The past four weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for me: I traveled to Summerland, Beyond the Gates, and Midnight Flame. I’ve spent a lot of time presenting, photographing, and putting together videos. There’s still so much to process, but I’m finally home, and preparing to take all the raw material and turn it into several new items.
This Patreon, of course, gets first look. Here’s a list of things you’ll see:
“Nine Spirit Allies” – In this audio meditation I led at Midnight Flame, we met nine different spirits, divided loosely into the land, sea, and sky, and started the process of creating alliances with them. This is sort of a “part two” to the workshop I recorded last year at Midnight Flame: “It’s Dangerous To Go Alone.” The meditation is nearly 45 minutes long!
“An Awfully Big Adventure: Signposts on the Soul’s Journey Through the Indo-European Afterlife” – I reworked this workshop for Beyond the Gates, and I’m really happy with how it went. There is so much more worked into the presentation than there had been before, and the video seems to have come out quite well.
“Bridging the Gap: Creating Accessible Resources For Pagans” – This one may be Patreon only, because I think this presentation still needs some tightening (and, I notice, I jumped around more than I like for public presentations due to a couple of really good questions that were asked), but this video workshop is one where we talked about what it means to create resources for folks who are coming down the trail behind us, and how to ensure that they’re accessible to everyone.
New Sound Files – This is interesting: for years, I’ve wished I could capture the sound of insects and frogs at night where the Summerland Festival is held; this year, with a new microphone and a very late night, I was able to capture the sounds of the night, including those bugs and frogs, as well as a few additional sounds that might make their way into meditations and such.
Reflections on #TheFlameOfHope – I was stuck in Chicago longer than expected on my way home from Beyond the Gates, and so I had to try some new stuff to ensure that the flame was tended appropriately. You can see the initial post on Facebook, where I was stuck, and needed some help (it all went well, though: my flame got lit, too).
A really special 360 video experiment – There’s a pretty awesome stone circle at Trout Lake Abbey, where Beyond the Gates was held. If all goes well, I’ll be able to cut together a video of the space that’s fully 360. Who knows how it’ll go, but you can bet I’ll be uploading bits and pieces of it as I work on it. You, too, will be able to sit in front of those shrines for a bit.
Of course, you can find some of the things we did at those festivals already out there: “Druids in Cars, Going to Festivals,” the podcast of Three Cranes Grove, ADF, released two episodes recorded at Summerland. These are really important episodes to us:
Episode 16 – Gender Nonconformity In Druidry
Episode 17 – A Manhood Rite For Transition
Both these episodes deal with the experience of one of our Grove members, who is trans, and how both his spiritual life, and his life within the Grove, has impacted him during and after transition. It was a real pleasure to give the microphone over to him for a bit for this discussion.
So, if you’re interested in the content coming out, I’ll be posting all of it here over the next few weeks/months. There’s a lot of good stuff.
Consider becoming a Patron to see it all, as it arrives!
[Top image: various images of me giving workshops and doing ritual. Credit for main image to Rev. Avende]
