review
by Catherine Harper
Think of Beltaine, think of one of those celebrations that live somewhere in the consciousness of pagans, somewhere between past, present and myth, and let me paint you a picture.
There is a field in twilight, a field in a valley surrounded by gentle hills, filled with trees and little streams. In the field is a circle of stones, and inside that circle is a ring of more than 100 people, and inside of that are four skilled ritualists, a cluster of drummers, an altar and, just being lit now, a bonfire. The drummers drum, and at the appointed time the outward ring dissolves and becomes a swirling circle of dancing pagans inside the stones, around the fire, in various states of dress and undress. Oh yes. The light has faded, and above is a clear sky, gazillions of stars and a crescent moon.
It's perfect, isn't it?
Of course, I'm writing an event review and not a fantasy novel, but I almost want to stop there. Those of you who were at the Our Lady of the Earth and Sky (OLOTEAS) event at the Longhouse on April 28 know exactly what I'm talking about. Those of you who have attended events there in the past have a pretty good idea, too. The rest of you will just have to go next time and see.
Then again, maybe a few more practical and historical notes are in order.
Is there anyone in the local community who hasn't heard of the Longhouse? Well, almost certainly one or two. Up until 10 years ago, this site outside of Redmond hosted events that were arguably the center of much of the greater Seattle area pagan community. Ten years ago, resulting from various circumstances, the site became unavailable, and everyone who missed those events has been hearing about them ever since. It probably has been rather irritating.
The site is beautiful. In addition to what I described above, there are acres of wetlands, assorted dwelling places and a large, low-lying main house that includes a kitchen, large and small rooms to gather in and an indoor pool and hot tub. (The mosquitoes, another memorable item from the past, were conspicuously absent at this recent event, but I'm sure will make an appearance at the next one.)
Everything was a little smaller than I remembered it, but then I'm not 17 anymore either, and the memories loom large. And it might have seemed smaller at least in part because I've never seen so many people attempt to be in the main building at the same time. It was the kind of crowd where if you lifted up your foot to take a step you lost your standing room and might well have to perch on one leg until another few inches opened up. I'm fairly certain I've attended at least one or two events there of similar size, but for those many of the common activities were shifted outdoors.
Of course, for those of use suffering from near-terminal nostalgia, the press wasn't entirely a bad thing. Everywhere I looked I saw more faces I remembered, eerily similar, many of them, but with new stories and occupations. (Though some of you were not there and were missed. You know who you are.) And again, there were new faces, many new faces, no few of them an amazing number of children. The last few years I've been something of a hermit, and I cannot tell you what a joy it is to come back to the community and find that it is still my community, still alive and well... and indeed growing and prospering.
The site opened in the early afternoon, and the order of events was roughly as follows: Check in and socializing. Opening ritual, and more socializing. A workshop on chanting (about which I heard good things, but I must admit I skipped in order to reacquaint myself with the outdoor portions of the site), socializing, jumping in the pool... and then dinner (a potluck that exceeded my expectations in terms of the quality of the food -- let's encourage a certain friendly competition among the cooks, shall we?), more merriment, community announcements and the ritual.
The ritual was fantastic, emphasizing Beltaine's nature as one of the points of the year when the veils between the worlds are thinnest and when doors between the worlds can be most easily opened. It also gave an introduction to the musical and poetic nature of the Feri tradition.
After the ritual there was more dancing and partying, but I'm guessing you already figured out that part.
Thanks is deserved by the OLOTEAS folks, who organized the event, and Nightwing, who put together the workshop and ritual.