If you like Labyrinths or home brewed mead this is the place to be. If you don’t mind camping in drizzle and lots of earwigs visiting while you’re hanging out with a bunch of pagans and singing, drumming and dancing around a roaring fire, then this is it. Jenny Green and I left Paganistan for the Blue River and Eagle Cave on Dyad 19, the 19th day of Dyad Moon (that’s Sunday, June 19th in the Roman calendar.) It took about 5 hours to get to the campsite. We had done our Esbat, our Full Moon rite the night before (Saturday) but the Full Moon was on Dyad 15, Wednesday June 15th three days before. It’s always on the 14th or 15th day of the Moon when you start the day count at New Moon so we circle on the nearest Saturday.

The Campsite and it's History

Eagle Cave is in Southern Wisconsin (An Ojibwe word) in what was Dakota Country around 1600, then Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Country by 1800. By 1860, what was left of the First Nations after the wars and the plagues were all pretty much rounded up and corralled onto the various reservations. The Nearest Reservation is the Ho-Chunk Rez about 70 miles almost due north. Despite Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s modern depredations the names of the land itself still tell the story. The old native tribes are now numbered with our spiritual ancestors and our future allies for though we are only Second Nations here we are the First Nations reborn in the Old Country: Europe.

Practicing the Abbot's Bromley Horn Dance

Settling in at the Campsite

Once there, we set up our camp. It had been a while since we had been camping and it took a bit to get my woodland legs back. Fortunately, the EarthHouse registration packet included a list of things to bring. Unfortunately, we got there just as the opening ritual had begun, so we waited until the gate was again open.  Then we pitched our new tent and borrowed a tarp for our sheltered area. The brand new tent was larger than we thought so we used two tarps underneath rather than just one as planned. The community fire was already going and the first night’s drumming had begun by the time we finished our set up. This is the same overall site as the old Pagan Spirit Gatherings I had attended in 1988 and 1996 and it was just as hilly so my legs and ankles got a good work out. While finding a relatively level spot for the tent was tricky, it was possible.

Jenny and I attended some workshops together and others separately to better cover our bases, but we couldn’t see everything we wanted to. We were frustrated we couldn’t get going right away, but it had rained the night before, and it was very difficult to start a fire. We finally got a fire going and had a late breakfast and I finished setting up our campsite while Jenny went to a drumming workshop.  It was pretty rainy and misty until Thursday and we had to use our rain ponchos a couple of times. The rest of the time was quite nice and sunny. We got to star gaze a couple of nights and I gave some informal star walks. On Friday night Jenny and I saw the International Space Station pass over. It moved like a satellite but it was much brighter. Now that it’s finished some people say they can see its oblong shape. Godspeed to the heroes who have died trying to open up the next frontier not just for humankind but now for All Gaian Life.

Pagan University

In addition to a series of workshops and kids programming, there was Pagan U or Pagan University which focused on more advanced topics and I was asked to do a session on Pagan History. These classes were generally right after morning meeting and the first one was an Herb Walk and Plant Identification. Presentations included Ecological Restoration, a Spiritual Perspective which involved a hike in the local woods on Monday with Chris. Divination: What, How and Why on Tuesday and To Know, To Dare, To Will, To Keep Silent on Wednesday, both by Estelle Daniels. Thursday’s was Understanding the Labyrinth with Mama Cat and my Pagan History was on Friday. While I did get to explain the broad sweep of the topic, the detailed discussion only got us up to Stonehenge and the Megalithic Tribes.

The feasts and the music shows were awesome! The Midsummer Feast on Wednesday, 22rd Day (June 22rd) of Dyad Moon was huge and we made turkey chili for the vast potluck collection and the Barbarian (camper’s leftovers) Feast on Saturday, Dyad 25, June 25th. (Note: it is quite rare that a Roman Month such as June starts on the day of the New Moon of a lunation like Dyad Moon so Month and Moon days match up but it does happen. When it does you can often get several moons in a row that do it, like the next moon: Buck . . . it was just as big)

Smiley Face in the Fire

Music, Ritual and Other Wild Things

The musical guests were great too: “Folk Magic’ played Wednesday night. On Friday, the 24th Day of Dyad Moon, Cat Gut did a violin concert on that put us in the salons of 18th Century Europe while we lounged in a 21st Century Wisconsin forest. Amazing. Jenny and Bear sang folk songs afterwards, including a few requests. That night the amazingly talented Cat Gut also gave us an awesome fire-spinning show during the drumming and dancing of the community fire circle. (See above photo). The previous evening, Cat was practicing with her light spinning LED wands that created a number of very interesting optical effects, but my camera’s batteries were dead at that point.

The Rituals are of course what a lot of folks come for. The Chocolate ritual on Monday was funny and tasty. The Summer Solstice rite on Tuesday was not the usual celebration of the union of the God and Goddess, but more of a magical rite on what we wanted to get rid of in our lives. Wednesday was the Midsummer Feast and Thursday Mama Cat led a Labyrinth Walk. There was a closing ritual on Sunday, which we attended as we were packing up. We made sure to get as much contact info as we could from our new friends before we left.

Nature and the local wild life as usual had it’s own agenda. In addition to the mists and rains in the first part of the week, we had a startling large number of earwigs getting into every nook and cranny; plus gnats that well, bugged us. There were tons of birds of all local species. Skunks patrolled for trash at night—I could hear their little growly voices at times. A Barred Owl debate woke Jenny and I up around 3:00 AM Thursday morning. We think they were arguing about territory as the screeches came from two different sides of the tent.

EarthHouse Midsummer Gather was a blessed relief from Mundania, the Muggle World. I still get a little culture shock after every pagan gather but the spiritual recharge is well worth it. After the gather, Jenny wanted to somehow to make our alarm clock say “It’s Coffee and Hot Water too!” just like the morning call of Rick’s Café and the village herald we were greeted with each morning at 7:00 AM. All in all it was a great, engaging weekend and we had fun relaxing, meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones as we ‘recharged’ our pagan batteries.

Walking a labyrinth takes us on a spiritual journey where we experience release, increase our receptivity and return in the healing presence of our Higher Power. Standing at the entrance of a labyrinth, our eyes trace the path before us, turning back and forth, ever taking us inward to the center.

It is the journey, not the destination, that is the ultimate goal of walking a labyrinth.

With your first step, you begin to leave the world you know behind, seeking to travel through layers of self-exploration. Breath joins with movement as your awareness of the NOW increases, leaving past and future behind. The first turn commits you to shedding your ego, and listening to Spirit as you pause and contemplate your surroundings. What sounds do you hear? How does the earth feel beneath your feet?

Experience each breath as you continue on, open and receptive as you shed another layer of misconceptions, softening your heart to fill with self-love.

Each gentle arch in the path carries you like a river, flowing easily at it's own pace. There is no beginning, no end, only the placement of your feet one in front of the other. With every turn, every pause, every segment of the labyrinth, we discover the unity of the universe. For our life path is that of the labyrinth, ever folding and unfolding, repeating the pattern each time a little differently. It is familiar, and we learn our lessons through the repetition.

By constantly changing directions, we look at our challenges with a new light. Sometimes we walk towards our own shadows, sometimes we walk towards the sun.

Adjusting our orientation as we walk, our breath moves in and out, bringing in new energies and releasing all that does not serve our highest good. Deep into the labyrinth now, our intention becomes experience as this initiation takes place on every level. Body, mind, and spirit unite as we turn towards the center which has appeared before us. Giving thanks for clarity, the sense of wonder increases as we become the center of the labyrinth itself. The curving folds of our whole selves surround us, as we are enfolded in the arms of the joy of life.

Beginning again from the center outward, you may be inspired to leave a trail of joy-crumbs on your return journey.

Sharing the healing and love with your fellow travelers, you know that you’re in the presence of those who have gone before in the NOW. Folding and unfolding, your steps deepen your memory of the moment. Every turn is a new beginning, every entrance becomes an adventure in the discovery of the god/dess within. There are no wrong turns on the path to the center. As you leave the physical presence of the labyrinth, you take the center with you and all its layers.

(c)2009-2011 Copyright Jenny Green, all rights reserved