Pinnacle Ministry – MoonSpirit Gathering 2006 was held July 10 – 15. I went out on the 13th. It was a super long drive up to Blue River, Wisconsin, the longest one I will do this year for my book tour. The drive is almost 500 miles. I was wobbly by the time I arrived but I made very good time and got there in just a little over 9 hours. Of course, being me, I had to get lost at least once and turn around, but I am used to that, so I just take it all in stride.

MoonSpirit is a fairly new event and very intimate. It was a pleasure to get to speak with almost all the attendees on a one-to-one basis, something I can’t possibly do at any of the bigger events.

The campgrounds were very nice, and there were the luxury of both flush toilets and built in bath stalls. The campgrounds also had a restaurant and provided a heap of food to anyone with the money to pay for it. Since I brought enough food for three people, I ate and cooked all my own food, except for Thursday night, when I was offered fish and chips from someone who couldn’t finish the food on her platter. Being the fish lover I am that was hard to turn down, especially when I was so tired from driving straight through from Missouri.

Friday, Patricia Telesco arrived. You can see her, me and the festival’s coordinators (Gina – left; Osyrys – right) in the picture above. That afternoon, I gave my workshops, they just sort of blended into each other. It was intimate and everyone did their best to contribute. After the workshops, we all wandered down to the lower area of the campgrounds and set up a labyrinth.

Saturday was very warm. The picture above was taken in the evening and we all were kind of wilted from the extreme heat. Most of the attendees decided to either nap or take the cave tour that afternoon, so Trish’s workshops didn’t really happen, but there was an informal chat shortly before the pot luck feast for dinner. People brought lots of good “cool” entrees because of the heat. There were plenty of salads and fruit things, and there was a hunk of sausage for the meat eaters.

After dinner Trish, Gina, a few others and I gathered together to create the evening’s closing ritual. Gina and Osyrys had decided on a Fairy ritual. Both Trish and I advised against inviting the Fae to stay at the closing of Circle and we came up with a careful wording to thank them and send them on their way without causing offense. A woman was selected to do the opening and closing portions of the ceremony and Gina would be presenting the gifts. By the time we got to the portion of the ritual that the woman was to do, she had become confused as to what she was doing and Gina asked me to step in. Something I had declined to do earlier because I did not want to deal with a stray fairy following me home and being in my car for a 500 mile journey. But all things being equal, I knew what we had discussed and there was no one else who did. So I called in the Fae to join us in getting gifts and listening to stories. The gifts were presented and the stories were shared. All was going according to plan and I was bidding them farewell without extending an invitation to stay after the ritual. Unfortunately, someone decided that my release was not up to par and shouted out “Stay if you will!”. The damage was done. There was nothing further I could do so I just said “Hail and Farewell” and hoped for the best.

The evening’s entertainment included poi, fire spinning and breathing. The fire Elementals were very happy with the flames and even decided to keep a few of them burning after the performers attempted to blow them out. I stayed up way later than my usual hour, retiring after the performances were over and the mead came out to make the rounds.

I guess the water Elementals decided to cause some mischief after I fell asleep. There were minor injuries, hurt feelings and miscommunications late in the night. Of course, Mercury being retrograde didn’t help to soothe things over quickly, either.

I left very early Sunday morning before anyone was awake so I could be home before dark and in time for a bit of unpacking. About two hours down the road, the air Elementals made it known that they were going to be driving to Missouri with me. My car was infested with swarms of no-see-ums. And they were biting me! At every stop I made for either gas or food, I looked for bug spray, there was none to be had. I tried driving with the windows rolled down but the heat was too much, so eventually I rolled them up and turned on the AC. Those darn bugs bit on any exposed skin for the entire ride home. Waah!! 🙁 Good thing I was wearing long pants and sleeves.

Monday morning, when I went out to my car to drive my daughter to camp, there was not a bug to be seen.