My "Why": Modern Ritual, Golden Moments & Belonging

I'm so curious to see what happens here on this 'Festival & Space Maker Network', and just in general our local cultural growth over time. Thank you to everyone that puts blood, sweat and tears into making it happen. 🥰

I decided to take a little time to share what this all <waves hands generally> means to me. Dancing under the stars and on the farms, getting sweaty and silly with friends and strangers, dressing up, showing up a bit bigger and bolder than usual (and closer to who I really am).

For me, it comes down to this: I am seeking ritual, and I am seeking belonging. And these moments, these weekends, these hugs, these sunrises on the dance floor, are part of how I find them.

To me it feels like the default world, western capitalist hegemony doesn’t make much room for ritual. It doesn't really teach people about marking transitions or tending to our longings in communal ways. And I've so appreciative to see people in my community putting time and care into this.

From cold water dipping circles to cacao ceremonies, from Dance Temple to late-night fire-side truths, to men's and women's circles, we are building rituals together—sometimes clumsy, sometimes sacred, but always meaningful. These are small acts of collective re-enchantment and a reminder that magic and the mundane are both important (hopefully more and more magic though!)

For me, festivals are not just parties, they’re temporary temples. They offer space for play, for presence, and for purposeful connection.

I've been to Burning Man multiple times, and I'm curious about Shambhala and Bass Coast, however I have made a conscious decision to prioritize local festivals like Pachena Bay, Otherworld, and next year’s Dance Temple Gathering, because they connect me to the people I live alongside year-round.

It just feels "right" to be dancing beside the same people I might run into at the farmers’ market or at a business mixer, or grabbing a coffee. We’re not just co-partiers, we belong to the same community... and to each other.

While I value my autonomy and often dance alone, more of my golden moments involve other people. Sharing ridiculously long, melting hugs (awww, I love you Robin, wherever you are). It’s sitting on the beach just talking shit making each other laugh until we cry (Kaely! Jessica! hahahahaha). It’s that peak dance floor moment when you return to your body, open your eyes, and across the crowd someone else is just as exalted, and your eyes meet, and you both smile and do that little nod like you know each other, and you’ve remembered something ancient and true, like you're both IN THE MAGIC. ✨

A few years ago at Pachena Bay, I went to a dating workshop held in the woods. We were invited to go around in a circle and share something that someone should know about us if they were thinking about dating us. I still remember one person’s offering: “I like to go slow… like think of slow, and then go even slower than that.” What stuck with me wasn’t just what people shared—it was the quality of sharing. These weren’t conversations you’d expect from strangers. But because we were held in the big container of the festival, and then the smaller container of that workshop, people opened. I opened. And it watered a part of my inner garden that I'm always trying to cultivate... a contemplative, thoughtful way of being... and I am sure I wasn't the only one.

Of course, these things require time, money, energy. And while I recognize the uncomfortable reality of operating inside capitalism, I also see that the value exchange isn’t just transactional—it’s transformational. What we’re building together isn’t just events—it’s culture. It’s part of the magic that is really... to me... the whole point of being on this planet.

I'd love to hear a bit about your "why",... and I'll see you on the dance floor. 🤩

Leif

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