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Summerset 2000
Author:
Posted: September 2nd. 2000
Times Viewed: 5,716
Event Date(s): 9/1 - 9/4, 2000
Merry Meet Everyone!
We are still recovering here after a weekend of too little sleep and too much exercise. However I thought I'd take a moment to tell everyone that we cracked 300 (By how much we are still figuring) making this the highest attendance at Summerset in it's ten year history.
We had an absolutely wonderful weekend of magic, music, workshops, and I was amazed at how much love was in the air. Past years have brought us many couples who met at Summerset and were later wed or handfasted. And I'm wondering how many such announcements we'll be publishing in our newsletter this year?
The music was first rate. Starting with open mike on Friday night with such first time performers as Mike Murray, Rick Allen and Donna Lynn and still others.
Saturday's music got a hell of a start with Dan Levenson who had the audience in his hand. Then he tried to play one last song, and a succession of musicians kept interrupting him, and suggesting that he need another instrument (A guitar from Greg Morris, a mandolin from Emily Baehr and a bass from Dwight Newton) and finally Dan's new lady Jennifer told him "You need a fiddle!" and took the banjo away from him to play it herself (It was Dan's favorite banjo-his pain on giving it away was palpable!) and then they started cooking. This segued nicely into the Mummer's Wren set and Emily and Greg gave their usual superb performances. Throughout the night each bands set flowed seamlessly into the next bands set, with Mummer's Wren flowing into Rogues Cross until Wishing Chair knocked them dead with one hell of a rollicking set with more than a few kick ass jams.
Considering it was well past midnight and the lodge was still packed that tells you something!
Also that night Dr.Kwasi paid a surprise visit to the Council fire. Dr. Kwasi who is 70 looks 50 and has the energy of 30 climbed all the way up to the Council Fire and burned up the percussion superhighway!
Also Saturday night was the Labyrinth and the Goddess Ritual. The Labyrinth burned through the night and you could see people wandering it's path in search of a deeper understand of the wheel of time.
It was all culminated by one hell of a bonfire, with the best drumming, best dancing, best fire and best energy this festival goer has ever seen(Alright, alright I'm biased-but it doesn't mean I'm wrong!). The procession leading down to the fire from the lodge was piped in by a piper who I didn't even know who managed to lend a highland air, to a place that had already been more than once compared to the highlands of Scotland.
Then after the drumming, got started, Dr. Kwasi joined us again and pretty soon that percussion machine was purring like a kitten and everyone with a drum had a role to play.
At midnight, the bell tolled three times, the dancers retired from the circle while the the following was read for Leslie Dauterman's last dance on earth:
THE WARRIOR'S LAST STAND
"Every warrior has a place to die, A place of his predilection which is soaked with unforgettable memories, where powerful events left their mark, a place where he has witnessed marvels, where secrets have been revealed to him, a place where he has stored personal power.
"And finally one day when his time on earth is up and he feels the tap of death on his left shoulder, his spirit which is always ready, flies to the place of his predilection and there the warrior dances to his death.
"Death cannot overtake the warrior who is recounting the toil of his life for the last time until he has finished his dance.
"And thus you will dance to your death here, on this hilltop, at the end of the day. And in your last dance you will tell of your struggle, of the battles you have won and of those you have lost; you will tell of your joys and bewilderments upon encountering personal power. Your dance will tell about the secrets and about the marvels you have stored. And your death will sit here and watch you.
"The dying sun will glow on you without burning, as it has done today. The wind will be soft and mellow and the hilltop will tremble. As you reach the end of your dance you will look at the sun, for you will never see it again in waking or in dreaming, and then your death will point to the south. To the vastness.
DON JUAN TO CARLOS CASTENEDA-JOURNEY TO IXTLAN
Then the drummers began for three minutes to drum for Leslie's last dance, and the energy was palpable. Many people saw her-and others-joining us in our celebration. At the end of her last dance, a flaming arrow shot across the sky into the blackness before vanishing forever-marking her passage.
Then the dancers resumed, and many commented that they felt Leslie's presence among us in joyous celebration of the night.
Never before have I seen so many happy children playing together too. Summerset has long worked to be family friendly and this year was not only no exception, but one of the best examples of our goals as well. Leslie would be smiling to see.
I want to thank everyone for the love and support that they showed for me and Leslie during the weekend. What was for me personally was going to be a difficult weekend because of Leslie's loss, turned into a joyous celebration of her life. although not without tears on my part and many others, they were as much tears of joy of having known her as sadness at her passing. Thank you everyone.
I want to thank the many people who were on staff, Mike, Mary, Dancing Monkey, Tortoise, Debbie Scott, Debbie Allen, Mike Murray and Stephanie, Heethen, Flip, Rich, Teer, Ursel and our medical person Larry and his wife.
I want to thank the kitchen staff, Bruce, Bobbi, Cyndi and others. And also all of the staff of AREN who once again ran a superb coffee house! And I guess I should give a tip of the hat to Rylla who was a very good sport when I teased her (She pulled her punches when she hit me-so I guess she likes me).
Also special thanks to Rick Allen aka Lord Spam who was the master and builder of the sweat lodge and who was my able cohort in the children's after dinner story "Green Eggs & Spam!"(Itself a resounding success!)
I also wish to thank all the people who helped above and beyond their two hours in helping us out. And I want to thank the attendees of Summerset-you were the final ingredient in a weekend of wonders.
We are building a legacy at Summerset, a community that is growing, bonds that are strengthening and a spirit that is soaring. The strength of this love bodes well for the Pagan community and indeed the world as we move forward into this new millennium of the Aquarian age.
Thank you all for a wonderful weekend. I hope we see you at Shadowmas (October 20-22)!
Bright Blessings Of The Gods On All Who Walk This Path!
Stacy Brian Bartley
Related Web Sites: Check out PCCO on the Web
The Pagan Community Council of Ohio is a not-for-profit educational corporation which sponsors social, educational and religious activities for Pagans in Ohio. These events include Summerset, The Greening, Shadowmas, WinterFire, Brigid's Fire, and Springbourne. The Religious Freedom Vigil celebrates our right to practice religion as we see it. The PCCO has members throughout the state of Ohio, as well as many other states.
PCCO: P.O. Box 82089, Columbus, Ohio, 43202 -- (614)261-1022
Article Specs
Article ID: 2962
VoxAcct: 66222
Section: festivals
Age Group: Teen
Days Up: 3,448
Times Read: 5,716
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