Letters

This week has been a flurry of sending out letters and notices to the organizers, founders, participants and organizations I will be working with (in some cases hoping to work with) for all of my projects.  The weight of what I am doing is starting to make it's presence known.  I am basically doing this without any guarantee of financial support and dedicating the next two years of my life to directing, producing, filming and editing plus Community organizing and event planning with the EMPPA.  When I finish principle photography on "The Wheel of the Year in Maine" I'll still have 6-9 Months of editing to complete before I have a workable film.  To say the least, it's daunting.

I don't fear that I have bitten off more than I can chew.  There is no real fear for me other than that I want what I am doing to have value.  I want it to draw together my community, my tribe, in a manner that is positive and cathartic for everyone involved.

For the last 18 months, since I really became involved in the Pagan community here, I've been searching for a way to contribute something.  I started out wanting to be a Bard.  Well, not really "a" Bard, more like "the" Bard.  I had kept my ear to the ground and found that there were not that many folks claiming any kind of "Bardic" title so I figured that was my niche.

I love showmanship, singing and poetry.  It seemed like a good fit but stepping into that role I discovered that I did not need to be special to be valuable.  I did not need a title to contribute, I only needed to be myself and that was a catharsis in and of itself.

There is also the possibility that people will not want to be a part of things.  I have a fear of that as well.  For the most part, people in the community have seen me, met me.  I think most folks who have interacted with me can tell I am genuine but I can't blame people who don't know me for potentially being a little skiddish about the idea of letting me put them on camera doing "Pagany" things.  Paganism is a fringe element in many ways and a long history of oppression from more mainstream spiritual paths is why many people who are Pagan choose to remain out of the spotlight.

One of the things I really want to do with this documentary is demonstrate how our community/tribe is vital and important.  It is nice for me to imagine how solitary practitioners might see this film and realize that even if they wish to practice alone, there is a large community of people with which they can share their experience.

One very exciting thing that I find about this project is the chance to meet and interact with people I have not yet met.  I can only imagine that there are potentially hundreds of people I have yet to meet and spend time with and these projects are a bridge to new relationships and a chance to learn new and exciting things, share ideas and further strengthen the connective tissue of our Tribe.  Sally forth!