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The Starwood Festival, or "Starwood", is a six-day festival presented by the Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC (ACE) along with many volunteers, usually during the third week of July (sometimes the fourth). It is a camping event, featuring over 150 classes on a variety of subjects ranging from magical, spiritual, and New Age topics to politics, art & music, healing, and the environment. It has been held in several locations, but since 1990 it has taken place at a private campground near Sherman, New York.
There are usually around 1,500 attendees including staff, speakers and entertainers each year. Starwood serves the neo-pagan movement and several other communities as well, and provides a common ground for networking and interaction between these communities and their spokespeople. It recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005.
Thousands of people (some of them naked or skyclad) interested in alternative culture and spirituality converge to attend workshops and live musical performances, to sample the rituals and customs of a variety of cultures, to see the spectacle of a large bonfire, to experience multi-media presentations, and to meet with new and old friends at various social events.
Scheduling
There are several workshops going on at almost all times of the day, totaling over 150 1-1/4 hr slots in its schedule. Topics include alternative lifestyles, politics, pagan activism, consciousness-altering devices and substances, history, magik, folklore and more.
An all-night drummers’ bonfire is held every night in a structure of Celtic design called the Roundhouse. There are concerts held at lunch each day and every night, and midnight programming that includes public rituals from at least three different spiritual paths, and all-night parties in an inflatable structure called The PufferDome. Friday night features a multi-media presentation on Brushfire Island (often including fireworks, lasers, and synchronized music), and on the final night a torchlight procession leads to a huge fireworks-stuffed bonfire that can be seen from out in space that burns all night.
There is drumming and dancing from Africa, the Middle-East and other locations, and multi-cultural presentations and classes of all sorts. Children and teens all have their own workshops and activities as well. Child-care, 12-Step meetings, 24-hour First Aid, and a radio station for information updates and entertainment are just a few of the services provided at Starwood.
People
At Starwood several different religions are represented, from Wicca to Druidism, Ifa to Buddhism, and anyone with an open mind is welcome. All ages attend Starwood, and it has become the yearly vacation for some folks, with more than a generation growing up with Starwood as a part of their lives. The racial and cultural mix has become more diverse as the years progressed, as has the mix of singles and families. The event is designed for members of all spiritual orientations to share their customs and beliefs, hence neither proselytizing nor disrespect of the ways of others is tolerated. The intent is to create a community made up of very different people, all celebrating their diversity and the company of each other.
Some specific groups that regularly attend Starwood include the Church of All Worlds (CAW), the Church of the Subgenius, several Wiccan Covens, various neo-Pagans and some Druidic sects. Also, those who frequent non-religious cultural events like Burning Man, Hookahville, Hempfests, and the Society for Creative Anachronism (S.C.A.) events are often participants at Starwood.
At Brushwood there are attendees called Seasonal Campers who often get the choice camping spots, as they have bought them for the summer.
There are also the fire-tenders called Woodbusters, who wear their trademark Red Suspenders, and both build the spectacular Saturday-night Bonfire and feed the Roundhouse and other ritual fires throughout the event.
The festival organizers identify themselves as a part of the Chameleon Club, which is the extended family group that created both the Association for Consciousness Exploration and its events, such as the WinterStar Symposium and the SpiritDrum Festival.
Featured Speakers
Past featured speakers include: Sikiru Adepoju, Jim Alan, AmyLee, Gavin Bone, Isaac Bonewits, David Jay Brown, Raymond Buckland, Baba Raul Canizares, Shawna Carol (Spirit song), Dennis Carpenter, Dagmar Braun Celeste, Priestess Miriam Chamani, Dennis Chernin, Phyllis Curott, Ian Corrigan, Kenn Deigh, Jim Donovan, Sally Eaton, Skip Ellison, Taylor Ellwood, Philip H. Farber, Janet Farrar, Stewart Farrar, LaSara Firefox, Selena Fox, Gavin Frost, Yvonne Frost, Laurence Galian, Stephen Gaskin, Ina May Gaskin, Michael T. Gilbert, Jesse Wolf Hardin, Charles Hayes, Ellen Evert Hopman, Mike Ingalls, Anodea Judith, Richard Kaczynski, Lansana Kouyate, Donald Michael Kraig, Paul Krassner, Stanley Krippner, Timothy Leary, Martin A. Lee, Dr. Leisure (George Harker), Liafal, Deborah Lipp, Louis Martinie', Terence McKenna, Ralph Metzner, Patricia Monaghan, Christopher Moore, Nema, M. Macha Nightmare, Jonathan Ott, Diana L. Paxson, Christopher Penczak, Lauren Raine, Silver RavenWolf, Jeff Rosenbaum, Joseph Rothenberg, Rob Roy, Tannin Schwartzstein, Nicki Scully, Robert Shea, Elie Sheva, R. U. Sirius, Chas Smith, Abbie Spinner, Ivan Stang, Jay Stevens, Patricia Telesco, Harvey Wasserman, Don Waterhawk, Robert Anton Wilson, Fred Alan Wolf, Oberon Zell Ravenheart, Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart
Featured entertainers
Past featured entertainers, many of whom also offered classes, include: Matthew Abelson, Todd Alan, Alma Melodiosa, Amampondo, Anima Mundi, ArcheDream, Armor & Sturtevant, Awen, Babatunde Olatunji & Drums of Passion, Baka Beyond, The Bardos, John Bassette, Michael Bettine, Big Brother & the Holding Company played in 1999, Big Village Band, Brian Auger’s newly revived Oblivion Express played at the festival in 2006, Buddhahood, Burning Sage, Centrak Lasers, Chameleon, Changeling, Chaotic Good, Cyro Baptista & Beat the Donkey, Yaya Diallo, Djoliba, Drumplay, Einstein’s Secret Orchestra, Halim El-Dabh, Felonious Bosch, Gaelic Storm, Green Crown, Brian Henke, Incus, Janah, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Stephen Kent, Kenny & Tziporah Klein, Kiva, Lia Fail, Life in Balance, Maggi, Pierce & E.J., Jeff Magnus McBride, Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band, Airto Moreira, Muruga Booker, Nada Brahma, No Reservations, One Hat Band, Oroboros, Paprika, Wynne Paris, Owain Phyffe, P.L.U.S. Band, The Prodigals, Raquy & the Cavemen, Real Magic, Rhythm Alive!, RhythmQuest, Rogue’s Cross, Badal Roy, S.A.F.M.O.D., Jim Scott of Paul Winter Consort, Seeds of Time, Shaman, Ron Slabe, Gilli Smyth of Gong, Something Else Again, Sona, Trance Mission, Tribe of Spirit, Victoria Ganger & Revelry, Jim Volk, The Working Theatre, Yokeshire.
Notes
- ^ Krassner, Paul (2005). Life Among the Neopagans in The Nation, August 24, 2005 (web only).
- ^ ACE: Starwood Speaker Roster and other pages on the Starwood website including
- Vale, V. and John Sulak (2001). Modern Pagans. (Interview with Jeff Rosenbaum). San Francisco: RE/Search Publications. ISBN 1889307106
- Big Brother and the Holding Company: BBBase
References
- Farber, Philip H. Interview of Stephen Gaskin in Paradigm Shift, October 1998.
- Gill, Michael (2005). Circle of Ash in Cleveland Free Times, July 7th, 2005 (Feature Article).
- Kates, Bill (1997). Best of the Fests: Starwood Festival in High Times, 1997.
- Pike, Sarah (2001). Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community. University of California Press. ISBN 0520220307
- Seachrist, Denise (2003). The Musical World of Halim El-Dabh. Kent State University Press: World Musics Series. ISBN 0-87338-752-x