Let me start with a little bit of my own spiritual history. I converted from Seventh Day Adventism when I was about 13 to Wicca. I dabbled in that for a bit. At about 16 or 17, I got a little bored of the practical aspect of it (spellwork, divination, ritual, etc) and declared myself to be a Pagan in philosophy, spiritual but not religious (whatever that actually means), keeping certain Pagan beliefs, and tweaking them as I went along.
And so I remained that way, with this belief but not really putting a whole lot of effort into it, until Baltimore. And I met some other Pagans there. They held a fire circle for the Sabbats and even on some Esbats, and it was a really nice situation. Eventually, I agreed to come to a festival at this Pagan/Wiccan Church/Community/Camping Place they had been trying to get me to ever since I met them, called Four Quarters. I had always had some kind of excuse not to, but I went for Wickerman.
A Burning Man, Burning.
Wickerman is a festival held every year in Mid June, in which we construct a huge man of wood, wicker, and other sustainable, burnable things. He is built, people often put burnable art offerings on, in, or with him, and he's ceremoniously BURNED TO THE GROUND, MAN!!! It's based originally on an old Celtic festival, which has a bad rap from Julius Caesar. If you like, you can read all about it on the Wickerman website here: Wicker Man - The Wicker Man.
Seriously though, Burning Man festivals are a celebration of fire, art, music, and all things wonderful. The idea here is that you're creating a burnable, natural offering to the Universe, the Gods, the Goddesses, whatever you believe. While not strictly Pagan, it has Pagan roots, most of the people who attend are Pagan (again, most -- not all. There's no spiritual requirement to attend, it's inclusive of everyone and anyone!), and thus I consider it relevant to the blog project. So there. :P
The BIG GUY is the Burning Man Festival which is held in the Black Rock Desert near Reno, Nevada every year. It's the biggest Burning Man festival, ever. They also have associated smaller burns in other areas of the country, but the Wickerman Burn event that I go to is not associated directly with the Burning Man Festival.
There are a few other things you ought to know. There are ten principles to the Burning Man Festival, paraphrased by yours truly:
1. Radical Inclusion: Anyone can participate. Even strangers. If you don't know anyone, you get to make friends!!
2. Gifting: Unconditional Gifting is the name of the game. Burns are devoted to the act of giving, with no expectation of recompense or exchange. It's all love, baby.
3. Decommodification: Gifting requires no expected exchange, including money. Thus, Commercial Sponsorships, Transactions, Advertising, etc are a big no no. There is no merchanting at Wickerman events. You cannot sell or buy anything while there.
4. Radical Self-Reliance: the event encourages you to discover, explore, and rely on your own inner resources.
5. Radical Self-Expression: You are the only one who can express yourself. Only the individual or community/collaborative group can determine the content of your expression. It is given as a gift. You give your expression as a gift to others, and the art burn is a gift offering to the Universe. As a gift giver, also please respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
6. Communal Effort: Creative cooperation and collaboration are values of the burn, and the community must strive to protect and support social networks, art gifts, public spaces, and communication methods to support those values.
7. Civic Responsibility: Community members who organize an event are responsible for the public welfare, and for communicating to the public their civic responsibilities, including keeping in accordance with all state, local and federal law. (As a side note, drugs are bad, mkay?)
8. Leaving no trace: the community is responsible for respecting the environment. When the burn is done, the place should look pristine like nothing ever happened.
9. Participation: transformation occurs through participation. We achieve through work, play, and do. So go out, have fun, and DO IT!!
10. Immediacy: immediate experience is the touchstone of the experience: do it now. Now is the time.
So obviously I paraphrased a lot like I said I would, but you can read the original (and much better written than mine) principles here: Burning Man: What Is Burning Man?: Ten Principles..
Aaaaand there's a few other fun tidbits of information: It's not just the burn. There are Theme Camps, Villages, Art Installations, and other awesomely fun activities. As an example, my wonderful friend Kate holds a Pirate performance art camp at Wickerman Burn, with games and contests and general pillaging awesomeness every year. One year, there was a theme camp where you could mark another person for assassination, and that camp would go 'assassinate' the person with water guns, water balloons, etc. And let me tell you, it's REALLY frikken nice being pelted with cold water in the middle of June. Last year, someone brought a 5-foot-diameter beach ball that was played with and rolled around throughout the festival.
And people think of some of the coolest stuff! It's really a treat to see what they come up with every year.
Find one. If you're not near Nevada, then you can find an official Regional Burn associated with the Burning Man Festival that is hopefully closer to where you are. The search (International, Intercontinental, by the way!!) can be found here: Burning Man: Regional Contacts. Or, if you're in the PA/MD/WV/DC/NY ish area, or can get to central PA, there's always the Wickerman Burn, which won't come up in the Regional list, since it's not officially associated with the Burning Man Festival. Here's the link, if you wanna join us!!: Wickerman Burn.
Or maybe, if you don't go to a festival, have your own little mini Wickerman Burn in your own backyard! Just remember to check with your local Fire Marshall to make sure you're in accordance with fire laws and fun stuff like that.
Happy Burning!
<3 Sapphirescent <3
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