I’m leaving town at the end of the week to go to one of the oldest and biggest Pagan festivals in the country–the Pagan Spirit Gathering. I’ve known the founder/coordinator, Selena Fox, for many years–I am proud to say I spoke in Lafayette Park in DC to promote the inclusion of the pentacle as a religious emblem for the gravestones of American armed forces members who are Pagan (and, of course, deceased).
tThrough Lady Liberty League, she has supported our local community in its fight to have spiritual diversity respected and acknowledged in the public schools of Buncombe county. When she asked me to come and teach some workshops at Pagan Spirit Gathering, I was happy to be invited and happy to accept–a woman I met at the hoodoo fest last year is driving up there from near here and offered me a ride.
So…another trip, this time to Illinois–a place I’ve never been. I’m doing a beginning Appalachian folk magic workshop–my beloved Hillfolks Hoodoo for Outlanders and Others. Another workshop called The Spirit-Haunted Landscape pf the South. And a talk at the Pagan Leadership Institute on Pagans doing interfaith work.
I haven’t seriously begun packing but I’ve gathered most everything and piled it up on the table. After a good night’s sleep tonight, I’ll organize it, find bags and suitcases and boxes for it…and get the Hillfolks Hoodoo Express ready to roll again.
I’ll try to report from the site and the road.
