Incident of Religious Harassment Against Heathens at Gaea Retreat

Incident of Religious
Harassment Against Heathens
at Gaea Retreat on September 25, 2011
Earth Rising Board Members,
Religious harassment was directed at our Lightning Across the Plains event this past
weekend at Gaea Retreat. This harassment was profane, intentional, and stretched over
several hours of the evening. This harassment was committed against over 200 heathens
from across the Midwest, who had traveled hours and hours with their families to gather with
other heathens in the safety and shelter provided by Gaea Retreat, and guaranteed in your
Agreement of Respect. The source of
this harassment was a group of overnight campers in Davawood, that
included John Allen, Leslie Hannah,
and Marc Nielsen. The Harassment
took place during our most holy night of
the year, during the most Holy ritual of
that night, and it had a direct and
painful impact on a great number of
people who had believed themselves
safe from such behavior at Gaea
Retrreat. (See Appendix A for over
30 statements from witnesses and
those that experienced the religious
harassment).
In addition, we observed illegal drugs in the campsite occupied by John Allen, Leslie Hannah,
and Marc Nielsen. On Sunday, September 26, after they departed we observed their
campsite to be covered in litter, including a large cardboard box, cigarette butts, a celephane
wrapper, and paper (See Appendix B for photos of trash left in their campsite). These
violations of the Gaea rules are minor compared to the religious harassment visited upon us,
but are clear signs of the absolute disregard and disrespect these individuals have for Camp
Gaea, its Rules, and its Mission to serve as a Sanctuary for those who respect themselves,
respect others, and respect the land.
LIGHTNING ACROSS THE PLAINS (LATP)
The first LATP was at Gaea in September of 2009 and was attended by 120 heathens. By
heathen standards this was a huge number of attendees. LATP 2010 was attended by 240
heathens and LATP 2011 was attended by 225 heathens. LATP is a family-oriented event,
and at all three of our events so far, children have make up 1/3 of those in attendance. This
year's event had attendees from all over the Midwest, from Colorado to Tennessee, and
Michigan to Texas. We also had visitors from L.A. California, Boston, Rhode Island,
Mississippi, and even one from Belgium.
LATP is the largest heathen gathering in the world. Literally. The next largest event is 180
heathens in Iceland for a Thor Blot and Feast at Thingvellir. The next largest event after that
is around 110 heathens, and they quickly dwindle in size after that. LATP's size and the focus
and tone of the event is setting trends for heathens across the world. People in Europe, as
well as the East and West Coast of the United States watch our event, borrow ideas from us,
and are moving forward in attempts to replicate our grown success.
I point all of this out to illustrate how special LATP is to heathens from across the globe, and
all of this is happening in partnership with Gaea Retreat, the Caretakers Clint and Rhi, and
the Board of ERI.
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GAEA RETREAT
Since the formation of our kindred in Kansas City in 2007, we have had a special relationship
with Gaea Retreat. All of our kindred members have taken their kindred oaths at Forn Halr, a
tree we honor as Holy at Gaea Retreat.
I've lead the main ritual at Heartland
Pagan Festival. We've vended at
Heartland Pagan Festival. We strongly
supported the formation of Zenfest. We
completed a successful year of cabinsponsorship that included painting the
inside of our cabin and other general
repairs to our cabin. And with the
permission of the ERI Board we built and
now maintain a holy Ve around the old
oak we call Forn Halr, which includes an
enormous and beautiful altar, three handbuilt wooden benches, and a fire-pit.
Our Ve is visited by many guests to the
camp, and we receive complimentary
input about the Ve frequently. I received an email from a guest at the Men's Festival stating
that he found the Ve to be an enormously peaceful and powerful place to visit. Recently, one
of the organizers of GGG contacted me and asked how the guests at her festival could visit
and treat our Ve with respect. We conversed, I shared information with here, and I was
greatly impressed that she had shown such consideration for the Holy place we maintain at
Gaea Retreat.
Lightning Across the Plains generated nearly $4000 (including cabin rentals and the fees we
paid) for Gaea Retreat this year. It generated over $4000 last year, I believe...and we're
looking at LATP 2012 making over $4500 for Gaea Retreat, as we intend to ask the ERI
Board to allow us to make the event an exclusive event. We also hold an Ostara gathering at
Gaea Retreat every year in March that is regularly attended by 75-80 heathens, many of
which stay in cabins that weekend. I love Gaea. And though we are not Wiccan, we are
definitely pagan. And we have done everything we can to be a part of the community at
Gaea. Just this past weekend, Shane and I wrote back and forth a number of times
coordinating the Mabon ritual and LATP, so the neither event would infringe on the other or
cause any difficulties for anyone in attendance at either. I've talked to Shane recently, and
our planning and coordination worked out well for his event.
I've been coming out to Gaea since 2006. I have always been 100% respectful of others. I
smile and wave at every person I see out there, because it is just that sort of place, with that
sort of feeling. It is very easy for me to be generous in my joy when I'm at Gaea. I've had
amazing conversations with friends and strangers alike at Gaea, and I see it as a safe place.
A Sanctuary from religious harassment and oppression. It is why we have been so
comfortable in the past holding our events at Gaea, and visiting and camping there on
random weekends with our kindred and families. I've been a guest and a vendor at Heartland
Pagan Festival, and I am considered a “Past Honored Guest.”
We have a lot of Faith in Clint and Rhe, the caretakers at Gaea Retreat. They are always
100% helpful and supportive regarding the events we hold at Gaea Retreat, and they have
gone out of their way in the past to make sure everything went smoothly for us. We recognize
this, and in return we try to do our best to make their job conflict-free when we are out there.
We've also had a good working relationship with the Board of ERI, and have been very happy
with their support of our events and our sponsorship of the Ve.
THE RELIGIOUS HARASSMENT ON SATURDAY NIGHT
Lightning Across the Plains is a social and religious event that is carefully planned to bring
heathen kindreds and heathen families together in order to build friendship, loyalty, and
cooperation. Everything planned in the event, leads up to Saturday evening...which consists
of one Holy activity and ritual after another. First, all of our guest feasted together in the
Pavilion. This was followed by a heathen wedding for Johnny and Kimberly Hamilton. Kari
Tauring then performed music in celebration of the LATP event and the wedding. And all of
this if capped off by a blessing and a High Symbel.
This High Symbel is our most Holy ritual at LATP every year, and on Saturday night it was
attended by 175 to 200 heathens from across the country. We were in the Pavilion, and the
Symbel involves participants toasting their Gods, their Ancestors, the Spirits fo the Land, their
Deeds or the Deeds of others. After each toast, those gathered call out “Hail!” This ritual
toasting in High Symbel is very structured, purposeful, and meaningful. Each word is
important, and anything said incorrectly, inaccurate, or inappropriately is challenged by our
Thyle or the Lord of the Hall. A Symbel that goes poorly, can be displeasing to our Gods and
Ancestors, so every care is made to ensure that everything goes perfectly.
This year, we had encouraged all participants to have their children present during High
Symbel, so that they could observed and participate in the ritual. With 175+ people present,
each participant was going to get to make only one toast...and drink once from the horn. So
you can see the pressure involved in making sure you made your one toast count.
Partway through the Symbel, someone in the woods began to echo our “hails” with their own
“hails.” At first, our participants tried to ignore it, hoping it would stop without disrupting our
important and carefully planned Holy ritual. But, the echoing “hails” continued, and appeared
to be purposely done in a strange mocking voice. As the Lord of the Hall, it is my
responsibility to ensure the Symbel goes well, for the sake of all the Folk present. So, I sent a
three trusted men from my kindred into the woods to find the people mocking us during our
ritual, and ask them to stop. Johnny Hamilton, Bo Hopkins, and Will Burris performed this
task.
The three members of my kindred visited a campsite in Pixie Stix and another in Davawood,
and explained the importance of what we were doing, and asked that the mocking "hails"
please stop. Both camps denied yelling the mocking “hails.” At the Davawood camp, Johnny
spoke with Marc Nielsen and Leslie Hannah and a couple of other people, conveying this
information and request to everyone there.
The three kindred members returned to the Symbel, and for a time the mockery ceased.
When it started back up again awhile later, it was worse. Rather than just silly sounding
“hails“ from the woods, now we were hearing screams of...
“Shut up.”
“Hail naked hippie chicks dancing off in the woods"
“Hail beer.”
“Hail hailing.”
“Hail fucking in the ass with a dildo.”
“Hail Odin and all the women he fucked.”
“Hail those that get naked and have sex with chicks.”
“Blah, blah, blah.”
The most profane thing yelled during our High Symbel was, "Hail Odin fucking you all in your
naked asses in the Shower House."
These disgusting and inappropriate phrases were intentionally yelled at us in mockery of our
Holy ritual. They were yelled at a loud volume, that our wives and children were able to hear
their vulgarity, and it was lost on no one that our most Holy ritual of the year had been
disrupted by this utterly disrespectful and hateful religious harassment. We talked about this
later, and nearly all of us were thinking, “How can this happen at Gaea Retreat? Who would
do this to us?”
I sent my three trusted kindred members again to investigate who had done this and why they
had done it. But the enormously dishonorable and disrespectful nature of what had been
done to all of us, inspired at least 20 heathens to follow my three kindred members to
Davawood. I stayed at the High Symbel for a minute or so to ensure we closed the ritual as
properly as could be done, and then followed the heathens that had gone to Davawood.
On the way there, I heard yelling and cursing. I did not want there to be any violence or for
any of the heathens to violate the peace and Sanctuary of Gaea. So, I began running to get
to Davawood as quickly as possible.
I later learned, that when Chris “Gunnar” Miller had arrived at Davawood with several other
heathens, including Jude Croyle, they had been met immediately with cussing and threats
from two men who I later learned were John Allen and Marc Nielsen. At some point, one of
them moved toward a table that contained marijuana, a small axe, and a cell phone...so Chris
“Gunnar” Miller kicked the table to prevent them from grabbing the axe. This greatly angered
John Allen and Marc Nielsen even more, since their marijuana had flown everywhere when
the table toppled over with their axe. The statements of Chris “Gunnar” Miller and a heathen
named Falkor from Omaha both mention the small axe on the table that was kicked over.
When I got to Davawood, I moved through the crowd of heathens to the front. There I
observed Chris “Gunnar” Miller from Minnesota standing face-to-face with a brown-haired
man (who I later learned was Marc Nielsen). Gunnar had his arms at his sides, but Marc
Nielsen was screaming profanities and pointing his finger in Gunnar's face. I saw a blondhaired man (who I later learned was John Allen) and a girl with brown hair (who I later learned
was Leslie Hannah).
I could smell the strong smell of marijuana in the air, and both John Allen and Marc Nielsen
seemed to be intoxicated. Marc Nielsen was actually the loudest of the two men, and was
screaming for us to get the fuck out of his camp, calling us pussies, and saying they could do
whatever they wanted to do, as it was their camp, and we couldn't tell them what to do. At
one point, Marc Nielsen yelled, “Gaea says I can do what I want, so get the fuck out of my
camp!” Marc Nielsen also yelled, “We'll get you assholes kicked out of here.”
At first the folks at Davawood said they were not yelling anything at us during our Symbel.
But, when I asked one of the girls (I don't know her name) to talk to me off to the side, she
admitted that someone in their camp had done the yelling. Once I had this confirmation that
they had been doing the yelling, I felt like I needed to pull all the heathens away from
Davawood. I was confident that with the confirmation I now had that these had been the men
who had disrupted our High Symbel, that I could seek justice through the Caretaker and the
ERI Board, rather than allowing any violence to take place.
I called out loudly for all the heathens to return the ridge. But, as they began to back away
from Davawood, Marc Nielsen began yelling obscenities even more loudly. “Yeah, pussies,
get the fuck out of my camp before I kick your ass.” This caused some of the heathens to
walk back toward him. I was 100% certain that Marc Nielsen was attempting to bait my
guests into hitting him in order to get us in trouble with the Caretaker and the ERI Board. I
continued to order the heathens to leave Davawood, but Marc Nielsen continued to bait them
by calling them pussies and mocking them.
I did not want to lose control of the situation, so I walked up to Marc Nielsen and in a loud
voice told him that he “had no honor, and that he was the pussy.” I pointed out that it was he
and his friends who had purposely disrupted our Holy ritual, and that yelling even louder at us
as we walked away showed that it was he that “had no honor and was a pussy.” I yelled, “I'm
taking all the heathens out of your campsite, so stop fucking yelling at them.” This seemed to
quiet him down long enough to get the heathens out of Davawood. But the yelling and threats
from Marc Nielsen began right up again as we walked back to the Ridge.
While the discussion at Davawood was pretty heated, no one on either side was
touched, assaulted, or injured. No weapons were drawn by either side at any time.
Nothing was damaged, though a small quantity of illegal drugs was spilled on the
ground when a table with an axe on it was knocked over. I was actually VERY PROUD
of the heathens present there. After having their Holy ritual openly mocked and one of
their Gods referred to in the most profane way in front of their children, the fact they
respected Gaea Retreat and us as their hosts enough to not resort to violence is
commendable in my opinion.
I then went immediately to the
Caretaker, Clint, to make him aware
of the religious harassment that had
been conducted against us, and the
fact one of the folks in Davawood had
admitted that the profaning of our
Gods during our ritual had come from
their camp. Two of the Davawood
campers, John Allen and Leslie
Hannah, were already there at the
Caretaker's cabin, and lying to Clint
about not having yelled anything at us
during High Symbel. Within about 5
minutes though, John Allen had
admitted they were yelling something
about Odin...and said, "What business
is it of yours what we yell when we're
in Davawood? That's our campsite and we can yell anything we want."
Not only did John Allen admit to having been yelling about Odin during our Symbel, but on
Leslie Hannah's Facebook page she stated, “When they hailed Odin, John was hailing too.
They said we were ruining their ritual. thought they were being mocked.” While we know that
John was one of the people loudly mocking our Holy ritual, several heathens commented that
night and in their statements that Marc Nielsen's voice matched some of the “hailing from the
woods” that we heard during our High Symbel.
While we were all talking to Clint, Leslie Hannah demanded that I pay for the damage to her
cell phone that occurred when the table with the axe and marijuana had been knocked over.
She claimed to me that the cell phone was broken. She later admitted to Clint that the cell
phone was not damaged, and the only thing “damaged” was the marijuana that was spilled.
As a law enforcement officer, I work very hard to stay out of everyone's business at Gaea,
and in my 5-years visiting Gaea I have never had occasion to bother anyone about whatever
private drug use they may be doing. But I really can't be expected to reimburse someone for
illegal drugs spilled when a table was knocked over to prevent an axe from becoming part of
the heated discussion that took place at Davawood.
CONTINUING THREATS MADE BY JOHN ALLEN AND
MARC NIELSEN AGAINST OUR GATHERING
Leilani, a heathen from Southern Missouri was camped in an area away from the rest of
us...to the South of the Ridge. She was within ear-shot of the campers at Davawood, and
could hear the yelling and screaming long after we had left their camp. In her statement she
described what she heard and how it made her feel. “They were yelling about how stupid we,
at LATP, were being in many ways. And yelled about how he was a combat veteran and
skilled in knife-fighting and we should send men over there 3 by 3. I felt physically threatened
by this and considered sleeping elsewhere. My friend refused to leave and I didn't want to
leave him by himself.”
Leilani informed me of the threats and anger being expressed over at the Davawood Camp.
This information along with the fact we could still hear the campers in Davawood yelling and
screaming about us an hour after we had spoken with them, made it necessary for us to set a
watch throughout the night to ensure that these individuals who had made it very clear what
they thought of us throughout the evening, did not harm our wives and children, the important
objects we had stored in the Pavilion, or our vehicles.
THE DAMAGE THE HARASSMENT AND THREATS
CAUSED TO OUR GUESTS AND OUR GATHERING
First of all, 175 to 200 heathens were completely robbed of their most important Holy ritual of
the year. Our relationship with our Gods, Ancestors, and Vaettir that we so carefully tend to
during High Symbel was disrupted and abused by the religious harassment visited upon us
and our heathen guests by the campsite occupied by John Allen, Marc Nielsen, and Leslie
Hannah. Despite our first request to Marc Nielsen and Leslie Hannah that they please
respect our ritual and stop yelling at us from the woods, their campsite which eventually
including John Allen, became the source of even more profane and disgusting harassment.
Please read the statements of the heathens that experienced this harassment, so that you
can know the damage these three individuals did to them.
I have no doubt that some of our
attendees will decide to not come back
next year, because of this harassment. I
have no doubt that our relationship with
some of these heathen groups in our
region will be affected by the fact that a
High Symbel we were responsible for did
not go well due to this harassment.
My best friends were married on
Saturday night, just a little before the
High Symbel and as part of the
continuous Holy events that took place
that evening. To our knowledge, this was one of the largest heathen weddings conducted in
the past 1000 years. They were married before the friends and family, and the Folk of our
region. Rather than enjoying this accomplishment, they will forever remember instead this
disruption and religious harassment on the evening of their wedding. Rather than being with
his wife for the first part of his wedding night, he was instead dealing with the folks over in
Davawood and then going with me to speak with Clint. Due to the disruption and the threats
made by John Allen and Marc Nielsen, a couple of Johnny and Kimberly's children decided
they would be safer in the tent with Johnny and Kimberly, rather than their own tent.
I wonder to myself how this incident
will affect my children. They have
already seen the harassment we
have experienced from Christians in
our neighborhood, and they have
experienced some level of
harassment from Christian schoolmates due to the fact they are
heathen. Now, my children have
experienced our group being
harassed for absolutely no reason at
Gaea Retreat, a place that we all felt
was a Sanctuary for us. A place
where our respect for others, should
translate into respect being show for
us. So, I'm very aware and watching
how this ends up affecting my
children. After all, they all got to hear, "Hail Odin fucking you all in your naked asses in the
Shower House,” yelled at us from the woods by people who claim to be pagan like us.
ON-GOING RELIGIOUS HARASSMENT
This situation actually goes back to LATP last year. There were some folks that I would
consider non-heathen who attended LATP last year. While LATP is a “heathen gathering,” we
mention on the web-page and materials for the event that we welcome, “heathens, the
heathen-curious, and the heathen-friendly.”
These non-heathens camped away from the gathering itself (I believe in Davawood),
participated in very little of our event, communicated with the other participants in our event
very little, and then they went home and publicly started posting on Facebook that the
participants of LATP did not care about the land at Gaea, had been “mean to them,” and that
we had done all these horrible things, including leaving litter everywhere after our event.
These statements were COMPLETELY FALSE. We care a great deal about Gaea, and we
leave the areas of the camp that we use spotless. Clint, Gaea's Caretaker, can confirm this
fact. The person who wrote these things about us last year, knows and is friends with Leslie
Hannah, Marc Nielsen, and John Allen. As a matter of fact, Marc Nielsen was one of the
people at LATP last year, that did not camp on the Ridge with us.
When this on-line attack was conducted on us last year, I sought out advice from a number of
pagans I know about how to avoid similar problems in the future, and received some very
good input from them that I attempted to follow.
But over this past year, the altar in our Ve was destroyed twice. Our Ve is in an isolated and
somewhat hard-to-find part of Gaea Retreat. It is nearly a certainty that whomever destroyed
knocked down and scattered our rock altar is a regular visitor to Gaea Retreat. Clint, Rhi, and
the ERI Board was greatly supportive of us after our altar was destroyed twice, and assisted
us in building a larger, harder-to-topple altar for the Ve. No one has ever been caught for the
violation and destruction of our Holy space, and I've always wondered who would dislike us
enough to do something like this to us.
Lately, I've heard rumors that our kindred is a “bunch of homophobes.” The three gay
members of our kindred, which includes our Godhi, I'm sure would be surprised to hear that
we exclude gay people from our ranks. Nearly 25% of our kindred is gay. I fail to see how we
could be homophobes.
I've heard lately a rumor that we are “racists.” Every member of our kindred has people of
color in various roles in our lives, and none of us are racist. We've had a non-Northern
European member of our kindred. Nearly every minority is present at our Lightning Across
the Plains event, and we get along well with members of all ethnic/racial minorities that visit
Gaea generally and during the Heartland Pagan Festival. So it is confusing to me why this
rumor would be spread about us.
I recently heard a rumor that earlier in September a member of my kindred yelled at a naked
guy near the Old Way. I have no clue where these rumors come from, as we did not spend
any time at all near the Old Way the weekend we were out at Gaea, and we don't yell at
naked people. As a matter of fact, a naked guy walked by us and our children in the public
area by the dining hall that same weekend, and we said absolutely nothing to him about being
naked in the area where it is prohibited. We're so tired of rumors about us, that we truly avoid
anything that might get taken the wrong way. Apparently, it doesn't matter, because rumors
can be completely made up as well.
After this latest incident during LATP, Leslie Hannah posted, “f#@*ing heathens!!!!” on her
Facebook page. She then made it sound like we had attacked her and her fellow campers.
She was convincing enough in her story-telling, that someone actually commented that
someone should report me to my police department for illegal activity. My event gets
completely disrupted by her, her husband, and her friend...and Leslie Hannah goes home and
begins working to turn the entire pagan community against us? And this is not the only
discussion currently being held on Facebook and the internet about how my group is a
problem for Gaea Retreat. No wonder we are suffering on-going problems with religious
harassment at Gaea Retreat.
Here we have a group of people who claim to be pagan, purposefully and repeatedly
disrupted our most important Holy ritual at a gathering that brings together heathens from all
over our region. The ERI Board has a real opportunity here to say enough is enough when it
comes to religious harassment at Camp Gaea. We never caught the folks that tore down our
altar, but in this case we know exactly who was in the camp that purposefully disrupted our
Holy ritual of High Symbel. We know who was asked to please stop doing it. We know who
first lied about having said anything, and we know who later admitted to yelling at us from
their camp. We know who went home and caused drama on-line, and attempted to get other
pagans to drive us away from Gaea Retreat. John Allen, Marc Nielsen, and Leslie Hannah
are the people who did these things.
REINFORCING RESPECT AMONG CAMPERS
The three people involved in this situation appeared and acted intoxicated, in my opinion.
They lied repeatedly to us and to the Caretaker, Clint. They then went back on their lies just
as often. They did everything they could to taint an event that I personally have spent 500+
hours putting together. They did this in front of 200 heathens from across the country, and
still, despite all of that...I didn't lay a hand on them or allow anyone else to lay a hand on
them. When we were being physically threatened, we did not return the threats of physical
harm. Why? Because I respect Gaea Retreat too much, and I was not going to allow myself
or my guests to be drawn into a dishonorable situation. If we can't respect one another at
Gaea Retreat, then what's the point really?
Next year, we'll be attempting to get the camp exclusively for LATP, so that we can avoid any
chance of being harassed. I find it sad that my primary reason for asking to take our event
exclusive is to avoid religious harassment at Gaea Retreat. And, while it may sound paranoid
to say this, even having the camp exclusively, I have a feeling we'll have problems at the gate
with this group or others that seem to have some sort of problem with us. I think considering
all that has been happening to us this year at Gaea Retreat, that my worries in this are are
reasonable.
I get the impression that John Allen, Marc Nielsen, and Leslie Hannah believed they had
absolutely NOTHING to lose in openly disrupting our ritual and event. I get the impression
they believed they had NOTHING to lose repeatedly lying to us and then to the Caretaker,
Clint. First they yelled nothing, then they yelled something, then they yelled nothing, and
eventually their story changed to it is nobody's business what they yelled in their own
campground. I get the impression they were baiting us into a confrontation, so they could
involve us in a fight in the hopes of getting us kicked out of Gaea. Everything they did on the
night in question seemed designed to provoke us into beating them up, so they could have us
removed from camp for a year and a day, or perhaps forever.
On the other hand, as the event organizer I had everything to lose. I knew this, and I worked
enormously hard to ensure that none of my kindred or my guests at the gathering took their
bait. If one of my attendees had punched John Allen or Marc Nielsen, I think they thought
they would be rid of us for good. Perhaps I'm wrong about that, but it certainly seems that
way, from where I'm standing.
RESTORE OUR HONOR AND THE HONOR OF GAEA
I prevented a bad situation from becoming worse in the Davawood Camp. I worked very hard
to prevent any sort of physical altercation from occuring, despite the best efforts of Marc
Nielsen and John Allen to bait my kindred and my guests into a physical fight. As I said
before, I did this out of respect for Gaea Retreat and what it means.
We held back from our baser inclinations to handle this ourselves, and chose to trust the
Caretakers and the ERI Board would not tolerate this religious harassment being inflicted
upon us. John Allen, Marc Nielsen, and Leslie Hannah showed absolutely no respect toward
us or our religious practices, and intentionally worked together to destroy our most important
ritual of the year.
Please take action to set this right. Please give us justice. Please restore our honor and the
honor of Camp Gaea, by taking direct and decisive action to set an example against the sort
of religious harassment that took place on Saturday, September 25, 2011 at Lightning Across
the Plains.
Thank you,
Mark Ludwig Stinson
Jotun's Bane Kindred
Temple of Our Heathen Gods
http://www.heathengods.com
Appendix A – Statements
Clint, one of the Caretaker's at Gaea Retreat asked that I get witness statements from the
guests at Lightning Across the Plains that witnessed the harassing behavior that originated in
the Davawood campsite of John Allen, Marc Nielsen, and Leslie Hannah. Based on where
people were seated in the Pavilion during our High Symbel, some heard more or less of the
mocking harassment that was yelled at us from Davawood. During the eventual confrontation
at Davawood, the camp was dark and lit only by fire light, so some saw more or less of what
was going on in the camp. All in all, I ask that you please read and consider how the religious
harassment that we were subject to impacted these guests to Gaea Retreat and our gathering
there.
Besides these 30+ statements, I've been told there are one or two independent statements by
campers at Gaea that are neither associated with Lightning Across the Plains or the people
camped in Davawood. These independent statements fully support and agree with the
statement give by myself above, and the statements given below by those at our event.
Clint, the Caretaker at Gaea, can also share his experiences with John Allen, Marc Nielsen,
and Leslie Hannah on the night in question.
Statement of Chris Miller – Minneapolis, MN
Clint,
Please allow me to introduce myself to you. I am Chris 'Gunnar' Miller, and I am the Chieftain
of the Volkshof Kindred based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have attended several events
hosted by Jotuns Bane Kindred over the last few years and have never had a bad time or
word to say about any of the other campers that have been onsite.
That all changed last weekend. I have been an Asatruar for 20 plus years and hold my Gods
and folkways very close and seriously to me. I have never been a meek individual and to hear
someone shouting disgusting and mocking insults such as "hail the faggots" and "hail Odin
fucking your naked ass in the shower" during what is considered an extremely important and
sacred event to be offensive to me and to my Gods, Ancestors, and the land wights.
I admit that I was one of the people that got up and went to the other campsite. I was a few
steps behind another member of my kindred, who is of Inuit and German heritage. As we
approached the other campers, someone asked them if they had said these comments, and
then one of the campers pointed at and shouted at my fellow kindred member "get out of my
fucking camp, especially you you fucking Ni…" he immediately stopped the statement when
he saw me step up. I am 6'6" tall and 230 pounds. I have been described as intimidating at
times. I noticed that another of the campers was trying to flank my friend to move in for a
strike. He was also within reaching distance of a small table. I noticed that they had a small
table which held a hand axe and a small tray filled with marijuana, to preempt them from
being able to grab this axe I kicked over the table. They had already been threatening acts of
violence towards the group for asking if it had been them who had yelled these insults. I was
heated and called them "dope smoking morons" I was in the wrong, but I value honor and
truthfulness as a Heathen , and they were given me neither of these things.
There were now several more of the event attendees at the row. Some of them were dressed
in ritual garb. Which can include Saexs or swords. No one to my knowledge had any steel
drawn, we would not need too. One of the campers was pointing his finger and screaming at
me, I asked again if they had yelled the insulting words and they again told me to "go fuck
myself" and "to leave their camp" adding that "we [Heathens] were not welcome at Gaea" and
that "they would have us all thrown out."
It was at this time, when Mark Stinson, the event co-ordinator arrived on scene. He tried to
ascertain the truth and was met with insults and taunts of "pussy" and faggot." Mark asked us
all to leave, and as we turned to leave one of the campers said he would "fuck us all up the
ass." We all left the camp and Mark went to see you.
The campers were overheard saying they would "fuck our shit up" so a group of people
stayed up fairly late into the morning to keep an eye on the rest of the camp. I stayed awake
until 4:45 am to assist in guarding our camp which contained 61 children, three of which are
my kids.
In the past I would have most likely seriously hurt the individual speaking so ill of the AllFather, Odin. But to pay to attend a Heathen gathering, pay $450.00 in gas to drive to it, then
have to stomach denigrations to my Gods, I will just say that they were very lucky I have
respect for your campground.
I must tell you that the behavior of other guests may sway my decision on attending any
further events at your camp ground. I find it disgusting that someone was allowed to have
illegal drugs on site. Also, the blatant disrespect of other peoples religious leanings and
beliefs is appalling to me. I was under the impression that Gaea was friendly and protective of
all religious folkways and that any instance of disrespect could warrant expulsion from your
site.
Sincerely,
Chris 'Gunnar' Miller
Chieftain Volkshof Kindred
Statement of Johnny Whitebread – Kansas City Area
Heilsa Clint.
My name is John L. Hamilton, known to most as Johnny Whitebread. I am the Skjoldr of
Jotun's Bane Kindred. I am the the one with the tattoo on my face and the large nose ring.
You know who I am and you know I have never treated you, or Camp Gaea, with anything
except respect.
This letter is to present the facts as I witnessed them on the night of Saturday September
23rd during Lightning Across The Plains.
Let me preface this by stating that it has taken me several days to be able to sit down and
compose this letter in a collected and comprehensible manner. Until now I have been beside
myself with anger and unable to even think about it clearly. There are a few reasons for this,
chief among them being the fact that it happened at the holiest and most anticipated ritual of
the year and that it happened on the day of my wedding. Ask yourselves how you would feel if
the not only your holiest of rituals but also your wedding day was ended with an unprovoked
barrage of verbal aggression and base vulgarity.
This was to be a day of great import. Over 200 Heathens from all over the United States at
Gaea as our honoured guests. 200 Heathens that sacrificed time and money to be here,
enduring days of travel and hardship to sit in our Hall, to witness my wedding and to take part
in the quite possibly the largest Heathen ritual in the entire world. This is no exaggeration by
any means.
The wedding takes place. I am married to the woman who means everything to me, in front of
my Kindred, my children, all out guests. Our ancestors certainly watching and proud. Married
with our Gods and Goddesses as witness. You cannot imagine the pride and elation I felt at
that moment. This energy carries over into High Symbel and the horn is being passed around
and great words of honour and might are spoken over the horn and into the Well. We take
great care to only speak such words, for anything negative placed in the Well effects us all in
negative ways and sullies us in the eyes of our Gods. Our "Hails!!!" to our Gods ring loud and
true through the night and the weight and might reflect our strength and our devotion to those
being hailed.
It is not hard to imagine our distress when our hails are suddenly returned to us from
Davawood in a mocking and insulting manner. Distress on several levels. First of all because
we know have insolent disrespect going into the Well and, secondly, because our honour is
now being impugned by drunken visitors to Gaea, a place we have always revered. A place
we we have established our holiest of spaces, our Ve. A place where we have invited over
200 guests to gather in peace and spirituality.
I mentioned at the beginning of the letter that I was the Skjoldr of JBK. Skjoldr means 'shield'.
My responsibilities include protecting my Kindred, it's individual members and our guests from
harm, from assault in any way shape or form. I gather our 2 Hall Wardens and we walk down
to Davawood to confront these disrespectful individuals. Although I am absolutely enraged at
this despoiling of High Symbel and of my wedding day, I do not act in an aggressive manner
or threaten them in any way. I simply ask them if they are the ones disrespecting our ritual,
which they, of course, deny because they are also cowards. I tell them it needs to stop and
we leave. We stop at another fire on the way back up to the pavilion, and ask another group
of 2 guys and 1 girl the same thing. The 2 guys deny it vehemently, the girls hedges and says
"Well, maybe there was something...." I tell them the same thing and we return to our ritual.
A short while later, the mocking echoes start again, only this time they are adorned with
vulgarities of the most disrespectful nature...comments like "Hail Odin fucking you in the ass
in the shower."
I can only speak for myself, but it's a safe bet that I was not the only one absolutely incensed
by this. I was irate. I left my seat and once again, with a Hall Warden, headed back to
Davawood to contend with these characters. As I rounded the curve, I looked behind me and
about 20 or 25 of our guest were following us. At this point I knew this had the potential to be
a very precarious situation and could indeed end very badly.
We were met in Davawood by another barrage of aggression and profanity..."Get the fuck out
of my camp you fucking pussies."..."I'll have you banned, you motherfuckers"...and on and on,
egging us on, threatening us. A table got knocked over with their weed on it. The dark haired
male...I think his name was Mark, is pointing his finger in people's faces, screaming, yelling,
cursing and threatening.
Clint, I have to be honest with you, how this situation did not erupt into absolute violent
mayhem is beyond me. I can only surmise that respect for Jotun's Bane Kindred and for
Camp Gaea kept many an angry Heathen from defending their honour, their Gods and from
retaliating for the desecration of our ritual. It is indeed a testament to the character of not only
JBK but all our guests. At that moment there is nothing I would have rather done, or anyone
there, than beat some respect into those dishonourable, disrespectful pieces of human
garbage. No punches were thrown. No weapons were drawn, even as we were leaving and
they kept baiting us, calling us pussies and telling us to "Go ahead. get the fuck out of here
motherfuckers." While part of me is glad we did not allow ourselves to be drawn into such a
crude and childish response, there is an even larger part that wishes I had simply destroyed
them as viciously as possible. They completely denigrated the most important day of the year
for all of us and, specifically, robbed my wife, Kimberly, and I of the happiness and joy we
should have been feeling after being married just a couple of hours earlier.
Instead of laying in my new bride's arms that night, our first as Husband and Wife, I lay awake
listening for sounds of intrusion and vindictiveness. I can never be given that night back. Ever.
Neither can Kimberly. The words and poison that slipped into the Well that night can never be
removed and none of our guests will ever forget the disrespect and dishonor handed them
that Saturday night at LATP at Camp Gaea. How many of the children present will forever
remember this? 3 of those children being my own and 3 of them being my grandchildren.
I realize, Clint, that the actions of these individuals runs counter to everything Camp Gaea
and Earth Rising stand for and that you can in no way regulate the actions of your visitors, but
I have to say I would be greatly surprised and sorely disappointed were these offending
individuals ever allowed back onto the property. The truth of this matter is that we were
assaulted in an unconscionable way and that allowing these people back would be akin to
endorsing their behaviour, which I know from personal interaction with you, would never be
something you would do. Nobody should ever have to suffer indignities of this nature and
nobody should ever be able to administer them with impunity. Our display of great restraint
illustrates our belief in the board's ability to handle this with the gravity and decisiveness
warranted by the seriousness of the offense.
Thank You
Johnny Whitebread
Statement of Kimberly Hamilton – Kansas City Area
Dear Clint,
My name is Kimberly Hamilton and I am a part of Jotun's Bane Kindred. I wanted to write to
you to let you know what I heard and more importantly how I felt about what happened at
Gaea last saturday. I know I did not hear the entire things they said, I only knew they were
mocking us, saying Hail and other things, after we would Hail. It upset me deeply, that they
were disrupting our Symbel, one of our most Holiest rituals. I knew they were asked to stop
and out of no respect at all, did not stop. In doing so, they ended a night, that had us, having
to guard our camp, to ensure we and our guests could sleep safely. Something we've never
had to do at Gaea.We had many children there and I for one felt uncomfortable falling asleep
knowing that there were unruly, disrespectful people there, still. Ending a night where our
focus should have been on what just happened during the evening. During our Symbel and
mine and my husbands wedding. Instead we had to deal with disrespectful drunk ass punks.
We take great pride in Gaea and the thought of someone like that out there, at anytime,
whether we are there or not, really upsets me. That is a place where we, along with others
that go there I'm sure, go to get away from disruptive forces like the ones who were mocking
us, so that we can have a place to hold things such as our High Symbel. I don't know what
can be done to keep people like that away. I appreciate your time in reading this and
appreciate you and your place more than you know.
Sincerely,
Kimberly
Statement of Jackie Christiansen, Kansas City Area
This year at our event, two of my very close personal friends chose to be wed before the folk
and share their happiness with us. I was very excited to be included and to witness this
joyous event, it was something that I had been looking forward to. Part of many of our rituals
involves a call and response where the person speaking cries 'hail' then the accumulated folk
cries 'hail' back to them. When this involves over 100 hefty men and emotional women, this
can get quite loud. Our voices can ring across the hills and shake the trees, it is a powerful
and moving thing.
During the wedding ceremony, an echo began to come from around the bend. Other voices
screaming hail back at us. At first, it was kind of funny...when the only word coming up the
ridge to us was 'hail'. It soon devolved into longer and longer calls, rude and vulgar. One that I
heard and remember distinctly was "Hail Odin up the ass in the shower". It was...every
emotion and joy I had for my friends turned to rage and pain for those I cared about. I had
trouble hearing what was being said around me, I was listening into the darkness instead.
Our host chieftan sent three of our men to the offending camp, to ask for quiet and respect.
And for a while it worked, as we moved on to High Symbel, one of our most serious and
important rituals. It is the ending highlight of our entire weekend, what we work hard for the
days before to build strong bonds and good reputation so that we may share spit with the
gods and wyrd with each other as one folk. The silence from Davawood didn't continue.
I know a lot of people around me were enraged, but...I had kind of moved past that. I was
shattered and wanted to cry at my table, surrounded by folk and friends. This was, is,
important to us, not as individuals, but as a regional event that brings people from across the
country and the world. It was rude, and cruel to scream those things back at us when we were
gathered in friendship and community.
When Symbel was called to end, it was AS that people that our men left their seats of one
accord, to confront those that disrespected our ceremonies.
I was not standing right by the fire with my chieftan and men, I stood back by the bridge with
the few other women who came to Davawood, watching the incident. I saw no weapons, but
those in sheaths that were worn as ceremonial ornament because we are a warrior people.
There were several walking sticks, but nothing was raised at the camp of the honorless. Many
hands were waved, fingers poked at chests and in faces, but no one was struck on either
side. I can also say, as I was further back, I did not see any table with drugs, only heard it
second hand. I could see the gathered backs of my men.
I saw my menfolk surround their fire in a half circle, most standing in silence while a key 5 or 6
spoke back at the screamers. When it was over, because the one who did most of the
screaming continued to scream (in the exact same voice) that he had done no wrong and we
could not prove it. His two companions had admitted it, but changed their words later on as
more Heathens came to their camp in righteous anger.
My chieftan called "Heathen's move out" and we did. It took three times for the call to get
every man away from the fire, their anger was so great. I have NEVER seen a heathen man
stand against the chieftan's direct word before in such a manner, I know that the words cried
at us had rocked some of them to their very marrow. But when it was done, we walked away,
and set watch on the pavilion, our hall for the night, so that no destruction might visit us. We
believed it necessary to guard ourselves and our children in the night, such were the manners
and actions of the foreign camp.
Never, in all my years of being pagan, have I had someone so viciously and knowingly
attempt to defile someone else's ceremony. They were asked, once, politely, to cease, and
still they called vulgarities at us! This was not done in ignorance, or frivolity, this was an attack
to disrupt our peace. It was the one sour note of my whole weekend, and in some ways I can
say that I am sorry it has gone this far, but I can NOT feel any apology for the raiding party.
The actions of our men going to defend our camp, children, peace, and faith was what
brought back the feeling of a disrupted people that night. We went to bed angry, yes, but we
had fulfilled our duty to each other as a folk, without violence or damage. In the end, because
of their actions, it could be no other way.
Statement of Val Miller – Minneapolis, MN
Dear Clint,
I understand that you were requesting statements from those who witnessed all or part of the
incident the evening of September 24 during the Grand Sumble at Lighting Across the Plains.
As a longtime heathen and the Gythia (aka "godperson" or "priestess") of Volkshof Kindred I
would like the Gaea Board of Directors to know that I was deeply offended, in fact horrified, by
the behaviors of the other campers on the property last Saturday.
On Saturday night the attendees of LATP were participating in what is known as a Grand
Sumble. Grand Sumble is a ritual in which we share drink in honor of our Gods and
Goddesses, our ancestors, the land wights, and our folk; we bind ourselves together by
joining in frith, weaving the threads of our lives into the tapestry that is our community; we add
layers the the ancient waters of the Well of Wyrd as we speak weighty words over the horn.
This ritual is one of the most high holy, sacred, and somber rites in which we engage. It is
characterized by a rigid structure and an emphasis on etiquette, respect, and gravity. Every
word uttered during this rite carries an effect and a consequence, a responsibility. This being
the case, one can imagine the extremity of insult inherent in open mockery of this ritual.
As each person takes a turn to stand and speak, he or she makes a speech and essentially
asks the group to direct approval and praise toward a specific deity, person, accomplishment,
etc. and the group acknowledges with a resounding "Hail ___ !" The mockery began as the
individuals in the other camping area mimicked our voices in the silence following our call.
This was sometimes followed with loud laughter. This happened about 5 or 6 times, getting
louder each time. Finally, at the very end of the sumble, as the host made the final
statements, these individuals shouted what sounded to me like "Hail Odin fucking your naked
ass in the shower!" At this point, everyone looked at each other in horror, and several
members of the group exited the pavilion without speaking and walked in the direction of the
voices.
I did not witness what happened at the other campground. However, I can tell you that most
heathens are fiercely protective of their honor and demand extreme respect for their gods and
their community. I'm sure that there are aspects of our culture that may be difficult for others
to understand, so it is at risk of sounding barbaric that I have to say those individuals are
lucky they still have the physical ability to insult anyone ever again. The heathens that
confronted these individuals must have shown great restraint. By letting these people off so
easily, we insult our Gods and dishonor ourselves, and I hope that those of you on the Board
of Directors understand the implications of this for us and what we have sacrificed out of
respect for your campground. It is my belief that these individuals owe us an apology at the
absolute least. They owe our gods, our ancestors, and our community a huge debt that I
would much like to see paid.
In closing, I would just like to reiterate how appalled and outraged I was by the behaviors of
these individuals. It really is difficult to fully explain the level of injury they may have
potentially caused to our community through their actions. I wish you strength, justice, and
wisdom as you contemplate this situation. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Val Miller
Gythia, Volkshof Kindred
Statement of Rod Landreth – Kansas City Area
Dear Clint;
As you know, my name is Rod Landreth, and I’m the Godhi of JBK and was chief Godhi of
LATP. All of the spiritual rites and rituals of Lightning Across the Plains fall under my purview.
As such, my focus was on the series of rituals we were having that Saturday night when this
event occurred. We had just finished the initial part of the Blessing ritual when the first
mocking hails began. These were relatively ignorable, annoying, but ignorable. As we moved
from the Blessing to the actual High Sumbel itself, which is the culmination of the entire
weekends events save for the closing rituals, the tone grew more mocking and I supported
Mark’s decision to send the first party to ask the people to quiet down.
We were going into the apex of the High Sumbel ritual, with Jamie thanking the God/desses,
Ancestors, and Landspirits when the most insulting call came from the people at Davawood.
From my position, I only caught the words, “Odin ... fucking ... shower,” but the reaction
across the Hall was palatable. Jamie, who had just finished what was the final words in the
ritual, was angrily shaken and looked at Mark, who was also visibly upset.
To us, deeds, words, and intent goes into the Well of Wyrd, those waters being holy and
sacred to us and we only want the greatest and mightiest deeds to go in. Those mocking
words, and ill intent are now in our Well. It is an insult to our God/desses, Ancestors, and to
the very land spirits of Gaea we so specially honour, not to mention the Folk that were
present. This is why 30 odd men and few women were stirred to action. That insult stains our
Honour to those we hold as divine and it had to be dealt with, still has to be dealt with.
While I did not go with the Mark and the rest of the men and women, I did stay and deal with
the aftermath. Assuring everyone that asked that Mark would take care of the situation
appropriately. Many people were upset and concerned with taint that was in the Well, and
possibly further problems. I, and others from JBK, calmed many of them down. Told them to
go on to bed, and that any problems would be dealt with accordingly. Many were concerned
that children heard the curses, and were discussing how to explain it to the kids. All trusted
that Mark and the men and women would return with the situation at hand, but it didn’t lessen
many people’s anger and insult.
As I cannot touch the bowl that contains the Well, only the Valkyries can do so, I spent a great
deal of time keeping everyone away. When the opportunity occurred, I quickly went over to
Well, did what I could to lessen the bad through offering and cleansing. I must go now and
make a special offering to make up for the insult that occurred. It was my responsibility as
Chief Godhi, to give the holiest of offerings to all we consider Divine, and that was tainted by
those cowards. I must in spiritual terms go now to correct those buffoons insults to our
God/desses, Ancestors, and the Landspirits we hold dear on that land we all share at Gaea.
In the ancient world, those people would be bogged, I hope at least these lowly people are
banned from Gaea.
When Jamie, Jennifer, and Melissa were ready to undertake their mission of giving this most
sacred offering to and at Forn Halr, I made sure that we had armed protection as we went,
again concerned that as we went away from the Pavilion and the Camp to Forn Halr further
problems may have occurred from these niðlings, dishonourable cowards.
I returned with the ladies to a decision to guard the cars and camp from possible
repercussions. I stayed up with many stalwart men most of the night making sure nothing
further happened. A fellow Godhi, stayed up all night and had to perform a Thor ritual in the
morn with no sleep. Another grew sick from the cold and had to go home much earlier than
he anticipated. My own Chieftain stayed up late into the night after near a week of exhausting
preparation and activities, to make sure nothing further happened.
I have been involved with Gaea since the Mid-90’s. I have served on the Heartland board
back then, when the soul purpose was to raise money for the land payment. I have
personally given many sacrifices at the Fairy Gate, as I have friends that have died and are
represented there, and at Herne’s Hollow, again where friends ashes are under those Cairns.
I have seen far to many rituals and events at Gaea to count over my 17 years of involvement.
Never have I experienced this kind of disrespect for another's Religion. It violates and insults
the very point and purpose that Gaea exists to promote. I have coached my own Kindred on
the best ways to deal with the various inhabitants, both mundane and not so mundane, and
stressed the importance of understanding that the land is shared. To have twice, our sacred
Vé violated, and now America’s largest Heathen gathering’s highest most sacred ritual, a
ritual my Kindred has put many man hours into, be insulted angers me in ways that are hard
to process. This just is not the Gaea I have ever known.
The men and women that confronted these people who camped at Davawood that Saturday,
held remarkable restraint for having their most sacred ritual insulted. They stayed their hand
and blades, though their natures and anger dictated otherwise. I am glad that more did not
happen, but now wonder if the true spiritual damage that those niðlings brought about can
easily be fixed. Now JBK must set the scales of honour back where they are supposed to be,
not because of our own actions but the actions of liars and cowards.
-*******
Be Trú to the Gods and Goddesses,
Be Trú to the Ancestors, Vaettir, and Folk,
and most importantly,
Be Trú to yourself.
Simply be Heathen in all things.
Rod Landreth, [email protected]
Godhi of Jotun's Bane Kindred
heathengods.com
Statement of Falkor Rotharison – Omaha, NE
I recall during one point of symble we were hailing Odin and i heard them shout "Hail Odin!"
and simply thought it first some of our people out for a walk trying to still take part. After that i
began to take notice of more and more shouting. Out of place though it was. At one point, we
had called "Hail Thor!" and i heard "Hail Odin!" from their camp. Several more instances and
Johnny and Glen went to talk to them. They returned and we did not have another instance
for a time. At the end, we had hailed and in the intermediate silence, just as another heathen
began to hail, I could hear in the distance, "Hail Odin and the naked women and their boobs!"
At this point Johnny and Glen went to talk to them again.
I remember when we got to the turn, we heard loud voices and adult language being used by
those loud voices. I remember thinking that perhaps they had gotten upset at us asking them
to stop their disrespect and that they had retaliated. I began to jog in hopes that if something
had happened that at least i could try to help or at least perform first aid if necessary as I am
a certfied first responder.
When we arrived, the men at the camp were shouting and waving their hands wildly. One
began to "put his finger" in Gunner's face and was denying that they had done anything, as
well that they had not done anything before. However the camp we had passed on the left
down the road showed no signs of anyone being awake, not even embers of a fire recently
doused or burnt out. These men were hostile and loud. We raised no hand, nor made any
threatening gestures. No one threatened harm, though it was mentioned that there were
many of us and tempers were beginning to flare. The man on the left had long blonde hair
and stated that if anything happened they would press charges on us, despite none of us
taking action. I know I was certainly angry and upset enough to want to, but like all of us, we
restrained ourselves out of respect for Johnny and our host and when they told us to walk
away, we did. No one stopped or turned back, but we were jeered and disrespected by them.
No one of our group made any overt threats, but sense was spoken with the statement that
there were a lot of us and we were all upset. The most malicious thing done by our group was
when our host stated that the men in that camp were without honor and that we were walking
away.
Their disrespect was immensely hurtful as anyone who remembers my hail will tell you. I have
never felt like a part of until this gathering and I was overjoyed to be able to witness the union
of two people, I even went as far to tell everyone just how much it meant to me to be able to
take part in a heathen gathering and be amongst other good folk. Their actions and words
were extremely disrespectful and robbed me of the feeling that i was a part of something for
once in my life and that i enjoyed it. Instead after their jeers, all i felt was anger and frustration
that even this time of joy was disrupted and stolen from me as so many before had been.
If it had not been for Mark's lead I would have grown angry and lost my temper with them,
something that i would have greatly regretted. It was not until the next day that i had calmed
down about the whole incident.
Statement of Kari Tauring, Minnesota
Dear Clint,
Mark Stinson encouraged me to write to you about our experience with the disrespect shown
to our group from one of the campers at Gaea this past weekend.
I have been coming to Gaea since 2000, singing and playing for the Goddess Festival and
delighting in the unified energy of respect for all paths that Gaea embodies. I feel such a deep
connection to this space and have donated to Flora's garden, the old legal issue of 2001 and
other projects in the past. One prayer of mine was to see a representation of my Heathen
ancestry present at Gaea.
You can imagine my sheer joy when Mark and Jotun's Bane Kindred joined the Camp Gaea
family! I got to know them over the past several years and have deep conversations with them
- they are a perfect fit to the loving and respect-driven energy of Camp Gaea. They have
diligently maintained the ve with honor and deep respect for all who would worship there. An
important addition to the wholeness of Gaea's expression.
In all my years of attending events at Gaea, I have never witnessed disrespect between
campers or belief systems before last weekend. As we joined voices to hail the words spoken
in solemnity over the horn, a mocking "hail" came out from the woods. I was shocked
because it's just not how things are done at Gaea. Her sacred space doesn't attract that sort
of disrespect - so I was sad and confused by it. Since I was jet lagged from having just
returned from Norway I went off to bed in the cozy cabin.
In the morning, I heard about how the taunts became vile and how hard it was for our folk to
manage this disruption. As persons of great honor who deeply respect Camp Gaea and all
She stands for, I am very proud that there was no violence, only a shield wall of protection
and words. If there had been violence, the whole of the compound would have been damaged
energetically. I only sensed that there was a sort of energy bubble, like a band aid, placed
over the area where the disrespectful campers were.
Of course, Mark has decided that we need to reserve the entire camp next year...I'm almost
sorry to hear that. I think it's important that all of Gaea's family have an opportunity to worship
together and join in the common ground of deep roots respect. Still, I understand Mark's
decision.
This incident was not usual for beautiful Camp Gaea and seems to have come from just one
sad, agitated camper who could benefit greatly from some deep education about his own
ancestral ways. I find that agitation usually happens when someone feels "outsider" and
wants in but doesn't know how or is not healthy enough to ask to join.
My very best blessings to you, Clint, and to all of the hard working Gaea preservers. She is a
deeply needed and deeply powerful place in the center of this country. It is an arduous task to
keep Her space sacred and protected. All the gods and ancestors bless you and Camp Gaea!
Yours most truly,
Kari
Kari Tauring, Völva
http://karitauring.com
http://nordicrootsdance.org
Minneapolis, MN
Statement of Jamie King – Kansas City Area
Clint,
I serve as Valkyrie for the Grand Symble at LATP every year and take my position as valkyrie
very serious. Grand Symble is a long and arduous process when you have to serve every
single person who is in attendance, but it also brings great happiness to be be the server of
mead to the hall.
On Saturday night after a few Hails back from the camp at Davawood, I noticed that Johnny,
Glenn and Will left to go ask the Hailers to please stop as it was an interruption. They stopped
for awhile until the ritual was nearing to an end. I am the last person to speak into the horn
and it was my turn, the entire symble was just about to be over. I spoke my words into the
horn and everyone hailed. This is when the party at Davawood hailed, I did not hear anything
else because I was focused on closing the symble out.
The one thing I do know, is that a good chunk of people left to take care of this problem while
I was trying to close this most important ceremony out. I found it rude and very disruptive that
people from the outside had to interject during out most important ritual of the year forcing
attendees away from what I think is the most powerful part of the ceremony.
I, like Mark, have been a part of Gaea for 6 years and never once have a disrespected
someones ritual, be it lighting of a fire, a workshop or a ritual itself. I have participated and
respected the walks of all people within the community while not following theirs. I have
enjoyed many sacred spaces that people have built and I honor them, yet we have had our
sacred space ripped apart twice now.
It saddens me that we can not all get along and makes me wonder what we have done to
deserve this disrespect.
Clint you and Rhi have been very gracious to JBK and I appreciate that. I hope that we can
continue to have a positive relationship with you and Gaea herself for many years to come.
Jamie King
Jotun's Bane Kindred
Statement of Kati Spires – North Texas
My name is Kati Spires and I am the Lady of the Hall of the Hridgar Folk kindred from east
Texas. I wanted to contact you regarding the incident Saturday night, Sept. 24th during our
High Symble.
First, let me say that we always have a wonderful time whenever we come to Camp Gaea. It's
well worth the drive to be in such a peaceful place. For the most part, LATP was a
resounding success which is due in no small part to where it took place.
Unfortunately, there was a regrettable event of which you should be aware. Saturday night,
we were having our High Symble, which is one of our most sacred rituals. It is a time when we
toast our ancestors and/or our gods, make oaths, give gifts, and basically strengthen our
bonds with one another. However, sometime during the proceedings, a group down the hill
apparently decided that it would be funny to echo our hails. Mark Stinson discretely sent a
few of his kindred members down to the other camp to ask the three individuals to stop
disrespecting our sacred ritual, but it did no good. Their disruptions only grew louder and
increasingly vulgar. At one point, I heard something along the lines of hailing our Allfather
having anal sex with us in the shower. Needless to say, this was more insult than any of us
could bear.
As soon as the ritual was closed, many of our men---and a couple of our women---went down
to the other camp to confront those responsible for the disruption. I was not among them, so
all I can only tell you what my kindred brother told me about what took place. The final
confrontation was understandably very heated; our folk were furious at the disrespect and the
group responsible was not apologetic in the slightest. They were, if anything, more belligerent.
I am to understand that they had marijuana sitting on a table that was subsequently kicked
over and that they were pretty upset about it. I didn't see any of that for myself, though, so
take my word for what it's worth. In short, despite their best efforts to provoke a violent
response out of a few of our chieftains, it did not come to blows. Mark was able to diffuse the
situation and get everyone back to the ridge without anyone getting hurt.
My problem lies mainly in the fact that Mark and the other members of Jotun's Bane Kindred
make it very clear that Gaea is open to all pagans and that LATP only happens on the ridge.
We know that if we leave the ridge for whatever reason we stand the chance of running into
someone performing their own rituals or perhaps exercising their clothing-optional rights. We
Heathens know from the door that we are to be respectful of the other pagans, but that has
thus far been a one way street. Signs for our event are clearly posted, but we've had more
than one person run naked through our family-oriented event as though those signs weren't
meant for them. This incident during High Symble was very upsetting. It was the one down
point to the celebration my family and I look forward to every year.
I'm sorry if this was too long, and thank you for your time. If you can do whatever is in your
power to resolve this problem, your efforts will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely, Kati
Statement of Destiny Lalande-Davis – Oklahoma
Hi,
My name is Destiny Lalande-Davis and I’m writing as someone who has attended several
events over the years at Camp Gaea and someone who was an attendee at the Lightening
Across the Plains event September 23rd and 24th.
Saturday evening as we gathered in the Pavilion for High Symbel, one of our most sacred
rites, we were mocked and yelled at repeatedly by other campers at Gaea.
It is customary after a person speaks over a raised horn for those in attendance to affirm what
was spoken with a hearty “Hail!” About 20 minutes into our Symbel after each Hail there came
shouts of “hail” and “yeah, hail” from the distance. It was ignored at first, but when it persisted
three gentlemen from our camp left the pavilion to investigate. It was easy to tell the shouts
came from a distance, but not exactly where. We continued Symbel and after about four more
distant shouts we had quiet again.
A bit later (approx. 30 to 45 minutes) the shouts began again. Worse yet, this time the
comments were not restricted to simply mocking our affirmation of Hail, but included snide
remarks. There were several, but the two I heard distinctly were “Hail to you getting the hell
out of our camp!” and “Hail to men and women not sharing the same bathroom!” The rest of
what I heard was only in snippets, but did include their shouting “shut up” and “blah, blah,
blah”
Again a few men left to try and find the source of the shouts which was coming from on top of
the hill this time. They returned and when the Symbel ended, as there continued to be shouts
from the other camp more of them went over to find the source and tell them not only to stop,
but how disrespectful they had been.
I did not go with this group, but my partner did. His name is David Ballard and he will be
sending his own email. From what he related to me, the folks were belligerent and from his
observation quite intoxicated. He said they were told several times to just calm down and to
knock it off. He also told me no one was touched and they did their best to defuse the
situation. After the incident several people stayed up to watch over our campers because the
other group had been so hostile.
Gaea works because we respect each other and the land. It is a place of tolerance where we
can worship freely. I was floored by the behavior of the other campers. Truly upset that
something we hold so sacred was interrupted so dismissively. Angry and hurt that we were
treated like unwanted outsiders in a place hundreds of us have supported and attended for
years - not only peacefully but with great care to respect the others sharing the camp with us.
I hope the board will take these things into consideration in addressing Staurday's incident.
Best,
Destiny
Statement of Eric Sjerven – North Texas
Clint,
My name is Eric Sjerven, I was in attendance at Lightning Across the Plains this past
weekend. Mark asked that I share my experience with you regarding the offensive actions of
the campers in the Davawood campsite during our holy ritual of High Symble.
I was seated in High Symble during the time of the incident. Throughout the evening, we
could hear someone from down the path yelling up at the pavilion whenever we would Hail
during the ritual. From my position, I could not make out specifically what they were saying,
so I cannot offer the exact wording of the offending statements. More importantly, Mark
initially sent a delegation of JBK members down to the Davawood camp to address the issue.
The individuals in the camp disregarded our act of diplomacy and continued to get louder and
more intrusive throughout the event. It was extremely offensive that this disrespectful
behavior should be allowed to persist during our holiest of celebrations that night. Over 220
individuals paid to attend the event and should have been assured the respect and security of
the camp. Instead, we were met with offensive individuals that threatened to sully a
wonderful and unique experience.
Immediately following the ritual, I accompanied Mark and the contingent of Heathens that
proceeded to the Davawood campsite. When we arrived, Gunnar was already present with
another group from our event. There were two males and one female in the camp. When I
arrived, I did not observe the illicit drugs in question; however, I was toward the back of the
group and could not see the ground around Gunnar and the irate individual's feet. One of the
two campers was pointing his finger at Gunnar and telling him to "get the fuck out of my
goddamn campsite." Gunnar continued to confront him as to his disruption of our ritual, but
he never made an aggressive move toward the camper. The other camper was close to the
one arguing with Gunnar, but he was being very quiet. Mark took the female camper aside
and discussed the situation with her. Once she confirmed the information, he began to guide
our people out of the campsite. The Heathens complied, but the camper continued to provoke
and curse at our people. Mark took the initiative and answered the man back, ensuring that
none of our people would be put in a position to go too far. All of the Heathens left the camp
at that time and returned to the pavilion.
This damaged the enjoyment of the events that evening significantly. I was among those that
set up watch and remained awake all night to ensure that our campers were protected. This
resulted in my having to conduct a scheduled ritual the following day on no sleep. This never
should have happened. The individuals were out of line and I feel they were acting in such a
manner that supports illicit drug use based on my experience in the field of psychology. The
main antagonist exhibited impaired judgement in his interactions, particularly in his escalating
aggression in the face of nearly thirty grown men. I find it hard to believe that he would have
continued on this path of behavior without the presence of some mind altering substance.
Admittedly, I have no proof of such, but the behaviors do support the supposition. I am
relieved to hear that Lightning Across the Plains will be granted exclusive rights to the camp,
especially in that I should not have to stay awake the entire night to ensure the safety of my
wife, kindred, and friends. I trust that the board of directors for Camp Gaea will take
appropriate and meaningful action in rectifying this situation, or I should call into question the
better judgement of the camp's leadership. I was under the understanding that your camp
was intended for the enjoyment and spiritual growth of all, but a lack of action will illustrate
that your focus is clearly upon a select group of individuals and that honor plays no part the
decision making. I look forward to hearing of your mature and honorable actions.
Eric Sjerven,
Statement of Jason Grothe – Kansas City Area
Clint,
Greetings, and thanks for all you did this weekend and have done for JBK and Lightning
Across the Plains over the past few years. Gaea runs remarkably well, and it's in no small
part because of your and Rhi's work!
My position in the hall on Saturday night made it very difficult for me to hear the calls that led
to the escalated situation on Saturday, and I did not go to the offenders' camp. I do, however,
have some things I'd like to share from the perspective I did have.
From where I sat on Saturday, I could see a rising agitation among the gathered guests, and
learned a bit of what was happening from Mark, Rod, and other people I was near. I could
see a lot of people who were very angry, others who looked hurt or worried. I saw Mark and
other members of JBK leave to try to calm the situation down . All of this was happening in
our Sumbel ritual--what should be our most joyful, reverent, and meaningful ritual of the
weekend--and, really, of the entire year. The chaos interrupted our responsibilities as hosts,
our attention to the participants in our Sumbel, and certainly affected the mood of the
assembled Folk. The level of concern was great enough after this happened that we felt it
necessary to set a watch through the night to make sure nothing happened to our guests or
our hall.
I'm not heathen myself, but I've been partnered with Rod (Godhi of JBK) for going on 12
years. In those twelve years, I've been to dozens and dozens of heathen rituals, sumbels,
and gatherings. I've been to events in suburban back yards, in crowded city parks, and in a
variety of venues where non-heathens (and non-pagans) surrounded and could hear what
was going on. I've seen people give "that" look, I've seen event organizers approached by
the concerned and the curious, I've heard the uniformed laugh and make comments.
However, I've NEVER seen a more blatantly vicious, intentional, and disruptive attack on a
holy rite than what occurred on Saturday. The fact that this happened in what was supposed
to be a safe and welcoming environment where people were aware of and understood what
was going on makes it all the more disturbing.
Gaea is and has been a very welcoming place for us and for the wider community. I'm greatly
encouraged to see the leadership taking this very seriously and seeking to address this headon. I think I can speak for the other folks in JBK when I say that Gaea is a very special place
to us.
Thanks for your attention to this.
Sincerely,
Jason Grothe
Statement of David Ballard – Oklahoma
Hi Clint,
My name is David Ballard and I attended LATP with my partner Destiny Davis and two of our
children September 23-25th. I'm sending this -mail because there was a problem Saturday
night during our High Symbel.
High Symbel is one of the most holy ceremonies in Heatherny and Saturday night it was
interrupted and mocked. What took place was something I would have never expected to
occur at Gaea. In fact it is something that never has happened over the last 12 + years I have
attended events there.
The first time I noticed anything going on at Symbel was 15 or 20 minutes after we began.
After each person made a statement over the horn and we cheered Hail someone from
outside our campsite began to shout things back. I dismissed the first couple of times, but
then it continued. I saw two men leave to try and found out where it was coming from. After a
while it the shouts stopped for a bit. I know they yelled hail every time we did and said some
other things, but honestly I could not make it all out. What I could make out was the tone and
the fact that they meant to interrupt what we were doing.
About halfway through Symbel the shouts started again. This time they yelled whenever there
was a pause and not just after we Hailed whoever was speaking. I could not make out
everything they were saying, but did hear a comment about the bathrooms and someone
telling us to shut up.
At the end of the Symbel a group went down the road towards where the yelling was coming
from. At first I tried going through the woods through the Pixie Sticks area and had to double
back to the roadway to go around on the road. As I approached I could hear people arguing.
The other campers were dunk and were cursing at us to leave. While I was present at the
campsite overheard them being told a number of times that they needed to calm down and
quit yelling. I did not see anyone being touched or hear anyone being threatened. As the
discussion ended and we all left the campsite together and walked back up the road to ours.
Most of us then returned to the pavilion area for a while, and a number of people stayed up
through the night to insure no one came into our camp.
The whole event left me feeling upset at the complete lack of respect for my faith. Gaea is
one of the few places I attend where I feel like my family and I won’t have to deal with this
kind of thing while practicing our faith with others.
Thanks,
David
Statement of Leilani Lea – Southern Missouri
To Whom It May Concern: I am Leilani Lea and I was in attendance at Lightning Across the
Plains on Saturday night during which there was an incident with people at Davawood Camp.
The group at LATP were in the middle of a rite hailing our gods. Often, immediately after we
would hail a god we would hear a yell, "hail" or "hail Odin", but it would not be with us but
afterwards as if mocking us, thus mocking our rite. I felt as if we were being disrespected.
After a group of people from LATP went to Davawood Camp and returned, I went to my
campsite which was only a few hundred feet from Davawood Camp. For a few hours, as I lay
in my tent, I heard yelling from Davawood Camp. They were yelling about how "stupid" we, at
LATP, were being in many ways. And yelled about how he was a combat veteran and skilled
in knifefighting and we should send men over there 3 by 3. I felt physically threatened by this
and considered sleeping elsewhere. My friend refused to leave
and I didn't want to leave him by himself. -Leilani Lea
Statement of Tanya Peterson – Oklahoma
ClintI wanted to send an email letting you know my perspective of what happened on Saturday
night at Camp Gaea.
Our High Sumbel was taking place in the evening, and many heartfelt toasts were being
spoken. About halfway through, when the folks in the hall yelled "Hail!" after a toast, we heard
from the distance someone yelling a drunken "Hail!", which sounded rather mocking. We kind
of let it go, and went on with our sumbel. And then it happened again. I think by the third or
fourth time, 2 of the men went over to ask them to stop. They came back, and things were
fine, for a minute. Then it was pretty much after every hail, we heard something. Once, I
heard a "shut up!' another time, I heard "HAIL ....(something intelligible). After that, our 2
men went back over there, and after the Sumbel concluded (soon after), several more of our
people went over to the site. I was not one of the folks who went to the other camp.
I was very upset by the lack of respect from the others in the camp. High Sumbel is a very
sacred ritual in Asatru. When the horn goes around, and people speak into it, we are
speaking into the Well of Wyrd- all the gods and the ancestors hear our words. People were
toasting their gods, their beloved dead, their ancestors, and their heroes and friends. To have
others outside of our ritual space mocking us so openly was just so disrespectful. In such a
sacred place for all pagans, that sort of thing should never happen.
I hope this will help clear things up.
in Frith~tanya
Tanya Peterson
http://www.tanyastastytreats.blogspot.com/
Statement of Will Burris – Kansas City Area
I just thought I'd write and let you know what I saw at the incident. I was one of the Hall
Wardens, I was on the left side and another man was on the right, and our Security chief was
sitting by Mark.
Halfway through our Symbel, we started hearing echo Hails from the woods, after about 15
minutes, our Security man and the right side Warden walked out to the right, so I walked out
to the left and joined them. We first went to Dava Wood and found a bright campfire, walked
into their camp and asked the people (two or three) if they were echoing our Hails, they said
no, and we asked if they heard what direction they were coming from, they said they didn't
hear anything.
Then we left their camp and saw a campfire between us and the pavilion, I didn't want to walk
through Pixie Sticks without flashlights, so we walked around by the road and found a
campfire on the right of the entrance to Pixie Sticks nearest the Pavilion. There were two
men and a woman, when we asked if they were echoing our Hails, the first man said No, then
the woman giggled and said 'Maybe', and the other man said No. I got the impression the
woman was drunk. Also, I don't remember there being tents nearby.
We heard no more echoes until near the end of the Symbel, then we heard more echoing
Hails, quieter but still noticeable. From my position, I didn't hear the words but I could tell that
somebody yelled a long sentence, then after our next Hail, another long sentence. Our
Security man and the right Warden got up and went out the right, so I went out the left, and
noticed then that a couple dozen people got up and followed us. Since I have short legs, I
couldn't walk very fast so they all passed me. I noticed that the fire in Pixie Sticks was no
longer visible from the road.
By the time I got to Dava Wood, the crazy guy with brown hair in that campsite was already
yelling "Get the fuck out of our camp!" over and over again. It seemed like he was too
confused to think of anything else to say. Also in the camp was a man laying next to the fire, I
think he was blonde, and a woman. After about a minute of yelling back and forth between
the crazy and several of our biggest men, Mark came in. I was about 15 feet away, I saw
Mark circle around to the right of their campfire, he signaled the woman to follow him away
from the campfire where they spoke for 20 seconds, then Mark went over to the crazy guy
and got between him and our guys. Mark said to our guys "Let's pull back", he repeated it a
few times, then the crazy started yelling about how he was going to get the caretaker, and
somebody said "Good idea", so someone, I think it was the woman, went to a jeep nearby
and started it. I don't know if the jeep went anywhere.
As we were trying to pull back, the crazy kept yelling inflammatory words, that he was going
to get us banned and thrown out, etc. Then Mark got into his face and pointed a finger at him
and said 'You're a pussy', then he again told everyone to pull back, and everyone did, even
though the crazy was still yelling inflammatory stuff.
When we got back to the pavilion, Mark reassured everyone that it was handled, and said he
was going to talk to the caretaker. We discussed leaving someone up to guard the pavilion,
then later we finished our ritual.
I was impressed with the restraint of our people, in the face of an idiot who seemed to want to
taunt someone into busting him, it was obvious he wasn't thinking clearly, with him and a
buddy against at least 50 guys.
I'm hoping the crazy can be effectively banned from the camp, but I know that is hard to
enforce.
-Will Burris
Statement of Tink Sjerven – North Texas
Dear Clint,
My name is Tinkerbelle Sjerven and I am a member of the Hridgar Folk, one of the kindreds
that attended 'Lightning Across The Plains' this past weekend. While I was not present for the
encounter between the campers at Davawood and the men and women of our event, I was
present for our High Symbel. To be quite honest, I was under the impression that Gaea
Retreat was to provide a space where one could practice their religion without harassment. It
seemed to me that every time that we hailed in symbel and the campers yelled "hail 'insert
phrase here'" that they were mocking our ritual. High Symbel is a holy time for our folk,
allowing us to bond more closely with the Gods, the Vaettir, and our Folk. Their lack of
respect for our holy time is saddening to me and upsets me at the same time. I read in the
dining hall that the Earth Rising Inc. mission was for people of all faiths to practice without
harassment or negative repercussions. In addition the Gaea Retreat Center Agreement of
Respect contains a section regarding harassment. It states: "Harassment: In any form
based on, but not limited to, religion, spirituality, sexual preferences, race, gender, or age is
prohibited." At the top of that Agreement of Respect are the guidelines "Respect YourselfRespect Others-Respect the Land." Fairly early into our symbel, the mock 'hails' could be
heard from the campers. It was not in time with our hails but spaced out in a way that was
disruptive. Early on in the evening, a couple of men from our ritual went to ask the campers
to show some respect and to not disturb symbel. We thought that the disruption was over
and continued with our ritual, however, the campers persisted in the mock hailing. As a result
of the continued lack of respect to our event, some of our men and a couple of our women
went to the camp determine what was the problem that these people had with our ritual.
From the hill the shouts of people could be heard and several minutes later the whole group
came back. That night some of our men kept watch in case there was retaliation as a result
of the earlier encounter. I felt nervous going down to the showers that night by myself and
that was unnecessary. Of all the places I have been to, LATP and Gaea Retreat have been a
safe haven for me. I didn't have to worry about walking alone on the campground at three in
the morning or wandering off on the hiking trails during the day. Because of how those
people acted towards us as a group, it broke that peace of the land for me for a time. I am
certain that if our next event is closed to the general public I will feel more secure, but it
seemed right that you know of my experience. What ever action is taken, I trust that the
decision will be right and honorable.
Regards,
Tinkerbelle Sjerven
Statement of Joel Archer – Kansas City Area
To whom it may concern, and the Board of Camp Gaea,
My name is Joel L. Archer. I am a long time patron of the camp, and a proud practicing
heathen in Kansas City. I am writing to speak on the events that happened last Saturday
during the High Symbel at this year's Lighting Across the Plains.
The ritual itself was about half way over, the horn having been passed though part of the folk,
when we started to hear a call from off in the distance. The Ritual of Symbel itself is a call and
response ceremony, where the person holding the horn hails the gods, his ancestors, and/or
toasts the assembled folk. Now, I understand that 200+ voices vocalizing to the gods is loud,
but the call and response dynamic is also a very recognizable part of many religious
ceremonies.
Intinally, it was simply them screaming hail back at us. Now, that was a minor interruption to
the ceremony, and not that big of a deal. However, the screaming continually got worse. I do
not remember everything that was said, but the two I remember most specifically, once they
responded with "Hail Odin fucking you up the ass in the shower" And "Hail naked hippie
chicks dancing off in the woods". This was not only disrespectful to our ritual, but it also really
began to get our people upset.
Now, we sent an initial group. I saw our law speaker, and some of the people serving has
keepers of the hall, just to ask them to knock it off. It was simply trying to resolve the situation
peacefully. But after they continued to scream at us after our original group was sent down,
after our ritual was over, a number of us went down there to talk to them collectively.
As we walked into the camp, the first thing we heard was "Who the fuck are you guys? Get
the FUCK out of my campsite." At that point, I was able to see two men, and a woman in a
cloak. I was also saw what looked like marijuana in a dish on thier camp table, but I didn't get
a very good look at it. The man in the camp continued to scream at us, curse at us, and
eventually one of our members did kick over that table. But Mark, who was kinda working as
our head, was asking why they were screaming at us, why they were insulting us, and why
they were interrupting our ritual. The man just continued to scream at us, telling us to get the
fuck out of thier camp, and continued to point thier fingers at us, and threaten to throw us out
of thier camp. No actual violence was started, and there were no weapons drawn on either
side.
Mark was asked over to the side to talk to the woman, and while I was told later that she
admitted that it was the man in the camp screaming at us, I didn't talk to her myself.
Afterward, Mark said, "Ok, heathens, lets go. Sir, You're a pussy, and you have no honor.
We're leaving." We filed out in a fairly orderly manner, though it took Mark really pressing the
issue to make sure everyone was leaving. They continued to cuss and scream at us the entire
time we were leaving.
The situation ended with no violence, and it ended with no one being hurt, but everyone up on
our ridge being horribly offended. I, personally, take High Symbel extremely seriously. We
perform this rite once a year, with the collective folk of the Midwest coming together at
Lightning. The fact that this ritual, which means alot to a huge number of heathens all over the
country. The fact that these people went out of thier way, and insulted not just our ritual, but
our very way of life, was completely reprehensible.
If there are any questions that I might be able to answer, or anything I can say on the subject,
please send a reply to this email address and,I will attempted to provide any and all
information that I can.
Sincerely,
Joel L. Archer
Statement of Susan Steveson – Kansas City Area
On Saturday, September 24th 2011, the LATP gathering was holding their High Symbel under
the pavilion. There were probably around 175 folk gathered for this very spiritual and moving
ritual.
(The exact wording of things yelled at us from the woods.)
As I was sitting at the High Table near the stage the words yelled from the woods were not
clear enough for me to repeat. The “Hail” was loudest followed by various comments. As a
member of JBK I moved among the women folk left at the pavilion to talk with them about the
incident. Those sitting near the back of the pavilion mentioned the comments they heard
which were very derogatory against women and our Gods.
(Any illegal drugs you saw in the campsite, and describe what they were if you saw them.)
As I stayed back in the Pavilion I only have knowledge of alcohol and marijuana from the men
folk who returned from the campsite which included my husband.
(Describe the words and behaviors of those in the Davawood camp that night during the
incident.)
Gaea Retreat is a place for folks with alternative religious beliefs to gather and feel safe to
proudly/loudly hold rituals to their Gods/ess’ yet this night these people in the campsite had no
respect for us. Their shouts sounded like stupid drunken actions. Not having been to the
actual campsite to witness these people I can only use my motherly and 55 years experience
to state they were foolish, stupid, ill mannered and if sober I doubt they were have done all
the shouting, especially when you have up to 30 men standing in your campsite with ritual
weapons attached. Who but a drunk and/or drug enticed person would be so
belligerent/stupid?
(Describe what was done by us, and what was not done by us. Did we assault anyone or not?
Did we point weapons at anyone or not? Did we pull away from the conflict in an orderly
fashion? Etc.) As I was back at the pavilion I cannot speak for what happened at the camp.
Our normal garb has most of us equipped with a knife, ax or sword but they are always
sheathed. My husband was one of the men who went to the camp at the end of our ritual.
Upon his return he reported no one came into contact with either party. Only verbal words
were exchanged and hand gestures (finger pointing).
As I mentioned above Gaea retreat was designed to provide a place for the alternative
religions to safely and proudly practice their beliefs. JBK has held LATP for three years now.
The folks nationwide who attend our events rave about the marvelous land we have access to
for LATP and wish they had a place like this for themselves back in their states.
And then Saturday night a few stupid drunken/drugged individuals have to ruin the spiritual
experience of Gaea Retreat and our Ritual.
During a High Symbel we call upon our ancestors, Gods, Goddess’ and the Vaettir of Gaea to
join us and share in our ritual. We each then share a horn of mead, each raising it in honor of
each other, our families, our ancestors, our Gods and Goddess’. Stories and experiences are
shared and placed in the well (horn). Tears are shared, shouts of Hail are shared, and bonds
are forged. The electricity of emotions surrounds us as the ritual escalates with each toast.
You can feel your loved ones around you who have passed on into the Halls of our ancestors.
You can feel the presence of or Gods and Goddesses. You can feel the vaettir around us. It
is such an amazing feeling. This night, this year, was even more special as we held the first
Heathen wedding for LATP and I am sure for Gaea Retreat. It was a beautiful event shared
with 200+ Heathens from across the United States. There were folks from Los Angeles on
the West Coast and Boston/Maryland on the East coast with someone from Belgium as well.
This was peaking to be the largest and greatest High Sumbul in our history. The energy was
building, our ancestors were beaming with pride, our Gods and Goddesses were proud of our
hard work and the honor we were giving them. I specifically had raised a horn to Eir,
Goddess of healing and patroness of health-care workers. I had asked her early in the year
when my father was given four months to live because of cancer to take him as quickly and
peacefully as she felt possible and to guide the hospice workers with my father’s care. My
father did not suffer any pain and went very peacefully in the period the doctors predicted
never being in pain. I felt my father with me this night and wanted to put in the horn my
appreciation for all the help/guidance Eir had provided and for taking such good care of him
and the hospice workers during the last few months of his life. There were many others at the
event putting similar stories in the well. Our god/ess’, ancestors and land wights are always
so strong around us listening to the toasts of our kin, so proud of the deeds we have done
throughout the year. The energy from our High Sumbul lasts for days after. You feel so close
to your ancestors, god/ess’. When we are done the well filled with our mead and toasts are
taken to the JBK Ve and shared with Fornhalr. Yet this night we had disrespectful individuals
busting through our energies with belligerent, rude and derogatory shouts. Twice we had
tried to reason with the people to show us some respect yet they continued to be
disrespectful. This interrupted the end of our ritual sending the men to the campsite, breaking
up the flow of the ritual for the third and final time. Sadness overcame us for the loss of
respect to such a beautiful ritual and a beautiful retreat area. Anger to think we no longer
even have this beautiful place to enjoy and express our spiritual beliefs without hostility and
then have those who we thought were also seeking the same freedom ridicule our beliefs and
antagonize us. We (Pagans) should stand together fighting for our religious freedom. Instead
we have folks twice destroying our Ve because they find us different.
There was sadness, anger, disgust and fear. Several men folk did not sleep on Saturday
night so they could patrol the area to make sure none of our property was vandalized. We
have always felt safe leaving the pavilion alone at night with all the ritual items in place but
this night we feared further violation. As I type this response reliving the evening I was
overwhelmed with sadness mixed with anger. The disrespect of these individuals for the
words I placed in the well about my father leaves me in tears tonight.
Susan Steveson
Jotun’s Bane Kindred
Statement of Stephanie Thurston – Kansas City Area
Clint,
As requested, I'd like to provide what information I can on the incident which happened during
our High Sumble on Saturday night, September 24th.
There were two separate instances in which the men who were camping nearby began to yell
inappropriate things during our sumble. The first incident took place sometime between ten
and eleven. This incident was resolved quickly when two of the members of Jotun's Bane
Kindred approached the men. I assume they were asked to stop being disrespectful of our
event.
A few hours later, however, they began again, mocking each time we would hail our gods, our
ancestors, or whom/whatever the person holding the horn wished to hail. This time, however,
they were not just laughing and simply repeating the word hail. Several of those in the
Sumble heard the crude, disrespectful things these men were yelling back. I only recall
hearing one of these, unfortunately I don't remember the exact wording. It was something
akin to "Hail those who can get naked and sleep with women"
Soon after our High Sumble ended, some from our community went to speak to the men
again. I wasn't part of that group, so I cannot say what did or did not happen at this point. I
do know, however, that some of our men stayed awake to be sure nothing dishonorable was
done to any in our camp that night.
The incident put a sour taste in my mouth for this specific group of men. Gaea is meant to be
a place for those of different faiths to have the freedom to hold their own rituals, events,
gatherings, etc without fear or risk of persecution by others. What these men did was
incredibly disrespectful, and it is not something any of our community would have done to
them in turn.
Thank you for your assistance and for making Gaea a place for people of all faiths. Please let
me know if there is anything else I can do to help
Stephanie Thurston
Statement of Glen Steveson – Kansas City Area
On Saturday, September 24th 2011, the LATP gathering was holding their High Symbel under
the pavilion. There were probably around 175 folk gathered for this very spiritual and moving
ritual.
(The exact wording of things yelled at us from the woods.)
From where I sat at the high table in the Pavilion I was unable to hear all that those in the
other camp were yelling other than the echoed Hails done in a snarky manner, I heard after
the nasty comments which were used to try and enflame us at the end of High Symbel
(Any illegal drugs you saw in the campsite, and describe what they were if you saw them.)
I saw no drugs as I was in the middle of the group, just heard reference to them after the fact,
though given their behavior they had to be on something to be so damned suicidal.
(Describe the words and behaviors of those in the Davawood camp that night during the
incident.)
I was in the group that went to their campsite when we finished High Symbel, by this point we
were so upset by their behavior and with their continued assault on our ceremony and with
about 5 of our group already down at their camp a good percentage of the men went to their
camp and along the route heard shouting at which time we started running to camp. The
Davawood group kept yelling insults and threats wanting us all to leave their campsite. Mark
had us all start to retreat and the Davawood group began throwing more insults trying to
instigate one of us into a fight.
(Describe what was done by us, and what was not done by us. Did we assault anyone or not?
Did we point weapons at anyone or not? Did we pull away from the conflict in an orderly
fashion? Etc.)
What I saw as I entered camp was Gunnar and one Davawood man in an argument. At first
they denied it was them then they changed their tune to say we can do whatever we want and
you cannot stop us. Mark then asked everyone to back up and leave the camp. At this point
as we were leaving the Davawood guys started to holler “yeah get out of our camp you
pussys and cowards”. We left the camp in an orderly fashion as Mark suggested and several
of us including myself chose to stay in the pavilion to protect our items, our families, our
campsites and our cars as the Davawood group left us with the impression they were going to
do come up into our area and mess with our stuff. Even after we left the campsite you could
still hear them hollering insults.
(PLEASE include exactly how it made you feel when those mocking words were being yelled
at us during our High Symbel.)
We have waited all year for our most important Regional event where folk come from all over
the United States. This year we had the first heathen wedding at LATP plus Gaea Retreat
and their actions brought it to a very disappointing end. GAEA Retreat is a place where folks
with alternative religious beliefs can come and peacefully honor their Gods without fear of
interference. Yet this weekend has now shown me there appears to be no place but your own
home to peacefully worship your Gods. For these men to treat our religion and Gaea Retreat
with this disrespect saddens me and disappoints me. These people should not be allowed to
have thrown these insults and not be punished for their actions. I feel we handled the
situation in a very acceptable manner, we did not threaten these peple and we did not touch
these people. When our Chieftain asked us to retreat back to camp we did and ye they
continued to insult us. This year we had children from age 10 and up in the Pavilion with us
during High Symbel and so not only did we have to hear this but young children had to hear
this vulgar language. I stayed up until 4:30 in the morning to watch over camp and others
stayed up the entire night. Not quite the way you expect to spend your time after the High
Symbel.
Glen Steveson
Thyle, Jotun’s Bane Kindred
-Glen Steveson
Statement of James Thurston – Kansas City Area
This is in reference to the night of 9/24/11 during the High Symbol of LATP.
During the Symbol, I could hear someone in the distance echoing our Hails every so often.
As the night wore on the voice(s) got closer and seemed to be coming from road leading up to
the ridge along where we had our vehicles parked. Three members of JBK, Johnny
Whitebread, Will Burris and Bo Hopkins, who where charged with the security of the event left
the pavillion to confront the individual(s) responsible and ask them to clear the area.
For a while there were not anymore disruptions until after we took a short 10 min break.
As we resumed with the Symbol I heard someone walking along the road past the pavillion
from the direction of our vehicles and they began to mock laugh as a member of the Symbol
had the horn raised and they were making a toast.
They turned around after they had past the pavillion and returned in the direction they had
originally came from and started to mock laugh again as they passed.
As the Symbol was coming to a close the moking was coming more frequently the only
remark I was actually able to make out was, "Hail those that get naked and can have sex with
chicks!". Or, something along those lines.
At, this point Johnny, Will and Bo again left the pavillion and headed off in the direction of
Davawood Camp. They were followed by members of Volkshof Kindred.
As, Mark called and end to the Symbol several members the other kindreds that were taking
part and myself left the Pavillion in the direction of Davawood to confront at the time an
unknown number of individuals.
As we were walking down the road from the ridge I began to hear shouting coming from the
camp. We began to run toward the camp, I was under the impression that some sort of
altercation may have ensued between the individuals at the camp and our small group
individuals that had went before us.
As, I arrived at the camp I saw atleast three individuals in a verbal altercation with members
of LATP. Let it be said that at no time during the verbal altercation did I witness any weapons
being displayed or physical attacks by either side.
Mark, interjected and told us to back away and return to the ridge as we were leaving the
scene we were being taunted and goaded into further altercation by the individuals at the
camp.
We left the camp and returned to the ridge, I returned to my tent to check on my wife
Stephanie, fill her in on what had happened and turn in for the night.
The next morning I discovered that several members had stayed up all night to insure that no
mischief or vandalism befell our vehicles or the pavillion.
As far as the incident I that a ritual that is sacred to our people was dishonored and I felt
absolute rage that in a location that has been dedicated to the free practice of several and all
religous beliefs.
We were in a way, being persecuted for honoring our Gods, Ancestors and chosen way of life.
Thank you for taking a serious and hard look at this situation and I hope that this can be
resolved in a satisfactory manner for all.
James Thurston
Statement of Bear Odinsson – Denver, Colorado
Dear sir,
I'm writing to you out of concern for an incident that occured on Saturday September 24
during a High Sumble ritual at Lightning Across The Plains.
During the Sumble it is our custom to say, HAIL or HAIL and then some person or diety.
During a part of the evening someone had hailed Odin and off in the distance, but not too far
from us, someone yelled back something to the affect of Fail Odin for fucking me in the ass
(not sure of the correct pharsing, but it was useing these words). At that time, two memebers
of the host Kindred had left and shortly after came back, I'm assuming they talked to the
campers near the area and asked them to please refrain from interupting our rite. Later, not
sure of the time, but close to the end of the Sumble, another hail to Odin went out and from
that same exact area came, Hail Odin and all the women he fucked, again paraphrasing. At
that time the same two host Kindred memebers got up and began to walk towards that area. A
few other men in the hall began to go that way also as did a couple of members of my
Kindred. And being the protector that I am I followed my brothers to be sure that they were
safe. As we got closer to the area of that campsite (the Davawood Camp) I could here
someone yelling "fuck you, get the fuck outta my campsite"..."fuck you, I'll fuck you up"..."who
the fuck do you assholes think you are". I entered the campsite and assest the area for
weapons and watching the renters of that site, that they did not assault any member of our
gathering. During this time Elders of our group tried to talk to the two men about their
offensive remarks and all they could keep saying was "fuck you" and "we'll get you assholes
kicked outta here". The two men at that campsite seemed very intoxicated and had their fist
clinched the entire time. After a few minutes there our Elders got the group to leave the
campsite and return to LATP site. While leaving the renters of the site continued to yell, "leave
you pussies"..."get the fuck outta here" and so on. I would lke to note that no one in our group
had any weapons and no one was assaulted during this incident. Tempers were high by some
on our side, but the Elders of our community handled themselves professionally and with tact
during the entire incident.
Personally I was very offended by these people at that campsite. I've been the Director of
Safety for a large Pagan gathering here in Denver for many years and never have I run into
that much disrespect from one group to another.
Lastly I would like to compliment the owners of the property. The camp area is gorgeous and
the grounds VERY well kept. Thank you for allowing us to be at your site, it was a great
pleasure to make that drive from Denver to there.
In Frith...
Bear Odinsson
Odinsbjorn Hearth
Statement of Billy Meyers II – Oklahoma
Concerning Lighting Across the Plain's. we where at high symble and fellow Heathen's where
raiseing the Horn to Dif thing's and about every 5th or 7th Hail. the other camp would respond
with a hail and some kinda of mockinh remark added to it. the first time Some one went there
thay where asked nicely to stop dureing our Symbel. thay stopped for about 30 to 45 min.
then started again. the second time we went down there it wasnt a bit gruffer. and again thay
stopped for about the same lenth of time. then towards the end thay started up again this time
yelling Hail the naked ladies and beer. after that it really made alot of us mad. we wasnt
bothering any one esle in there camps but these ppl keep on Heckeling us from there camp.
on the other side of the trees. so at a time when the symbel was over a few of us went to the
camp. and there proceeded argue with the camp's resident's 2 male's 1 female. there was an
OVER welming stench of Marijuane from both the male's. there was a table next to the
darkhaired man that had a smoked joint end and an camp hand axe. he reached for it. and
some one kicked over the table b4 he could reach the axe.then the little blonde guy tryed was
yelling about us disrespecting there camp site. we yelled back. Why are you disrespecting our
Religion by yelling at us from there camp site. thay Clamed it wasnt them. but the darkhaired
man's voice when raised sounded alot like the one. or one of the voice's yelling at us. then as
the whole thing was about to get out of hand and Mark. Mark Stinson told us we had better
leave b4 thing got out of hand and we violate Frith. so we where leaveing and thay continued
to yell insalts at us as we left. it really made me mad that even on a Pegan Camp site where
we are not bothering any one else, that we still get crap from other people when this should
have been a place of understanding. it really give's me a bad impression of Pegan's. I mean i
would not go yelling from my camp site at some one else camp site wile thay are haveing a
Religious services. end.
Billy Myers II
Statement of Scott Cobb – Denver, CO
To whom it may concern,
On several occasions during our high Symbel, last Saturday night, there were hails of a rude
nature shouted back to us from the neighboring camp site.My understanding on the nature of
the Gaea retreat is that it is a place where people of like mind can gather to worship and
honour our gods in peace and frith. That frith was broken due to the rude and crude slurs
hurled back at our gathering by said individuals. I could not make out all of the things that
were said, but even that was a distraction and detraction from the spiritual nature of the
gathering. It has been rumored that one of these individuals has stated his right to free
speech, to say whatever, whenever. However when the " hail, fuck you in the ass" came back
at us, we as a group have the right to defend the sanctity of our rites. That being said, I hope
that there is a peaceable resolution to this matter.
scott cobb
[email protected]
Statement of Jude Croyle – Minneapolis, MN
Hello Clint.
Thank you and Gaea for hosting a wonderful event called Lightning Across the Plains! The
Vaetir of this land are very fortunate and have made their presence at our gathering quite
pleasant. I am responding to a request made by Mark Stinson. He had the questions listed
below.
On Saturday, September 24th 2011 at the end of our Ritual High Symbel I witnessed the
following:
>>> The exact wording of things yelled at us from the woods.
I heard from where I was seated "Hail Odin and may he fuck you in the ass in the shower"
being shouted by someone not at our camp, but down the road into the darkness below the
ridge, towards the south and east.
>>> Any illegal drugs you saw in the campsite, and describe what they were if you saw them.
There was a TV tray type table next to the combative dark haired male. This tray was
covered with marijuana, the odor of it was in the air around their campsite.
>>> Describe the words and behaviors of those folks that were in the Davawood camp that
night during the incident.
There were two males and one female at the campsite. When I arrived, we asked the
campers if they had yelled during our ritual after we had repeatedly asked them not to do as it
was interrupting our ceremony and was quite disrespectful.
The dark haired combative male kept repeating "get the fuck out of my campsite!".
He then pointed directly at me and said “especially you, you...” and he was distracted by the
arrival of my kinsmen before he could spout his racial slur. The Blond haired male admitted to
yelling sort of apologized and asked us to leave politely. The combative dark haired male
continued to try to provoke me and several others into violence.
The combative dark haired male stood up from his chair at which time knocked over his tray
filled with Marijuana and yelled at me and my Chieftain, sticking his finger into his face. He
said "Gaea says I can do what I want, now get the fuck out of my campsite"
>>> Describe what was done by us, and what was not done by us. Did we assault anyone or
not? Did we point weapons at anyone or not? Did we pull away from the conflict in an orderly
fashion? Etc.
I was one of the first few to arrive to ask these people for the third time to stop interrupting our
ritual. We asked sternly, and respectfully if they heard the yelling, and if they were in fact
responsible. The Blond haired Male admitted to the deed and somewhat apologized, but
mostly appeared too intoxicated to respond. The combative dark haired mail repeatedly
screamed obscenities, and finally unapologetically admitted to interrupting our sacred ritual.
He said it was his right and Gaea condoned it.
The female that was present said very little and appeared uncomfortable by the combative
dark haired males actions. There were no weapons present aside from a scabbard or a knife
that was on a belt on ritual garb. These weapons were never drawn, never even touched by
the parties who had them on as part of the garb we wear.
There was no assault made by us, nor by the campers. The threat of violence was made by
the combative dark haired male several times as he asked "what we were going to do about
it"… meaning his disrespectful and hateful actions that interrupted our high Symbel.
When we left the campsite, we exchanged words of disgust and anger. We left in an orderly
fashion. The combative dark haired male was still attempting to rile us and shouted many
obscenities.
On the way back to the ridge we could hear some of the discussion that was taking place as
the dark haired male planned to vandalize or otherwise disrupt our gathering even further.
>>> And finally, PLEASE include exactly how it made you feel when those mocking words
were being yelled at us during our High Symbel.
Gaea retreat is designed and used by the many faces of paganism and Heathenry that exist.
We all have a mutual respect for each other and at times have some disagreements about
what form our religions should take. The largest gathering of Heathen Folk worldwide was
present at this event. Our gods and ancestors were proud to have a strong and boisterous
people hailing them and their deeds.
The actions that were made by these campers, these simple minded and unapologetic
campers was nearly enough to make me forget about the amazing ritual we had just
experienced.
I feel that my connection to my gods was interrupted.
I feel that my connection to my ancestors was interrupted.
I feel that my connections to the Vaetir of Gaea were interrupted.
I feel that the words and deeds that were so well made into the well of Jotuns Bane Kindred
were interrupted and tainted by the foul words and deeds of those individuals.
I felt a sense of anger, a sense of disgust and a sense of discontent when at High Symbel
these feelings should never present as it is when we connect with our Gods, our Folk, our
Vaetir and our ancestors.
Thank you for taking the time to read this as I know we are all busy people. I appreciate that
you are willing to listen to the events as I remember them.
Sincerely,
Jude Croyle
[email protected]
Statement of Josh Robinson – South Dakota
To whom it may concern,
Greetings my name is Joshua Robinson I have been asked by Mark Stinson to relay my
statement of the events that took place on the evening of 09-25-2011 involving the attendants
of the Lightning across the plains known as (LATP) and the campers of the Davawood Camp
as I was seated closer to the shouters than most in attendance.
During the High Symbel event starting at around 9:30pm when the attendants of LATP would
hail the toast of others a group of non attenders would shout out hail followed by laughter
after an estimated 45 minutes of this 3 of the members of LATP's host group went to speak
with the campers of the Davawood camp .
This calmed the return shouts for around 30-45 minutes upon resumption of the shouts
additional comments where added such as" Hail Odin , Hail beer and Hail hailing these
comments processed to escalate in rudeness to the point of shouts of "hail big tittied women
in the shower house" and "hail fucking in the ass with a dildo" I am sorry to repeat these
words and do so only to show the complete and utter ludeness that the attendants of LATP
had to endure.
After the final hail of the High Symbel myself and 5-6 others processed to the direction of the
shouts and at the Davawood camp the campers got asked where the shouts where coming
from and who was shouting in return we where told "Fuck you" an argument ensued with
some of the attendants of LATP demanding to know who and where the shouting was coming
and mainly only one male camper swearing back at the attendants and threating to get them
kicked off the land with the other campers telling him to shut up and making several attempts
to remind everyone this was Gaea and not allow anything to escalate.
During the argument several other LATP attendees arrived and a table was kicked over on
the table was several beverage's and what quite looked like Marijuana to me (this was later
verified by the ones that where closer and involved in the argument) to be Marijuana.
After about 3 minutes of shouting Mark Stinson arrived at camp and tried to talk to the male
camper when the male would not calm down Mark said the male had no Honor and ordered
the LATP attendees to go back up to the pavilion everyone did while we was leaving the male
camper made repeated threats up to and including fucking all of us up the ass.
On a personal level I am very offended by these events as I have been a patron of Camp
Gaea for well more than 7 years attending many events and I have never seen such
disrespectful behavior or felt more unwelcome on that land , LATP's High Symbel is one of the
most if not the most anticipated and spiritually fulfilling events of my year and I am deeply hurt
and saddened that due to the disrespectful behavior of the campers I have been cheated out
of such a beautiful ritual and in its place I now have only the memories of being disrespected ,
unwelcomed and having to stay awake till 6 am to ensure the campers did not damage or
harass the LATP attendants or there proprieties and driving 11 hours home with very little
sleep as a result.
While I do not blame Camp Gaea or Earth Rising for the actions of the campers I do feel it
important that actions be taken to ensure that all people can come to that land to celebrate
there spirituality without fear of being disrespected and having there rituals interrupted and
disrespected.
Thank you very much for your time in reading this letter
Joshua S Robinson
Statement of Robert Manion – Excelsior, MO
On the night of Sept. 24th 2011 I was attending a High Symbel at LATP at GAEA Retreat, my
name is Robert Manion. While we were in the middle of our Symbel I began to hear people at
another camp mock our Hails, when this began a few of our security detail went to ask them
to please respect our ritual for we never disrespected them. It seemed to stop but later during
our Symbel they even became more disrespectful and not only were mocking our Hails but
began to say stuff that sounded more disrespectful, but it was hard to tell exactly what they
were saying. It made me feel disrespected and angry. At the end of our Symbel many of the
men took off to the other camp to see what the hel there problem was, I was not one of them
for I had to pee very bad or I would of been because people like that need to be put in their
place, I heard some yelling then everyone came back. We then decided it would be a good
idea to have a security detail stay up all night and watch our cars and hall because we were
worried they may try to vandalize our stuff. That is what I know about the mocking idiots,
thank you for your time.
Statement of Bo Hopkins – Excelsior, MO
During our most important ritual of the year we hear mocking “Hail” and laughter coming from
the tree line. I was one of the members who was sent to investigate and ask for them to
please show some respect for our ritual.
When we arrived in Davawood, the men denied shouting anything, but one woman said they
may have shouted something. The shouts did stop but only for a short time.
When they started back up, the mocking shouts had become very vulgar. At the end of our
ritual where everything was coming together we heard a very disturbing comment yelled from
the Davawood campsite about Odin sodomizing us naked in the shower.
Me and another kindred member were instructed by Mark Stinson to go back down to the
campsite and figure out what was going on. As we was walking down I turned to notice
around 20 other folks from our gathering had taken it upon themselves to follow us.
The campers were immediately hostile to us, yelling at us, cursing and getting into our faces.
One member of our community saw a folding camp table littered with illegal drugs and he
knocked it over.
Mark Stinson arrived and asked a female to talk to him off to the side and when he returned a
moment later he asked all of us to pull back. Mark later told me that she had confirmed that
the blond man had been the one doing the most recent yelling at us from the woods, and so it
was time to pull everyone back.
As we were leaving the guy with brown hair and the short male with long blond hair became
very insulting knowing we was leaving, and seemed to be trying their hardest to bait us into a
physical altercation. This made it more difficult to end the verbal altercation and to get all of
our guests to pull back, but we were successful and no physical altercations occurred.
Statement of Ralph Romig – Manhattan, KS
Greetings Clint,
I am writing you today to talk about the events that transpired on Saturday, September 24 at
the pavilion during LATP. During our High Sumbel ceremony, what started as someone from
the Davawood Camp answering our hails with a hail from their camp, de-evolved into their
shouting "shut the fuck up" and other things that I personally didnt make out. At first, the
answering of "Hail" was slightly amusing, then mildly irritating when they didnt stop (after
being asked to by a few of JBKs men). When the individual started shouting obscenities
during our holy ceremony, I found it distasteful, dishonorable, and downright abhorrent
behaviour. To dishonor such an important, and holy ceremony could not be simply ignored.
After having to hear this throughout the rest of the ceremony, Several of the people present
went to find and confront the individual responsible for such disrespectful behaviour.
When I arrived to the other camp, one of the men at that camp was allready screaming at
Mark and Gunnar, He was saying "I didnt fucking do it," and "Get the fuck out of my camp."
This man was very confrontational for someone who hadnt done anything wrong, and was
acting like he was extremely intoxicated. After it was obvious that talking to him wasnt going
to accomplish anything, and our further presence in his camp would only instigate a physical
confrontation, Mark said "Heathens, Lets go." and all the people that had made their way from
LATP left this mans camp without any further confrontation from our people.
Upon arriving back at the pavilion, we felt it would probably be prudent to keep a watch of the
Pavilion, the cars, and the camp overall to discourage any retaliation from this other group. To
my knowledge, there was no further interaction between the groups that night or after, There
was no physical altercation, and there was no physical violence, or threat thereof. Only
people seeking to find out why another of Gaeas guests would and did violate Gaea's own
"Agreement of Mutual Respect" policy.
Overall, I guess I am trying to say that I am saddened by the fact that someone would come
to such an amazing place such as Gaea, and dishonor other guests there. I cant say that I
wish anything more than being able to go there, practice our Faith, enjoy my friends wedding,
and to avoid any future confrontations like this one.
Respectfully yours, Ralph Romig
Statement of Hauk Heimdallsman – California
Clint,
My name is Hauk Heimdallsman, and I am a Heathen musician from California. Mark Stinson
asked me to come out to perform at the Lightning Across the Plains gathering, and to join the
Midwest tribes in their rites. I have performed at both Heathen, Pagan, and Druid gatherings
all across the Nation, and I can say in all honesty, the disrespect delivered to us on Saturday
is a first.
High Sumbel is a truly sacred rite to Asatruar. It is one where each of us gets to speak from
the heart, and those words are mingled together in the Well of Wyrd. This rite is done with the
utmost care and with serious respect for each participant, that every word may be heard by
the community. Approximately 200 Heathen folk gathered for High Sumbel on Saturday, and
the largest ritual I have ever been in commenced, with a truly intense, religious zest.
And then a pair of stoned jackasses decide to start screaming obscenities in the background.
I've seen a lot of different rituals at many different gatherings and events. I have never seen
this kind of blatant disrespect during a highly sacred ritual. Especially at a pagan owned and
focused campsite.
The first couple times we were interrupted, we ignored it. Heathens take great pains to
maintain Frith at our gatherings. As the ritual drew to a close, the yelling grew louder and
longer, and a few Heathens left to go deal with the situation. The damage was done though,
and the focus of the ritual was not what it should have been.
To say I was furious at the insult to our people and our Gods is an understatement. I have
worked tirelessly here in California to build bridges between the Heathen, Pagan, and Druid
communities. I have traveled extensively across this country to help spread the message of
Frith and Grith, a message I know the good folk of Jotuns Bane Kindred heartily agree with.
These blatant efforts to disrespect our ceremonies do not bode well for continued relations
between Pagans and Heathens.
I hope you can work with Mark and Jotuns Bane Kindred to ensure that these insulting
interruptions do not happen again. Aside from this incident, the gathering was one of the best
I have ever attended, and I look forward to joining the Midwest Tribes in Frith again next year.
Best wishes,
Hauk Heimdallsman
Heimdalls Lur Kindred
Appendix B – Davawood Litter
After Lightning Across the Plains, we did several sweeps of the entire ridge, main ritual circle,
pavilion, and flora and fauna garden area, plus some of the surrounding woods picking up any
trash and litter than may be been left behind by our guests. It is always our goal to leave any
area of Gaea Retreat that we touch individually or with one of our gatherings in much better
shape than what we found it. We pick up our own trash, the trash others have left, and even
trash that is weeks or months old.
Based on the disrespectful nature
of the individuals camped in
Davawood on the night of
September 25, 2011 I had a strong
hunch that they had not bothered to
clean up Davawood as they left.
So, after their departure from camp
on Sunday morning, a number of
us walked over to their campsite.
There was a large cardboard box
leaned up against a tree just a few
paces from the fire circle the
campers in Davawood had been
using.
There were cigarette butts left in
the fire circle, as well as a pop-tab,
a cellophane wrapper, and an old
bank receipt on the ground in the area immediately around the fire circle and picnic table. I
obviously can't say for sure whether this trash was or wasn't there prior to the campers in
Davawood arriving there. But I can say with certainty, that they did not bother to clean their
camp or mitigate this trash problem prior to their departure.
I suppose some say a little litter
doesn't matter that much. But
there is a rule in the Gaea Rules
about “Littering” and it says that
everyone is required to “clean up
after themselves.”
In this case, I believe the litter left
around the Davawood camp shows
a blatant disregard and disrespect
for the land and the purpose of
Gaea Retreat. This disrespect
reflects the disregard and
disrespect that these same
campers showed toward the human
beings, both adult and children, that
gathered on the Ridge on the night of September 25, 2011. These campers, John Allen, Marc
Nielsen, and Leslie Hannah apparently feel the rules don't apply to them, and that they don't
have any responsibility to show respect for other faiths, other people, or even the land itself.
Cellophane