An auspicious announcement
May. 18th, 2011 08:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beltaineladyI was talking with an old friend last week about the LI Beltane festival, and how this years event was an utter flop. She was thinking about taking over the organization of the event and wanted to bring it back to it's former glory. I offered to help as much as I could from a distance, and may even end up going back to do the ritual if need be.
Today is Joe's birthday, he'd have been 59 today. The announcement came this morning that Melissa is taking over the event planning.
Coincidence? Serendipity? I don't know nor care. What I DO care about is that the event that consumed our lives for 10 years and spawned a bunch of groups, events and gave the impetus to the NYC Pagan Pride Project to get started is going to continue.
I surprised myself my crying bittersweet but happy tears. I miss my Joe. He was my best friend as well as magical partner. He propped me up when I was weak, applauded my successes, and (sometimes begrudgingly) helped me achieve what I wanted to achieve. I can still hear him sigh, "Yes, My Lady" when I thought up some new crazy scheme to add to the event. I miss going to the museums with him, listening to him lecture on art or spirituality. I miss his chuckle. I even miss the way he'd put his arms over his head and look up to the sky as if for inspiration before he started to speak on something. I used to HATE that; it seemed to me, in my immature state of mind, that he was being condescending or patronizing. But now that I'm older, more experienced and hopefully, wiser, I see that he was seeking a way to express his thoughts. And what usually came out of him was educational, inspirational and profound. Occasionally profane. Sometimes, both. Now when I think of him, that's the position I see him in.
And how I miss it. I've lost plenty of people to death, including my mother. But Joe is the one I ALWAYS miss. I talk to him all the time. Sometimes, he answers. Sometimes, I can even feel him massaging my neck in the way that only he could.
So today is a happy, but sad occasion for me. I can't express how happy I am that the Beltane event is going to continue and that the people taking it over want to bring back what made it special in the first place: it was the PEOPLE, the COMMUNITY that made it great. It wasn't the "Joe and Jackie show" as much as it may have seemed from the outside. Sure, we were the most visible but we were merely the instruments of the Gods. The Gods have not forsaken the LI pagan community. They've just been waiting for someone to take up the mantle.
I can't express how happy this makes me. And sad that Joe isn't here to experience this new rebirth. Not in the flesh, anyway. I'm pretty darned sure that he will be poking and prodding Melissa as he's done to me in the past. So be warned, Mel! If a crazy idea occurs to you, and then you hear in the back of your head, "Sigh, yes, my lady", that's Joe telling you he approves.
Happy Birthday my dear friend. You are loved and missed.
Today is Joe's birthday, he'd have been 59 today. The announcement came this morning that Melissa is taking over the event planning.
Coincidence? Serendipity? I don't know nor care. What I DO care about is that the event that consumed our lives for 10 years and spawned a bunch of groups, events and gave the impetus to the NYC Pagan Pride Project to get started is going to continue.
I surprised myself my crying bittersweet but happy tears. I miss my Joe. He was my best friend as well as magical partner. He propped me up when I was weak, applauded my successes, and (sometimes begrudgingly) helped me achieve what I wanted to achieve. I can still hear him sigh, "Yes, My Lady" when I thought up some new crazy scheme to add to the event. I miss going to the museums with him, listening to him lecture on art or spirituality. I miss his chuckle. I even miss the way he'd put his arms over his head and look up to the sky as if for inspiration before he started to speak on something. I used to HATE that; it seemed to me, in my immature state of mind, that he was being condescending or patronizing. But now that I'm older, more experienced and hopefully, wiser, I see that he was seeking a way to express his thoughts. And what usually came out of him was educational, inspirational and profound. Occasionally profane. Sometimes, both. Now when I think of him, that's the position I see him in.
And how I miss it. I've lost plenty of people to death, including my mother. But Joe is the one I ALWAYS miss. I talk to him all the time. Sometimes, he answers. Sometimes, I can even feel him massaging my neck in the way that only he could.
So today is a happy, but sad occasion for me. I can't express how happy I am that the Beltane event is going to continue and that the people taking it over want to bring back what made it special in the first place: it was the PEOPLE, the COMMUNITY that made it great. It wasn't the "Joe and Jackie show" as much as it may have seemed from the outside. Sure, we were the most visible but we were merely the instruments of the Gods. The Gods have not forsaken the LI pagan community. They've just been waiting for someone to take up the mantle.
I can't express how happy this makes me. And sad that Joe isn't here to experience this new rebirth. Not in the flesh, anyway. I'm pretty darned sure that he will be poking and prodding Melissa as he's done to me in the past. So be warned, Mel! If a crazy idea occurs to you, and then you hear in the back of your head, "Sigh, yes, my lady", that's Joe telling you he approves.
Happy Birthday my dear friend. You are loved and missed.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-18 01:34 pm (UTC)I'm glad to see the event moving forward and hope that it is as successful as it has been before.
Comment made to the Beltane Yahoogroup
Date: 2011-05-18 08:47 pm (UTC)Hi John!
--- In Beltane@yahoogroups.com, callowjohn@... wrote:
> I am overjoyed by the enthusiastic response.
Let me just say I'm also overwhelmed by the positive responses. You all have no idea how much this event means to me. And, how's this for a bit of serendipity:
Today, May 18th, is Maypole Joe's birthday. :D
On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 7:33 PM, Melissa Hardwick <gothic01@...> wrote:
What John has expressed in this email is EXACTLY what I
> want. It is a community event, and the COMMUNITY should be there. I
> want to have it be like the old days, with such a great feeling,
> fairies walking around, info booths, of course the Potluck, I think
> its a shame to have BBQ's there and not fire those bad boys up!
That's exactly what our original approach to it was. We wanted it to be a COMMUNITY event, not just the "Aradia's Children show" or the "Joe and Jackie show". We reached out to all of our friends, and their friends and all the groups we could find to get help. We had many hands on deck to get it all done, including people who were behind the scenes so much that nobody knew who they were (as these people wanted it to be).
When we started, we didn't have the internet. There were 3 new age/pagan shops on LI (that we knew of) and we placed small typewritten notices in them. 35 people showed up and danced the maypole that we'd made out of a fallen branch. The second year found us totally rained out, but the emerging coven still danced the maypole under the trees in a deluge.
By the third year, 75-80 people came. That was the turning point. People became interested in helping us, and wanted to make the event better. We moved the UU Fellowship in Huntington for the 4th (and 5th?) year where attendance grew and grew. We soon added on workshops and vendors and music.
The years start to blur together in my memory, but as the festival grew, so did the community. The Huntington CUUPS group became active (now LIOC), Pagans in the Pub was started, NYC Pagan Pride contact Joe and me for help getting their first event off the ground, and they're in their 11th year now. And a bunch of groups came together made up of people who found each other at these public events.
That last sentence is very important. People COME TOGETHER at these events, small and large. Solitaries who once felt alone now know they are NOT alone. People who are curious and unsure meet people with experience and knowledge who are willing to teach. So much grew out of the various events that the Beltane fest sparked. I think it's because once people saw that it COULD be done, they decided it SHOULD be done and DID it.
It's that spirit of community, of coming together, of DOING IT as a family of like-minded (although from different paths) souls making a difference for people they don't even know (yet). I will say that even after all this time, I'm still embarrassed to be recognized and have "fans". It was NEVER about me (my Goddess kicked me HARD in the ass and I did as she asked), or my coven. It was about the community at large.
And to see you all coming together like this, to support each other and work on continuing a cherished tradition....well, it just makes my heart proud and brings tears to me eyes. I know Joe is looking down and smiling from the Summerlands. THIS is what we worked and strived for and it can't be a better birthday gift to him.