The Mystery of Spring Conferences

Do you know what the Mystery is? Let me tell you about my Spring and all of it’s mysteries.

In my kindred, each ritual (or blót as we call it) is followed by a sumbel. A sumbel is a ritual that allows all attendees to participate if they wish by making toasts or boasts. The sumbel ritual can also stand on its own and can be especially good for larger groups and festivals. I have found it to be the part of our Norse rituals that helps the community bond.

Last year, during at least one sumbel (likely it was 2 or 3 of them) I stated out loud that my intention for 2025 was to make it the year of festivals. And that is exactly what I did. I submitted applications to 5 different conferences and was accepted as a presenter at all of them. Careful what you ask for, remember?

Paganicon

The first conference I attended this year was Paganicon. I first went to Paganicon in 2015 and fell in love with it. Over the years I have made friends in Minnesota where Paganicon is held and made connections with so many wonderful people.

This year was the first time since COVID-19 that I was able to attend Paganicon. I wanted to write a blog just about my experience at Paganicon, but I just haven’t been to find the words. My mother once pointed out to me that when something (or someone) is important to me, I don’t talk about it. And I think this is why I can’t get a blog out about the conference.

Paganicon is absolutely amazing. The conference has an amazing line up of presenters every year without fail. There is also a full track of workshops and rituals. This year they ran 8 to 9 workshops/rituals at a time. Content started as early as 9 AM and ran until late in the evening. If you attend Paganicon and are bored or can’t find a workshop to interest you, I am not sure what to tell you. The biggest problem with Paganicon’s schedule is there is so much amazing content you will have to make some hard decisions on which things to go to since you can’t do it all. I learned this year that the buddy system is helpful. Luckily I had a friend with me who shares similar interests. So we would split up and attend different workshops and take notes, then share the notes. It’s not as good as attending I’m person but it’s a good alternative.

Meet Your Pagan Idols

If you are an avid reader of Pagan books, Paganicon is also one of the best places to meet your favorite authors. It is hard not to run around after authors like Kristoffer Hughes or Courtney Weber and fangirl over them. So hard in fact, I just gave in. Although I never did get my fangirl photo with Courtney Weber.

Paganicon is also a conference where I go to learn from others. Everyone can be a teacher if you pay attention but in a conference like Paganicon, full of Big Name Pagans (we don’t really have celebrity Pagans do we?), it is the perfect place to learn new ritual techniques and see how others do things.

There Are Not Enough Words

Paganicon filled my heart and my cup. It gave me hope and reminded me how big our tribe and our community is. This year’s trip felt very personal, even though conferences are also business trips for me. There are only so many ways to explain how amazing Paganicon is and most of them are inadequate. It is impossible to describe the mystery to those who have not also experienced it.

Enter Spring Mysteries Festival

Spring Mysteries Festival is held every year on the weekend after the first full moon of Spring. In other words, on easter weekend. Since 1985, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church has been continuing the Eleusinian Mysteries originally held in Ancient Greece. These mysteries, held every year in honor of Demeter and Persephone, explore universal concepts and truths from the perspective of the seeker of hidden knowledge. The priests and vessels for the festival spend months preparing for the event, learning to channel and hold deities while also performing what I call a Pagan passion play.

This year was the third year I have attended Spring Mysteries and I was blessed to be asked to be a workshop presenter again this year as well as being asked to play a role in one of the rituals.

The Mysteries Transform You

Spring Mysteries promises to be a transformational experience and I have found that to be true every year. The entire conference is a Mystery. Although the space used to be an airport Hilton hotel, when you are there it has been transformed into a modern day Eleusis, the entire location has become sacred space.

This year the Mysteries of Spring Mysteries happened differently for me. Usually it is the re-enactment of the myths and visiting with the gods that brings me the most joy and tears. This year, the mysteries seemed to happen at the beginning of the conference and then at the end, even after I was home.

I was invited to be a vessel of Inanna for a self-dedication rite at the beginning of the festival. Getting to know Inanna and being able to hold her during the ritual was a transformational experience for me. The Greater Mysteries rite held at the end of the festival is absolutely worth the trip to Seattle from Memphis. In the grand scheme of things, it is a short rite, about an hour long. But if you need your cup filled, if you need to be uplifted, to be honored, to be loved, to be filled with Divine passion and purpose – Greater Mysteries is for you. But, because Spring Mysteries Festival is about transformation and is initiatory in some ways, you cannot attend Greater Mysteries until your second year at the conference.

The Witch’s Mushroom

I have been hesitant to write about this, because I know this topic could evoke some strong feelings in people and I am not here to argue with anyone or to ruffle feathers. But if I am going to share the things that transformed me at Spring Mysteries, this was part of it.

I am not against people using plants recreationally, if you understand my meaning. I also think they are medicine and when used intentionally and responsibly, they can be spiritual aids. At the festival, there was a man there who is a shaman and who works with mushroom medicine and studies mushrooms. He led a workshop about the amanita muscaria mushroom and provided mushroom tea for those of us who wished to partake. This was not a psychedelic experience and at no point did I feel like I was not in control. At the doses we were given, the amanita muscaria was simply medicine.

I Drank the Tea. I Put it in the Basket.

I drank the tea, then a little while later I noticed that my pain was gone. I’ve been dealing with some seemingly chronic foot issues and I had a little extra, but not unexpected, pain elsewhere in my body. Because amanita muscaria works in the background, it took some time to notice it’s effects. But for me, the pain relief was the best part of the immediate usage. Over the course of the weekend, slowly and in small doses, I ended up consuming about 5 grams of mushroom. It wasn’t until I was at home and settling back into work that I noticed some other benefits of the amanita muscaria.

I have not consumed any amanita muscaria since the Saturday evening of the festival. That was 5 days ago as I write this. But I have noticed that I have less anxiety in general. I don’t feel the dread of doing things that often brought up feelings of avoidance in the past. I am much more present. I have hardly been on my phone the way I usually am, and I don’t feel like I have to take little breaks throughout the day to dopamine scroll through social media. I am even reading a little less than usual, but when I do read it is because I am invested in the book, not because anything is better than the news. Mind you, I’ve still read 37 books this year – I will always be an avid reader.

Although I noticed the pain relief just hours after ingesting a small dose, the larger and more subtle benefits of the mushroom have shown up as I think about and process my experience. The facilitator told us that these mushrooms often work behind the scenes and people don’t notice the effects because you don’t notice it when you feel “normal” but you do notice when you feel “off” or “different” or in pain.

I am Not You

I am not encouraging you to go out and take mushrooms or any other substance. I was raised by a mother who was a child of the 70s with a need to escape her reality. My perspective and habits are mine alone. Taking the amanita muscaria was a transformational experience for me. It was a learning experience and it was part of my Mysteries for the weekend. If this sounds like something you would like to explore further, you are welcome to contact Bear Eagle Medicine and find someone to help you on your journey. If the idea of mushrooms or plant medicine is not for you, that is perfectly okay. Perhaps you can journey to the Otherworld and commune with the spirit of the amanita muscaria or any other plant to learn from them that way. And if you are one of the ones who partakes of plant medicine, it is a good idea to journey and speak with the spirit of the plant as well as consuming it.

The Mysteries Cannot be Explained

Throughout this post you have heard me using the term “mysteries.” What does that mean? In a spiritual context, a mystery is an experience that you have that is transformational or eye opening for you. A mystery can be an epiphany that you have when meditating or in ritual. They can be vivid visions during a journey or dream. A mystery can even be a word or a phrase that strikes you in the moment you hear it. The mysteries can also be experiences that unfold to you over time or after the fact. The mysteries have no rules except one: you must have an open heart and open mind to receive them.

A mystery can be anything but the one thing it cannot be is shared or explained. Oh you can try. You can try to tell someone about this awesome feeling you had while meditating but chances are you won’t be able to explain it well. The other person might be happy that you had such a great experience, but they didn’t have the same experience so they can’t understand the feelings behind it.

I could try to explain Paganicon or Spring Mysteries Festival to you. I could tell you about the workshops. I could show you a picture of the stage and tell you about the myth of Persephone and Demeter – but you probably already know the gist of that story. What I cannot do is make you understand how amazing it is to be in sacred space with so many people. I cannot help you feel the same feelings I had watching Demeter search for the Kore or seeing Persephone find her purpose. I cannot explain how much it filled my heart to sit with other Pagans and just talk.

To sum it up, a mystery is one of those experiences that you just had to be there for. And my words will never do the experiences justice, so I won’t even try. I hope that your spiritual path is filled with mysteries and glimmers that remind you of why you are doing the work that you are doing. May your mysteries find you often and may they fill your cup and heart with joy and purpose once again. Blessed be!