Free Spirit Gathering 2026 - 40th year

For many people there is no emotional or energetic connection to their blood ancestors due to being adopted, kicked out of their home, made unwelcome, or other circumstances. All of us on the other hand have Ancestors of Love – the people who we learned our sexuality, romance, emotional bonding, and intimate information from, were inspired by, or who cleared the way for your love style to be possible. Who were your Ancestor of Love? Who are your trans-cestors, your heart-cestors, your polyam-cestors, your queer-cestors, and your love-cestors? We will explore our ancestors, examine some of the lessons we learned from them, then look at how we can honor them, remember them, cherish them, heal them, acknowledge the toxic things we learned from them, and call upon them in our times of need. As part of this class and discussion we will build a piece of sacred art in ritual together that will be available for others to add to, and then go up as a burnt offering in an evening fire.

Because of the very well-funded and promoted Body Shame Profit Complex, many of us struggle with feeling good about our bodies. This is especially true in the summer, where the hot sun makes us want to expose more skin, and there is intense pressure to have a beach body. Please join us for a discussion about how these images we are force fed by society have caused us to forget what wonderful creations our bodies are, followed by a group meditation, and suggestions for rituals to help you accept (and maybe even learn to love!) your meat suit again. This workshop is restricted to 18+ to allow for frank discussions of sexuality.

Class covers the historical role of Paganism in the military, how it has evolved, and how it is currently represented in the military. Will expand on how the Pagan community at large can support military Pagans.