Activities

Originally developed during Covid as a method of dealing with months and (eventually) years of solitude, death, depression, family and social division, fear, and difficulty being around people, the act of breaking shit can be immensely cathartic and cleansing. New life emerges from the manure of destruction, so pick your crowbar, bat, hammer, or pipe and get ready to destroy everything!

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You need to bring pants, closed-toed shoes, and a long sleeve shirt. Safety goggles and gloves supplied.

This ceremony is open to all! 

Step into this circle to receive one-by-one cleansing through burning of sacred herbs and blessings for each participant from shamanic healer and interspiritual Reverend, Aya Sandra Blackwolf Cardeiro and Kyra Spike. 

Our formal ceremony will call on the ancestors, the elemental spirits, and our guides. Bring your shakers and medicine drums to hold space if you feel called to.

Offerings will be made to the fire and land, acceptable offerings are tobacco, corn meal, herbs and breads. You are invited to place personal items on the altar to be charged and blessed for the duration of the ceremony. 

In addition to offering blessings, Aya will be available for handfastings and shamanic wedding ceremonies for couples. This can be during the ceremony or a set time outside of ceremony for individual couples or a group of couples. For legally binding ceremonies, please present your marriage license immediately following your ceremony and be prepared to provide witness signatures. 

Sigils are magical symbols that are designed to influence ourselves and the world around us. Explore a fresh, innovative and intuitive approach to crafting your own designs. Tracing through history, art, and culture, we’ll look at the basic elements that make up all symbols, consider meanings, and see how to safely and respectfully incorporate them into your own personal practice. Together we will collectively craft a sigil for the festival.

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Laura is the author of the best-selling books Sigil Witchery: A Witch’s Guide to Crafting Magick Symbols (winner of a Gold 2019 COVR Award),Weave the Liminal: Living Modern Traditional Witchcraft, andAnatomy of a Witch: A Map to the Magical Body. She is the author of The Witch’s Cauldron and co-author (with Jason Mankey) of The Witch’s Altar. Her first oracle deck, The Liminal Spirits Oracle, was released in June 2020 from Llewellyn Worldwide and won a Silver COVR Award in 2021. Laura also conceived and edited the anthology The New Aradia: A Witch’s Handbook to Magical Resistance, which was released in September 2018 from Revelore Press. 

She blogs at Patheos as A Modern Traditional Witch and at Witches & Pagans as Fine Art Witchery. She is a regular contributor to The Witches’ Almanac, Ltd.

Dive deep into alternate realities with the ancient practice of shamanic journeying with the guidance of a shamanic healer and spiritual coach. Guided by the beat of the shaman's drum, we will discover and connect to abundant love and wisdom.

Bring a yoga mat or blanket to lay on and cover up with. Bring a journal if you would like to record your experiences.  We will be traveling through two to three journey's during this circle, each participant will have the opportunity to share and ask questions. 

"A shamanic journey is the process of accessing alternate realities through a deep meditative state initiated by a fast drumming rhythm. Shamanism is an animistic practice, focusing on relationships with animals on each plane of existence as messengers and guides. "

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The term shamanism comes from the Manchu-Tungus word šaman. The noun is formed from the verb ša- 'to know'; thus, a shaman is literally “one who knows.” 

Rev. Aya Sandra Blackwolf Cardeiro is of the Finnish and Siberian lineage. Kyra Spikes is of Choctaw, Creek, and Creole descent. 

This is arguably the most fun thing we do all weekend, and the cornerstone of our Beltane celebrations. Attendees will dress up and take part in pre-rituals as either a Hunter, a Holy, or the Seelie Court. (Fae). The chase begins to find the May Queen, with esoteric riddles and mischievous Fae guarding the way. Only the most cunning Holies can elude the Hunters, and only the most persistent Hunter will find the May Queen and be crowned the Oak King. 

Join us for our closing magickal rite at the Maypole, led by Laura Tempest Zakroff. Everyone is invited to weave a beautiful communal pattern around the maypole, and to decorate it with our community sigil. Burnish the pole with a symbol of your creation, and take that spirit with you on your journey home!

The Spirit of Cacao opens and connects the heart. With guidance from the plants, we join
together in intention as the abstract sounds of gongs uplift and awaken the spirit within. This special Fino de Aroma cacao comes from Ecuador and is prepared along with guayusa from the Amazon. The cacao is a feast for the senses as the smell, texture, taste all add to the enriching and invigorating experience.

Walk into Yggdrasil's canopy to discover the nine worlds suspended from its branches and the three fates of human destiny sitting at its roots. Urd (past), Verdandi (present), and Skuld (future) will provide guidance for your weekend at The Nest and the path that will bring you to your goal! This is an oracular experience and passion play offered for a limited time at The Great Oak.

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Let the vibration of the drum head ripple through your body. Let it quicken the pulse of your blood and the movement of your feet. Let your hips and stomach undulate as your hands unfold toward the sky. Give up your pain, your anxiety, your loneliness, your self-doubt, and let the fire burn them to ash. On Saturday night, drum and dance like your ancestors did, and raise your mighty voice into the night sky until it echoes between stars.

The Lord and Lady are alive, and magick is afoot!  In sacred circle, underneath the stars in center field, we will welcome the embodiment of the Goddess and God as our May Queen and Oak King are transformed, and witness the blessing and miracle of the their sacred union.

After the initial tents are set up and everyone's gotten comfortable, we will join together at the drum circle in front of the stage for our opening ritual. The Wickerman in the center is a symbol of our dying Winter, and we will burn it to usher in the Spring and make our commitments to growth for this year. 

The Beltane hunter  will join together in chant and movement to conjure forth the Jack 'o the Green from the ashes of the Wicker man.