YOHOO!!!!! Here is the call for this years course of
********************************************************************************************************************************************
Quest of the Radical Crosspollinators:
A Pioneering Journey That Activates and Supports New Ways to Weave and Tie Together Our Communal Experience as Individual Spirits

In this quest, to commence in the spring of the year of the rat, a group of radical queers of all genders and colors will travel the hollows, meadows, and mountains, seeking wisdom, community, profound conversation, transformation, and spiritual insight. On this journey they will revel in the company of other like-minded folks who also desire the opportunity to reflect and expound upon our experience, dreaming and imagining the future. At various gatherings across the land we will embrace and explore merriment, costume, revelry, humor, wit, satire, love, compassion, wisdom, experience, frivolity, passion, joy, sadness, tears, laughter and the desire to dream.
The genesis of this idea was born in the forest, at the culmination point of three days spent visioning on Halloween Ridge (SMS) about “what the future might hold.” It also reflects ideas and dreams expressed in a number of conversations held at gatherings at ZMS, SMS and Wolf Creek. One topic that persistently appeared was the powerful potential of radical crosspollination. Just think, for a moment, about the vital role bees play in pollinating the fruit trees, the flowers and the vegetables. My dears, bees are at the very core of our subsistence.
The Quest of the Radical Crosspollinators (QRC) intends to hold a series of empowering and thoughtful discussions at various gatherings, beginning with the late-April Beltaine gathering at Short Mountain, and culminating with the presentation of final projects in San Francisco in November. We will explore the power and complexity of describing gathering experience and the power in having one’s voice heard.

Goals
The following is a short list of goals for this endeavor; others will emerge in our crosspollinator discussions:
1. Exploring the power and complexity of the gathering experience.
2. Invigorating local “faerie” cultures.
3. Fostering the enhancement and evolution of our “web” of connection.
4. Creating a common voice for discussing our broader culture without speaking for each other.
5. Attracting new opportunities through exploration.
6. Engaging in powerful work, while maintaining an emphasis on play, frivolity, and lightness of being.

We hope to attract new opportunities into our lives through readiness and a clear understanding of our common interests. Opportunities are in abundance, and by practicing honest self-awareness, organizing our resources, and forming clear intentions, opportunities will result in substantial personal growth and achievement.
There are many benefits to be gained from discussing the gathering experience. Yet how do we create a common voice without speaking for each other? Collectively we will generate a method of discussion without making assumptions about the thoughts and views of the other members of our greater community.
Questions we might ask ourselves when embarking on a quest that furthers our individual and collective spiritual growth: What opportunities do we want to create? How might we implore the universe to assist us in the manifestation of new projects and ideas? What other ways can we prepare ourselves to be ready for new opportunities that, in turn, will open space for extraordinary events to occur?

Participation
Crosspollinators will begin with an in-depth conversation intended to help each of us formulate intentions for participation in the quest, as a formal way to open individual portals. It is our experience that the formation of intentions leads to paths of empowerment. Also, everyone involved will be asked to commit to attending the first and last gathering (Short Mountain Beltaine ‘08 and Final Paper Presentations in San Francisco), and to attending 2-6 of the other gatherings (i.e. a minimum of 3-4 gatherings total from the list, we would prefer 4 but realize that work and financial considerations may be hindering). Please consider all that this may entail for you in taking on this commitment and responsibility.
Another goal of the quest is to build a network of caring and sharing among fellow Crosspollinators. We will form carpools for travel to the gatherings, and do fund-raising (grants and fundraising events) to help meet the transportation costs of any Crosspollinators who have financial limitations. All of the events in the quest are “No One Turned Away For Lack of Funds” events, but we also ask the participants to contribute coins ($) to the gatherings (according to each gathering’s suggested donation scale) if that is in your realm of possibility.
At each gathering there will be many opportunities to contribute in non-coin ways. We plan to do some of this work as a group. At each sanctuary we will take on a (manageable) land project to benefit that particular community; at some gatherings we will cook “crosspollinator dinners” (possibly with fullpull dance parties and some great djs); and at other gatherings, such Utah and San Francisco , we will need to meet nearly all of our cooking needs collectively.

Our Calendar
Gathering #1

April 29 Short Mt. Sanctuary , Liberty TN :

A convocation of all participants will be held prior to the Beltane Gathering at Short Mountain Sanctuary. This extensive introduction to Quest of the Radical Crosspollinators (i.e. QRC 101) will be held at the sanctuary or at a nearby location. These meetings will provide the groundwork for the Quest and provide opportunities to outlay individual and collective intentions. We will also discuss the ethical issues and responsibilities surrounding the quest.

April 25-May 4, Short Mountain Beltaine Gathering, Liberty TN :

At the Beltaine Gathering, the crosspollinators will focus on putting into practice the ethical considerations discussed in the previous gathering. Ultimately, a crosspollinator code of ethics will surface and receive consensus. The second focus of this gathering will commence in a public event, a round-table (or round-robin) discussion facilitated by Ganesha entitled “Seven Generations of Faeries to Come.” Following this event will be a smaller discussion within the QRC group aimed at organizing the ideas that came from the public event. Finally, fitting into our need to begin organizing our communal resources, QRC will assist and help organize a series of skill-shares taught by people at the gathering.

Gathering #2

June 6-10, Wolf Creek (spiritual gathering) , Wolf Creek , OR:

The Wolf Creek spiritual gathering will be the central focus of this gathering—as there is so much work to do at a this spiritual gathering. QRC discussions will be focused on a better understanding of the ceremony for Crosspollinators involved, and a forum for discussion our dance, which can involve deep emotions and powerful experiences. In fact, QRC will be a silent humble component of the this spiritual gathering experience. Crosspollinators who participate in the Naraya will be asked to follow the lead of the Naraya elders and facilitators. Participation in spiritual gathering requires completing a gate keeping process. QRC group discussions will occur before and after the 4-day experience.

Gathering #3

June 26-29, Embracing Our Queer Spirits Gathering Salt Lake City Utah

Embracing and Experiencing our Queer Spirits: Are you prepared to have an extraordinarily stunning life? The Utah QRC gathering encounters our lives as living Queer Spirits. Together we will strive for a new paradigm of profound living as Queer people as envisioned and defined by Queer people rather than monolithic heterosexist culture. Through the embrace of our Queer Spirituality we will create a container, a place of permission, to freely follow the heart to a place that liberates opportunity on a deep soul level. In this container we will create a process, a journey, in which we Queer Spirits inhabiting human form will gather in circle, in ceremony, in ritual, in our sexuality, our sensuality, or psychology and our deep, and at times, unknown essence. The vision includes tapping into the magic and the ancestral knowledge of who we are as individuals of a Queer nature. This Queer Sprit quest has an ambition to create an intimate space in which individual truth; vision and stories are explored, expanded, embraced and then witnessed and brought forth. By embracing our inherent power
we can work to break through the hurdles that challenge us in relationships, sustainability, intellectual pursuits, spiritual growth, and prosperity. Through this work we will enhance and enliven our dance with all of humanity as our planet encounters profound change and evolution.

Gathering #4

Shamans Gathering Zuni Mt. Sanctuary, Ramah , NM Aug 15-24 :

The Shamans Gathering will continue the quest of engaged personal practice by exploring ways to bridge the individual process with the communal. Group discussions on building, sustaining and creating new models for community will anchor the work of this gathering. Additionally, Crosspollinators will have the option of joining a wide variety of workshops presented by attendees of the Shamans Gathering and presenting their own workshops if they so choose.

Gathering #5
TBA

Gathering #6

Late Sept-Early Oct Fall Gathering Short Mt. Sanctuary, Liberty , TN :

The work or the quest at the fall gathering is to honor and exquisitely celebrate faerie history and our faerie history makers. Luminaries of the faerie community’s past and present will be invited to record an oral history series. Tentatively, the Crosspollinators will stage a collaborative performance during the gathering entitled: “Faerie Elder Storytelling,” encouraging elders to tell outrageous stories of our collective history.

Gathering #7

Oct 25-Nov 3, Samhain Gathering, Wolf Creek , OR:

Samhain at Wolf Creek Sanctuary is a paragon of faerie ritual culture. This gathering provides an opportunity for Crosspollinators to experience a profound ritual that has been revived and nurtured for decades by the Wolf Creek community. At Wolf Creek Samhain, pagan ancestry is truly explored and the expression “the veil is very thin” is vividly experienced. It is strongly requested that all Crosspollinators attend this gathering, as it plays a pivotal role in ending the faerie ritual calendar.

Gathering #8

Nov 8, Final Paper Presentations, San Francisco , CA

All Crosspollinators will present a final project that reflects upon their journey through insights gained in gathering experience and introspective thought. The form of the final project is open to a wide variety of avenues of expression such as formal paper presentation, a series of poems, a slide show presentation accompanied with a narrative of your journey, a dramatic or comic play, a performance piece. Final projects can be collaborations between Crosspollinators. After all of the presentations, a group discussion will be held to provide emotional and intellectual closure.

Nov 9, Faerie Symposium, San Francisco , CA :

The Faerie Symposium will be planned and facilitated by a group of individuals—from both the QRC community and outside—interested in deep, thoughtful discussions of issues concerning the faerie movement and a variety of other workshops and individual presentations. This will be an opportunity for crosspollinators to participate in discussions and present individual work (if they so choose) as well as an introduction to some of the great thinkers/do-ers of the “faerie” community. Goddess willing, there will be an awesome final party hosted by a fabulous Bay Area faerie yet to be determined.
Faerie Pop-ins
At several of the gatherings, guest instructors will provide short workshops covering a variety of topics and skills. If you or someone you know is interested in information regarding being a Faerie Pop-in, contact Lapis Luxury.

Facilitation
QRC discussions will be facilitated by beekeepers, who will help to weave the threads from gathering to gathering. Although facilitated, discussions—and the quest in general—are not intended to focus on any one individual. There will also be a group of check-in facilitators, who will provide check-ins for all crosspollinators in the course of the QRC.

Registration and a BeeKeeping Conversation will be required for this quest, to commence for each cross pollinator.

Our beekeeper will be:
lapis luxxxury lapisluxxxury@gmail.com

Our maiden of registry will be
jimmy rose trojandove@yahoo.com

thank you so much for being involved in the impetus of this work. Thank you for your good wishes and support.
may we all buzz well.