Mark Green's Atheopaganism Blog

What I know is this: the gatherings are lovely. Good people, good humor, intelligent conversation, kind values. The kind of people I am proud to call friends.

The Atheopagan Society has now produced two in-person events for Atheopagans: the Suntree Retreats, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. We do them every two years*.

The Suntree Retreats and the in-person gatherings of my local Atheopagan affinity group are precious to me because of how they feel. When I am there, I feel seen and open and surrounded by people who interest and inspire me. Nice as Zoom gatherings are, there is nothing like hanging out with people in person.

Recently, while attending the Zoom Mixers on Saturday mornings and Thursday evenings (see the Facebook group and Discord server for times and links) I have heard a lot of talk about organizing regional or local gatherings so people can meet up with one another more frequently.

I think this is a wonderful idea!

So this post is to provide some help with creating such events. It doesn’t have to be super-complicated and even simple events can be really enjoyable.

Here are the elements of a successful event:

• Scheduling
• Location
• Food and drink
• Activities

Scheduling

I find that a long weekend is a good length for an event: from midday or afternoon Friday to midday Sunday. Knowing when you are doing an event is of course the requirement for reserving a place where you can do it. Give yourself plenty of time in advance so your venue doesn’t book up.

Locations

These do not have to be fancy! I once planned a Pagan campout called Midsummer Dawn at the group campground of a local state park. It was just a simple weekend camping trip with a plan for a ritual on Saturday night; I’m sure it would have been great fun if COVID hadn’t come along and shut everything down. I charged $10-30 per person to cover the cost of the campsite and a communal meal.

Considerations for locations include expense; accessibility (both for the disabled and in terms of distance from population centers attendees will come from); proximity to major roads and/or airports; and amenities like a pool, hot tub or hiking trails. Options range from group campgrounds to rental cabins, short-term rental houses (such as AirBnBs), even hotels or retreat centers. But simple and affordable is often easiest; costs can be shared among attendees and there is something wonderful about camping out together. Be sure to consider privacy if you want to do rituals together. Collect fees in advance to pay for the venue; you can use services like EventBrite or SignUpGenius.

Food and Drink

Food for these events falls into four broad categories: bring-your-own, potluck, communal, and catered. The last, of course, is by far the most expensive.

Bring-your-own is the easiest for the event organizer: people simply take responsibility for their own food, and that’s it. But it can be more enjoyable to share a meal by having everyone bring a potluck dish (assign snacks, salads, entrees and desserts) for at least one of the meals during the event. These approaches can be hybridized: bring your own breakfasts and lunches, for example, but potluck for collective dinners.

Communal meals are also enjoyable to prepare, but require buying groceries in advance to make sure you have everything, and will therefore increase the cost of the event. Simple menu items that can still make for enjoyable meals must take into consideration that some people have dietary restrictions, so the best options are select-your-own buffets like breakfast, sandwich and taco bars. There is more information on food options in the Atheopagan Gathering Planning Guide.

As for drink, it’s up to you whether or not alcohol is permitted at your event. If it is, I tend to limit it to beer, wine, cider and mead, and not hard alcohol. Merry, but not sloppy.

Activities

It is good to plan some activities for these gatherings, but be sure to leave a lot of free time to give people a chance for some alone time and to hang out with one another. If children are to attend, be sure to have activities for them, too.

Craft workshops such as mask- or rattle-making, bardic circles (a “talent show” in which attendees share their music, writing, crafts or other creative products), storytelling, group games, and Atheopagan rituals are all activities that fit well in an Atheopagan gathering. Often the rituals are the “big events” for Saturday and Sunday nights, especially if there is the ability to have a campfire**.

Here is an example schedule for a simple campout:

• Arrive Friday afternoon and set up camp
• Potluck dinner, early evening
• Clean up after dinner
• Light campfire and opening ritual
• Icebreaker game
• Bardic circle

• Saturday breakfast (bring your own)
• Assemble sandwiches for lunch (communal sandwich bar)
• Clean up breakfast and lunch
• Unstructured time (possible hike or walk)
• Storytelling circle in late afternoon (nap or hangout for those not interested)
• Communal taco bar dinner
• Clean up dinner
• Unstructured time, prep for ritual (face painting, costuming, etc.)
• Saturday night ritual around the fire (bring drums and rattles!)

• Sunday morning breakfast (bring your own)
• Clean up breakfast, strike camp
• Final closing and gratitude circle
• Hugs and goodbyes

A weekend like this will be a joyous and memorable occasion, be it for ten people or 50. If that sounds like too much structure to you, strip more out! The event is for you and your fellow attendees, however you would like to conduct it.

I hope to see more in-person Atheopagan gatherings happening soon, and to meet you at one of them!

*In the intervening years we do a virtual conference, the Atheopagan Web Weaving: the next one is coming up on June 13-15 of this year. This is an affordable (sliding scale, and none turned away for lack of funds) online gathering on Zoom with workshops, socializing, a keynote speaker and more. If you are interested in presenting at the conference, there is still time to propose a presentation here. Please share your practices, lore, knowledge and fun!

**DO NOT ever leave a campfire unattended. Put it out thoroughly at the end of each evening’s fire circle.