If you’re going to project any writing, better it be the names of the Beloved Dead.

I suspect this is going to be an unpopular view, but holding the less popular view is not new for me. This is one I hold strongly. YMMV.

Also, in the beginning of the invocations, I thought it was a CD playing until the drums would come in. It took quite awhile before I realized that it was a real, live band playing (okay, I am from the country in Vermont!). Evergreen

I felt very honored to have people care for me so much, but I am a homebody (in Vermont), and was afraid I would get homesick, or that those who were responsible would not think I appreciated their efforts.

In fact, it was an incredibly rich time for me and I never felt homesick at all. This is not to say I didn’t grieve. The Spiral Dance Ritual enabled me to grieve deeply, with support from friends and spirit allies. I was so appreciative of that opportunity.

The emotions that I felt during the ritual were Grief (number one, and the one I most needed to feel), excitement, awe, wonder, and deep connection to our beloved dead.

I was totally fine with the names being read before the main ritual. It gave me time to look at the different altars, and then to realize I couldn’t leave the pictures of Phil at the North Altar….I just needed him with me. I waited to listen to his name, and it meant so much to hear it read. I think if it had been during the main part of the ritual, I would have been distracted until his name was read.

I give so much gratitude to all those who contribute to the ritual. It was beautiful, healing, and inspiring.

I was so moved by the trance by Starhawk, Rose, and Julian…..also the choir and any other musicians (Mark) who were part of it. It was so seamless to me, and so emotional. I am grateful that Star mentioned leaving behind spirits on the Isle of Apples, because I probably would have wanted to bring Phil back with me. It was so wonderful to be with him there, and to relive our lives together with our children.

Again, I am so grateful to all those who brought this wonderful ritual into being. For me, in the early stages of tremendous grief, if was an incredible opportunity to grieve, but also to celebrate the night the veil is the thinnest between the worlds. I traveled to and fro more than once, and came out the other side changed forever. I thank you all so much for all the hours you put in, and want you to know it made a difference for me. Love, Evergreen from Vermont

It was one of two highlights in a wonderful four-day vacation I had in the Bay Area. So, basically, I’m inclined to view it glowingly, have nothing to compare it to, and know nothing about the personalities (and conflicts thereof) among the people involved.

However, I was there most of the day. Having offered to volunteer as a floater (since I didn’t know exactly when I would arrive, coming from out of state), I was impressed with how well the coordinators made use of unskilled labor.

I would certainly have been more useful if I’d had any previous involvement before 11:30 that morning. But Tia and several others put me to work on various small tasks — with remarkable patience considering that unassigned, unskilled labor can be a real pain in the ass for coordinators.

I wasn’t present for the rehearsal, of course, but I’d like to echo what Star said about the hurry-up-and-wait aspect. My husband’s a professional actor and what she’s saying is so true.

For everyone involved with a performance, they spend a phenomenal amount of time sitting around, but their time isn’t being wasted and it’s not a matter of inefficient production — that is production.

I can’t imagine doing it in such a short amount of time! My husband has done shows, which rehearsed for weeks, that weren’t pulled together as well as the Spiral Dance was.

The performances enchanted me completely. When I saw the aerial dancers rehearsing earlier in the day, I think I actually began to breath through my mouth.

Fortunately, I did hear the names of the people I knew during the reading of the Beloved Dead — but I almost didn’t. I wasn’t aware that the names were going to be read before the ritual and I thought something was just still being rehearsed.

Fortunately, someone seated near me clued me in that, nope, this was it. So I guess a clearer transition there would have been helpful to me.

The altars were gorgeous. I felt honored to even be allowed to do small things here and there for any of them. And I felt like I got a lot accomplished personally that I had come there to do — which was facilitated by the work of so many people I will never know and who will never know the effect their contribution had on me. That’s kind of mind-blowing.

Admittedly…the trance part didn’t work so much for me. It was another transition thing. I, and no one seated around me, seemed to realize that the trance was going to go right into the Spiral Dance. So we just left our stuff there, thinking we were going to come back.

As people started having to walk around stuff (this misconception seemed kind of widespread at first), I asked one of the graces who told me that, no, we weren’t going back to our seats, so I started moving stuff out of the way and saw others were already doing the same thing and the floor was cleared pretty quickly.

The trance did go on kinda long for me, but really only because then it moved right into the spiral dance — which, of course, was the whole point. But it did make for a long period of (in the most practical sense) walking slowly around the room a lot.

Spiral dance…with that many people…incredible… I know you want more specifics than that. But I’m just saying that dancing the spiral with that many people was totally transporting.

I enjoy the fast, bouncy, smaller spiral dances I’ve been in before, but the large, slower one really provided the sense of connection for me that lies at the heart of what the spiral dance is all about.

Speaking of which, though I attended the event alone, I never felt lonely or disconnected from it. Everyone was very welcoming, even during what I knew were more stressful periods earlier in the day.

Thank you.

Omigooseness. My daughter Sequoia and I have attended the last six SDs in SF as well as one in Sebastopol, and this was by far the BEST Spiral Dance I have attended. I simply loved the experience from start to finish. I loved the warm welcome and encouragement I received as Recycling Coordinator and Recycling Altar Builder — before the event as well as during and after. The timing of the event felt perfectly rhythmic, nothing seemed too long or too short. I appreciated the invitation to walk during the trance. This somehow freed me to go deeper than I’ve ever gone before. The choir was STELLAR (Knowing some of the Witchlets teens in the choir made me particularly proud of and awed by the power and talent they shared with us.) Seeing Julian step into his new role with Star and Rosie was breathtaking. Again, as a Witchlets parent, I found it ecstatically uplifting to witness the support and guidance this community makes available to our youth. I don’t think there are many other places outside the Reclaiming community where I feel so much unconditional love and acceptance for myself and my kids, for our strengths as well as our weaknesses, for our talents as well as our sometimes annoying eccentricities.

Just some quick observations about what could’ve been better… as the brand new new Recycling Coordinator, I didn’t really know what to expect or how to plan. Next year (yes, I’ve already signed on to help with recycling next year!), I plan to be much more organized so we get our waste sorted DURING the event instead of after. I also plan to institute some sort of agreements for recycling volunteers, so we know from the outset what is expected of us. I had several volunteers who just didn’t follow through with their agreements, which made other teens have to work double-duty (and they get double gold stars for that). I lost Ian, who I was REALLY counting on, because he was asked to run a light at the last minute. I understand that was an important job, but he didn’t get anyone to replace him and we suffered for that. In volunteer agreements for the Recycling Crew next year, I will spell out a request to replace yourself if you need to step out at the last minute. I have a lot of other thoughts about how to improve Recycling next year, but will send that to the Cell later. Finally, the only other thing that I can imagine needs improvement is the projection of lyrics on the screen. I can read the big words, but when a whole bunch are on the screen at the same time, I can’t read them at all. No biggie, but wanted to offer that constructive input.

To conclude, I felt that it was beyond an honor and a privilege to participate in this ritual. In fact, I feel like one of the luckiest people on the planet to have stumbled upon this community and this magic and this ransformative power. I love you all more than words can tell, and look forward to dancing the spiral with you all many times in the future.

Blessed be, y’all,
=) la

I did not give my permission for my image or images of my artistic creations to be taken, used, or sold. I just saw richard’s pics(someone sent me a link). I have contacted him on this issue and it is resolving. I don’t really want to have to do all this work to contact anyone who took my image (either still, moving, or any recording, etc.; but I will if I have too). Can someone in charge in the sd cell pls resolve this issue for me asap. apparently many people took images of all types without my expressed written permission.

Flame

I do encourage you, and anyone else who has issues with a particular person, to talk to them directly as well as posting your general feedback here. I do hear you about your frustrations, and I’m sorry you had an experience that felt hurtful to you. My response is to a number of comments–and I just want people to have a reality check about the very real challenges of putting on an event like this with our budget and time and people constraints.

I don’t want to draw you into further discussion, but I want to make sure that the message I intend to send is the one that you’re hearing. Speaking only for myself, waiting is not the problem for me. What caused problems for me were lack of clarity and aggressive behavior. Both of these things should be addressed in the future for the sake of attracting and retaining volunteers.