Facilitators ’13

Path: The Art of Eros: Exploring erotic self expression through ritual and performance.

Jennifer Byers is a witch who is committed to the work, play and art of being human. For the past ten years, Jennifer has been teaching in her local communities, and at witch camps across the U.S., including Midwest Camp, Winter Camp, California Camp and Mystery Camp. Jennifer moves through the world as a queer sustainable sensualist; as an artist, food activist, musician, poet and dedicant of Freyja.

She grounds her work in self-knowledge, accountability, interconnectedness, love and beauty. She believes that we are all divine; deserving of love and justice, and she hopes her life helps to cultivate a culture that reflects this. Jennifer often uses ecstatic, creative and theatrical tools in her teaching and values diversity of experience and learning styles.

When not at camp, Jennifer can be found in Minneapolis, MN, where she is settling in after a move from Chicago in January. There, she is gardening, making music, nurturing community and working to cultivate a practice of devotion, service, self-love and mindfulness. Check out her blog.

Pavini Moray identifies as a queer, genderqueer, radical educator and sexological bodyworker. Pavini has committed their lifework to the liberation of our sexualities and bodies, and the reclamation of our pleasures. Pavini’s work is built upon a platform of compassion, acceptance, permission giving and joyful reframing. Communal erotic experiences that transform the far edges of desire into normative, accessible and accepted spaces get Pavini hot and bothered. If you’d like to know more about Pavini’s work and vision, visit their website.

Hearth Path

Aja Rose Bond is an artist and a serious home-body. Her kitchen is a place of delight where wonderful things happen; brewing, fermenting, baking, meeting, reading, talking, making soups, dancing, drinking tea, experimenting, making magick and sharing with family, friends and sometimes strangers. She has been exploring the path of hospitality and service for the last 3 years with her partner through opening up their home as a public art space and lending library which tries to provide a wide array of nourishment to the community. She recently won “Best in Show” at a Pie Championship with her “Hard Bitch Savory Apple Pie”. This will be her 7th Witchcamp.

Ari is a witch who loves to put extra bits of magick into the food he makes for his loved ones. He is just coming back into the art of cooking after a few years of neglect. He believes in the creative and heartfelt transformation of beautiful foods into love, comfort and sustenance. He is excited about cooking collaborations and woo to share with the wonderful witches of Free Camp.

Theo Thea Theaooo is a wandering feral thing, farmer, musician, self proclaimed wing nut and young yet fierce Kitchen Witch who has been sighted prancing around the FCWC kitchen for 4 years or so in various states and capacities. Skills n lifting heavy things, laughing hysterically and jumping relatively (sometimes impressively) high in the air on a clear day with minimal wind speeds.

Kuri Red has been queening up kitchens since the tender age of 15, like their livelihood depends on it.  They like to showcase flavor through simple preparations, experiment with preservation, and are a huge food science nerd.  Surrounded by abundance at Tryon Life Community Farm, in Portland, Kuri has the privilege of experiencing the full cycle of sustenance, and engaging with the magic that it offers.  They’re real excited about working that magic in our camp container and weaving spells which nurture our growth.  When not in the kitchen, you might find them digging in the dirt, walkin their pup in the forest, playing with handcraft, tending community dynamics, learning about plant medicine, or gettin nasty on the dance floor.

sidria loves witchcamp with all their heart and is so very excited about diving deep in hearth path. they have taught and teen earth magic, withclets in the woods and have been organizing with FCWC for the past 3 years. they love food, eating with people, organizing local food networks in their home, and filling their brain full of information about food and it’s deliciousness. sid is excited about integrating the work of hearth more fully into the magic of camp, and creating a culture of self care, balance, deep connection to our bodies, and having the most fun ever!

Youth Tribe

Simon Beckford
I have been a lover of magic and wildness as far back as I can remember. I grew up on my parents homestead in rural Maine, never went to school, and have spent my life exploring and playing ever since. As an older teen, Reclaiming and witchcraft was a path that rose up to meet my feet and helped shape and give form to my intuition.

I now work as a wilderness instructor among other things and when I have a spare moment I tend to go right back into nature with anyone who will join me. This will be my first year at Free Camp, and my first time teaching at a Witch Camp. I’m wonderfully excited and honored to become a part of this community.

Pixie Path

Mars Goetia
I am a parent, anarchist, musician, and human who deeply loves and cares for the earth and her creatures and spirits. I strongly value diverse multi-generational communities and see them as essential to the strength of radical movements and struggles. This has inspired me to explore what it means to love unconditionally and fiercely, as a parent, community member, and animal on our amazing shared earth.

I have lived in occupied Ohlone territory for over a decade, and have spent time developing a relationship with the land, and learning what it means to practice earth based spirituality on colonized land. I also have spent time organizing community and support for radical parents, supporting prisoners, defending wild places, being involved with indigenous solidarity work, and being a care giver to my community.

I am excited to continue to watch the children in my life grow up surrounded by communities that can learn from mistakes and differences, listen deeply to the earth and each other, and co-create the world we want to live in.

Derek Roy is a care provider from Santa Cruz, CA and founding member of the child care collective SCAMPS (Santa Cruz Anarchist Mentors and Parents). They have experience working with kids, elders and differently abled individuals. They are excited to guide Pixie Path this year knowing kids have a capacity for an unmediated joy that comes from our knowing ourselves to be capable of magic!

Parker Hewes
I’ve worked for the Vancouver School board for over 5 years. Specifically in a small Kindergarten- Grade 4 community school supporting kids with special needs and doing general classroom support as well.

I’ve also been doing childcare with special needs and neurotypical kids as a nanny or respite worker for 13 years. I have CPI (Non-violent crisis intervention) training, sexual health educator certification (the sex and body-positive kind), First Aid and CPR training and have been to countless workshops and seminars on child development ( attachment, sensory needs, special needs issues, play and art therapy, conflict resolution, anti-oppression topics for kids, etc.)

So there is my “I am responsible and have lots of experience” info. I think the thing that is most important is that I genuinely love hanging out with children… especially in creative and play settings where we can create our own games and fun and magic together. Kids are inherently magical creatures and I am so excited to meet witchy kiddos!

Facilitators still working out their paths

Chuck is a life long lover of magic and the land. She became involved with a Unitarian Universalist Pagan community in Virginia as a child and draws on over 20 years of magical practice in the Reclaiming and the UU Pagan tradition. Her spiritual practice has played a critical role in her activism and she is deeply committed to the work of justice with roots in pagan practice.

She currently serves the bay area community as an herbal healer and an Interfaith Chaplain at a local public hospital. Chuck has been involved with the Free Camp for over 8 years and regularly feels grateful and blessed to be a part of this community.

Julie Dragonfly calls Free Camp home since her first witch camp in 2009. JD has been dabbling in the craft since 2005, one year before quitting her engineering career and committing to fully evolving her Self.

For the past 3 years, Dragonfly has been traveling with the project “Sing as I am” and has witnessed the healing power of sound in prisons, Findhorn’s gardens, at a school in the Himalayas, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nepal and at her sister’s death bed.

From the teachers, pain and pleasure, JD is learning to surrender A LOT, love unconditionally and to be present with all of life, including death.

The practices most influencing her magic are Buddhist meditation and death practice, deep listening and sound journeying, yoga and sacred sex. Dragonfly feels zer faery self most alive while co-creating with nature and so, is looking forward to frolicking with the fey again this year. Check out her blog.

Jude Elf lives for paradigm shifts, lightbulb moments,ecstatic transformative ritual and deep personal magic. She rejoices in sharing her passion for connecting to the divine through music, dance, and song.

A life long activist, she loves the alchemy of mixing magic with the work of the great turning, combining spell work, stewardship, egalitarian group process, non-violent action, and emancipated sexuality.

A song catcher, fire spinner, green witch and moon dancer, she teaches magic and sacred sexuality, and offers pastoral services including support with rites of passage.

She has taught at, and helped organize, Reclaiming Witchcamps throughout the U.S. for over a decade. A member of Kidsfest, she helps to facilitate large public rituals that gather the community to turn the wheel and honor the seasons. She lives at Milkweed Farm, a community in Northern Vermont where she delights in the fey and elements of nature.

NoraBee is a femme poet-priestess who came to Reclaiming in 2001 through a community ritual in Asheville, NC, and quickly fell deeply and wildly in love with the tradition. A kitchen witch with a flair for the dramatic, she believes red lipstick is a magical tool and that creative work is the divine made manifest.

Her professional and priestessing work focus on cultivating spaces for people to tell their stories, and she is deeply committed to the transformative acts of listening and being listened to. She has organized with Free Activist/Cascadia Witchcamp, Witchlets, YARROW, the San Francisco Ritual Planning Cell, and the newly coalescing SEAStar, as well as queer and fat (and fat queer) communities around the San Francisco Bay Area. She recently moved to the PNW to continue her graduate work in poetry and poetics.

Riyana Sweetwater has been making magic with the Reclaiming Community for thirteen years, when she first stepped through the spiral portal as a young woman at California Camp. Like many Geminis, she has a diverse array of interests that she enjoys weaving into her priestessing work: the magic of song and dance, herbalism, women’s blood mysteries, sacred sexuality and street activism.

She also enjoys incorporating the magic of other mystical traditions (with reverence and respect) into her work. She holds a Master’s degree in Women’s Spirituality from Naropa Unversity, and works as an herbalist and wellness educator in her local community. Her magical practice incorporates writing, music, yoga, and immersing herself in nature.

She has taught and organized with Fe Activist Witchcamp, California Camp, Winter Witchcamp, Teen Earth Magic and Witchlets, and regularly teaches classes within the San Francisco Bay Area community.

When not hanging out with witches in the woods or by the waters, she can often be found taking a nap in the sun with her cat, Emily Moon or having a crazy adventure with her beloved partner, Jason Scarecrow. For more information, you can check out her blog or her herbal website.

Seneca is a follower of Moon and Sun, a priestess of playful and intuitive magic, and conspirer in the creation of new culture. A kitchen witch, experiential educator, artist, doula and dancer, Seneca finds all sorts of fun ways to serve a wide spectrum of communities. Whether cooking at camps or facilitating challenging activities to multicultural groups of 4^th & 5^th graders that draw forth their innate ability to be respectful, assertive and resolve conflict without violence, Seneca walks this world with grace and a brilliance that makes people comfortable and inspired to be their biggest self.

Seneca has co-facilitated the New Moon and Pixie paths at Free Camp in the past.