broomcloset ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaleidoscope Gathering, part II Okay, so I didn't make an entry yesterday as I'd promised, but I vedged-out more than I thought I would. Turns out I really needed the rest and I'm feeling so much better. Mind you, going to a smoky coffee house tonight might not have been the smartest move health-wise, but it was very good in others. ;} But I digress... Back to Kaleidoscope! So after that interesting card reading PaganGrrl and I set off for Kaleidoscope. The land where it's held is only about an hour from my home, and the drive was pleasant. (we listened to Sleater Kinney on the way down - check them out, they're great!) I think we both felt a lot calmer than we did leading up to our last two festivals. I guess we're getting to be old pros. ;) I think we also felt less apprehensive and more purely excited this time because we knew that we were going to see friends we'd met at Wic-Can Fest, and that was both exciting and reassuring. And sure enough, within a few moments of being on the festival site, we were running into all sorts of folks we'd met a few months before! We ended up camping near some of the same beautiful people we camped near last time (which is great because they always come bearing copious amounts of delicious food! ;). Oh yah, and they're really great people too! ;) Once PaganGrrl and I were happily set up, we took to touring the festival grounds. Near the entrance was the main fire pit, a really good sized area that backed onto a sharp hill that looked like it had either been blasted or dug out or had fallen away at some point, leaving a dirt cliff with trees on top. It turned out that this was the perfect sound backdrop for drumming as well as an amazing sound shield. You couldn't hear the drums at all from our campsite. (big change from Wic-Can Fest where we were camped 20 feet from the main fire pit! ;) Continuing along the one-lane dirt road was the merchants' section. Everything from jewelry to incense to clothing to trinkets to music to ritual tools to vegan food to "plastic bags" that came with free mead. There were quite a few vendors there, as I proved by the lack of money with which I arrived home! Beyond the merchants and the two 90 degree turns in the road came "Tent City," the incredibly aptly named sea of tents and tarps that populated the forest. Every nook and cranny was filled: our tent was nestled in between two other tents that faced the opposite direction! People tended to organize their tents and lean-to's so as to create circular common areas that you could bounce around to and visit. Some groups had banners and signs, some had erected beautiful altars out of large tree stumps within their enclaves. It was so wonderful just to walk along the path and great everyone. At the end of the Tent City (and it continued on for quite a stretch!) was the Rock off which everyone went swimming. The Rock was a large unearthed outcropping of rock that first rose up and out of the ground at the end of the path then sloped down to the shore line and down into the water for quite a ways. This way you could be completely submerged in the river but still be standing on the rock. There were naturally formed steps on either side of the Rock, then sharp drop-offs which made it easy to safely jump or dive into the water. Now the Rock, like all of the Kaleidoscope grounds, was clothing-optional, and PaganGrrl and I were two of the very few people who opted to wear bathing suits. This was no problem for anyone at the festival. But across the river was another camp, originally rumoured to be populated by Baptists. (We figured this rumour was incorrect when we saw many people at this camp drinking large cans of beer. :) They would sit on their dock with their binoculars and watch the nekkid pagans splash around and have fun. And I mean watch! They'd sit and stare for hours! Some of us yelled over that they'd charge $5 bucks for a picture. I said they should be charging at least $20. The festival had workshops, but not as many as Wic-Can Fest, and I didn't go to that many of them. Kaleidoscope seemed a lot more of a camping experience with fellow Pagans and less an event for spiritual awakening. This is just my experience of course. It is still wonderful to be surrounded by people you can be open with about your beliefs. You also learn so much about other beliefs and Pagan culture in general (as diverse as it is) at events like this. Just talking is amazing! PaganGrrl met several awesome people at Kaleidoscope and reaffirmed old friendships. We met the Amazing Mel: this was her first time ever at a Pagan festival, and she came completely on her own!! We were amazed! What a rockin' cool woman she is to be able to do that - both PaganGrrl and I agreed we'd never have been able to do that on our own our first time at a fest. Then there was "Darren" (haha!), and "Birch" (haha again!). Darren was new to our acquaintance, and Birch we met at Wic-Can Fest. With Mel we sort of made a cozy little bunch that weekend... some of us cozier than others... but that's another story... ;) The friends we camped with from Wic-Can Fest were Sue (who brought J #2) and Rich, the amazing fest-goer! He has the names of all the festivals he's been to written on his tent, and he's on his third tent! We asked him how long he had been doing the festival circuit and he said this was his 15th year. Can you imagine?!?! Rich is a very interesting and fabulous man. I really must get an email conversation going with him soon. All in all, Kaleidoscope was a great weekend. I'm so glad we went! Next stop: HarvestFest!!! I think PaganGrrl and I are gonna give Rich a run for his money! Mind you, we have 14 years to catch up on... Good night, and Blessed Be! (I swear I'll get to the card reading connection next entry!!) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||||||