the call | queens registrar | future dates | cascadia r.f.r.
queens registrar
For 25+ years, our gatherings have happened because one or two faeries stepped forward to lead the work for each gathering, supported by many other volunteers. While the magick in our brew comes from the many, many spontaneous (and planned) outbreaks of voluptuous generosity sparked time and again by the new -- and not so new -- among us, the queen registrar, his helpers, and the Breitenbush Community, build and hold our cauldron.
We've called our cauldron-holders "Queen Registrar" (QR), because much of their work is in writing and sending The Call, then handling the registration process. The QR also sets our theme and intention, works with the Breitenbush community, manages the finances, coordinates housing, recruits volunteers for many duties (high profile and low), and often endures no small amount of stress and momentary drama while making their gathering the unique experience it is.
The only compensation any QR receives for the hundred-plus hours of work involved in making each gathering happen is our collective gratitude, love, and support, plus free attendance at his own gathering for himself and one guest.
our queen(s) registrar
The queen(s) registrar of a gathering are empowered and guided by our tradition and history to do what needs to be done to create and offer the gathering they envision.
The queen(s) registrar of the next Gathering of Radical Faeries at Breitenbush Hot Springs is/are:
| 2009 Winter #29 | Aaron Phoenix and ScrubJay |
our dowager queens registrar
Former QR's ("the dowagers") traditionally offer advice to the current queen(s) registrar. Some of it's even useful. Over 35+ gatherings, certain things have been found to work better than others.The dowagers also collectively hold much of our community memory, and work together from time to time to ensure that our gatherings sustain and grow in meaningful ways. You might think of us as an advisory board, but we don't. We just love this gathering and the community which has grown around it over 25+ years, and share the common experience of having done the work to bring at least one together.
The following is as complete and accurate a list of our queens registrar over the years as the site maintainer has been able to assemble so far. Please send any additions or corrections to Damien, whose email address is damien at rdrop dot com.
Historical Tidbit: the first radical faerie gathering - announced by a flyer titled "A Call to Gay Brothers: a Spiritual Conference for Radical Faeries" - happened over Labor Day weekend in 1979, at the Sri Ram Desert Ashram near Benson, Arizona. An excerpt from the local Sheriff's report can be read here. Faerie gatherings began happening at Breitenbush about two and a half years later (here's a photo from 1984). Some elders in our community have been around the radical faerie scene since before its birth.
| 1982 Winter #1 | Moonsong |
| 1983 Winter #2 | Moonsong |
| 1984 Winter #3 | Moonsong |
| 1985 Winter #4 | Moonsong |
| 1986 Winter #5 | Moonsong |
| 1987 Winter #6 | Gidget |
| 1988 Winter #7 | Cyan |
| 1989 Winter #8 | "Scarf Clan" Lalayh and Bubbling Banana (fnka BBHa!) |
| 1990 Winter #9 | C. and S. Saturn |
| 1991 Winter #10 | Moonsong |
| 1992 Winter #11 | Sunlight |
| 1992 Summer #1 | Elderberry |
| 1993 Winter #12 | Riversong |
| 1994 Winter #13 | Riversong |
| 1994 Summer #2 | justplainBill (ffka RavOnSistrwomn) |
| 1995 Winter #14 | Gina FalloffaBrigitta (ffka Lotta LittleBear) and Snowbear (ffka Swan du Snow) |
| 1995 Summer #3 | Aaron T. |
| 1996 Winter #15 | Loka Wolf and Lupin |
| 1996 Summer #4 | Katie Eagle Singer |
| 1997 Winter #16 | Lupin and Jacynth Astarin |
| 1997 Summer #5 | Snowbear |
| 1998 Winter #17 | Rosemary for Remembrance and Rainbowman |
| 1998 Summer #6 | Peppermint |
| 1999 Winter #18 | Elderberry (faka Fonda Butts) and Swamp Lily |
| 1999 Summer #7 | Strangé (that's French you know ...) |
| 2000 Winter #19 | Voilá (ffka Banyan Crow) and Tag (ffka March and Shining Evening) |
| 2000 Summer #8 | Snowbear |
| 2001 Winter #20 | Uncle Markie |
| 2001 Summer #9 | Whitewater |
| 2002 Winter #21 | Stardust and Rosemary for Remembrance |
| 2002 Summer #10 | Tag (ffka March and Shining Evening) and Voilá (ffka Banyan Crow) |
| 2003 Winter #22 | Damien |
| 2003 Summer #11 | Riversong and Snowbear |
| 2004 Winter #23 | Aster Dancing Lightly |
| 2004 Summer #12 | Full Circle |
| 2005 Winter #24 | Dancing Bear |
| 2005 Summer #13 | Periwinkle and Otter |
| 2006 Winter #25 | Andre and Lambchop |
| 2006 Summer #14 | Orlando and Nipplicious |
| 2007 Winter #26 | Uncle Markie and Whitewater |
| 2007 Summer #15 | Faun |
| 2008 Winter #27 | Scruffy Rumbler and Brightheart of the Rockies |
| 2008 Summer #16 | Marcus (ffka Sprout) |
| 2009 Winter #28 | Rosemary for Remembrance |
| 2009 Summer #17 | Dancing Bear |
our queens ascendant
According to all information currently known to the site maintainer, Damien (who does nothing but report here what he's told), the following folks will serve as our Queens Registrar in the coming seasons and years.
| 2010 Summer | Cupcake |
| 2011 Winter | Morgain Lessloss |
| 2011 Summer | Aubrey the Scruffy Rumbler |
| 2012 Winter | Aster Dancing Lightly and Lambchop |
| 2012 Summer | Robin Hood and Pansy Wyldfyre |
| 2013 Winter | Riversong |
| 2013 Summer | George III |
| 2014 Winter | [ maybe you? ] |
| 2014 Summer | [ maybe you? ] |
| 2015 Winter | [ maybe you? ] |
| 2015 Summer | [ maybe you? ] |
| 2016 Winter | [ maybe you? ] |
| 2016 Summer | [ maybe you? ] |
| 2017 Winter | [ maybe you? ] |
| 2017 Summer | Pulakli Pax Ferox (ffka Watermelon) The Total Solar Eclipse Gathering |
Anyone with requests, questions, comments, offers, or concerns about queens registrar in general -- or particular -- or about how any of us got ourselves into this situation, are encouraged to contact one or more of the dowagers (all those folk listed in the first list above) and ask, because they've been there and done that. There is no formal or rigid process to any of this, just a lot of love and a bit o' crazy, expressed many ways.
Many dowagers comment how serving as queen registrar changed their view of our gathering and its community. Working as queen registrar is a significant act of service, best undertaken by those who feel a deep, loving, and abiding connection with this community, coupled with a desire to do physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual work on its behalf and for its benefit. If you have been to several of our gatherings, found yourself jumping in to help without being asked, and feel ready to give a hundred hours of your life to your community without pay, please talk about it with a dowager or two, and consider joining us?
Cascadia Radical Faerie Resources, Inc., is a non-profit Oregon corporation created to help with organizational stuff around our gatherings. For those curious, it's worth noting that -- if you read the CRFR bylaws -- CRFR has absolutely nothing to do with choosing our QR, nor can CRFR tell him what to do. Our queens registrar are royally empowered by our history and tradition to do what needs to be done to create the gathering they envision. CRFR is but a lovingly built purse, parasol, and kneepad for those QRs who choose to don them. Whatever your choice, we will still respect you on Monday.