It’s been 20 years since I last attending Twilight Covening, so I’m noting mentions of this one popping up on my flist. That was a powerful event for me in many ways, it was a big time of change for me anyway, a lot of what I feel defines me today started that year. The group I was in was a warrior group, Cranes; the leaders of it are still people I count as friends (at least on FB, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen either in person). I was sick as a dog….so was almost everyone. I had a powerful vision during the event which I think set my feet where they needed to be as opposed to the wandering I was doing.
It was also odd and jarring and made me realize I probably wouldn’t attend again. It as when I first realized I didn’t really fit in the Pagan community at all, by this time I was pretty much not practicing Wicca any longer, was already on the warrior path, but I hadn’t really thought about how different I had become. It was, of course, clearest at the group ritual although we ended up with fire and that worked out well. But I know I felt apart from the rest; I think all in our group did for that time, some of us appreciating it, others feeling at odds with it. Many were and remained active not only in the general Pagan community but in Earthspirit.
How much that event changed me and how much it just gave ritual to the changes I was going through is something I probably can never sort out. Some are obvious, I was already more serious about weight lifting and the martial arts by this time, having done both for a few years at that point. Then again, some of my perceptions on those things may have changed during the event. I do know that compared to any other such event, including the TC of the year before, it has made a lasting impression. There are other reasons for that feeling which I won’t go into here.
One impression is that, man, I really sort of thought I’d have gone a bit further along my work than I have. But things always get in the way. 10 years ago I had a stark reminder that at least I still have time, while there are others who what ever they did already was it for this lifetime. And, yet, other things still get in the way and I haven’t done that much since then. But I’m still here *knockswood* and so a bit more down the path I go.
I am hoping that that means finishing Teh Project soon and writing in this blog more…and blogging stuff other than this fucking navel gazing which I realize I’m doing again.
On Friday I get ink, a piece that is something I probably should have gotten 20 or at least 10 years ago. Which all relates to this. Putting things on my body helps me solidify what I’m doing. We’ll see what this one grounds in me.
I have always looked through the TC information each year, first the paper mailings I still got and then on the website. There is a part of me that still desires doing something like that. Of all the gatherings out there, the concept of Twilight Covening remains the most intriguing, I think most useful. It’s not a “social” focused gathering, with various rituals to pick and choose from and that participants can take down time from if they wish and just hang out. Each person signs up ahead of time for a working group, you stay with that group (some even require sleeping in the same location and eating all meals together), each group focuses on some aspect of work and they do it together.
There hasn’t been a group focus that has called to me, or if there has there has been something that has put me off to the actual group. Often it’s the utter vagueness of the descriptions sometimes it’s just knowing who the leaders are. Each year I feel more distant from what it’s about. I want that sort of focused working, but, well, yeah….on different things. Of course, there still isn’t enough interest at this point for a Reconstructionist focused event like this. Hopefully someday there will be, but there are a lot of steps to take before that works out, I think.
But as I see all these “I’m back from Twilight and wow…” posts on FB, I’m thinking again. Two decades. Fuck.