7.26.03
Under Grandmother Maple at Wolf Creek Faerie sanctuary
My first time at Wolf Creek has started. I arrived yesterday
not knowing I was arriving a day early for the gathering.
I perambulated a short distance before I knew that I would take a tent
site by the river. A spot by the river is one of the advantages of arriving
early, and mosquitoes are one of the disadvantages of home near the creek.
My
camp near the creek
Dinner the first night was a grand affair in that it was my introduction
to the barn at Wolf Creek, and that we had lamb.
The barn at Wolf Creek is the center of the community: it's the kitchen,
dining room, and indoor social space. The kitchen is quite large, there
are no dining tables and chairs, there's a rope swing inside along with
a drum set and organ. The barn is not fully enclosed, but it does have
a floor.
I cut carrots, cleaned fresh mint, made salad dressing limited by the
list of food no-nos on a white board. It read something like this:
Person x-soy products
Person y-mushrooms and dairy together
Person z-nuts (p-nuts OK)
Person a-lactose and wheat
Person b-anything fermented (soy sauce, vinegar)
Person c-mustard and pepper
Rabbit, who cooked for the Billy Club Independence Day
gathering and is currently the only official Wolf Creek caretaker, was
heading up the meal. Just after I stared with the mint, he pulled two
lamb rib cages out of the oven. He covered them with garlic and rosemary
chopped together. The mix covered the meat, and parts of it fell into
the hot lamb fat in the baking sheets holding the meat. The garlic and
rosemary was instantly deep-fried, and smelled great.
I was wearing my orange sundress, and the evening was looking like it
was going to cool down, so I headed back across the property to my tent
to put on some warmer clothes. On the way I went through in my head what
I had with me to wear. Not much for a cool evening. I decided on my pink
vinyl pants, my red heart white t-shirt, pink flower flip flops and my
wild pink, purple and yellow daisy shirt. It worked.
Here at Wolf Creek, they use a conch to announce dinner.
While I was on my way to change, I heard it for the first time. The rich
sound echoed beautifully off and through the green hills that surround
the meadow. The meadow is the natural and physical center of the sanctuary.
Its native grasses, golden from the season, stand tall and undisturbed,
except for defined and un-strayed-from paths.
The
meadow at Wolf Creek
Rabbit opened up the second half of the ribcage when I got to the front
of the dinner line. The mass of bones reveal the loin, the meat part of
a lamb chop. It was great.
By the time I came back for seconds, I had learned that the large lamb
had been butchered today (having been slaughtered somewhere else and donated
to the sanctuary) and that for seconds the ribs and a bunch of fatty parts
was all that was left. I pulled off a few ribs and ate them right there
at the serving table. I then cut up the rest of the ribs for late-comers.
During my dinner, I got to see a couple of faeries, Randy & Krown,
swing on the swing. The swing is a loop of rope suitable for all kinds
of acrobatics. During dinner I also learned that the Whore's Bed had been
moved out of the barn. I love the idea that it used to be in the barn.
I also like the idea of the Whore's Bed itself. It's a shared public resource
to have sex, should you need it. It's a rendezvous point for two lovers.
It's a symbol for what is wrong about the sexual repression in our society.
The Whore's Bed is now just east of the barn. I saw it on my walk of the
perimeter trail while a faerie was putting in four posts corresponding
to the directions. I predict those four posts are the beginning of a structure:
a temple of sexual freedom, a shrine to hot sex, a backwoods celebration
of passion, eros, love, fucking, and desire. Plus, for most campers, it
offers more comfort to have sex than where they sleep.
There was some discussion during the evening of a ritual
(i.e. orgy) to initiate the new location of the Whore's Bed. I hung around
to see if anything developed. Before too long, I had to go to sleep. There
was some swinging on the swing, and drum and piano music (with a little
dancing), but no orgy. I headed off into the night to my little tent in
the dark trees.
I walked a short way to the garden with two faeries, one of whom told
me that, although we'd never met, he'd been talking about me and my orange
sun dress. Sometimes a piece of clothing is just perfect. This orange
dress, and my sense of when to wear it, is perfect. It's alive, it fits
me in a flattering way, and it's perfect for a hot day. We walked through
the garden together drawn by the lights and mystery.
Further along my walk home, I came by Free Daddy's trailer. Free's the
faerie who introduced me to the layout of the land. He had a small group
sitting with him outside. The lights outlining his old trailer were amazing.
The small twinkle lights dimmed up and down, chased a variety of patterns,
and generally were unexpected and fantastic. I declined their invitation
to join them and used the flashing and fading lights to lead me down the
trail until I had to break out my flashlight.
Upon arriving home, I turned on my battery-powered twinkle lights which
helped me wind down my day. The mosquitoes hastened my retreat into the
tent.
It's late, and I must sleep.
I slept a little cold, but comfortable. On to today.
I've spent most of the day under Grandmother Maple. This
tree is ancient and has a huge shady area underneath.
It's a hot but breezy day, today's the first day of the gathering, so
it's pretty slow, and I'm feeling reflective, so a day under a tree is
perfect.
It's been a glorious day. I succumbed to the erotic energy from the area,
especially from the ground under the tree, enjoyed the alone time and
the warm air in the breeze, and reflected on yesterday.
Mid-afternoon, I had to take a shit, so I wandered over to Grettel.
This morning, I wandered over to the barn at around 9:30. Todd Mary was
starting on brunch, so I dived in and helped. After brunch, he took me
on a tour. First stop was an altar to an influential faerie, Maxine (?)
Next was "That Fucking Place" an installation/sculpture. It
had three levels, designed to hold and circulate water. In the center
stood a life-sized man, with one wing arm. The other arm held out an open
sphere. I think the faerie that made it is named Baby. It's a bit of a
confused piece. I doesn't actually hold water.
We continued around to the Sun platform, but not before
a visit to Solstice and Rabbit's homes, the only real residences on the
property. The garden house looks like it might be a real home, but I can't
tell from its patched together nature. I have not yet been inside.
OK, so it's 4:10. We just got three conch blasts. For what? Dinner last
night was at 9. Opening circle's not until 6:30. Maybe an early dinner
is in order to accommodate the opening ritual. Interesting.
Two men have joined me here under Grandmother Maple. They are laying where
I lay for most of the morning and early afternoon: in front of the altar.
I moved as the afternoon sun began to heat me up and to insinuate itself
in a way that didn't appear to be temporary.
I'm trying to get around to explaining Grettel. Grettel is a pit toilet that's decorated to look like a gingerbread house. It's set in the woods near the May Pole meadow. It's cute. All the toilets here have old porn in them.
7.29.03 Late afternoon under Grandmother
Maple
On Sunday, Cayenne and I cooked dinner. We made lots of food, although
the stuffed bell peppers that had cheese went too fast.
Jackpot is watering Grandmother Maple. She's hurting; getting
older.
I went to Grants Pass with Sapphire to pick up produce today. Got really,
really stoned last night. I was hallucinating while watching Scary Faerie
Karaoke. I saw some amazing performances: Sol & friend sang, a cappella
and by heart, the Origin of Love from Hedwig. Way fantastic.
Way too much going on to spend much time journaling.
7.31.03 My creek side tent at Wolf Creek
Did Sharon Needles in the Know Talent Show, and, before that, Chixie Dick
for the Whore's Supper. Kwai got some great photos of Chixie.
Kwai and I conceived and cooked up a great meal yesterday. We had a red
curry, a yellow curry, sauteed vegetables, napa cabbage salad, and brown
rice. People loved it.
My glasses are missing. I think they are lost. Eek.
On Wednesday I led a morning erotic touch workshop and 19 people showed
up. It went without a hitch, although it wasn't as erotically hot as I
would have liked. It was very successful for a first try.
8.01.02 Tent
Lamas today. We celebrated the pagan harvest by creating a labyrinth here
at Wolf Creek.
Dinner was a piece of work. Perkey got started really early, worked all
day, or so it seemed, then managed to have not enough food and served
it pretty late. I don't know what they were doing in there.
Raphael and I connected after the ritual and had some nice erotic play.
He found my glasses, but then I managed to leave my penis necklace under
grandmother maple. Ug. A penis necklace is not a necklace for the penis,
but a necklace for the neck with a penis on it.
Had a great conversation with Dwoo tonight. It was more like playing.
Went to town with T-3 (the third T), a beautiful man of the type I'm not
usually attracted to. We got produce and talked a bit. Very sexy guy.
I don't think Wolf Creek is my tribe, although this visit could lead to
others.
8.09.03
It was so hard to journal at Wolf Creek. I'd be exhausted by the time
I got back to my tent. I wasn't necessarily getting in late every night,
but I was doing a lot every day. Here's some highlights:
On Friday the 100 plus degree heat finally let up. It was raining on Saturday when we left.
Kwai and I went down to the Rouge River to swim and cool
off one day. As I recall, it's about 9 miles each way. Wolf Creek itself
had too little volume in it so some of us had concerns about contaminated
water. Others splashed and frolicked in Wolf Creek.
One thing that made the heat more bearable was the cold plunge. Toward
Wolf Creek from the barn was a big galvanized tub full of cold water.
I made it down there almost every day to cool my core temperature. It
was great.
Randy, who lives on the property, offered a felting class which I took. I have a cool piece of felt that's about half felted. I'll get to it at some point.
I got stung on the left ankle by a wasp, hornet, or yellow jacket. It didn't start swelling until 24 hours later. It got big, then the skin started blistering with big, tight blisters. It's all better now.
Late in the gathering, Simon, Wow, Shvree, Kwai, some others and I walked into the meadow to the mud pit. We got covered in mud and walked around for a while.
Simon, reclining
The last day, I let my riders know that I wanted to drive back to California after lunch. I should have been more specific. Two out of the three of us made it on the road at 4. I realized on the drive down that I would be getting into SF late, and hadn't made plans. It all worked out in the end thanks to Iron Chef and Sandy.
