Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / Random Heathen Ramblings: S5, EP22 - Pagan Community Outreach (feat Jeff Abell from Spiral Life Pagan Circle & Fellowship)

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Random Heathen Ramblings: S5, EP22 - Pagan Community Outreach (feat Jeff Abell from Spiral Life Pagan Circle & Fellowship) · Random Heathen Ramblings

• 0:00
  Hello everyone, and welcome to the Random Heathen Ramblings
• 0:03
  podcast where we discuss all sorts of things dramatic
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  Heathenry related. My name is Jesse and I am your
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  beauty of Mountain Spirit. All right, everybody, Halen,
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  welcome back to this week's episode of the Random Heathen
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  But regardless of whichever way you choose to do it, it is
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  greatly appreciated. So thank you again to all my
• 2:43
  patrons on Patreon that helped make the video versions of this
• 2:46
  show possible. Today's guest is going to be a
• 2:50
  gentleman who is also like myself, a native New Yorker.
• 2:54
  He's from the West side of the of the state, whereas I'm from
• 2:57
  like the east side of the state. He's a traveling man.
• 3:00
  He's actually on the road right now.
• 3:02
  So that's going to be kind of a fun new thing.
• 3:04
  He's he's in his, he's in his truck on his way to New York, as
• 3:09
  I understand. But his name is Jeff and he is
• 3:12
  representing an organization out of Denton, NC.
• 3:17
  I believe he's going to talk a bit more about it because I
• 3:19
  believe they welcome and accept folks from neighboring areas
• 3:24
  including like Virginia, North SC, Tennessee, Georgia,
• 3:27
  etcetera. The organization that he
• 3:30
  represents is called the Spiral Life Pagan Circle and
• 3:33
  Fellowship. He kind of overseas a lot of the
• 3:37
  operational stuff of things, but he's going to talk about really
• 3:39
  what the what that is. It sounds like a mouthful and
• 3:43
  you say, you know, Spiral Life, Pagan Circle and Fellowship, but
• 3:46
  as I understand, it's a collective of a bunch of
• 3:48
  different people, not just heathens like Jeff himself.
• 3:52
  I believe he identifies as a Celtic Wiccan as so he says.
• 3:55
  So we'll hopefully hear more about that from him.
• 3:58
  But the purpose of today is is to talk about what spiral life
• 4:02
  is doing in forms of, you know, Pagan community outreach and
• 4:07
  just providing a a space for for for people of differing views.
• 4:14
  But but similar in the sense that it's, you know, a non
• 4:16
  traditional religion. So you know, you have your
• 4:18
  pagans, you got your witches and Wiccans and you got your
• 4:20
  heathens that evidently come out to these to these meet ups or
• 4:24
  these gatherings. So we're going to hear more
• 4:27
  about that from Jeff, and that's really his cue to come on the
• 4:30
  show. So without further ado, let's go
• 4:32
  ahead and welcome Jeff to the show.
• 4:36
  All right. Thank you.
• 4:37
  Hey man, checking in from like you were saying, I think before
• 4:41
  offline you're you're you're somewhere in, in the like West
• 4:44
  Virginia. Yep, somewhere I'm on the 81
• 4:50
  Interstate, somewhere right, just South of Winchester, making
• 4:57
  my way to deliver somewhere in Western New York, which is great
• 5:01
  'cause I, I keep telling my company, hey, you know, it's
• 5:04
  been a while since I see my dad. Do you have anything going in
• 5:07
  this direction? And they said, well, we do go
• 5:10
  that way. Just just bother us.
• 5:12
  Let us, you know, just keep, you know, annoying us and we'll find
• 5:15
  something there eventually. And I could tell they didn't
• 5:19
  have anything going on through this holiday weekend.
• 5:23
  But they're like, you know, 'cause they're, they're like,
• 5:26
  hey, we got this load going to Georgia due on Tuesday.
• 5:30
  They had something else going towards New Jersey due on
• 5:33
  Wednesday. I'm like, you don't have
• 5:36
  nothing, do you? Yeah.
• 5:38
  And then I said, hey, how about do you do you?
• 5:41
  You told me to bother you if you have anything going towards
• 5:44
  Buffalo. And they said, you know what,
• 5:47
  hold on. And first he said he had
• 5:50
  something near Utica. I'm like, that's not near.
• 5:55
  And then he's like, OK, hold on. Oh, I've got this going to
• 5:59
  Lancaster. I'm like, hey, that's where I
• 6:01
  was born. Yeah, you write on that like
• 6:04
  Erie, Buffalo, Erie kind of section of the of the state,
• 6:09
  right? Yeah, yeah, once the, I don't
• 6:13
  know, about 45 minutes South of Niagara Falls.
• 6:20
  I I was more in the really rural area of South of Buffalo, lived
• 6:26
  across the street from horses and cows.
• 6:29
  Yep, Yep, I will see how where I'm from originally is Long
• 6:33
  Island, way different landscape, but it was potato farms there
• 6:36
  when my dad and mom and when we're growing up.
• 6:38
  And then we moved up to like the, the Hudson Valley area of
• 6:42
  of the lower foothills of the Catskills.
• 6:44
  But I remember as a kid going out to like Jamestown because
• 6:49
  one of my grandmother's lifelong friends had moved to like a, a
• 6:55
  senior living home out that way. And so, you know, that was like
• 7:00
  a good five or six hour drive from Orange County, where I, you
• 7:05
  know, where we lived. And it's beautiful out there.
• 7:08
  It's, you know, a lot of people that don't know about New York,
• 7:11
  when I first moved to Tennessee, they heard I was from New York.
• 7:13
  They're like, oh, you're from the city.
• 7:14
  And I'm like, no man, like there's more to the state than
• 7:17
  just New York City, Manhattan and all, you know, and, and all
• 7:22
  that up there, all that area up there, like where you're from
• 7:25
  is, is, is it's farmland, it's very rural.
• 7:27
  It's beautiful. Yep.
• 7:30
  Or. Travel to one of my old jobs.
• 7:33
  Sorry, I, I used to travel a lot and then I used to love being
• 7:36
  given a, a, a, a run for the week that got me up close to
• 7:40
  where my parents were living at the time.
• 7:42
  So that way I could swing through and say hi for a bit,
• 7:46
  you know? Yeah.
• 7:50
  So yeah, I lived there till about.
• 7:54
  Oh gosh, when was it? Well, I guess you'll get into
• 7:59
  it. Yeah, well, I mean, you're in,
• 8:03
  you're in a truck now. You, you're, you're from Western
• 8:05
  New York. You're, you're living in now in
• 8:06
  North Carolina, I guess, right? Where I guess I was.
• 8:11
  I guess I was going to start with how I got there.
• 8:14
  Great. Yeah, let's do it.
• 8:16
  So 2006, I was graduating high school, but it was before that,
• 8:21
  in about 2004, I started to question my beliefs.
• 8:27
  Yeah, it was in a, you know, first we were a Catholic family,
• 8:31
  then my brother went off and wanted to go pick out a
• 8:34
  different church. Then we became non
• 8:37
  denominational Christians. And but after a while I started
• 8:41
  to really question things. Why am I being forced to go here
• 8:44
  just because my family is a Christian family?
• 8:47
  We have to go to a Christian Church or just a lot of things
• 8:52
  didn't sit right with me. Like I was sitting in church and
• 8:55
  I was just going ahead, flipping through pages in the in the
• 8:58
  Bible and I'd be like, and it didn't, I don't remember what it
• 9:03
  was or it said something that didn't sound right and it was
• 9:07
  against women. So I, I showed my uncle and he
• 9:10
  says, oh, ignore that. That's not I'm like, ignore
• 9:13
  that. So many other, so many other
• 9:20
  different things. And so, or the one time we're
• 9:26
  sitting outside, you know, just us youth and we had, you know,
• 9:30
  like a like a youth pastor or a teacher out there just kind of
• 9:34
  going through today's lesson. And I was like, well, hold on.
• 9:39
  If, if this man is, is all powerful, then how come he can't
• 9:43
  stop this or, or help the hungry children in I don't know what,
• 9:48
  let's say Africa and or, you know, and he just said, well, I
• 9:54
  guess he can't. And I'm like what?
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  Yeah, that's a common thing. I've heard a lot of folks too,
• 10:02
  that that question Christianity is, is they, they put this, you
• 10:07
  know, the, they, they, they, they put the question out there,
• 10:10
  you know, you know, why does this all powerful God not, you
• 10:14
  know, why does he let bad things happen, you know, to good people
• 10:17
  or just, you know, all of this stuff.
• 10:19
  It doesn't seem like something that a that an all powerful God
• 10:23
  or something like that would would would, would allow or
• 10:27
  would do you know? Yeah, So that's where that
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  started. And I eventually told my mom I
• 10:35
  don't want to go anymore. And oh, that was like the major
• 10:39
  sin right there is to tell your mother you don't want to go to
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  church at all. So we got to the point where
• 10:44
  she'd say, well, you're getting into the car.
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  I don't care if you sit in the car the whole time you're going
• 10:49
  even if you got you want to sit in the parking lot.
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  Well, it got to the point where, yeah, that's what I would do.
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  I was like, fine, I'll go, but I'm not going in and but.
• 11:01
  Ride and you didn't go in and participate in the service or
• 11:05
  anything. You were just kind of.
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  Eventually I'd get really bored. You need to go to the bathroom,
• 11:10
  you know, something silly like that.
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  You know, I might walk in or, you know, I, I might see
• 11:15
  somebody walk in the hallways and say hi and, you know, and,
• 11:18
  and that, you know, it just, it got to a point.
• 11:22
  And so eventually, as one might call the rebellion, you know,
• 11:31
  rebellious Christian or whatever you call that.
• 11:33
  So I started looking on the Internet and I was like, well,
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  you know, at the time you don't, or they teach you that there's
• 11:41
  nothing else out there. You're either Christian or
• 11:45
  you're with the devil because now you're against God.
• 11:49
  So I'm like, well, there's nothing else.
• 11:51
  I'm just curious what is all about Satanism?
• 11:55
  And so I'm reading and I don't remember exactly what I was.
• 12:01
  I mean, that was a long that was back in O 4.
• 12:03
  Of course, now I've I've heard and I started actually reading
• 12:08
  things nowadays and started thinking, gosh, that's not so
• 12:11
  bad, is it? Cause but so let's see.
• 12:17
  Yeah, I got into looking at that.
• 12:19
  And then I was at school and I leaned over to a, you know, a
• 12:24
  real good friend of mine and I said, hey, I'm, I'm, I'm looking
• 12:26
  at this. And he's like, no, no, no, no,
• 12:29
  don't, don't do that here. And out pulls out of his
• 12:33
  backpack this Big Blue book called the Complete Book of
• 12:36
  Witchcraft. The the Big Blue book Bucklands
• 12:39
  I think it was. OK, Yeah.
• 12:42
  And I mean, that's like the starting point.
• 12:44
  Everybody always refers to that book here.
• 12:46
  Read the, you know, well, I took it home and I was like, gosh,
• 12:51
  this makes way more sense. This is real.
• 12:57
  Like tell me it isn't So, you know, like the first couple of
• 13:04
  chapters of the book is like it's the history.
• 13:06
  And I'm like, yeah, of course, all are our basic human history,
• 13:14
  you know, that we're, we're looking towards like there's the
• 13:17
  statue of that, that big pregnant woman, you know,
• 13:21
  doesn't look like it has arms. I don't know.
• 13:22
  But it's well endowed. It's this big pregnant woman
• 13:27
  statue. And.
• 13:29
  Oh yeah, yeah. Triple moon goddess or something
• 13:33
  like that. I think that.
• 13:34
  Is there's a couple of those too.
• 13:37
  And so I'm like, of course we would look to the woman and, or
• 13:44
  we look to the feminine side of things.
• 13:47
  And then there's the masculine side of things.
• 13:50
  We there's Cernonos or Kernonos, however, which somebody
• 13:55
  pronounces that God of the wild things, life and death.
• 14:01
  And it's like, yeah, of course. And then of course, you find out
• 14:05
  in the future they might have taken, you know, Kernonos and,
• 14:09
  and oh, he's the devil 'cause he's got horns or antlers or
• 14:13
  whatever. And, and no, no, it's just the,
• 14:19
  what do you call it when Christianity was coming around
• 14:22
  and they wanna, you know, bring people over.
• 14:25
  So they just said that's actually the devil or something
• 14:27
  like that, right. So and then I'm reading on
• 14:32
  beyond, you know, the history chapters of the book and and I'm
• 14:36
  just like, yeah, OK, Then that's when I start looking at like
• 14:40
  runic lettering and and I was like, this, this is no.
• 14:47
  So I put the whole Satanism thing away and just put my own
• 14:51
  belief on that one. So, and then I started getting
• 14:59
  more books and Scott Cunningham started reading more on that,
• 15:06
  started creating my own book of Shadows.
• 15:09
  And I started, most people would be like, Oh my gosh, yeah.
• 15:13
  I actually wrote on my walls in, in Rune to, to try to practice
• 15:17
  how to, you know, read and, you know, instead of, you know,
• 15:21
  second guessing what that letter means or what that whole word in
• 15:25
  Rune is. No, I started memorizing this.
• 15:27
  I, it was funny 'cause my mother would walk in.
• 15:32
  What's that mean? Oh, it's, it's a blessing.
• 15:35
  It's OK. Yeah.
• 15:39
  Oh, so that's interesting. So you were still a, you know,
• 15:41
  you still had a, were you, were you living at home still with
• 15:46
  your parents or with your mom where, where she would see this
• 15:49
  imagery and stuff after you kind of stopped going to church and
• 15:52
  all that. Yeah, I actually put like I
• 15:56
  print, I had like a glossy paper so I could print out really nice
• 16:00
  pictures and frame them. And I had this like this Celtic,
• 16:05
  it kind of looks like a, a maybe a fairy or something with wings
• 16:11
  guiding this child. And, and I, I kind of vaguely
• 16:13
  remember the, the poem behind it.
• 16:16
  May the wind be always at your back, may the sunshine upon your
• 16:20
  face, something along that line. And it was it was a very pretty
• 16:27
  poem and a really beautiful background.
• 16:32
  And my mother just assumed it was an Angel guiding some
• 16:36
  children. Sure, OK.
• 16:39
  But she never really, you know, knew exactly what I was getting
• 16:42
  into until one day I think I was at school and she found my book
• 16:45
  of Shadows. And she she said, you know, what
• 16:51
  is this? And I just, I couldn't say
• 16:54
  anything to her because I knew she was going to get very upset.
• 16:59
  Very devout Christian woman and she even called my dad and he
• 17:04
  wasn't, he wasn't mad, but he was confused.
• 17:09
  And you know, my dad has always had very stern boys growing up.
• 17:12
  So, you know, I, I, I don't, I would not say I'm afraid of him,
• 17:15
  but I was always fearful of, you know, certain things that he
• 17:19
  might say. So a friend of mine said, hey,
• 17:22
  just tell them that you're exploring your spirituality.
• 17:26
  OK, So that's what I used. And then that, that tone of his
• 17:30
  voice kind of lowered a bit, and it wasn't so.
• 17:32
  Bad right? So were were your parents still
• 17:36
  devout Catholics or had they had they switched already to the non
• 17:40
  denominational Christian approach to things?
• 17:45
  Well, so my parents were always divorced, so that's why my dad
• 17:49
  was on the phone. But he yeah, he's always been
• 17:51
  more of the Catholic very not as devout as my mother with non
• 17:57
  denominational Christian, but yeah, she she ended up getting
• 18:02
  the whole pastoral team to investigate me.
• 18:07
  Oh wow. It was, it was kind of, it was
• 18:11
  kind of annoying. Like investigating in the sense
• 18:15
  of like, is he possessed or something like like like in that
• 18:20
  sort of way, like they thought that you were taken over by sort
• 18:24
  of demon or something or? I mean, maybe one of them was
• 18:28
  like that, but the most of them were more or less just curious.
• 18:33
  The head pastor, you know, he's always had his way of thinking.
• 18:36
  He didn't necessarily be the one to investigate me, but he was
• 18:40
  more concerned And then the the one pastor who actually did come
• 18:47
  over to the house and talk to me, He wanted, he was, he was
• 18:50
  real cool about things. He just wanted to see what I was
• 18:53
  reading, what I was, you know, writing down what I was, you
• 18:56
  know, just looking into. And it was more of like a hmm,
• 19:02
  OK, Because he's, if I remember Kalake, he, he was more of like
• 19:07
  he's a scientist. So he just wants to see what it
• 19:12
  is and understand. And now it's.
• 19:15
  So I was like, all right, yeah. This is, this is what it is.
• 19:17
  This is the books I'm reading. This is what I write down.
• 19:20
  This is, you know, like a blessing.
• 19:23
  These are the gods. And he's like, all right.
• 19:30
  Their conclusion was he's all right.
• 19:33
  Right Now, he's not in as deep as we think he is.
• 19:40
  So let's just clarify too for people that, that don't know,
• 19:43
  because I, I mentioned early on that I, that you had said to me
• 19:46
  offline that you're a Celtic Pagan or Celtic Wiccan.
• 19:49
  So does that, does that reflect where you were at this time, the
• 19:53
  gods, the prayers, the blessings, the the imagery did,
• 19:57
  did it reflect that belief at at that time as well when, when
• 20:01
  people were investigating or or trying to understand what's
• 20:05
  going on with you? Yeah, and especially at that
• 20:08
  time, trying to balance school and learning a new religion, I,
• 20:11
  I didn't quite, I was still learning all the goddesses and
• 20:16
  gods, you know, like Brigid and the Dagda and, you know, and Ed
• 20:22
  Cernonos and Lu. So and that, and that's true.
• 20:33
  Now let's see. So yeah, there was that time.
• 20:40
  And well, what led me back sadly back to Christianity, I had a
• 20:53
  thought. I didn't know certain things.
• 20:56
  I didn't know what would happen to me if and when I were to pass
• 21:01
  on, if I were to die, because at the end of my schooling and my
• 21:08
  senior year, I was about to join the Marines and I was scared.
• 21:15
  I got scared of what will happen to me if I'm killed.
• 21:21
  And because I didn't learn any of this, I didn't.
• 21:25
  I guess I didn't read about it thoroughly or I just didn't see
• 21:29
  it. So then I started going to like
• 21:32
  a different church and talking to that pastor and telling him
• 21:35
  about how I feel. And he knew, you know, 'cause I
• 21:37
  would go to their youth group sometimes and he knew what I was
• 21:39
  getting into. And but he wasn't as
• 21:42
  investigative like my mother's church, but he was real cool and
• 21:47
  very understanding. It's like, all right, you know,
• 21:49
  hey, I'll pray for you, you know.
• 21:51
  So I ended up going to boot camp and going back to whatever
• 21:56
  church services they had at the time.
• 21:58
  Of course, at the time, I don't see.
• 22:03
  I don't really, how do you word it?
• 22:08
  Let's see. I'll just put it this way.
• 22:10
  I know that around 2006, 2007, that's when they start allowing
• 22:15
  Pagan symbols on gravestones at Arlington.
• 22:19
  Oh yeah, where they can put like the pinnacle or the pentagram or
• 22:22
  the and and the the hammer if you're heathen, Yeah.
• 22:26
  So I'm not sure if in boot camp or in the military in general,
• 22:31
  if that was if if Pagan symbols or or Pagan religion was
• 22:36
  accepted yet. So I can't really say for sure.
• 22:40
  But so while when I joined, I just put no preference on a lot
• 22:45
  of the paperwork and then that's what my dog tag said.
• 22:50
  And then, of course, I just started bouncing around from,
• 22:52
  like, on Sunday services, you know, Hey, where do you go?
• 22:56
  So I can go with you? And then, you know, so I ended
• 23:00
  up going with a friend in boot camp to, you know, church
• 23:03
  services just to pass the time, really.
• 23:06
  Because normally I would just sit there next to my bunk, my
• 23:11
  rack, not really doing anything. Yeah.
• 23:16
  So that's how I went back into Christianity for, like, the next
• 23:21
  how many years? It was until 2020.
• 23:25
  OK, and now here you are with a group or an organization that is
• 23:32
  based out of Denton, I think it is North Carolina, but you've
• 23:36
  also got some or, or maybe could you talk about like what your,
• 23:42
  what your outreach is like for people in, you know, neighboring
• 23:46
  states or neighboring areas? Like what's the what exactly
• 23:49
  does Spiral Life Pagan Circle and Fellowship do for pagans and
• 23:55
  and and or other non traditional religious people in the area?
• 24:02
  A really cool way I put it the other day, or a couple weeks ago
• 24:05
  maybe, is you got certain pagans, you got witches,
• 24:12
  Wiccans, whoever, whatever path you're on.
• 24:16
  You got a lot of people who might be in what is called the
• 24:19
  broom closet, right? People, people who can't come
• 24:22
  out, who don't want to say they hide their necklaces.
• 24:27
  They don't want to be known. We are like the really big
• 24:32
  closet, you know, come in here and join us.
• 24:35
  You know, tell us about what you're going through.
• 24:39
  You don't have to hide yourself here.
• 24:42
  You can be yourself, be your true self, your, your spiritual
• 24:46
  path, your spiritual self. Oh, excuse me.
• 24:52
  And and and you know, so step out of your, your little broom
• 24:58
  closet and come to our big broom closet and, and just commune
• 25:03
  with us, fellowship, laugh with us.
• 25:07
  And then, yeah, just, you know, started stumbling over my words.
• 25:14
  I'm sorry. Oh, you're fine.
• 25:15
  Like what all what all do you guys do together?
• 25:17
  Like when, when, when the group as it were, I'm sure there's
• 25:20
  probably core members that can help facilitate the logistics of
• 25:25
  things, you know, meeting up at a place or at a time, like what,
• 25:30
  what do you guys do or what, what does, what does that look
• 25:32
  like? So once a month.
• 25:35
  Usually it it used to be every second Saturday, but life seems
• 25:39
  to bounce that around sometimes. So once a month we'll get
• 25:44
  together my backyard on my on my homestead farm and we'll, we'll
• 25:50
  sit around a fire. Somebody usually volunteers to
• 25:53
  bring drinks. Somebody usually volunteers to
• 25:56
  bring snacks like a vegetable or fruit platter, whatever it be.
• 26:00
  Sometimes people bring hot dogs, whatever.
• 26:03
  And, and we'll just, you know, fellowship, you know, hey, how
• 26:09
  you doing? Handshake, hugs, whatever it is.
• 26:11
  And, and then we'll all get pull our chairs together around a
• 26:17
  fire. I'll usually have something
• 26:18
  built up or, or somebody helps me put wood in the fire and, and
• 26:21
  we light it up and, and 1st we'll, we'll just, you know,
• 26:27
  talk. Everybody gets to know each
• 26:29
  other again. Or hey, how's your month or your
• 26:31
  weekend or your week? How's the kids, how's the
• 26:33
  family? And then, you know, I just let
• 26:36
  people do their thing for like the next half hour, 45 minutes,
• 26:38
  whatever it is, because it's a very relaxed atmosphere.
• 26:44
  And so then I'll usually speak up and say, hey guys, everybody,
• 26:50
  thank you for coming. It's been a, a crazy month.
• 26:54
  I'll just take this past month, for example, we just had
• 26:56
  Beltane, we just had Mayday, we just had Mother's Day, you know,
• 27:04
  any of our mothers here. Happy Mother's Day.
• 27:07
  Thank you. The, the, the Goddess shines
• 27:10
  brightly through you and through the gift that he has given you
• 27:13
  with children or just being a mother in general.
• 27:16
  Is, is a great, awesome thing. And, and then usually we'll,
• 27:24
  we'll keep going on with that with, you know, let's see.
• 27:28
  So for instance, we, we went through what, what goddess do
• 27:33
  you look at for, you know, motherhood or, or being a wife
• 27:37
  or, or what have you? And, and then usually if it's
• 27:43
  not that long of a topic or not that long of conversation thing,
• 27:48
  then we'll just go back to talking.
• 27:50
  But usually it stays within Pagan conversation like, oh,
• 27:57
  even better. So February, Valentine's Day, I
• 28:01
  thought of this really cool conversation piece where we all
• 28:04
  just go around in a circle talking about this one thing.
• 28:07
  So first I started off with self love.
• 28:11
  What is self love to you? And everybody went around
• 28:14
  describing what self love is to them.
• 28:18
  And then the next one I thought, well, what is outward love, you
• 28:22
  know, showing love towards other people.
• 28:24
  What does that mean to you? What is what does that, you
• 28:27
  know, imply? And I had some really awesome
• 28:31
  questions or answers and of course, I put mine out as well.
• 28:35
  And and then so they started seeing a pattern about having
• 28:41
  self love. You can't give outward love
• 28:44
  unless you can love yourself. And then so then I asked, what
• 28:50
  about love of the Gods, if you have any?
• 28:55
  Because there are some that just look to nature and which is
• 28:57
  fine, but they still were able to compare it like, OK, well, I
• 29:01
  don't, I don't really look to anybody, but I look to nature
• 29:04
  and I see the bond of the feminine, the masculine sides
• 29:07
  coming together. And I, and I looked and I see
• 29:10
  that. And it was really, it was an
• 29:11
  awesome thing. And I, I can't believe I, you
• 29:13
  know, I thought about it that way.
• 29:15
  And, and when people went around the circle and they're just
• 29:19
  like, you know, that was a really cool thing, Jeff.
• 29:21
  And, and it was a great time. And then after that, then we
• 29:26
  just went to just enjoying the rest of the night.
• 29:30
  And I believe that was the night when it was a huge ring around
• 29:34
  the moon and we just thought, man, this is a really nice
• 29:37
  night. Yeah, I love when stuff like
• 29:41
  that happens. And I love hearing about other,
• 29:44
  you know, groups of folks gathering together in person,
• 29:47
  out in nature to meet and, and enjoy one another's company.
• 29:52
  Because I feel like it's, it's what our ancestors would do, you
• 29:57
  know, when they were out trying to survive and, and, you know,
• 30:00
  live off the land and, and, you know, do everything that they
• 30:03
  had to do to again, stay alive. I'm sure that, you know, their,
• 30:07
  their, their quiet time was spent with their, with their
• 30:10
  community, you know, with their people and, and renewing those
• 30:13
  bonds of fellowship because, you know, well, everybody's doing
• 30:17
  their stuff now. You know, Joe and Sally are
• 30:20
  working on their farm and you know, you know, these other
• 30:24
  families are working on theirs and everybody's kind of doing
• 30:26
  their own thing. And I'm I'm sure even back, you
• 30:29
  know, even not so long ago. But but you know, back then when
• 30:32
  you didn't have like ways of communicating with people long
• 30:35
  distance that even in that small insular group there, there were
• 30:40
  probably times where you just lost touch with people, you
• 30:44
  know, harvest time, you know, whatever the thing was that had
• 30:48
  to keep you busy. So having the opportunity to,
• 30:51
  you know, sit around a fire and just talk about stuff, things
• 30:55
  that were on your mind, right? Play songs, dance, just have a
• 30:58
  good time, you know? So I love, I love hearing that.
• 31:02
  That's like that seems to be like a central focus to what
• 31:06
  this this, this group is, right? It's not so much about, you
• 31:10
  know, an online thing. It's like an in person thing.
• 31:13
  It's a grassroots thing. Is that is that pretty accurate
• 31:15
  to say? Oh, definitely.
• 31:20
  You know, even if there's that slight chance where it's like
• 31:23
  way too cold outside or it's about to rain and that that
• 31:29
  doesn't very happen very much, you know, every month.
• 31:32
  So even if that's a thing, we're still meeting up.
• 31:37
  And if once it starts to rain, the, the living room and, and
• 31:42
  the bathroom in my house is still Immaculate.
• 31:45
  And that way people can still come inside and feel
• 31:48
  comfortable. And yeah, it, it's, you know,
• 31:53
  especially when we just got over COVID and all the times that we,
• 31:59
  we couldn't, you know, get together, I would still try to
• 32:04
  have a small group at least. And people, you know, as a
• 32:08
  people, we need that bond. We need to, we're not a person
• 32:13
  or a people that, you know, like to be apart from people.
• 32:16
  And, you know, we still need to get together.
• 32:19
  And yeah, like long time ago, yeah, we didn't have phones or,
• 32:23
  or it wasn't easy to always send a letter.
• 32:27
  But if we knew that, hey, we can, you know, get together and,
• 32:30
  and, and just spill out our heartaches and, and our pains
• 32:36
  and, and then, you know, hug a brother and say, Hey, it's going
• 32:39
  to be all right, you know, or, you know, or, or give praise
• 32:44
  when it's due and. Yeah.
• 32:47
  And and that's what you know, this whole thing started out as.
• 32:51
  Yeah, we're social beings by and large.
• 32:53
  I feel, you know, like we all appreciate that.
• 32:56
  When when, when did you? So have you always been has has,
• 33:00
  I guess it is are you the founder of this spiral life,
• 33:04
  Pagan circle and fellowship? Did are, are you the the founder
• 33:08
  of this or, or did you kind of find it yourself and then become
• 33:11
  the the main person that does the gathering, you know, month
• 33:15
  once a month or or so? I'd like to think so I think
• 33:19
  after a while, just coming together with people, I, I
• 33:21
  wanted to get something more happening.
• 33:26
  So, you know, we had these group gatherings that I just kind of
• 33:31
  eventually called Spiral Life Fellowship.
• 33:34
  And so eventually I wanted to get something more going.
• 33:38
  You know, we've got at the time, we had a over in Lenoir, NC, we
• 33:43
  had a, a summer solstice event that was really cool.
• 33:48
  I'm I'm I'm somewhat familiar with Lenore.
• 33:51
  I I've been there to go to the meadery, the Moon Joy Meadery.
• 33:55
  Some some very some very good friends of mine are really good
• 33:58
  friends with what's her name, Rebecca and Daniel that that run
• 34:03
  the meadery there. I love Moon Joy.
• 34:05
  I love their their flavor. I I love how they put the the
• 34:10
  flavors in their in their Mead. Yeah.
• 34:13
  Literally the best meat I've probably ever had.
• 34:15
  And I've had a lot of different kinds of meat from a lot of
• 34:17
  local Brewers or, you know, makers and stuff, and it's top
• 34:21
  notch, so good. They they've got a pretty good
• 34:24
  competition with another over here by me in Concord, NC is
• 34:29
  Buzz Viking Brewery. I've heard of them.
• 34:32
  Yeah, really, really good. But then when it comes to moon
• 34:36
  joy, oh man, it's it's really good.
• 34:40
  I got so excited when I found out they they were starting to
• 34:43
  be able to ship their Mead out of steam.
• 34:47
  I was like, hell yeah, I can get some here now when I want.
• 34:50
  I keep forgetting where they have it because apparently it's
• 34:54
  in other stores and there's a store near me and I keep
• 34:57
  forgetting what that store is called so I can go get it for
• 35:00
  every now and then. Oh nice.
• 35:03
  Yeah, I actually had buzz bike and brewery come out to our our
• 35:07
  hand fasting our wedding. That was that was really cool.
• 35:11
  And they they did a really good job.
• 35:15
  But let's see. Yes.
• 35:18
  Oh yeah. So that's a little rabbit hole
• 35:22
  we were going into. I heard, I heard Mead.
• 35:25
  And you can't help but just be like, especially when you're
• 35:26
  eating, you know, you hear the word Mead.
• 35:29
  You'd be like, Oh yeah. Yes, I'll have some more,
• 35:31
  please. You know what, You know what?
• 35:33
  No, you know what? I got to tell the story.
• 35:36
  So we're having our hand at fasting right there on the
• 35:38
  property. And it was beautiful.
• 35:41
  I just wish we had more video of the actual ceremony.
• 35:47
  But my wife, she, she thought, you know what with no cameras
• 35:52
  except for one person, because she wanted people to be in the
• 35:55
  moment, which is, you know, a good at good thought.
• 35:58
  So skip ahead. Actually, you know, the, the
• 36:01
  reception was awesome. But then the night we, we lit
• 36:06
  this huge bonfire and we invited anybody who wanted to come and
• 36:11
  and or stay with the rest of the night.
• 36:13
  You can sleep in a tent. We didn't care.
• 36:16
  We just wanted a great time after the feasting.
• 36:20
  And there was a lot of me that was leftover and, and they sold
• 36:26
  us. So normally a big brawler, the
• 36:28
  big one gallon bottle, normally you have to pay like 85 to $100
• 36:32
  for one of those. Well, they gave it to us
• 36:34
  discount price for $25 per, you know, whatever you wanted.
• 36:38
  They they filled it up for us and it was great.
• 36:40
  And it was probably a bad idea. Right, little double edged sword
• 36:45
  there. Yeah, so we're all we, we
• 36:49
  finally got the fire lit and and we're all dancing around in
• 36:53
  circles around this thing. Just kind of just living in the
• 36:55
  moment, feeling it. And and I've I've got this Big
• 37:01
  Horn and it I just made there, made sure that this thing never
• 37:05
  emptied. And every time it was getting
• 37:08
  low, I went back to the table, fill it some more, start dancing
• 37:12
  around, practically not running around.
• 37:14
  But I was moving around this thing.
• 37:17
  And eventually I started getting out of breath and I sat down, my
• 37:23
  wife sat down. And then I just went, oh, no, I
• 37:30
  looked at the bottle. I went through half the gallon.
• 37:33
  That quick. I couldn't even consummate the
• 37:36
  marriage that night 'cause I just wasn't there anymore.
• 37:42
  She forgave me, but oh goodness, that was it was a good time.
• 37:49
  I don't know if it's true or not.
• 37:50
  I have to, I have to like do some more research to validate,
• 37:54
  validate this. But I heard recently somebody
• 37:56
  was talking about, you know, the, the, the honeymoon, right,
• 38:00
  where we get the term honeymoon. And I'm like, well, yeah, it's
• 38:03
  because you know, the, there would be a, a moon's worth of
• 38:06
  meat, you know, provided or, or, or something, you know, and, and
• 38:11
  the honey is as if that's what meat is.
• 38:13
  It's honey wine. And he's like, well, there was
• 38:16
  also a thing. And again, I don't know if I
• 38:18
  don't know how true this is. I have to find more, you know, I
• 38:21
  have to validate this. But if it's true, it's, it's
• 38:24
  funny. He said that the, the, the, the,
• 38:28
  the guys would would like not kidnap the, the, the, the groom,
• 38:33
  not like kidnap him, but like they would, they would keep him
• 38:35
  drunk on Mead for a moon a month, cycle up right after the
• 38:41
  wedding to keep him from being able to consummate the marriage,
• 38:46
  right? Keeping him so drunk that he
• 38:48
  couldn't perform. And I guess like the purpose or
• 38:51
  the reason behind it that this guy told me was it was because
• 38:55
  they wanted to make sure that they, the man and the woman were
• 38:57
  being married for more than just the sex, you know, like they
• 39:00
  were getting together for more than just the carnal, you know,
• 39:03
  interest or not, you know, whatever of one another.
• 39:05
  And so I was like, well, the meat will do that.
• 39:08
  I mean, the meat will definitely keep you from, you know, from
• 39:11
  performing. Oh yeah, if you have too much
• 39:13
  for sure. I I also heard another way that
• 39:18
  it's called the honeymoon because you would have your your
• 39:22
  your honeymoon during the full moon and you'd be drinking all
• 39:26
  this Mead so that you would consummate your marriage.
• 39:30
  See again, I've heard so I've heard it different ways.
• 39:33
  Now I'm like when I gotta, I gotta find AI, gotta back this
• 39:35
  up somehow. I just hadn't found the the
• 39:38
  source or wherever it came from that validated that.
• 39:43
  So, so like Speaking of like ceremonies and and stuff have
• 39:47
  has, has, has your group conducted like public ritual?
• 39:53
  You know, where it's more than just like let's hang out and
• 39:55
  talk for a month. Like if, if you guys are Celtic
• 39:58
  or if you're, you know, Celtic Pagan is, is the, is this the
• 40:01
  group learn more towards that approach to things?
• 40:06
  And do you guys like observe certain holy tides together or
• 40:10
  is there anything going on like that?
• 40:12
  Well, I wouldn't say we've gotten that far yet.
• 40:16
  We're working on a few things. So you know here lately we did
• 40:19
  get recognized by the state as non profit.
• 40:24
  So that's a woo Hoo. So we're we're getting
• 40:27
  somewhere. You got your 5O1C3 or whatever.
• 40:31
  Yeah, by the state eventually, maybe some sometime soon, maybe
• 40:36
  something also by the the federal IRS and all that.
• 40:42
  So one day for that, because one day so fire life, Pagan circle,
• 40:50
  circle and fellowship. So we got the fellowship part.
• 40:53
  So the circle part will one day we'll also have a temple or
• 40:58
  coven within. So right now we are having small
• 41:05
  gatherings like just just a few of us, you know, coming
• 41:10
  together, not just fellowship, but if we want to have like
• 41:14
  summer solstice and we want to have a little ritual.
• 41:19
  Now the group, the actual as a whole is not all Celtic because
• 41:25
  we have more than, you know, so many different paths.
• 41:27
  So we're actually calling Spiral like Pagan circle and
• 41:32
  fellowship, a Omni Pagan group. And Omni Pagan is the belief
• 41:39
  that everything, Oh crap. How do you pronounce it or
• 41:45
  define it? So there's truth in everything,
• 41:50
  truth in all the religions. So like you know, in, in
• 41:54
  Christian, you've got the Eden, the, the, the tree of life in
• 41:59
  Eden, then you've got the tree of life in, in, in Norse
• 42:04
  paganism. So there there's a tree in most
• 42:08
  other religions. So there there's a truth in
• 42:10
  some, in almost everything, 'cause there's similarities.
• 42:16
  I see what you're saying. Yeah.
• 42:18
  So for us to call ourselves an Omni Pagan group, it's allowing
• 42:23
  everybody to come in with all with their path and so that we
• 42:27
  can all come together as one, as one people.
• 42:31
  And yeah. OK, that's really fascinating,
• 42:39
  you know, because at least for me around here, like we have
• 42:44
  like a, a pretty for, for being in what I would consider like,
• 42:50
  well, it is the Bible Belt of the, of the country of the
• 42:53
  United States. But I've always considered
• 42:55
  Tennessee to be kind of like, you know, when you put a belt on
• 42:58
  and then you got that the belt is too big and you got that
• 43:01
  flappy piece that hangs out. Where?
• 43:04
  It needs to like that's Tennessee, That's that's the
• 43:08
  part of the Bible Belt that Tennessee is because there's so
• 43:11
  much going on and it's just kind of out there.
• 43:14
  But same way with like the Pagan groups and stuff around here.
• 43:17
  Like there's so many different people that are that probably
• 43:22
  identify close to what, you know, Wiccan is or or at least
• 43:25
  what they would consider as as Wiccan.
• 43:27
  I feel like that term gets used as like a generic term so much
• 43:31
  than the actual thing 'cause it is an actual like way to go
• 43:36
  about your, your beliefs. And then there's also a lot of,
• 43:38
  you know, folks that are heathens that, that follow a
• 43:41
  Germanic like myself, you know, Germanic or, or, or nor
• 43:44
  Scandinavian model of Germanic paganism then.
• 43:48
  And there's other types too. I mean, we have a few folks in
• 43:52
  the area that are, I think what's the Egyptian one?
• 43:56
  Kinetic Hellenistic. Like there's some different ones
• 44:01
  and they're there. It's it's pretty diverse and so
• 44:03
  like every every two weeks here in the Murfreesboro, TN area,
• 44:08
  Middle Tennessee, there are they happen during the day, but we
• 44:12
  have P and OS, you know, Pagan night out and they're usually
• 44:15
  held at like a Dunkin' Donuts or sometimes they're held at like a
• 44:18
  metaphysical store in a in a neighboring town.
• 44:23
  We also frequent this one local coffee shop, you know, so I
• 44:29
  mean, like, we'll hop around, you know, sometimes we'll go
• 44:31
  one, you know, on one week and then two weeks later we'll go
• 44:33
  somewhere else and we rotate. And it's not all just a bunch
• 44:37
  of, you know, heathens. It's it's a bunch of people that
• 44:41
  have non traditional beliefs on things.
• 44:43
  And it's kind of like, in a similar way, it's like, you
• 44:45
  know, we're not at one person's house or one person's land, but
• 44:48
  we're in a common area and everybody get a chance to talk
• 44:50
  about things and bounce ideas, you know, Oh, I believe this.
• 44:55
  And how does it kind of fit in or mirror or how does it compare
• 44:59
  to what this other person believes?
• 45:00
  And, you know, it's, it's amazing how much their
• 45:02
  synchronicity is to things. You know, you find commonalities
• 45:06
  and nuance in, in almost every aspect of, of, of things with
• 45:11
  this. So, but then we do have
• 45:14
  dedicated, you know, groups that have things that are very
• 45:18
  focused on the the Norse stuff or, you know, the more like, I
• 45:24
  guess, you know, Celtic druidic side of things, like there's set
• 45:30
  groups that do those set things, But like the P and OSI think are
• 45:33
  really nice, kind of like with what you guys are doing, but
• 45:36
  having an org built for it to kind of like have a a
• 45:39
  centralized hub for people to meet and get to know another
• 45:42
  because who knows, right? You probably or I don't know.
• 45:45
  But, or I guess I should ask, rather, have you guys had
• 45:48
  gatherings of people that because they came to a spiral
• 45:53
  life thing, they were able to connect with one another and
• 45:58
  then go and do something that was more specific to their
• 46:01
  beliefs? Like they like you, maybe you
• 46:02
  have like 3 or 4 Norse pagans that get together and like, wow,
• 46:05
  I didn't even know we were in the same town or the same
• 46:08
  county. And then because they came out
• 46:10
  to the, the spiral life, they, they were able to go and find,
• 46:14
  you know, something of their own specific path to the to, to work
• 46:16
  together on. Has that ever happened yet?
• 46:20
  Now, I don't know if they're, if they're, you know, definitely
• 46:23
  meeting together in a in a separate place, but there has
• 46:27
  been instances where you might have some Norse people have
• 46:31
  showed up and then realized, wow, there's more of us.
• 46:35
  And that's what I love because that's what this is all about,
• 46:38
  you know, getting together and finding out there's more of you,
• 46:40
  you know, there's more. I always, I always like to think
• 46:46
  of it this way. There are, like I was saying
• 46:50
  earlier, there's so many pagans who were in the, in the broom
• 46:52
  closet who don't realize that there's, there might be
• 46:56
  surrounded by others, their neighbor, their, their bus
• 47:00
  driver or, you know, their teacher and they don't know it
• 47:06
  until they're around others. And so when they show up and be
• 47:11
  like, wow, there's more Norse pagans here or Wow, there's more
• 47:14
  Wiccans here, or Oh, you're a witch.
• 47:17
  Oh, can you? And we, you know, get together
• 47:20
  and, and, you know, put our notes together on a couple of
• 47:23
  different things maybe. And you know, I'd hope they say
• 47:28
  yes, 'cause you know, that's what this is all about.
• 47:31
  Yeah, networking and and and stuff too.
• 47:33
  Yeah, that's great. So I want to go back to SO after
• 47:43
  we started doing the spiral life fellowships, it came to me as an
• 47:49
  idea. So like I said that that summer
• 47:52
  solstice festival that was in Lenoir for the longest time, I
• 47:57
  thought, Hey, we don't have anything out by us.
• 48:00
  You know, South of Greensboro and and and middle of the state.
• 48:06
  You know, there's really not a lot going on for like festivals
• 48:09
  for, you know, any Pagan to go to that, you know, I knew of I
• 48:14
  had never heard of anything. There's something that's trying
• 48:16
  to start in Charlotte that, you know, is I don't I don't really
• 48:20
  know too much about or haven't seen maybe just a small group.
• 48:26
  But so I had found one of the people who was running the
• 48:30
  summer solstice festival and I said, Hey, can you help me out?
• 48:34
  I want to get something going where where I live.
• 48:38
  And she said, yeah, yeah, here, here's my Facebook, you know,
• 48:41
  get a hold of me. So OK, so that's what I did when
• 48:44
  I got home. And I started explaining, you
• 48:46
  know, my reasonings and, and wanting to get something going.
• 48:50
  And 1st we thought about doing something for salad, you know,
• 48:54
  the Halloween time. And, and then after a while
• 48:56
  we're like, Nah, that that might be too much of A somber day.
• 49:00
  We, we couldn't really think of anything to keep it going or, or
• 49:05
  what to get going, you know, on a large plot of land that one
• 49:10
  might have. And then we thought about, I
• 49:15
  can't remember what the second idea was, but then we thought,
• 49:17
  hey, what about Yule? That's a really happy time.
• 49:21
  We're all looking for something, you know, to, to light up our,
• 49:25
  our night, the longest night. And I said, yeah, I, I could
• 49:32
  definitely dig that idea and get something going.
• 49:35
  So she wrote up an outline for me that I have been using ever
• 49:39
  since. So that was back in, I think it
• 49:41
  was 2021, so that December. And it was in a short amount of
• 49:48
  time. It was probably about from fall
• 49:51
  time. And I thought, well, I don't
• 49:54
  know how many people are going to come this, you know, it's
• 49:56
  not, I don't know if it was a lot, you know, a lot of time for
• 50:01
  somebody to think, you know, here's an invitation over here
• 50:05
  to come on over to Jeff's homestead and and, and celebrate
• 50:10
  Yule. But I did it and we wrote it up
• 50:12
  and, you know, wrote down the ideas and, and wrote out an
• 50:17
  outline what time it starts when the gate opens.
• 50:22
  And I found somebody who could do ritual for me, somebody who
• 50:27
  could have a like a DJ running music.
• 50:32
  I, I had somebody, I had a couple people lined up to do
• 50:36
  like a, like a drama. You got the Oak King and the
• 50:40
  Holly King. And we just had to think of ways
• 50:44
  to like a fight, you know, or not a conflict.
• 50:49
  Yeah. You know they're 'cause they're
• 50:51
  fighting for, you know, their time of the year.
• 50:53
  Yeah, ritual theater making it a big sort of thing, yeah.
• 50:57
  And then at a certain point, I would, I'd light a big bonfire
• 51:01
  because obviously it's Yule, it's December, it's cold.
• 51:04
  And so that's usually like the center point of the, the
• 51:07
  festivities. There's always a big fire going
• 51:09
  on. So if you're cool, come on and
• 51:11
  get warmed up. So a lot of people I had, I
• 51:17
  guess somehow if you put an event or an invitation on
• 51:21
  Facebook and you put public, that can be found on Google.
• 51:26
  And I didn't know that I absolutely.
• 51:29
  Found anywhere on or off Facebook?
• 51:31
  Yeah. I didn't really know that.
• 51:34
  So when people start showing up from way as far as Columbia, SC,
• 51:41
  I was like, yeah, like, well, I was, I was more than that.
• 51:45
  I was like, I was ecstatic. I was like, you came that far.
• 51:50
  I, I'd like you are my you know, I just gave them hugs and and
• 51:54
  just gratitude and thank you for coming.
• 51:58
  Then find out there was more than just that.
• 51:59
  It was people coming from like Raleigh, which is about almost
• 52:05
  hour and a half, two hours. And I think somebody from
• 52:12
  Asheville. I I can't remember.
• 52:14
  But that first year it was still amazing the the the people who
• 52:18
  did come and it was only about 60 something people maybe.
• 52:22
  And yeah, it's still pretty good.
• 52:26
  So, and a lot of people, when they realized this was the first
• 52:29
  time I was doing it, I remember the one guy, he said, you know,
• 52:33
  that he was very happy to be a part of something that could
• 52:38
  grow into something big. And I'm like, you know, thank
• 52:42
  you very much. And, and, you know, 'cause I
• 52:45
  was, I was putting on a show, I was trying to put on, you know,
• 52:49
  this first time doing a Yule festival.
• 52:53
  And I thought, you know, next year I might have vendors and,
• 52:58
  and, and try to get something big going.
• 53:01
  And I thought every year I could have somebody different from a
• 53:05
  different path to do ritual. And so that, that first time we
• 53:10
  did, that first year we did ritual, it was, it was really
• 53:13
  nice. It was very magical.
• 53:18
  I remember there was a gentleman who had, who was, who was
• 53:21
  shedding a tear because he, he thought this was so great that
• 53:25
  it was like one big family had formed.
• 53:28
  And, and he, he'd never felt something so warm and so, so
• 53:33
  much heart. And it was very emotional for
• 53:36
  him. And, and, you know, I really
• 53:38
  felt for him in, in, in a great way.
• 53:41
  And, and, and since then we're just been really good buddies
• 53:44
  and but since family and good people.
• 53:49
  And so then the next year, so yeah, 22.
• 53:56
  No, OK, I'm I'm back a year. So this was 22 and then we had
• 54:00
  our second year, which is fuel of 23.
• 54:04
  So yeah, last year. So I thought we're going to make
• 54:10
  this bigger. More people did come.
• 54:14
  I had vendors. The drama team actually was
• 54:20
  really cool. So that that that man that I was
• 54:23
  telling you about who was who was kind of emotional.
• 54:25
  He dressed up so awesome to look like the Holly King.
• 54:29
  He looked like not so much a Santa Claus, but somebody you
• 54:35
  would have seen in in in an ancient northern European.
• 54:40
  He was dressed in red. He had this really cool older
• 54:43
  style hat. He he does have a naturally
• 54:45
  white beard. He just, he looked the part and
• 54:48
  it was awesome. And then and then my friend
• 54:52
  that's coming all the way from new, like from the ocean, like
• 54:55
  newborn, newborn, newborn Bloomington area.
• 55:00
  He showed up and he was the the Oak King and he was a young guy
• 55:05
  too. So it worked out great.
• 55:07
  And, and, and so we had we had flighting, the two guys would do
• 55:12
  some flighting. We had tug of war between the
• 55:17
  two of them. And then the ending we have so I
• 55:21
  have these polymer swords. So obviously, as long as they
• 55:26
  don't, you know, hit each other ahead and we made sure the rules
• 55:28
  don't, don't actually hit each other, just make, put on a
• 55:32
  really cool show and everybody loved it.
• 55:36
  And then we had somebody come in to do ritual and he did it so
• 55:40
  cool. He, he dressed up as like a
• 55:43
  Cairnonos Incarnate and he would go around, you know, what is
• 55:49
  your, your wish for this new year?
• 55:51
  And it, you know, like I would say prosperity and, and he, you
• 55:54
  know, tap you on his shoulder and say, may it will, you know,
• 55:57
  may it be done or something. And it was very, it was a very
• 56:01
  beautiful ritual. It was very nice put together
• 56:04
  and I was very happy he came out because he came out from a far
• 56:08
  distance as well. Yeah.
• 56:12
  And what else? It it was a good time.
• 56:14
  We had, I want to say up to 150 people.
• 56:17
  So attendance doubled. That's, that's a, you know, and
• 56:22
  that's a, that's a big responsibility too, because was
• 56:24
  this, was this on your property again?
• 56:26
  Yeah. Yeah, like, you know, how do you
• 56:29
  manage just keeping everybody where they're supposed to be and
• 56:34
  not where they're supposed to not be?
• 56:35
  You know, like that has to be a huge undertaking for, you know,
• 56:39
  for, for a, a gathering that size.
• 56:41
  I mean, well, yeah, the first time, the first year I did it
• 56:44
  all by myself, all the planning, all the decoration, where all
• 56:47
  the tables were being set. Right now it's potluck, so I
• 56:52
  made sure all the tables was right.
• 56:53
  There's power going through this, this table.
• 56:57
  I, I made sure people were, were parking in a certain area.
• 57:00
  So I was running back and forth making sure people are parking
• 57:04
  all right in the one in the area parking area, making sure people
• 57:08
  like there was this one group of people that are coming all the
• 57:11
  way from, I want to say the Wilmington area, Another group
• 57:15
  of people, they came out and 'cause I, I said, Hey, you can
• 57:19
  camp here if you need to, if you're coming from afar.
• 57:22
  And these people brought their tents and I said, OK, I have
• 57:25
  this area mowed, you know, just within the tree line.
• 57:29
  You can, that's where you can go.
• 57:31
  And so I would just every now I was running around everywhere,
• 57:34
  just make sure everybody is OK. Well, it was crazy.
• 57:40
  And then the following year, last year, I, I asked, hey, for,
• 57:46
  for people who I've, I've really called friends and, and brothers
• 57:49
  and, and family. I said I need some help this
• 57:52
  time. Yeah, yeah.
• 57:57
  And so I've got, you know, one person who's security or, or
• 58:02
  just like a public, not public relations, but somebody who, who
• 58:07
  can be up there in the parking area just to make sure everybody
• 58:10
  is OK Really great guy. And then I've got my my wife
• 58:17
  and, and our friend Ben ready, you know, they're at the table,
• 58:22
  you know, bring for tickets or for like a gift table.
• 58:25
  So if you bring a gift, you get a gift.
• 58:28
  And so we're handing out tickets for that.
• 58:30
  That way somebody who didn't bring a gift doesn't take a
• 58:33
  gift, you know, So everybody had a ticket for that.
• 58:36
  There was raffles going on. You know, we had our DJ, of
• 58:40
  course. Oh, yeah.
• 58:43
  It it's turning into something big.
• 58:45
  Do people come and dress up too for the event?
• 58:48
  Like beyond just the ritual party.
• 58:50
  Absolutely. You get, you got a lot of the
• 58:54
  Norse pagans, they're dressing up in their awesome get up and
• 59:01
  you know, and, and I join in with that too.
• 59:03
  I've got this awesome tunic and let's see you got, you know, the
• 59:10
  witches who might dress up in their capes and it it's just it
• 59:16
  turns into this really good time, which has led on to
• 59:21
  another endeavor that we've gotten into for Beltane.
• 59:27
  So for those that don't know Beltane is, is April 30th or May
• 59:34
  1st that that weekend or those couple of days.
• 59:38
  And the, the Celtic belief there is when the goddess comes
• 59:44
  together with, with the God man on, you know, the Green Man or
• 59:50
  Kernonos, and you know, they come together and then
• 59:53
  eventually give birth to summer. So that's why a lot of
• 59:57
  handfastings might take place or so many other things.
• 1:00:02
  And well, there was a, a, a group that was very known for
• 1:00:07
  doing that festival up in like the Reedsville area.
• 1:00:12
  And so. Sadly, they had closed doors and
• 1:00:16
  a lot of people were looking to me like, Hey, you've got Yule,
• 1:00:19
  which is becoming something great.
• 1:00:22
  You need to like, well, let me see if I can talk to some
• 1:00:28
  people. So first we, we did it just
• 1:00:32
  amongst ourselves, just amongst our small group to see if we can
• 1:00:35
  handle this thing, even though we, you know, we had just had
• 1:00:38
  Yule and then, yeah, four months later, we're going to do
• 1:00:44
  Beltane. Let's let's start small.
• 1:00:47
  And it was a hit was a hit. It, it worked out great.
• 1:00:51
  We might have had a few things we didn't have, but it was OK
• 1:00:55
  because we're just figuring this out.
• 1:00:58
  We want to do certain things that they've been doing, like
• 1:01:01
  they would do mass hand fat, mass mock and fast things.
• 1:01:06
  And a lot of people were kind of bummed that I wasn't continuing
• 1:01:09
  that the first year, but I let them know like, hey, we're just,
• 1:01:11
  we're just trying to figure this out.
• 1:01:13
  We will definitely continue that the next year.
• 1:01:15
  We just want to see what we can do with this.
• 1:01:18
  And we want to put our own spin on it as well.
• 1:01:20
  You know, we don't want to copy anybody.
• 1:01:22
  We want to see what we can, you know, fiddle with.
• 1:01:25
  And it still worked out great. And we can't wait for next
• 1:01:30
  year's and see what we can do with it.
• 1:01:34
  I'm excited to hear that you're that, that, that this is
• 1:01:36
  actually such a, a, an active thing, you know, like it's not
• 1:01:40
  just the people that gather once a month to, for lack of a better
• 1:01:44
  term, just, you know, shoot the breeze and, and enjoy one
• 1:01:47
  another's company. Like there's also a focus on the
• 1:01:50
  spirituality, the religiosity of your path and, you know, and
• 1:01:54
  really embracing it and making it inclusive and then getting
• 1:01:57
  people involved. And it seems like it's got a
• 1:02:00
  really great response. Is it so, is it in Denton where
• 1:02:07
  you know the organization is based out of?
• 1:02:08
  Is it, is it, is that where your place is?
• 1:02:10
  And then how can people find out if they want to come to this
• 1:02:13
  event or other future events that you guys put on?
• 1:02:17
  Is it, is it, how is that? How could they find that?
• 1:02:20
  OK. So yeah, we are in Denton.
• 1:02:23
  I'm, I'm just on the inside of Randolph County line because the
• 1:02:29
  actual town is in a different county and so being close to
• 1:02:33
  Asheboro. So where you can find us is
• 1:02:39
  right now we're working on a website.
• 1:02:41
  So right now we still have Facebook and we have a group
• 1:02:44
  page and an actual Facebook page and they're both called the same
• 1:02:48
  thing. They're both called spiral life,
• 1:02:50
  Pagan circle and fellowship. So if you, you know, go in the
• 1:02:53
  search bar on Facebook, you can find them both.
• 1:02:56
  They are different icons. So the, the actual Facebook page
• 1:03:01
  has a, the, the triple spiral and then the Facebook group, you
• 1:03:09
  can see it looks like people around a fire and that those
• 1:03:15
  pages, the group and the page is growing.
• 1:03:18
  And I love that we have different topics that we can
• 1:03:21
  talk about. And so you find us there and you
• 1:03:25
  will also find our, our monthly events, our monthly spiral life
• 1:03:28
  fellowship. And you will also find our
• 1:03:32
  future events like our Yule this time is actually on December
• 1:03:36
  21st. So we're actually excited about
• 1:03:39
  how that is coming. It's just in the beginning
• 1:03:42
  stages of planning for this year's Yule.
• 1:03:45
  OK, Yep, I actually just went on Facebook.
• 1:03:48
  All right, so for those that are that that listen to this
• 1:03:51
  podcast, the the information is going to be annotated in the
• 1:03:55
  show notes. So like the link to the Facebook
• 1:03:57
  page as well as the link to the group for for, for Spiral Life
• 1:04:04
  is going to be annotated there. And then also for the viewers on
• 1:04:06
  Patreon that watches, it'll be in the description.
• 1:04:10
  But yeah, I see you've got yeah, December 2020.
• 1:04:16
  First the location TBD. So very cool.
• 1:04:22
  And then you said you're probably thinking of maybe doing
• 1:04:24
  something for, for belting next year, huh.
• 1:04:27
  There's there's other talks of that probably.
• 1:04:29
  Yeah, since we, we just did it on our on our own there at the
• 1:04:33
  property. We did it real small just to see
• 1:04:36
  what we can do with it. And it turned out great.
• 1:04:40
  We had a big may pull. Everybody, you know, grabbed a
• 1:04:44
  ribbon. We danced around, wrapped it
• 1:04:45
  around the may pull. We had some flowery wreath
• 1:04:51
  headdresses to make and we did some face and body paint for
• 1:04:56
  whoever wanted to do that. We also had a big fire.
• 1:05:01
  We had a couple of musicians come out and I, I love, there's
• 1:05:09
  this man, I forget his last name and I do apologize if you hear
• 1:05:13
  this, but his name is Rob. And he, he offered to come out
• 1:05:17
  and, and play music. And this man we when we got
• 1:05:21
  afterwards, we like that man is a Bard.
• 1:05:24
  You know, he is a true menstrual to the words because he would
• 1:05:29
  put on kind of like a show with his music.
• 1:05:33
  He'd go into a background story before he goes into a song.
• 1:05:37
  And some of his songs were like hilarious.
• 1:05:41
  I I wish I could remember how one song went, but he was
• 1:05:44
  talking about, oh man, I don't want to butcher it, never mind.
• 1:05:47
  But these songs were so clever and you would just sit there and
• 1:05:53
  you start to hear the word, hear the words and the lyrics and
• 1:05:55
  you'd be like, wait, what? And, and I, we, we've made
• 1:06:01
  friends and we've. So he's on our page and he's
• 1:06:06
  excited for, for this year's Yule and next year's Beltane.
• 1:06:11
  And he will, as far as I know, he will be back.
• 1:06:14
  And he is a it, he's a great guy.
• 1:06:17
  And, and then somebody else eventually there that night
• 1:06:20
  brought out their guitar and he was a, a great, great with his
• 1:06:25
  guitar, great lyrics, a very good guy.
• 1:06:30
  So it, it, it just turned into an awesome jam session that
• 1:06:33
  during the bonfire. And it was, it was a great time.
• 1:06:36
  And I, I can't wait to see what we do next year for the, for
• 1:06:39
  Beltane, the other group that did run it, they, it was a 2 day
• 1:06:43
  event. So we might follow that outline.
• 1:06:47
  We just don't have a schedule of events yet.
• 1:06:49
  So that's, I mean, that's next April.
• 1:06:52
  So yeah, lots to be talking about.
• 1:06:55
  You're right, there is a lot of it to planning.
• 1:06:58
  You know, I mean, I know here in our area that the biggest, I
• 1:07:02
  guess, like public event that I know of every year is out of
• 1:07:07
  Nashville and it's Pagan Pride Day and it's usually in October.
• 1:07:12
  A part of yeah, it's and so it's, it's like a vendor type
• 1:07:17
  event, but you know, they, they you'll usually have different
• 1:07:21
  workshops and classes, vendors and stuff like that.
• 1:07:25
  But then in terms of like other like events that happen in the
• 1:07:31
  area, like one of the, one of the groups that I'm really close
• 1:07:34
  with, they're, they're also like a Norse Pagan group.
• 1:07:39
  They're called Raven Moon Hearth and they hold three public
• 1:07:41
  events a year, at least they have been now for, for many
• 1:07:44
  years. They do one in the spring called
• 1:07:49
  Feast of the Fallen, which was just a week or two ago.
• 1:07:53
  It was like, you know, to, to commemorate and remember the,
• 1:07:55
  the fallen warriors. And then they do one in the
• 1:07:58
  spring or in the in the summertime, usually called
• 1:08:03
  Sunabloat. So it's a bloat to the to Sunna
• 1:08:06
  the the the goddess representation of the sun in in
• 1:08:09
  the Norse mythos. And then in and then in the
• 1:08:12
  fall, usually somewhere around close to I guess for like for
• 1:08:21
  for Celtic witches or pagans. I it would be close to the
• 1:08:23
  Salwan time of year. It's usually not on Salwan
• 1:08:27
  unless the winter nights just so happens to it's it's it's it's,
• 1:08:31
  it's more closely to the Norse winter nights of the
• 1:08:33
  observation. So anyway, it's called
• 1:08:34
  Shadowmoot and it's a big fall festival, you know, like
• 1:08:39
  they'll, but all of their events are usually like camping type
• 1:08:43
  events, you know, so you come out for the weekend, you can
• 1:08:46
  camp there. Vendors will come out, they do
• 1:08:49
  ritual. There's fireplace or fireside,
• 1:08:53
  you know, drumming and fellowship around the fire.
• 1:08:56
  And again, it's a very type of thing where not, it's not just
• 1:09:00
  for Norse, Norse pagans and and heathens, you know, like, yeah,
• 1:09:03
  sure. The, the, the group itself is,
• 1:09:05
  is, is that they are heathen. But we've got people come there
• 1:09:10
  that are not heathens themselves and they still come and they
• 1:09:13
  enjoy the ritual and everything about the event, you know, and
• 1:09:17
  that's what's great is, is to have those public things
• 1:09:21
  available to people that, like you said before, maybe didn't
• 1:09:24
  even know that there were other people like them in the area.
• 1:09:28
  You know, we see repeat, you know, return customers or return
• 1:09:32
  faces, you know, friends that we've known for however long
• 1:09:35
  come back and then we see new faces.
• 1:09:37
  And it's, it's great when they're like, I had no idea that
• 1:09:40
  there was anything like this going on or I didn't know that
• 1:09:43
  you guys had a, you know, Norse pagans in the area.
• 1:09:45
  I'm Norse Pagan too, or whatever.
• 1:09:47
  So it's, it is, it's, it's enriching and it's rewarding to,
• 1:09:52
  you know, really be a part of that, that whole thing.
• 1:09:55
  And then see the work that goes in to the planning and the
• 1:09:59
  coordinating of it. It's a lot, you know, it takes a
• 1:10:03
  lot of, lot of planning, but the, the, the the mechanics of
• 1:10:07
  it all, you know, all the working parts that have to come
• 1:10:09
  together and mesh. It's not a yeah it.
• 1:10:13
  All it all becomes fun in a way. I I try not to get stressed out
• 1:10:18
  of anything. If something happens, it
• 1:10:20
  happens. One thing I'm I'm hoping for
• 1:10:24
  this year's Yule festival is cause I've never actually seen
• 1:10:28
  how a Norse Pagan does anything. So I'm hoping that this year I
• 1:10:33
  can have a Norse Pagan lead ritual.
• 1:10:38
  That'd be cool. I, I'm gonna keep an eye on it
• 1:10:40
  because I mean, I, I'm, I'm usually got stuff going on that,
• 1:10:43
  you know, our, so it's funny how you say like, you know, when you
• 1:10:47
  guys celebrate, you will be in on the solstice.
• 1:10:49
  It's a very, it's a very common approach for, for modern pagans
• 1:10:52
  and heathens to do it at that time.
• 1:10:54
  My particular side of, of, of heathen leans more towards a
• 1:10:57
  historical pre Christian observation of it.
• 1:11:00
  So like my small group of heathens that my, my small
• 1:11:04
  tribe, you know, we, we do it differently at a different time
• 1:11:08
  of the year and it and it's based on the Luna solar cycle of
• 1:11:11
  the calendar instead of a fixed day or a fixed time.
• 1:11:16
  But like, that's, you know, to say, like I've have I seen a
• 1:11:21
  Norse heathen you'll I mean, I've seen ours, I haven't seen
• 1:11:25
  any others. So I've, I know what ours is
• 1:11:27
  like and I know what we do at our you'll, but what others do
• 1:11:31
  and how it's done, you know, like from like a public setting.
• 1:11:34
  Like I would be kind of cool to, to see, even for me, just as
• 1:11:38
  being a heathen myself to see like, yeah, how do they do it?
• 1:11:41
  How are they, How are they performing ritual for, for Yule?
• 1:11:45
  You know what, what's the, you know, what are, what are they
• 1:11:48
  taking away from it? So I mean that would be neat to
• 1:11:52
  see. Yeah, especially at, you know,
• 1:11:55
  at, at, at how we do things already.
• 1:12:00
  And, and we have a space, A ritual space where, where it's
• 1:12:05
  always held at. So it's not near all the
• 1:12:08
  festivities and all the things going on.
• 1:12:10
  So in case people don't want to do or be a part of ritual, they
• 1:12:13
  don't have to be. They can sit around the fire.
• 1:12:15
  They can go over to the vendors, you know, do what they got to do
• 1:12:20
  as long as they're not being like stupid loud where it kind
• 1:12:24
  of, you know, hurts the, I don't want to say the integrity of the
• 1:12:31
  ritual, but. Well, yeah, you don't.
• 1:12:34
  Yeah, don't disrupt. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you
• 1:12:39
  off there. I meant like disrupting the
• 1:12:40
  ritual, you know? And, and being respectful and we
• 1:12:44
  haven't had a problem with that. So I, you know, I, it's probably
• 1:12:49
  shouldn't have been brought up, but maybe, but gosh, I'm sorry.
• 1:12:56
  I sometimes I fumble over my words.
• 1:12:59
  Cool. It's fine.
• 1:13:00
  You're doing great. This is I'm, I'm, I'm enjoying
• 1:13:02
  learning a lot about, you know, what you guys are doing out
• 1:13:05
  there. And it really seems like, you
• 1:13:07
  know, when people come together and that's like, you know, when
• 1:13:10
  we talk about big events like this and the coordinating of it
• 1:13:13
  all and the planning of it all, yes, it's daunting and there's a
• 1:13:16
  lot to it. I think ultimately too, when,
• 1:13:20
  when, when you get the right people together at some point,
• 1:13:25
  like the machine starts running, running itself.
• 1:13:28
  You know, the people know what they're here for and they know
• 1:13:31
  to be respectful. And there's this just common
• 1:13:34
  understanding of that. So, yeah, sure, you might have,
• 1:13:38
  you know, a newcomer that doesn't know the customs or the,
• 1:13:41
  or the, the etiquette of, of stuff like this.
• 1:13:44
  And maybe they need to be told or, or, you know, you have a,
• 1:13:46
  you know, a wild one that you have to kind of rope back into
• 1:13:49
  the, you know, get them under control sort of thing.
• 1:13:52
  But I think for the most part when, when stuff like this
• 1:13:56
  happens, it's a, you know, when people start gathering, they
• 1:14:02
  know how to behave, you know, and, and it kind of runs itself
• 1:14:05
  in that way for the most part. We've already got this like set
• 1:14:12
  rule like when ritual starts, I'll make an announcement.
• 1:14:16
  I'm usually standing next to a table and, and I'll say bring
• 1:14:20
  your cell phones here so that, you know, you don't have a cell
• 1:14:23
  phone in ritual space. And a lot of people are not used
• 1:14:28
  to doing that that way. And so that way there's no
• 1:14:32
  accidental, you know, ringtones on or anything like that or, or
• 1:14:36
  sometimes strange things happen where for some reason your
• 1:14:41
  battery has drained or, or you know, something like that.
• 1:14:44
  And so that way we're, we're protecting your, your phone,
• 1:14:47
  we're protecting ritual space. And so and everybody's been very
• 1:14:53
  understandable with that and I'm very grateful.
• 1:14:56
  Yeah, I always keep mine away from like when we go and do
• 1:14:59
  ritual like my cell phone is is nowhere insight.
• 1:15:01
  And it's funny like when this at every Raven moon hearth event,
• 1:15:04
  when they do their ritual procession down to the ritual
• 1:15:07
  space, because again, it's it's separated from the common areas.
• 1:15:12
  And then some of their, some of their events, they even prohibit
• 1:15:17
  others from approaching the ritual space for reasons, you
• 1:15:21
  know, like we've, we've done what we've done.
• 1:15:23
  And we would wish that everyone respects this so as not to taint
• 1:15:27
  the area or damage anything that the, the, the go the, or the,
• 1:15:32
  the priests, whatever they want to be called, have done to say
• 1:15:36
  sacred space up, you know, So like what, what, what times or
• 1:15:40
  well, a lot of times what they'll do is before the
• 1:15:42
  procession starts down to the area, kind of like what you
• 1:15:46
  said, where you'll like announce, Hey, leave your phones
• 1:15:48
  here. They have a really like, it's a
• 1:15:51
  very like Norse heathen way of saying it.
• 1:15:53
  They'll be like, silence your phones or we'll silence them for
• 1:15:55
  you. And you got this Valkyrie lady
• 1:15:59
  standing there with like this spear.
• 1:16:00
  And it's like, yeah, I get it. All right.
• 1:16:03
  We know no phones in the area. We, we get it, you know, not
• 1:16:07
  loud and clear message received, you know, but yeah, that's a,
• 1:16:12
  that's a really good, I think important thing to maintain and
• 1:16:15
  preserve is holy, a holy site, a place that is holy, sacred
• 1:16:21
  space, whether it's a Grove or a Bay, whatever you call it, then
• 1:16:25
  it needs to be kept that way. And you know, you know, keep the
• 1:16:28
  electronics and stuff out of there.
• 1:16:31
  It does like when you got so much energy happening in that
• 1:16:35
  place. You're I, I, I known of cases
• 1:16:39
  where you know, phones that or, or devices, even cameras that
• 1:16:44
  were being used to try and record the thing just died.
• 1:16:48
  They, they fizzled out. They, they, they, none of the
• 1:16:51
  ritual was retained. The all was corrupted or it just
• 1:16:54
  didn't record, you know? What happened?
• 1:16:58
  Yeah. Yeah, I mean, but it's real that
• 1:17:01
  that's. Kind of true.
• 1:17:02
  That, you know, what we're doing, what we're going here to
• 1:17:05
  do is real. This isn't just imagination.
• 1:17:09
  It's not, we're not playing pretend here.
• 1:17:11
  You know, this is, this is our church.
• 1:17:13
  This is, this is, this matters to us.
• 1:17:14
  This is, this is meaningful. And treat it as treated as such.
• 1:17:18
  You know I. I, I've got somebody who, who
• 1:17:21
  looks at me and, and, and thinks, you know, what I believe
• 1:17:25
  or what many of us believe is this one big joke.
• 1:17:28
  And it's like, no, this is real. Yep, it's our truth.
• 1:17:34
  I mean, it's, and, and then when you have other people that come
• 1:17:36
  together and share similar beliefs enough to want to work
• 1:17:40
  with you and experience things together.
• 1:17:43
  And I'm not sure, well, you know, you've had, you know, your
• 1:17:47
  own experiences individually and now and now you're experiencing
• 1:17:52
  things with people. It's a totally different thing
• 1:17:54
  when you're a solitary practitioner doing your own
• 1:17:57
  thing and, and having your own individual experiences to then
• 1:18:03
  share experiences with others and have a ritual or, or, or
• 1:18:06
  something happen where there's other people around and other
• 1:18:08
  people with you that you're sharing it.
• 1:18:10
  It's a totally different feeling, and you can't replicate
• 1:18:15
  that in any other way other than by just doing it.
• 1:18:18
  Right. You know.
• 1:18:21
  Someday, someday we'll get to a point where we can open up the
• 1:18:24
  property to like somebody wants to have a bloke or somebody
• 1:18:28
  wants to have a, a ritual for their Wiccan ceremony or, or
• 1:18:34
  somebody wants to, they need a, a sacred space to, or a space in
• 1:18:39
  nature and they live in a town in an apartment and they just
• 1:18:42
  can't, They need that nature connection.
• 1:18:45
  And someday we will open that up to, to those people.
• 1:18:49
  You know, right now we're not there yet, but someday that'll
• 1:18:51
  be a thing in the future, like I want to say 10 years or, or if
• 1:18:59
  we win the lottery, someday we might have a property and can
• 1:19:06
  actually build like something like a longhouse, like a
• 1:19:10
  Community Center. And that way for like you'll, in
• 1:19:14
  case it's too darn cold out for whatever reason that we can have
• 1:19:20
  certain things going on inside this building.
• 1:19:24
  But that that's a long, that's a pipe dream.
• 1:19:27
  A long time from now, who knows? Yeah.
• 1:19:33
  Well, it's a vision, you know, and, and you have that.
• 1:19:35
  So that's, that's where it starts.
• 1:19:37
  You know, you got to have the vision first, No.
• 1:19:40
  And so from the sounds of it, you know, I, I, I, it's really
• 1:19:43
  exciting to hear what you're doing.
• 1:19:44
  And for those that are listening that, you know, make, because I
• 1:19:47
  get a lot of folks that want that listen to this, that aren't
• 1:19:49
  heathen either, you know, so it's cool that, you know,
• 1:19:53
  there's a community of folks in an area that are, are, are
• 1:20:00
  focusing on community as well and, and outreach and, and
• 1:20:04
  having people come together sharing the experience, you
• 1:20:08
  know, and, and just be welcoming in that way.
• 1:20:12
  So I'm glad to have you on here today, Jeff, and, and, and talk
• 1:20:16
  about what spiral life is, is about and what you guys are
• 1:20:19
  doing. And, and, you know, who knows?
• 1:20:23
  Maybe somebody hears this or watches this and they're in, you
• 1:20:26
  know, close enough in respect of areas to you that.
• 1:20:29
  They follow you and check you out and come to to an event or
• 1:20:32
  to a a monthly meeting or something like that and
• 1:20:36
  continues continues the efforts of of your group.
• 1:20:38
  So I hope that that's the case and I hope that that happens.
• 1:20:41
  But it's been great to learn about you and.
• 1:20:45
  And, and along with that, thank you, Jesse, for allowing me to
• 1:20:49
  come on your show. I, I've been listening to it for
• 1:20:52
  a long time and, and I thought I wonder if he would allow me to,
• 1:20:57
  you know, come on and, and, and kind of advertise what we've got
• 1:21:02
  going on here and kind of tell my story.
• 1:21:04
  And, and so when you, you respond to my e-mail and, and I
• 1:21:07
  was like, awesome. So I thank you very much.
• 1:21:12
  Yeah, Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm, I'm glad you did reach out
• 1:21:15
  and I'm glad we were able to, to make it worth, especially with
• 1:21:18
  you working on the road. And that can be a challenge, but
• 1:21:21
  we made it work. And you, you know, it wasn't
• 1:21:24
  that hard. So if.
• 1:21:25
  Hey guys, if anybody's listening to watching figures, you know
• 1:21:28
  your schedule's a a problem and man, if Jeff can do it on the
• 1:21:31
  road on in a truck, you know if he can make it work, then you
• 1:21:33
  can too. Just make it happen.
• 1:21:37
  Oh yeah. Anything else you want to say
• 1:21:39
  before we wrap things up? Blessed be in skull.
• 1:21:54
  Yeah, I'll drink to that skull to that right.
• 1:21:58
  And we will, I'll, I'll touch base with you here real quick
• 1:22:01
  before I like say goodbye. I'll I'll we'll wrap the
• 1:22:05
  recording up and bid the listeners and the viewers a fair
• 1:22:08
  evening. But just hang out for a second
• 1:22:10
  after so I can touch base with you.
• 1:22:13
  But yes, once again, this is Jeff and his his group is called
• 1:22:16
  Spiral Life, Pagan Circle and fellowship.
• 1:22:20
  You can find them on Facebook. There's a Facebook page and they
• 1:22:23
  also a Facebook group. All of those details will be
• 1:22:27
  LinkedIn, the show notes of the podcast for all you listeners
• 1:22:30
  and down in the video description for those of you
• 1:22:33
  that are watching on on Patreon. So thank you again to Jeff for
• 1:22:37
  being here, being my guest this week, and best of luck to
• 1:22:41
  everything that you and and Spiral Life continue to do.
• 1:22:43
  It sounds like you're you're doing great things and we wish
• 1:22:45
  you the best of luck for that. Definitely try it.
• 1:22:48
  Thank you very much. Awesome.
• 1:22:50
  Well, it's great having you again.
• 1:22:52
  And for all the listeners and the viewers out here, thank you
• 1:22:55
  for your constant and ongoing support.
• 1:22:56
  Don't don't forget to check out the link tree link that's posted
• 1:23:01
  in the show notes are down below here in the description area for
• 1:23:04
  all the ways that you can support the podcast and the
• 1:23:06
  brand Midgard Musings as a whole, Check out and follow
• 1:23:10
  every social media that I have going on.
• 1:23:12
  There's merchandise through spring.
• 1:23:14
  Become a Patreon, Patreon if you want.
• 1:23:16
  There's all that stuff in that link tree link.
• 1:23:17
  So do be sure to check it out and show your support in any way
• 1:23:20
  that you can. It is greatly appreciated, and
• 1:23:23
  until we talk to and see from each other again, may the gods
• 1:23:27
  continue to notice you and may your ancestors smile upon you,
• 1:23:31
  and we'll see you in the next one.