Festival the Second

WHAT I ENJOYED DURING MY 5 DAYS AT FESTIVAL:

• Teaching workshops! This is definitely #1 on my list of favorite things this year; I really, really enjoy teaching workshops. Amaset and I taught 2 together, and both of them went wonderfully well and were quite well attended, with lots of positive feedback.
• Working Gate on opening morning. Even though it was 3 hours of standing and walking out in the hot sun, it was tons of fun going from car to car, welcoming people to festival and checking them in and giving them their ID bands and other stuff. Everyone is so friendly and excited to be there; it’s a great way to meet people and a great way to run into friends, as well.
• Grounding and Centering people at the Drawing Down. I was on staff as Lieutenant for the the Centering Plaza again this year, and CP’s biggest responsibility at festival is comforting, grounding and centering people after they visit with Deity at the Drawing Down ritual on Friday night. Many people are pretty emotional afterwards, so we provide some TLC, whether it’s hugs, talking, energy work or bringing them a little bit of snack food and drink, each person has someone stay with them until they feel calm and centered again. It was a real honor to do this work and I really enjoyed it.
• Seeing old friends and making new ones. Always fun to catch up on life and hang out. Never know who you’re gonna see, what you’re gonna do together or what you’re gonna end up talking about.
• My tent. My tent rocks, that’s all there is to it. It’s big enough that it’s rather a pain to set up alone, but still doable, it just takes me a while. Wind storm Tuesday night? My tent did not budge one inch, I had it so tightly staked down. Absolute deluge of rain most of Wednesday night? I was high and dry, snug as a bug in a rug. Room for my “princess bed” (camp cot with futon mattress), a camp chair, and even a little altar inside. I camp in style. Heck, I’m there for nigh onto a week, why shouldn’t I be somewhat comfortable?
• The lake, the stars, the moon, the mountains. My camp site was lovely, set up off the road, surrounded by pines, view of the lake through the trees in front of me, view of the Castle Rock behind me. Watched the quarter moon go down behind the Castle Rock at night. Stars as bright as diamonds. Made sure I swam in the lake at least once while I was at fest.
• Falling asleep to the sound of drumming. Always one of my favorite things.

NOT SO FUN:

• Drama with a ripple effect. Felt bad for those directly involved. I was caught in the ripple. ‘Nuff said.
• Being in lots of pain. Missed out on some activities I really wanted to go to, plus ended up leaving fest a day early. However, being able to take a real shower and sleep in a real bed and spend all day Sunday with Firehand kinda made up for having to leave early.