AM 23 Festival Schedule
Finalized
Wednesday
9:00 AM
Gates Open
3:00 PM
Community Center.
Meet and Greet with Guest Speakers and Musicians. Get your books and CDs autographed or just hang out,
5:00 PM
Earth Tent
Skip & Trisha. Naturist, Nudist, Skyclad: the Bare Essentials. Some pagan festivals are clothing-optional, and many traditions worship skyclad, but still, many people are reluctant to take part nude. This workshop will look at the differences between naturism and nudity, skyclad and robed, among other topics. Come prepared to discuss your doubts, experiences, and your joys.
Ritual Circle
Grey Ghosthawk. Healing Circle.
7:00 PM
Flow Arts/Spinning Waiver Signing at Community Center
If you are interested in spinning, you must sign a spinning liability waiver & be issued an orange wrist band to perform. This meeting is mandatory for you. Meet Spin Coordinator at Community Center.
7:30 PM
Village Meeting at the Community Center
Our Village Meeting, located under the Big Blue Tent (Community Center), is a great way to stay informed about last minute additions or changes to our festival schedule. Usually quite entertaining and energetic, Team Phoenix will introduce themselves and their program, as well as introduce our fabulous Guest Speakers and Entertainers. The procession to Opening Ritual begins after Village Meeting.
8:00 PM
Registration & Gate Closes
8:00 PM
Opening Ritual in the Ritual Circle
8:30 PM
Phoenix Phamily Reunion at the Community Center with Karaoke provided by Thai Dancer!
9:00 PM
Drumming and Dancing in the Ritual Circle
Let our hearts join together in joy and love. All levels of drummers, dancers, and chanters are welcome to lend their energy to raise the cone of power. Bring drums, horns, flutes, guitars, tambourines, cymbals, or just your voice. Dance, trance, or walk around the sacred fire. Clap along or just sit and watch. Whatever makes you happy because there is a place for all in this Celebration.
Thursday
8:00 AM
Coffee - Bring Your Own Cup
9:00 AM
Gates Open
Ritual Circle
Morning Devotional. Join us to welcome the Sun and a new day by stating gratitudes and intentions. This workshop also includes stretching and simple yoga poses - however - you may just sit and enjoy the sacred space during this morning practice.
10:00 AM
Community Center
Ritual 101 & Ritual Etiquette. Have you ever wanted to help construct the main ritual? Are you a returning member of the Phoenix Phamily or new to our festival? It makes no difference! This workshop is open to all!!! We will be discussing general ritual etiquette for the first few minutes and then jumping into the nuts and bolts of ritual construction. This festival we are working to achieve balance with the elements and raising healing energy on a global scale. We have roles for everyone, regardless of experience level.
Fire Tent
Thai Dancer. Witch Crafting: Bleach dyeing / tye dyeing. Thai will provide images, or you may draw out your own designs for the bleach & tye dyeing project. You must bring your own dark colored fabric: shirt, sarong, skirt, bandana.
Ritual Circle
Ivy Blackthorn. Magickal Voice. Learn how we can use our voice as a magickal tool, how we can create better , more effective rituals by making simple changes to how we speak, project and proclaim when in ritual space. We will go in depth into the difference between the types of mundane and magickal voices people use on a regular basis, and explore how to use our voices more efficiently.
Youth Activity
Nature Walk & Creating Sacred Space.
Teen Activity
Gaming Tent open all day.
12:00 PM
Community Center Lunch Concert -- Wandering Spiral
Bring your Lunch or Blanket to Relax with Wandering Spiral, featuring Michelle Davidson and Rick de Yampert. Enjoy this musical duo who perform East-West fusion, Buddha lounge, trance soundscapes and their arrangements of Beatles classics and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." They perform at cafes, art festivals, yoga sessions, sound meditations and sacred gatherings throughout Central Florida. Wandering Spiral's instrument palette includes sitar, Native American flutes, tongue drums, bass, crystal Tibetan singing bowls, and tribal percussion.
1:00 PM
Ritual Circle
Oracle. The Oracle of Hekate. An oracular rite wherein Oracle Hekataios induces trance to allow themselves to be possessed by the Goddess as she is drawn down. Come and celebrate, join in worship, and hear her voice speaking to you.
Bio: Oracle Hekataios is a Witch who is an initiate and Elder in multiple Traditions of the Craft. With initiates across the country, Oracle has surrendered his life to the Goddess and believes strongly in devotional witchcraft, trance work, and modern-day revivalism of the oracle cults. He works to represent the Craft at interfaith gatherings, and focuses on his coven and community. He lives in Florida.
Vendor Booth
Dru Ann Welch. You and Your Aura. Do you see auric fields? Have you? Learn about the aura and how it changes. Learn a few simple ways to enhance your auric vision.
Vendor Booth
Katie King. Meditative Pottery. Making gods/goddess statues or offering bowl.
Teen Activity
Utility Knotwork. Knots are a very special intersection of the practicality, aesthetic beauty, geometry, and spiritual force. This workshop will teach a few of the most useful knots - very handy in camp! We will learn how to fuse synthetic rope to prevent fraying, discuss different rope types, and begin learning to tie selections from the following: Overhand Knot, Figure Eight Knot, Square Knot, Bowline, Clove Hitch, Trucker's Hitch, and Taughtline Hitch. Materials will be provided. Additional instruction and practice opportunities available throughout the festival.
3:00 PM
Community Center
Byron Ballard. Practical Ancestor Work. Do you dream you fly? Do you wake tired in the morning from a full night of active dreamwork? We’ll work with the wild geese—the Gabble-ratchet—as we learn to travel the dreamscape and step out of ordinary time and into the realm ofthe ancient calendar, into the realm of the Ancestors. From Ancestor altars to grave decoration,this class explores the possibility of modern, heart-centered Ancestor veneration.
Earth Tent
Skip Clark. What’s New in Witchcraft History 2023. Every year new insight into the Burning Times appear. This workshop will explore the new research that allows us a better understanding of what happened and why. Come for the discussion and sharing of ideas
Fire Tent
Rayna Templebee. Ancestral Healing through Sacred Pilgrimage. This workshop will explore the many reasons connecting with the spirits of the land where our ancestors lived, often for generations, will benefit our family line and all of humanity. Leaving a homeland was often an act of desperation as much as optimism and may have been accompanied by other traumas such as poverty, war, and oppression. As pagans we can identify with the pain of leaving all the trees, plants, and nature spirits of a place we have called home. In this workshop we will discuss how physical and astral travel to our ancestral homelands provides opportunities to heal those wounds and deepen our connection with our beloved dead. Sacred pilgrimage can be a conscious process of healing our families and humanity’s connection with Partner Earth. Please use your phone to bring a photo of a place your ancestors called Home for the Working part of this workshop.
Youth Activity
Creating Sacred Space.
Teen Activity
Gaming Tent open all day.
5:00 PM
Community Center
Sangoma. Honoring our Ancestors in Tower Time. Our country and our world are currently undergoing a major transition, commonly known as Tower Time. In this time of upheaval and transitions, it becomes even more vital to honor our ancestors, not only through direct honoring of the sacrifices they made to get us to where we are, but also through exploration that allows us to lead our line of ancestors and the ancestors of our chosen families into the new era with kindness, compassion, love, and light. Join Sangoma Oludoye and our Phoenix phamily as we engage in a round table discussion of how we can support each other, our ancestors, ourselves, and our descendants to help ensure that when tower time ends, we have built ourselves a new world that's better than the one we had before.
Fire Tent
Gary Fisler. Scrying Part 1. In this workshop we will practice different methods of attaining an altered state that is conducive to scrying.
Vendor Booth
Andrew. Forge Demonstration. My journey as a blacksmith started back in August of 2020. Before that I had the title of head chef. Covid hit and I decided it was time to start working for myself. I had already made my first knife at the time and I decided I was gonna sell blades for a living. With the support of my amazing wife, I dove into into bladesmithing with 0 experience. I told myself failure was not an option and that I had to make it work. Since then I've been full time making blades. During this short time I’ve managed to make around 400 blades. Thank you for reading my story!
7:30 PM
Building an Ancestor Altar / Ancestors Invitation Ritual
Come join a round table discussion with Sangoma Oludoye and our fellow lightworker phamily as we discuss how to honor our ancestors through mixed traditions and personal paths by building ancestor altars. Possible discussion points may include how to make an ancestor altar, how to learn to have a relationship with your ancestors, and why you would want to do so. Other topics and questions will be covered as requested by those attending. After the discussion, we will set up the AutumnMeet Main Ancestors Altar in the West Quarter of Main Ritual Circle, and then invite our beneficient ancestors to join us for the duration of the festival.
8:30 PM
Sumble -Mead is provided to toast & boast—bring your own drinking vessel.
9:30 PM
Traditional Bardic Circle in the Community Center
Friday
8:00 AM
Coffee - Bring Your Own Cup
Thank you Michelle & Rick for your Sacred Service. Michelle is our Mornin Coffee Maven and Rick is our TP Guardian.
9:00 AM
Community Center
Main Ritual Planning Session. Coffee/Tea Chat and Planning Session 1. So you agreed to accept a role in main ritual? FABULOUS!!! Come join us for a morning devotion, energy raising, and construction meeting as we work on the fine details of our ritual. We know this is a bit early, but we do not want to prevent our ritual participants from taking advantage of our incredible workshop schedule!
Ritual Circle
Morning Devotional. Join us to welcome the Sun and a new day by stating gratitudes and intentions. This workshop also includes stretching and simple yoga poses - however - you may just sit and enjoy the sacred space during this morning practice.
10:00 AM
Community Center
Byron Ballard. Season of Endarkenment—The Deepening Harvest Cycle. Sometimes our work or curiosity leads us to places we probably wouldn’t go if we thought about it for five seconds. Over the Borderlands and into the Realms? Standing in front of a Thing You Know Not Of? Not all things in the dark are to be feared nor all things in the light trusted. Come and learn some tricks of the trade.
Earth Tent
Meet here for Women’s Sweat. Led by Donella. This is a women’s only sweat lodge. Please arrive well hydrated. There will be a quick explanation of what to expect prior to entering the lodge. Be advised: you are NOT required to stay for the entire session & may leave the lodge at any time if you feel uncomfortable.
Fire Tent
Oracle Hekataios. Jesus, the Hero Cult. The Hero Cults of ancient Greece and Magna Graecia in particular had a major influence on early Christianity. Those influences extended to what became known as the Saint Cults. However, the Hero Cult had specific parameters, and is Jesus a Hero? Did the ancient Greek mind impact Christian non-Jews to accept this as a doctrine to make it easier for acceptance? Explore this fascinating topic with Oracle Hekataios, and see whether this Hero Cult is relevant today for those who call themselves witches, polytheists, and Neopagans.
Youth Activity
Ritual Construction and Chanting.
Teen Activity
Gaming Tent open all day.
12:00 PM
Community Center Lunch Concert with David & Cat Doersch
Bring your Lunch or Blanket to Relax with this evening's band members David & Cat
1:00 PM
Community Center
Heron Michelle. Astrological Lunar Witchcraft. An introductory to intermediate-level discussion of astrological timing for powerful Lunar Witchcraft. Includes waxing and waning lunar tides through nine phases, and by Zodiacal pairing across the Wheel of the Year. This method separates ‘New’ and ‘Dark’ moons. We’ll answer questions like: When is the most powerful time to tap Full and Dark moon energy? Magick for Lunar and Solar eclipses? What is a "Void-of-Course", a “Super” moon, or a “Micro" moon? How rare are Blue and Black Moons, and how do they switch lunar leadership within pairings? Why does any of this matter?
Earth Tent
Thai Dancer. Witch Crafting: Skull Decorating. We will provide 4’x3’ cement skulls to decorate. All supplies included.
Fire Tent
Christa Segers. Throwing Bones. Join Christa for an introductory class about Throwing Bones - a divination practice that uses personal curios. Learn how to build your own set and how to conduct an intuitive bone reading.
Youth Activity
Intermediate Poi or Cakes & Ale.
Teen Activity
3:00 PM
Community Center
Tarot Card Swapping with the Alleyman. Hosted and run by Seven, this event features a short invocation for the Alleyman followed by the exchanging of tarot and oracle cards between participants. Please bring your own cards if able, otherwise Seven will provide cards to exchange. Participants keep all cards they are given from one another. Give away cards that no longer speak to you, and gain new cards that have this story tied to them.
Earth Tent
Meet here for Skyclad ritual. We will cast circle and present a British Traditional style ritual skyclad (naked). All who attend must participate. On-lookers are not allowed. Come feel the power and energy of ritual without clothing.
Fire Tent
Canu Nodiad. Ancestral Waters: A Journey to the River of Blood. The River of Blood is the source of humanity’s ongoing creation, common heritage, and ancestry. Canu will prepare and lead us on a journey to the River of Blood for ancestral healing and resolution of ancestral trauma. In the Faery Seership tradition the River of Blood is a connective stream of consciousness and genetic thread that moves through us and collectively. Canu is a Georgian Tradition of Witchcraft Elder, Faery Seer, and past First Officer of Covenant of the Goddess and Everglades Moon Local Council. He has led many seers and others to the River of Blood and is committed to making ancestral healing available to all seekers.
Youth Activity
Costuming and rehearsal for ritual.
Teen Activity
Gaming Tent open all day.
5:00 PM
Community Center
Sangoma. Honoring our Ancestral Relationships. Our ancestors came before us, and due to their share in our lifeblood, they are some of the only spirits that are guaranteed to have a direct interest in helping us find our best outcomes. In this round table discussion, Sangoma Oludoye and the light workers of the Phoenix phamily will come together to discuss how to explore those ancestral spirits for relationships that are beneficial and that want to support us, how to reach out to those ancestral spirits, and how to add our ancestors to our current working practice.
Fire Tent
Dru Ann Welch. Saints and Sinners: Preserving the Historic Past. Cemeteries are a passion of Dru Ann and she offers to lead a discussion about the value of historic African American cemeteries in today's world. She explains their historic significance, their importance to the community and how they need families and communities to care and preserve them.
Vendor Booth
Andrew. Forge Demonstration.
7:00 PM
Ritual Journey to the Realms of Water with Heron Michelle
Description: Through guided meditation to the original music by Pranavam Das, we’ll journey to the astral realms and the plane of elemental water. There we will seek out allies among the Undine and their Sovereign Nicksa. We’ll ask how best we may balance our emotional bodies and heal the wounds of our hearts. From Nicksa we’ll ask in what ways we should be emotionally daring, and what conditions of the heart need acceptance. Then we’ll seek out information on the correct magickal tool of water to use in our witchcraft practice, and an ancestral guide to help us. Please bring whatever you need to comfortably meditate for an extended period, like a camp chair, or blankets and pillows to lie down on the ground. From my book Elemental Witchcraft: A Guide to Living a Magickal Life Through the Elements.
8:00 PM
Registration & Gate Closes
8:30 PM
Celtic dress up Costume Party & EIREANN'S CALL Concert
Don your most dramatic, wistful, wild, or even silly Celtic garb and we'll dance and sing along to Eireann's Call. Prepare to be swept away by a rocking soundscape that invokes the spirit of Ireland, Scotland, and everything Celtic. Follow the Call!
Website: eireannscall.com
10:00 PM
Drumming, Dancing and Spinning Activities
Saturday
8:00 AM
8:30 AM
Coffee - Bring Your Own Cup
Ritual Circle
MORNING DEVOTIONAL. Join us to welcome the Sun and a new day by stating gratitudes and intentions. This workshop also includes stretching and simple yoga poses - however - you may just sit and enjoy the sacred space during this morning practice.
9:00 AM
Gates Open
Main Ritual Planning Session
Coffee/Tea Chat and Planning Session 2. So you agreed to accept a role in main ritual? FABULOUS!!! Come join us for a morning devotion, energy raising, and construction meeting as we work on the fine details of our ritual.
10:00 AM
Community Center
Seven. Divining with Game Cards. Watch an explained reading done with a trading card game deck by Seven, then take part with other participants as you exchange readings with various decks of cards from trading card games, including Pokemon, YuGiOh, Magic, Digimon, and more. Participants are invited to bring their own trading card or game cards to read with, and to attend solely to read or to be read for. Supplies will be provided for the event, and participants will all leave with a card they were read with.
Earth Tent
Meet here for Co-Ed Sweat. Led by Grey Ghosthawk, fire tended by April. This is a co-ed sweat lodge. Please arrive well hydrated. There will be a quick explanation of what to expect prior to entering the lodge. Be advised: you are NOT required to stay for the entire session & may leave the lodge at any time if you feel uncomfortable.
Fire Tent
Byron Ballard. A Great and Subtle Weaving: an Intro to Animism. Animism is the belief that objects, places and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork and perhaps even words—as animated and alive.
Youth Activity
Teen Activity
Gaming Tent open all day.
12:00 PM
Lunch and Lunch Concert with Brian Henke.
1:00 PM
Community Center Whale Maiden. Earthways Shamanic Path - Presents: A Celebration for Dry Season. The Earthways Shamanic Path is an Earth-based spiritual path. This Path originated in Southwest Florida yet can be practiced all around the world. Learn how to identify the Seasons where you live, how to develop ceremony for those seasons working with the Land, the Ancestors and the Sacred Animals.
These are the Seasons of Southwest Florida:
Rainy Season – June 15 to August 15
Hurricane Season – August 15 to October 15
Dry Season - October 15 to February 15
Fire Season -February 15 to June 15
In this Session, Whale Maiden will lead the participants in a ritual to celebrate the coming of Dry Season. Working with Animals and Ancestors we will release the intense lessons of Hurricane Season and prepare for the blessing of Dry Season. In Dry Season we tend to regroup and prepare for Fire Season. This Ritual includes a Shamanic Journey using rattles and Whale Maiden’s voice. To expand participants understanding of "Seasons" and the Wheel of the Year, as applied to life here in Florida. To learn how to find your own path
Fire Tent
Gary Fisler. Scrying Part 2. The fundamentals of scrying will be covered in this workshop. A variety of speculum (scrying tools) will be on display. The workshop will conclude with a practice scrying session so that you can try out your new found skills.
Outside Ritual Circle
Shadowhawk. Flow Arts. Fun, flow, and fellowship! All experience levels are welcome to learn flow Arts with Shadowhawk. Bring your props for some fun practice or to learn some new moves. No prop, no problem! There will be sock poi available as well as a number of other props you can try your hand at.
Ritual Circle
Sacred Drum Workshop hosted by Remmi Nicole and the FL Funk Drum Collective. This will be a two part workshop starting with technical skills and a West African Rhythm in two parts to prepare for the following dance workshop. We will end with a flowing rhythm meditation designed to help us build energy as a group to attain entrainment and prayer and to get us connected and ready for the nights ceremonies. All skill levels invited, bring your drum or any other percussion item you enjoy. Dancers always needed!
Youth Activity
Costume Parade.
Teen Activity
Decorative Knotwork. Knots are a very special intersection of the practicality, aesthetic beauty, geometry, and spiritual
3:00 PM
Community Center
Heron Michelle. Ancestors of “Hermetic" Witchcraft: From Hermes Trismegistus to Gerald Gardner (and into the 21st Century). The axiom "As Above, so below" came from the Hermetic philosophies attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Who was this legendary mage named for the Egyptian God Thoth, Greek Hermes and Roman Mercury? We'll explore the origins of the "Corpus Hermeticum" and the history of their influence from Greek Neoplatonists in Alexandria, Egypt in the 1st-3rd centuries, through pre-Islamic Persia to become Alchemy, then into Renaissance Italy; Hermetic influence upon magickal schools in Europe; Then, into to the early 1900's New Thought Movement in America via "The Kybalion." From there, the Hermetic Principles would inspire a multitude of spiritual movements, including Thelema, British Wicca and the 20st Century Modern Witchcraft teachings of Laurie Cabot and Christopher Penczak that continue to inspire the Craft today.
Vendor Booth
Dru Ann Welch. Sound Bath featuring the Crystal Singing Bowls and Tuning Chimes. Take a moment and immerse yourself in the sounds of the crystal singing bowls.
Ritual Circle
Saturnin Ba will teach an African Dance Class. Saturnin is from the Cote D’Ivoire in West Africa. He will teach « N’Goron » a ceremonial dance of the Senufo people from the Northern region of the Ivory Coast. N’Goron is an initiation dance for young Senufo women. All levels are welcome
Youth Activity
Beginner Poi with Shadowhawk or craft.
Teen Activity
Gaming Tent open all day.
5:00 PM
Village Meeting Followed by Auction and 50/50 Raffle
Did you know that 20% of all donation, auction and fundraising money is allocated to The Scholarship Fund? The remaining funds go toward keeping admission prices low while continuing to make site improvements and providing quality guest speakers and entertainment.
8:00 PM
Registration & Gates Close
8:30 PM
Main Ritual: Honoring our Ancestors.
9:30 PM
Drumming, Dancing and Spinning Activities
Sunday
8:00 AM
8:30 AM
Coffee - Bring Your Own Cup
Ritual Circle
MORNING DEVOTIONAL. Join us to welcome the Sun and a new day by stating gratitudes and intentions.
11:00 AM
Closing Ritual
4:00 PM
All Visitors Must Be Off Site
If you would like to present a workshop at the upcoming festival, you may apply on Eventbrite as you register for the festival. If you have already registered, please email ThePhoenix@PhoenixFestivals.com with your full name, address, phone number, email, emergency contact information, and your workshop title and description. You may also include any special needs for your workshop, a preferred time slot (not guaranteed), and a short bio.
You may present more than one workshop. You will be contacted when your workshop is approved. Workshops count towards community service.