ChaoSkeptic

It's really a shame that I don't live on the Left Coast because it looks like I missed the opportunity to go to a super awesome convention 2 weeks ago:

About 250 people came to the Methow Valley [Washington] June 26 through 28 from as far away as Europe and Hawaii to participate in the ninth annual Fairy and Human Relations Congress, an outdoor festival in a secluded mountain meadow called Skalitude.

A giant crop circle depicting a pinwheel-shaped sun had been cut into the high grass. An open-air tent pavilion stood at the lower end of the meadow. Farther up, white peace banners fluttered in a circular array.

"The purpose of the congress is to encourage communication and cooperation of the fairy realm," said Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski, the event's founder and organizer.

I couldn't find a follow up article but I'm going to assume that the representatives from the Fairy side of things didn't quite make it there.

The human world is in crisis and can use all the help it can get, Pilarski said, so why not form alliances with those in other realms?

Since 2000, the Fairy Congress has been held all but two years at Skalitude, a retreat owned by Lindsey Swope and Will Buchanan. For two years, it was held near Hood River, Ore.

Asked whether she believes in fairies or is merely sympathetic to those who do, Swope said, "I believe in it. Life is way more complicated than what we can see, hear and touch."

Translation: Life is too hard for me to deal with so I'm going to go live in a fantasy world full of unicorns that poomp rainbow ice cream!

Skeptics might mock the participants or dismiss them as New Age hippies, but they say their belief system is not much different from Native American animists or even Christians who believe in angels.

Well, yeah. But I openly mock and dismiss those people too so you aren't doing yourself any favors by associating with them.

Many people of mainstream faiths believe angels watch over them, he said.

"God's love does not just extend to humans, but to all of nature and to all the species on Earth," he said, so why should these spirits not watch over all of creation?

We aren't New Age, we just coincidentally use the exact same language as New Agers.

Revelers donned wings, horns or colorful attire suitable for a euphoric Saturday night romp around the bonfire, but there was no evidence of drugs or inebriation. Voices raised only in song or laughter. The sound of drum and flute carried on the wind. Children frolicked. Adults gathered around a communal outdoor kitchen.

Following morning circle, a hand-holding gathering in the meadow, participants ate fruit and grains, then washed their own dishes. Later, they wandered off to play or attend workshops with titles such as "The Paradigm of the Faery Seer" and "Communicating with Devas" taught by notable New Age teachers from across North America.

So pretty much this was a group of dirty hippies doing dirty hippie things and talking about how to see magical fairies without the use of acid. Loverly. The only thing that actually bothers me about the article is this:

Participants who paid $250 for three days of spiritual workshops, vegetarian food, song and dance brought with them varying degrees of belief in fairies, but all appeared willing at least to accept the possibility.

Damn! So all I have to do is rent out a farm, cook up some vegetables, provide music and invite people to talk bullshit about unknowable things for a couple of hours and I too could be riding on the gravy train. Where do I sign up?