysteries workshops. A great discussion of polyfidelity and polyamory developed out of the introductory circle, with a number of participants reflecting on personal experience and sharing what arrangements, agreements and modes of communication had (or had not) worked for them.
Inadvertently, perhaps, the festival also showed how difficult it is to change modes of thinking and live up to ideals. Though polyfidelity was a major theme, the registration form acknowledged only singles and couples. Though community building and responsibility were emphasized, lack of communication about times and places of events, as well as a persistent (but not consistent) lag in the stated festival schedule, dissipated a lot of energy and hindered full participation in the weekend.
The disorganization, coupled with a truly astonishing downpour for most of Saturday, definitely slowed the momentum of the festival... but just when my doubts were about to defeat me, some resourceful soul built a fire in a portable fire-pit (!) in the main shelter, and we roasted marshmallows while learning the I Ching... then the rain stopped at suppertime, and the sun began to peek through... a simple web building ritual raised remarkable energy as we voiced our wishes for the community, from the practical to the sublime, from the funny to the racy... and when the dancing of the main ritual spread through the crowd, and we moved to the drumbeats around the fire, the near-full moon shining intermittently through the clouds, it was quite clear that magic was indeed afoot. Celebrations lasted late into the night.
Sunday broke sunny and clear as a bell, and everyone's tents nearly dried out during the cheery community breakfast. After camp clean-up, Summerstar came to a close with the near-legendary Bill the Cat invocation unorthodox perhaps, but quite engaging and even meaningful. The trip home passed quickly, with discussion of the weekend's thought-provoking topics, reflection on its magical workings and a few "Ack!"s and "Thbbt!"s thrown in for good measure.
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