The First Pagan Children’s Summer Camp

The First Pagan Children’s Summer Camp
By Kurt Talking Stone

Winter 1997 members Muse

Over the week of August 10th through the 17th Heather and I packed up the boys and returned to Four Quarters Farm in Artemis, Pennsylvania for the Pagan Church camp operated by the remarkable Church of Four Quarters.

Follow up:

We had attended another first at Four Quarters, the First Pagan Music Festival, which was an outstanding success. We were so impressed by how the Church people handled the festival and their policies toward families, that when we heard of the Pagan Children’s Summer Camp we decided that it was an idea that richly deserved to succeed.

We knew that the camp would be an experiment, but the situation for Pagan kids, particularly here in New York City, is so far from ideal that we were more than willing to put our sweat where our mouths are. Over the years, as the boys have grown, and sharing experiences with other Pagan Parents, we have noticed a sometimes mild, other times open hostility towards children at Pagan events which sometimes extends to mothers. It was once suggested to me that the mommies and kids can’t participate in the swinging-singles-dominated pagan scene. Disturbing, considering that virtually all Pagan and indigenous traditions Heather and I know of honor the Goddess as Mother. This young movement, Neopaganism, is still learning how to behave. That said, it felt very right and appropriate that we should put some effort towards working on this issue in a positive manner.
It was an interesting and exciting week. We moved the focus of Kids Camp from the high meadow where the midday sun could take th’ hide right offa ya, down into the cool and wooded glen of North Crook. Around the still-wrapped Maypole we built our camp, a miniature tent city tucked amongst the trees. We moved in a kitchen, first-aid station and a central pavilion for the duration and engaged in a combination of setting a camp routine and seriously winging it. The logistic challenges of getting twelve energetic young people, all with different personalities and gifts from one activity to another was no less daunting than military maneuvers.

Program items included swimming, drumming and singing, a dizzying assortment of arts and crafts on traditional and Pagan themes, including some very impressive jewelry-making, wand and staff craft, medicine bags, origami, incense-making, natural herbalism (local and hands-on!), daily kung-fu and chi building meditations and exercises. It was a busy week, particularly juggling schedules to accommodate no-shows and late additions (including another camper) who came out for the final few days to pitch in.

There were also all the usual things that come with the territory: poison ivy, bee stings, scraped knees, some overdosing of roasted marshmallows, minor bouts of homesickness and the typical mediations required when more than, well, two young people are within fifty feet of each other. As I said, the usual. Staff seemed to handle it all with grace and good competence; the kids were barely slowed down by anything. Due to the surprising depth of the small staff, not only did we work with “classic” Pagan and Wiccan themes, but also exposed the camp to Native American, African, Strega, Taoist and Zen material as well. On the last Saturday, Miz Imani and Owen of Circle, Skin and Bone (formerly Rhythm Alive!) came out with drums and treated us to a surprisingly rich and effective drum intensive. That afternoon, the Church and Camp piled into vehicles and were off on a field trip to Hancock, Maryland, the nearest decent-sized town. I was surprised and impressed to discover from Orren the Landskeeper that the Church was a member of the Hancock Chamber of Commerce and was participating in the annual Hancock Days festival. We had our own booth and the Pagan Power Pack got to mingle and play. We performed a remarkably tight public drum set with the kids and staff led by Imani and Owen, bringing out more smiles than raised eyebrows among the townspeople. We ended the day with an indulgent visit to a blessedly (104 degrees that afternoon, Yee-Ha!) air-conditioned ice cream parlor, on the Church’s tab. Thanks, Orren! We finished the day with, what else, an evening of fireflies and fireworks!
Considering how much we made up as we went along, it was quite a success. Started with twelve, ended with thirteen, that’s pretty good. That night the staff stayed up late and discussed plans for next year. Camp ended the following day with a closing ritual crafted and performed by the CITs and campers, with all the camp staff, Church and parents present. Praise and blessings to all involved flowed freely, not forgetting the spirits and the Land. Then one last swim, and one by one the tents dropped and were packed away; and away to the four directions they, and then we, went.

While we certainly worked hard and had fun, our expectations were exceeded in many ways, challenged in others. I’ve absently scratched the poison ivy I thought I avoided and reflected on how small our offices really are, how tacky florescent light is. I miss the woods and I feel very good about having done this work. It is very sacred. We’re pretty sure that we’ll be back. We have to make sure this thing keeps going at least til Alex can be a camper! But ask us again after we’ve rested up, the Church is talking about fifty kids next year!

Tip o' th’ hat to the team: Camp Director Arawn (who I kept calling “Captain” for no reason I can think of), Su Sypolt (the camp Mom, yay!), Rowan, Ariel, Julian (our resident Taoist priest, kept us healthy), Stewart, Adrian, Earil, Nybor and Elspeth, Imani and Owen, and the staff crew from the Farm, Oh Yeah... Steve, J.J. and Orren Anders, and anybody else who kicked in.
And of course the gang of Thirteen.
Love and Blessings Kurt and Heather Griffith