THE CALL OF QUEER SPIRIT,  by Shokti Lovestar

Until the spiritual nature of queer people is understood, religious persecution of us will not end.

The world will not do this work for us, we find this understanding inside ourselves.

Only we can define our own queer spirit.

MAYDAY! Or.... How to celebrate unity when you're really feeling scarcity! by Sameesi

Today is Beltane, cue the images of the Goddess and her Consort entwined, talk of fertility rituals and just the general feel that everyone and every living thing is getting it on!

Beltane, or Mayday as it is sometimes called falls bang in the middle of the spring equinox and the summer solstice.

Gender and Sexuality by Tonya Moralez (Divinity in Love)

People won’t understand things they’ve never experienced or seen. A lot of our queer awareness and understanding of deeper subjects than the average person's relationship with the world, comes from the reality that we, ourselves, have personally experienced things which transport us to places in our mind, or in relation to society, so that we automatically navigate towards to attempt understanding OUR own experiences.

Embracing the Changes by Al Head

We are living in a time of change and uncertainty. The Extinction Rebellion movement shows that many people are waking up and demanding a halt, although some would say it is far too late, to the destruction that human beings are wreaking upon the planet, a destruction that has already seen the loss of tens of thousands of species and huge areas of our beautiful earth.

From Stonewall to Festival: Riots to Rites

At Stonewall Inn in June 1969 the Queers fought back against police harassment and society's judgments - a movement destined to redefine who we are was born. Trans People, Gay Men, Lesbians, Queers – ALL were involved and were standing together for our rights, and as at Pride events around the world, at Queer Spirit Festival our rainbow community gathers as one tribe:

Gay Priests in the Vatican – a response from Queer Spirit

Is anyone surprised that so many Christian priests are gay?

French journalist and author Frédéric Martel is publishing 'In the Closet of the Vatican', claiming that 80% of priests working at the centre of the Roman Catholic church are gay, although not necessarily sexually active. He says that some of the most senior clerics in the Roman Catholic church who have vociferously attacked homosexuality are themselves gay.

OUT OF THE MISTS OF OUR LONG OPPRESSION...

At the Stonewall Riot in New York 1969 the Queers fought back. Enough of the persecution, enough of the shame and fear, enough of the denial of our Queer Spirit.  We stepped into Pride and began a journey of self-acceptance that kicked off a global process, which, 50 years later, is in full swing. As our Pride gatherings around the world we declare loud and clear – we are a rainbow people who celebrate freedom, love and self-expression. A people rising from the ashes of a conflagration against our kind that has lasted for far too long and now has to end...

Queer Spirit Festival Returns

Queer Spirit Festival - a celebration of the love, passion and creative spirit of the LGBTQ+ community The third Queer Spirit Festival offers 5 days of community, pleasure, play and enrichment for body, mind and soul in the countryside with camping space for 600. The festival features ceremonies, performance, workshops, dance parties, fire circles, drumming, sacred sexuality, activism, vegetarian/vegan cafes, sauna and more... There is an accessible camping area and there are activities for young people. LGBTIQ+ families are very welcome.

Sexual healing and the Queer Spirit festival - Gwydion Blackrose

This is a copy of the original blog which can be found at gwydionblackrose.com/sacred-sexuality-queer-spirit-festival

Last week I had the privilege to be part of the second Queer Spirit Festival in the UK. It took place in the same location as last year which is sort of close to Glastonbury and Stonehenge. It’s a beautiful location which already felt familiar to some degree because of me having already connected with it at the festival last year. Yet it was also new.

The Queer Spiritual Frontier - Shokti

Queer Spirituality is the movement of lgbt+ people taking matters of faith into our own hands, making way for the discovery of the innate, magical flow of the divine gifts of the Soul. It is queer people finding our own ways to commune with and celebrate the Mystery behind all Creation, however we perceive that.

Queer Spirit and the Earth - Al Head

Organising the Queer Spirit Festival involves a small percentage of visioning, magical workings, networking and getting together, a slightly larger percentage of meetings on skype, and a very large percentage of individual work, mostly on the computer. In the midst of emails, quotes, schedules, mailouts and event plans it is sometimes hard to remember why we are doing what we are doing – the vision and the ethos that are behind our actions, the meaning behind the creation, the reason for the name...

TRANS SPIRIT EMERGING

This blog highlights key books written over the past 4 decades that celebrate the link between transgender and the sacred, historically and today - Shokti.

Queer Spirit Poem - Shokti

CALL TO THE WITCH IN EVERY QUEER
COME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND MOVE BEYOND FEAR
THE AQUARIAN AGE IS HERE
AND THIS SUMMER IN THE COUNTRYSIDE NOT FAR FROM YOU
A DREAM OF QUEER SPIRIT IS COMING TRUE

Queer spirit festival returns for a second year - Shokti

Celebrating the union of sexuality and spirituality, exploring and deepening that union, expressing it through acts of love, dance, kindness and creativity…. Queer Spirit Festival returns to the Wiltshire countryside, July 26-30, 2017.

QUEER SPIRIT: the next step - Shokti Lovestar

The expansion of LGBTQ life into the spiritual dimensions could be the catalyst for our emergence as a GLOBAL FORCE, a tribe of lovers, radicals, healers, artists… of agents of change bringing about a more accepting, open-minded, heart-centred world

Queer Spirit Festival and Orlando - a response by Al Head

I heard about the mass shootings at an lgbtq club in Orlando, USA, while I was at a ‘Radical Faerie’ gathering near Glastonbury, UK.

A little bird told me...

This ground breaking new Festival of Queer Spirituality is bringing together an astounding line up of performers, activists and spiritual facilitators, combining their skills and talents in the name of the growth of love, community and awareness in the queer universe.  

Some Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation

This topic has come up in conversation several times recently. It's also one that I have been thinking about on and off since the 1980s. I don't claim to have any definitive answers about it, but I think it is a really important thing to think about. I really hope we can have some good discussion about it at Queer Spirit Festival.

Time for a Festival

Queer Spirit Festival arrives on Planet Earth in the English county of Wiltshire, home of stone circles, crop circles and much ancient magic and mystery. 

Why Queer Spirit?

My personal perception of the name of the festival, by Al Head

Autumn site visit

A visit to the site for the Queer Spirit Festival.  Our connection with the place that we hope 500 queers will come together in stunning Wiltshire countryside at the Full Moon for five days of celebration, exploration, sharing and caring. 

Emerging energy

The energy starts to emerge...
On a slightly wet and overcast day at the start of May we went to visit a potential venue that we thought may be just right for our vision of a summer festival for 2016.