Welcome to Carolina Spirit Quest, where you will see familiar faces, make new friends, and have an opportunity to learn some amazing things. We have a diverse offering of Learning Circles (workshops) from Bellydancing and Mead-making to Tarot and Crystals. Our Learning Circle presenters are experienced and enthusiastic. We are excited about these Learning Circles because we think there is something for everyone!

Please register early as participation in some Learning Circles is limited. A brief schedule of the Learning Circles is provided below, with links to where they are described in more detail.

Learning Circle Schedule

Friday Afternoon 4:30-5:30 PM

Newcomers Circle

 

Saturday Morning 9:00 - 11:00 AM

Children’s LC - Elements for the Community

Fun with Honey and Yeast

Beginners Bellydance and the Sacred Body: Part 1

Cooking for the Seasons

Magic from the Garden - Herbal Magic

Prayer Flags - Symbols and Prayers

 

Saturday Afternoon 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Children’s LC - Wearing the Elements

Crafting a Book of Soul

 

Collaborative Ritual

Practical Use of Healing Herbs

Introduction to Tarot

 

Sunday Morning 9:00 - 11:00 AM

Children’s LC - Taking the Elements Home

Beginners Bellydance and the Sacred Body: Part 2

Deepening your Practice through Self Discovery

You are the Rainbow Bridge - an introduction to Chakras

78 Card Pickup - A Tarot Spread Workshop

Please Note: Learning circles are subject to change. Please check with the Learning Circle Coordinator, for any changes or additions.

A Special Welcome To Newcomers

We are so glad you are with us at Quest. We invite you to attend the Newcomers Workshop 'So This is Your First Quest?' on Friday night from 4:30 - 5:30. Attendance is not mandatory, but you will learn many helpful tips. Also, take a moment to look over the "What To Bring" list. If you think you will be lost without a certain item for the weekend, go ahead and pack it. Make sure you bring lots of ritual items, like clothing, staffs, jewelry, etc. During the Opening, Main and Closing Rituals, it is common to see participants dressed in their finest ritual garb. Robes, dresses, tunics, gowns, cloaks and capes decorated with symbols meaningful to the participants' traditions or body painting in colorful designs are worn by many.

Remember, you are here to have fun. If you have questions at any time throughout the weekend, please feel free to ask a Staff or Board member. We are here to help you have an enjoyable weekend. Be ready to meet many different people from many different paths. Bring an open mind and heart, and be ready to learn, teach, share, listen and make new friends. Welcome to Quest!

Newcomer's Circle - So This Is Your First Quest?

Facilitators: CSQ Board Members
Time slot: Friday Afternoon 4:30-5:30

Back for its seventh year by popular demand, Quest is presenting a Learning Circle for new folks. This fun, fact-filled mini Learning Circle is offered to anyone attending their first Quest. Please come even if you are a veteran of other gatherings. Steph and Cynthia have attended several Quests and promise you some fun and a few surprises. Anyone who has attended Quest may come and offer their favorite tip.

Children’s Learning Circle - Elements for the Community

Facilitator: Cynthia Campbell

Bring children to the their workshop area 5 minutes before LC’s and pick them up immediately after LC’s. The children will help decorate quilt squares in elemental colors that will become a permanent altar cloth for our community altar and our ancestor bowl. This quilt will travel to all Quest events, and is destined to become one of our community’s sacred items.

Children’s Learning Circle - Wearing the Elements

Facilitator: Cynthia Campbell

Bring children to the their workshop area 5 minutes before LC’s and pick them up immediately after LC’s. The children will be decorating themselves with body art using henna, temporary tattoos, and/or face paint, with our elemental ritual groups in mind. We will have the children decorated and ready for the main ritual Saturday evening!

Children’s Learning Circle - Taking the Elements Home

Facilitator: Cynthia Campbell

Bring children to the their workshop area 5 minutes before LC’s and pick them up immediately after LC’s. The children will be making an altar item — or items — to represent the element they will be working with during the weekend, or they may choose to make an altar set of items representing each of the elements. We will also burn discs with pictures of the children’s weekend to take home.

Fun with Honey and Yeast

Facilitator: Ben Starr

Beginners Bellydancing and the Sacred Body, Part 1

Facilitator: Chrissy Forsythe

This class is to focus on the basic aspects and movements of belly dance. This form of dance, as any other, helps strengthen the body and helps embrace the beauty and strength within our sacred body. We will find meaning on how different movements and using different parts of our bodies connect us to our spiritual selves, also connecting us to the universe around us. In Part 1 of the class we will be focusing on the lower portion of the body. Please bring water, comfortable clothes to dance in, and make sure you are in good enough health to do exercise.

Cooking for the Seasons

Facilitator: Stephanie Taylor

I am Pagan and I use the bounty given to us by The Goddess and God to create dishes to share with loved ones. I use these bounties to keep my foods fresh and healthy. Come and find out how you can create dishes easily and inexpensively using foods available from our own gardens, or the gardens of others throughout the seasons. We will also be cooking up a desert from the CSQ cookbook during this workshop to help nourish our CSQ community (if you don’t know much about cooking don’t worry we’ll help you along and we’ll have tons of fun in the process).

Magic from the Garden – Herbal Magic

Facilitator: Becky Starr

Herbs have been used for centuries to enhance the power of spells and magic. In this Learning Circle, we will look at some common herbs, such as Rosemary, Lavender and Sage, and their use in magical work. We’ll explore using herbs in candle magic, charms, poppets and other magical uses. This is designed as a beginning level class – no prior knowledge of herbs or magic is necessary.

Prayer flags - Symbols and Prayers

Facilitator: Cindy Williams

A short history of prayer flags, their symbolism and tradition, and a chance to make/decorate your own flags. Prayer flag tradition dates back to ancient Tibet, China, Persia and India. Believed to have originated with the Bön, which predated Buddhism in Tibet. Traditionally used to promote peace, compassion, good fortune and wisdom. The prayers and mantras on the prayer flags when blown by the wind spread good will and compassion into all pervading space bringing benefit to all. Traditionally they are woodblock printed with texts and images. The five flag colors are blue, white, red, green, yellow – symbolizing sky/space, air/wind, fire, water, earth. Using your own intentions, decorate flags with prayers or pictures of your choice.

Crafting a Book of Soul

Facilitator: Kimberly Burton

The world and our soul work together to reveal themselves to us in subtle ways: Words, images, discoveries, intuition, found objects, color, dreams, ideas, music, movement, relationships to one another in this world and beyond. Find creative ways to capture these insights into your soul’s journey by handcrafting a “Book of Soul”—it may become your Book of Shadows, more or less, as you choose to reflect upon it.

Not a writer? Not an artist? No problem—we’ll discuss using found images, words, art, and objects as well as book-making. All attendees are encouraged to bring writing (yours or others), found objects, pictures, etc. if you’d like to incorporate them into your Book of Soul.

Collaborative Ritual

Facilitator: Opal

Have you ever wanted to experience ritual in a collaborative open ended format? If so, this workshop is for you! In this workshop we will work together as a group to set a ritual intention, plan our ritual, and experience it together. All experience levels welcome.

Practical Use of Healing Herbs

Facilitator: Jaden

This workshop will deal with the practical applications of healing herbs and the creation of loose incense, ointments, infused oils, and salts and more. There will be recipes for different applications and uses. There will be samples and we will create one application to take with you.
Cost: $5 per person

Introduction to Tarot

Facilitator: Becky Starr

If you have ever wondered about the Tarot, this is the Learning Circle for you! We will look at all the basics of Tarot, from how to choose your first deck to the basic structure of the deck. We’ll also discuss basic meanings and interpretations of the cards and simple ways to use your deck. Bring your favorite tarot decks to use and share.

Beginners Bellydancing and the Sacred Body, Part 2

Facilitator: Chrissy Forsythe

This class is to focus on the basic aspects and movements of belly dance. This form of dance, as any other, helps strengthen the body and helps embrace the beauty and strength within our sacred body. We will find meaning on how different movements and using different parts of our bodies connect us to our spiritual selves, also connecting us to the universe around us. Please bring water, comfortable clothes to dance in, and make sure you are in good enough health to do exercise.

Pre-requisite is you have to have attended Part one (above) first! In the Part two class we will learn upper body movements. We will combine upper and lower movements to form different combination's. If there is time we'll do some free style dancing!

Deepening your Practice through Self Discovery

Facilitator: Jenny Edwards

Spend some time exploring the narrative of your life and actively shaping the next chapters. We will spend a part of the discussion finding ways to apply our experience directly to our practices, advancing our craft and honing our spiritual purpose. **Please bring your journal or loose paper and a pen/pencil.**

You are the Rainbow Bridge, An introduction to Chakras

Facilitator: Sharon Hill

Chakra has become a household word. Most of us even nominally interested in esoteric spirituality know a little about chakras. This will be an opportunity to learn a little more. Come join us as we investigate and apply knowledge about our personal energetic system and ties to Universal energy. We will talk some and play some with the energies and correspondences of the chakra system, focusing on the seven main energetic points, corresponding to the seven colors of the visible spectrum, making each of us a Rainbow Bridge between the material and non-material planes.

78 Card Pickup – A Tarot Spread Workshop

Facilitator: Becky Starr

This workshop will look at Tarot spreads for a variety of uses. We will explore several different layouts and discover the best spread for the type of information desired – from easy 3 card spreads to more elaborate 15 card ones. Some experience with tarot is recommended, but not required. Bring your decks to use for readings or to share!

Learning Circle Presenter Biographies

Becky Starr is an instructor by passion and training with interests in many areas. Currently, she is in the final stages of opening Starrlight Mead, a honey winery, expected to open in Spring 2010 in Pittsboro, NC. In the Pagan world, she finds herself a frequent workshop leader for Celebrate the Circle, the CUUPS chapter of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Hillsborough, and at events for Carolina Spirit Quest, including both Spring Quest and Winter Quest. Becky is a past President and Vice President on the Board of Trustees for CSQ. Becky is an eclectic pagan, a Priestess of Isis and Freyja, and has been working with the tarot for about 10 years.

Ben Starr has made more than 150 gallons of mead. Ben and Becky are opening a commercial meadery, Starrlight Mead, in Pittsboro later this year. Ben has won several awards for his mead, including Best in Show at the International Mead Festival. Ben has taught several mead making classes for Quest, beekeeping organizations, brew shops, and anyone else who will listen.

Chrissy Forsythe is an eclectic Pagan from Pittsboro, NC. She started on her path back in high school and has been slowly incorporating much of what she does into her spiritual life. For her, that is art, music & dance. Although she doesn't dance nearly as much as she would like, she likes to dance and encourage others to dance with her. She chose Bellydancing in particular because of the deep connection to the Goddess. A dance by women and for woman as preparation for childbirth. ‘It makes her feel beauty on the inside as well as being connected to all that surrounds her. Chrissy loves to share that with others.’

Cindy Williams lives in NC and has 2 kids, a husband and 2 cats.  She rediscovered Paganism about 15 years ago.  At this time she is mostly eclectic. She studied vexillology – a study of flags – which lead her to an interest in prayer flags.

Cynthia Campbell is a full-time mom and has been active with various groups in the NC pagan community since 2001. She is currently most active with Iðavelli Hof, where she runs the monthly children's program; and Carolina Spirit Quest, where she is currently serving as President, Spring Quest 2010 Co-director, and Winter Quest 2011 Director. She loves craft projects of just about any kind and enjoys sharing her crafting passion with the children. Cynthia lives in Hillsborough with her husband Dan, two daughters, and her cat Blazey.

Jaden has been a solitary practitioner of Wicca in the Celtic tradition in Johnston county for the past two and a half years. She is married with two children and teaches high school.

Jenny Edwards has been practicing Witchcraft alone and in groups for the last 13 years and is a therapist by trade.

Kimberly S. Burton’s spiritual practice is guided by the desire to learn how one’s life can achieve its highest spiritual ideals. For 30+ years, she has conducted personal research and professional scholarship related to historical and modern interpretations of Pagan/fringe traditions, including Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and Dianic Wicca; Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Ritual Magic; Norse Heathenism; Gnosticism and Kabbalah. Her personal practice is generally semi-solitary, eclectic/Celtic Wicca—the Morrigan and Athena are longstanding touchstones for her magic, prayer, and meditation. The study and practice of tarot, herbalism, animal behavior, kitchen witchery, and fine art, and dance are all aspects of her Craft. Professionally Kim has instructed medieval, Renaissance, and fantasy literature courses as well as writing across the disciplines. She continues to learn every day.

Opal is an active member of Hearthfire; a group that meets together for ritual to celebrate the wheel of the year. Her spiritual path is eclectic, though she is strongly influenced by the Reclaiming tradition.

Sharon Hill is a licensed clinical social worker. She has been practicing paganism for approximately 10 years. She started studying chakras long before that. She has taught workshops at Carolina Spirit Quest and Celebrate the Circle. She has presented a six hour Quest Special on chakras and facilitated a women’s chakra group for approximately six years. She has published chakra articles in the CTC newsletter.

Stephanie Taylor, having followed a Celtic path since 1999, discovered several years ago that Heathenry was what she was looking for (or to be better put, Freyr smacked her upside the head with a cosmic two-by-four). Stephanie continues her study of pre-Christian Celtic societies in addition to her other interests such as seiðr, runes, spinning, mead making, and much more. Stephanie has many years of experience serving as a Board member of Carolina Spirit Quest as well as serving as co-director for CSQ's Spring Quest event. Stephanie lives in Durham with her feline child, Peanut.