Day 15 – Something or someone I couldn’t live without, because I’ve tried living without it.
Actually, I’m going to say Camp Gaea. I can’t live without going to Camp Gaea to refresh my soul.
I went to Gaea for the first time in October 2005 for a Flinthills Pagan Council Retreat. I got lost. Horribly horribly lost. But then I was there.. and it as like coming home. It was a magical weekend and filled a need I never knew I had.
Each time I make that turn into Gaea, I go over the path and through the gate, and I’m home again. For 5 wonderful years, I have had a place where I can go.. and simply be.
I can’t live without Gaea. I can’t live without revitalizing my soul on a regular basis. I went to my first Heartland Pagan Festival in 2006. It was amazing. I blogged about it from 2007, 2008 and 2010.
2009 I missed it… and I found I could not live without it. I can’t live without revitalizing my soul and the best and closest place to do that is Gaea. John was so worried about me, he sent me to Gaea Goddess Gathering in September. I was so horribly stressed and just empty inside. The weekend I missed HPF 2009, I cried and cried and cried. I felt dead inside. It broke my heart, but more importantly, it broke my soul.
Now, I don’t necessarily need Camp Gaea to revitalize, but it is the best place I have ever found and it does what I need. I provides me a place where I can be myself, where I can be one with nature, where I can breathe and live and be without worrying about the mundane. It is my escape from the horrors of this world and the place I can go to save myself.
Gaea holds a lot of additional memories for me.
The FHPA Retreat of course, then going out there with Jack and walking the trails, taking pictures, sharing it with John where I finally allowed myself to express my true feelings and tell him that I had fallen in love with him and I was able to say the words “I love you” .. and then having our Handfasting there in 2008 to my first Pagan events, HPF and then GGG.
I cannot and hopefully will never have to live without Camp Gaea… or at least something similar where my soul can be free and it will feel like I am coming home. I need to visit regularly to keep my soul healthy and happy in this sometimes dark and dismal world.
Thank the Goddess for Gaea and everything and everyone who made such a magical place possible.
Blessed Be!
