#summer-magick-fest — Public Fediverse posts

Summer Magick Fest 2026 Recap

It’s been a few weeks since Summer Magick Fest 2026. The gradual passing of time has given me time to reflect, recharge, and of course, to organize and transfer the 100 pictures that I took for posting purposes. But before the memories fade off into the ether forever, I’ve elected to sit down and compose this recap.

Where, oh where, to begin? I’ll be honest with you… this turned out quite a bit longer than I originally anticipated. Perhaps grab a coffee or a cup of tea, then continue forward.

A Little Background

Wait, hold on… just in case you’ve never heard of Summer Magick…

Summer Magick Festival is an earth-based spirituality convention with workshops, celebration, and community in a comfortable hotel setting. Headliners, rituals, and musical entertainment have been chosen to encourage tolerance between the many different earth-based faiths and foster planetary stewardship. We are a family-friendly event with programming for our young ones as well as close proximity to all the wonders of the Orlando theme parks. Join us for a new kind of Florida festival!

-SummerMagickFest.org

This is the FIFTH consecutive year that Selene and I have attended—and I can at least prove that we’ve been to four of them because of these recaps (2025, 2024, and 2023… but unfortunately, 2022 was prior to my endeavors as a writer). Suffice it to say, we are frequent flyers because it is one of our favorite yearly events.

The Location

Since last year, the festival has been held at the Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel. I think they like us? I mean, we’re good people, right?

As you travel around the hotel, you will encounter decor. Sometimes you will wonder… “is this from the hotel… or is this from the festival?” Some items are easy to determine. Others are not.

Hotel Decor and Non-Hotel Decor

Hint: The top two photos contain hotel-owned decor. The bottom two are festival-owned decor. The middle image, however, has long been debated.

It’s a reasonably nice hotel with comfy beds, conference rooms, and a restaurant. The rooms have microwaves, refrigerators, and a tiny coffee machine. You’re definitely not roughing it at this festival, but I do recommend bringing a light jacket because the conference rooms tend to run on the chilly side.

The Temple Room and Diviner’s Guild

Repeating last year’s initiative (and hopefully all future years), the temple room was open for setting up community altars. Last year, I set up an altar to Pan. This year, I was lazy and didn’t do anything, but Pan wasn’t upset about it.

The pictures below will give you an idea of what the temple room looked like. I also snapped a picture of each altar (or at least, all the ones that were set up by the time I happened to be photographing).

Temple Room with Altars

In between workshops, you might find devotional rituals or gatherings taking place at certain altars. They’re short, usually lasting only about 5-10 minutes. I hope more people choose to participate in the future! Seeing each person’s unique touches on dedication to deity is quite beautiful.

Something new this year was a group of diviners, aptly called “The Diviner’s Guild,” who you could make appointments with for a reading. Tarot, mediumship, oracle, spirit guide channeling, bones, dice, curios… regardless of what type of reading you were looking for, someone was bound to offer it. I could have done some rune readings, but—okay, here’s the thing: I wanted more free time to just enjoy the festival. Also, did you see my previous comment about being lazy?

Headliners

There are always interesting folks headlining. You can click on the link below their picture to learn more about them.

Christopher Penczak

Kara Williams

Yeshe Matthews

Kirk White

Jean-Daniel Lafontant

Amber Rae

The Experience

Alright, enough about the background info. Let me give you the lived experience.

The Summer Magick Fest 2026 Program Guide

THURSDAY

As much as we hoped to arrive on early Thursday, the Evil Corporate Overlords (ECO) demanded attention that day. You will also note that Selene, my beautiful wife who brings so life and happiness to my pictures, is notably absent from all the photos. This, too, is a tragic effect of the ECO… but do not fret terribly, my friends, for her energy was, in fact, present. When appropriate, just imagine her next to me as I do.

But nothing stops my from taking an “I’m here” selfie.

I’m Here, Selfie Edition

We pulled up to the hotel at some point in the evening. I don’t remember exactly when, but the Meet and Greet was already winding down, which means we had pretty much missed all of that day’s festivities. We checked into our room, saw a few familiar faces, and then… WAIT, I have to tell you about the Walmart-coffee-creamer-police lady.

Yes, you heard me correctly. The Walmart. Coffee Creamer Police. Lady.

We usually do a little bit of grocery shopping at the beginning of this festival… it’s way cheaper than buying snacks from the hotel store, cafe, or restaurant every time we’re hungry between meals. Stock up with a few drinks, some fresh fruit, chips… and you’re golden to live out of a hotel for a few days. But since we like to be all fancy smancy, we brought our Nespresso machine along for the trip—I just needed some creamer.

There’s a Walmart Neighborhood Market about 10 minutes from the hotel. It was pretty late, and yes, you can always expect to meet interesting people in Orlando (or really, any part of Florida or any Walmart ever) when you wander around at night. While browsing the dairy section, we were approached by a woman.

“Are you going to buy one of those?” She asked.
“Well, we were thinking about it.”
“Don’t. Don’t get any of that. They’re all poison. You don’t need that.”

She then proceeded to tell us what we did need by showing off her basket of meal choices. She told us about her daughter, her employment, and various other random elements of her life. But most importantly, she described something I can only imagine she believed to be an organization that somehow amounted to an Evil Coffee Creamer Cabal. She was very emphatic that creamer was going to kill me… and I suppose she had elected herself head of the Coffee Creamer Police.

I know that coffee creamer isn’t the healthiest of treats, but… death?

After she left us alone, we pretended to head to another section. I did retrieve a small creamer, but I hid it under our other groceries… lest she approach us again.

Yeah, that’s it. That’s the end of the story. I’m sorry if you were expecting more of a climax.

FRIDAY

Friday was our first real festival day. We woke up, had some coffee—yes, with creamer—and ran downstairs to some workshops.

We popped into Kirk White’s talk on Freemasonry and the Golden Dawn. Kirk had promised me that “there might even be funny hats.” I was not disappointed! It was truly a fascinating class. He has a wonderfully simple way of explaining Qabalah.

Kirk White, prior to revealing hats

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After that, it was book signing time.

My books, of which you can still buy signed copies

If you missed me at Summer Magick, you can still order a signed copy of my book on Etsy.

Among other highlights for the day, I got to teach a class on runes.

This is my teaching pose.

My workshop was geared toward explaining how modern divinatory meanings have arisen from ancient symbols… and why it’s okay to make up your own (because all the divinatory meanings are just that: made up).

After my class, we had to complete a little sidequest. I have a friend in the Orlando area who I haven’t seen for a while, so we snuck away for dinner and got some Thai food together.

Basil Stir Fry

We went to a restaurant called Budsaba Thai, which was a very well-deserved 20-minute drive from the hotel because it was 10/10 delicious.

We got back just in time to change into our costumes for the Friday night festivities: Rocky Horror. It was a mix of regular performers and some of our very own SMF staff. I was dressed as Frank, but I’m not going to show you that.

Rocky Cast and Props

I will just say that I was very impressed by some folks’ knowledge of the show—specifically, the amount of inappropriate lines that get interjected in between dialogue. After that, we hung out for a bit and went to bed.

SATURDAY

On Saturday, we woke up and attended a workshop on how to build a voodoo altar, hosted by Jean-Daniel Lafontant.

Jean-Daniel Lafontant shows us how to build a voodoo altar

After a short slideshow presentation on common themes in voodoo altars, he cleansed the space, unpacked two very large bags of items, and then let us intuitively decide how and where to place each object. We built one altar to fire and one to water. They came out beautifully!

Later in the day it was Christopher Penczak’s class on Sirius and the Lion’s Gate.

And yeah, I was pretty excited that I finally got to meet this guy [in person] who wrote the forward to my book! Naturally, I pulled him aside for a quick selfie.

And then it was time to get ready for main ritual.

This is my spark

This is my happy pose

We were all encouraged to dress as our “divine spark.” Well, my shirt spells out the word “sarcasm” using the periodic table. I think nerdiness counts. Also, I had a feather boa that was meant for my Rocky Costume… because I suddenly discovered that feather boas are fun.

But prior to the great endeavor of ritual, we needed to nourish our bodies with the type of sustenance that only a hotel restaurant can provide.

Satisfactory Hotel Food

I got a cheesesteak sandwich, which was decent. Selene got a poke bowl. She said it was delicious.

Okay, all sarcasm aside, the theme for main ritual really was divine sparks. And it was—simply put—magickal. As we entered into the space, we were smoke cleansed and greeted by enchanting sitar music. I honestly thought it was a sound track, but when I got to the back of the room to take a seat, I noticed Rick sitting in the corner playing live!

Sweet Sitar Serenades

Rick and Michelle are the official SMF photographers. They spend lots of their time running around, taking pictures of everyone else, so I decided to grab a nice shot of one of them.

There was an opening dance. Each of the headliners evoked one of the Four Elements in their own unique style. Around the room, creative stations had been set up to enthrall our senses… painting, divination, musical instruments, Shakespearean recitation. Each of us walked around the room, built up the energy in whatever ways felt natural, imbued a flower with a wish, and then pinned it into a large wreath on the central altar.

Flower Wreath of Wishes

In the center, you can see the official SMF sigil, which was designed at a workshop at the beginning of festival. I believe the wreath itself was later floated away in some nearby body of water to send our wishes off to the universe.

And how about the art? This is what was created by the group mind!

Divinely-Inspired Art

Don’t miss out. Here’s what’s coming up…

SUNDAY

Our final day at festival was rather short. We woke up and attended Amber Rae’s painting workshop. She gave us gemstone paints (yes, made with real crystals!) and step-by-step instructions on how develop a particular scene in watercolors.

I did it! And then later, I looked at what I had painted… and I did not hate it. That is amazing. Seriously. I would absolutely do it again.

The final event was Closing Ritual, a fairly short gathering to ground out the energy, say thank you, and begin our goodbyes.

Closing Ritual

It’s been our tradition to stop in Disney Springs on the way home. We’ve been rather partial to the Irish Pub there. It’s like a portal to ease the transition back into the real world.

Food on the way home…

Plus, there’s food and dancing and music and stuff.

Marketplace, Photo Booth, and Sponsorships

Hopefully you remembered to take a picture at the photo booth or to visit the Magickal Marketplace at some point during festival. The Queen of Hearts always points the way!

The Marketplace and Photo Booth

There are also plenty of sponsorship opportunities. If you’d like to have your name and information to be put in front of the eyes of attendees, check back next year to secure a spot. Sponsors help keep the festival alive!

Sponsors for SMF 2026

Conclusion

The moral of the story, if there is such a thing, is twofold. First, if you’re in an Orlando Walmart, be prepared to defend your coffee creamer selections. Secondly, if you have the opportunity to take yourself to Summer Magick Fest in the future, then you absolutely should go!

I wish I took more pictures. I wish I did more things. I have permanent festival FOMO, but all-in-all, it was an amazing, much-needed experience.

Thanks for joining me on this festival recap. As I mentioned in the intro, this was way more words than I planned… so if you got all the way down to here, you rock! I can’t wait to see what happens next year!

Kirk White, Golden Dawn Healing, and Pagan Politics – Ep. 1

Kirk White is an author, witch, psychotherapist, and Licensed East Asian Medical Practitioner. He’s studied many magickal traditions, such as Freemasonry and the Golden Dawn, and has participated in organizations like Covenant of the Goddess and Cherry Hill Seminary. He currently serves as a legislator for the state of Vermont.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs9QigYCmXs

In this conversation, we dive into his work and background, discussing what it’s like to walk so many different paths, plus what it feels like to be an openly pagan politician.

These are the conversational highlights, my friends, but I’d strongly encourage you to watch or listen to the full interview!

Alright, let’s get to it!

Childhood Faeries, Parapsychology, and Organizations

Kirk says he was a weird kid—always aware of spirits and faeries. He had a somewhat eccentric aunt who encouraged his curiosity by showing him things like pendulums. At the age of 11, he received a copy of Mastering Witchcraft by Paul Huson. From those instructions, he scrounged up a set of magickal tools and began practicing.

His formal exploration began at the University of Vermont, where he attended a residential parapsychology program. This enabled him to meet like-minded individuals—or as he puts it, “other people like me”—a small group of which began covening together in the 1980s.

Over time, Kirk was able to channel his experience into leadership roles in the wider pagan community. He founded and served as president of Cherry Hill Seminary, which provides education and practical training in Pagan and nature-based spiritualities. He’s also served as co-president of Covenant of the Goddess, one of the oldest and largest non-profit interfaith organizations for Wiccans and Witches in the United States.

Today, Kirk has taken this leadership experience to the state level, where he currently serves as a legislator for Vermont—but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Healing Modalities

Kirk is a Licensed East Asian Medical Practitioner, so acupuncture is part of his day job (or… one of his day jobs). He’s studied Chinese Medicine, Vedic Medicine, Greek Humoral Medicine, and folk healing. Suffice it to say, a lot of his practice is centered around healing.

To unify this diverse knowledge base, Kirk has developed his own healing modality that examines how illness manifests energetically. It all sounds rather fascinating, so be sure to check out this section of the interview where he explains more details. As luck would have it, he’ll be presenting some of this information in an upcoming workshop at Summer Magick Fest 2026, which… brings me to my next section…

Summer Magick Fest 2026 Workshops

Kirk will be teaching workshops later this year at Summer Magick Fest 2026. If you’re not familiar with the festival, check out their website or go read one of my recap posts from last year.

Here’s what he’s got planned:

Freemasonry & the Golden Dawn: Old Men’s Mysteries for Modern People

This class is an exploration of the history, activities and practices of these two ceremonial groups. We will debunk myths, give away “secrets”, talk about magick, and explain how these groups can be used to transform one’s self and one’s world. Come with your questions about how Freemasonry influenced the development of British Traditional Wicca.  Kirk is Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Vermont and Imperator/Hierophant of the Beth-El Temple in Vermont.

Lessons in Ritual Triage or “When Good Rituals Go Bad”

This will be an anecdote-filled discussion on what makes a ritual a good one or a bad one. Over the years, the presenter has been to some amazingly powerful rituals, some plain duds, and some downright dangerous ones. We will talk about how each got that way and various techniques to make energy flow, get everyone involved, stir up positive change for people, while keeping everyone safe and sane. We will also explore the contrast between ritual and ritual theater and how the size of your group (10, 100, or 1000 participants) requires different planning.

Witching Wellness

The witch walks the line between the worlds, weaving the forces of the plants, the stars, the elements, the spirits, magic and medicine, mind and body, to bring healing (or harm when necessary) to themselves and their communities. Placed into the magical worldview of medieval European folk medicine and magic, yet also drawing on Chinese, Ayurvedic, and Greek humoral medicine, we will begin to explore how these forces are woven together and can be used for health, happiness, growth, and balance.  We will cover basic theory, learn and practice assessment/diagnostic methods, and learn how to choose or create the right treatment strategy based on those findings. Beginners will leave with a firm foundation on which to begin growing while more advanced healers will gain strategies and skills to better define, refine, and deepen their current skill set.

Kirk’s Books

Here are some of Kirk’s books for you to peruse.

Masterful Magick

Operative Freemasonry

Gold Dawn Study Journal

He says that Operative Freemasonry is a “cult classic” if you’re a Freemason. It’s supposed to explain how you can make the masonic rituals initiatic rather than just a bunch of people getting together and going through the motions.

Now… I’m certainly not a Freemason, but something he said about that purpose really stuck out to me. Regardless of what spiritual affiliation you have, there will always be people whose highest level of achievement is the memorization of ritual words and actions—form and function—rather than developing a complete understanding of what those things represent on an energetic level. You can see that in Christian congregations just as much as you can in Wiccan circles. And apparently, it happens often enough in Freemasonry that Kirk was inspired to write a book about it.

There’s a difference between wisdom and understanding. And knowledge is its own thing, too.

Handling Multiple Traditions

I’ve seen people who love to claim how they’re an initiate of this tradition and an initiate of that tradition, yada yada yada, but nowhere along the line do they ever finish anything. I could rant about that for another few paragraphs, but instead, I’ll just say this: at a certain point, it can easily just become about vanity.

Kirk has probably participated in almost every magickal tradition that I’ve ever heard of. Just to recap some of that: he’s been in Druidry, British Traditional Witchcraft, Freemasonry, and the Golden Dawn, but the list doesn’t stop there. Most importantly, however, he says that he doesn’t approach these as a dilettante. In other words, Kirk doesn’t do these things superficially or for his own amusement—rather, his intention is a serious one. He means to go as far as possible. And the thing is… that’s a real time commitment.

Naturally, I asked Kirk how he handles this. First, he made a joke about sacrificing eating and sleeping, but in the end, he said the real answer is to master one before you move to another.

Don’t miss out. Here’s what’s coming up…

He compares it to people studying martial arts. They’ll get an entry-level belt in one style, then another in a different style, rinse and repeat. But they never get their black belt in anything. And if, instead, they focused on one, the skills learned through mastery would have made all subsequent styles easier and faster to learn. I’ve never studied martial arts, so I can’t say I have first-hand knowledge of how often that happens, but it certainly sounds like a good metaphor for this subject!

Paganism in Politics

It might not surprise you that nearly 90% of the US Congress members follow some form of Christianity. And while it’s quite difficult to get accurate statistics on things like that, I was actually able to find some if you’re curious.

My point is that it’s not every day that you get to speak to someone in politics who does not identify with one on the mainstream world religions—and certainly an even rarer occurrence for that individual to be open about their beliefs being pagan.

But that’s Kirk for you! He says he has plenty of skeletons, but no closets to hide them in. And he’s pretty much open about everything—so far as I can tell.

I would have guessed that such a position would have certainly sparked conflicts, but when I asked Kirk about it, he painted an almost idyllic picture where people are elected based on their merits rather than their labels… and where little old ladies run up to him to talk about witchcraft, saying “we had a coven back in the 60s!”

It almost made me want to move to Vermont. You definitely don’t want to miss this portion of the interview.

Finding Kirk White Online

If you’re looking to find out more about Kirk White or get contact information, then look no further!

• Facebook: @revkirkwhite
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_White
• Email: kirkwhitevt (at) gmail (dot) com\

And you can find his official government page here, at the Vermont General Assembly’s website:

https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/single/2024/34694

Either way, he should be pretty easy to find!

Signature Question

In Kirk’s answer to the signature question, he spoke of hearing the “music” around him in nature—the sound of the wind in the trees, the birds singing, or the voices of land spirits. It was really quite a beautiful thought! As per usual, I don’t like to mince other people’s words here, so go and listen to the end of the interview—you can hear it straight from him.

And once you do that (or hey, even if you don’t), spend a few minutes thinking about this question: what type of “music” is around you on a daily basis? (Hint: we’re talking about things that don’t fit the standard definition for composed and recorded music.)

Conclusion

I had a great time chatting with Kirk. Although a good deal of our conversation was spent discussing traditions I don’t personally participate in, I think we were still able to connect on some of the underlying principles. And to top it off, I always find it fascinating to hear how others practice. I’m really looking forward to meeting him in person later this year. If you’d also like to have that opportunity, grab a ticket to Summer Magick Fest. We can all hang out!

Did you enjoyed this article? Please consider subscribing to my website or to my YouTube channel. Drop a comment on the video or check out my Patreon page. Consider ordering my book. There’s lots of ways to help support, even if it means just sharing my content with another human.

Season 4 is going to have some great interviews! You’ll see new faces as well as returning guests. That’s all for today, but stay tuned for more soon!

Hey everybody. Thanks so much for reading the entire article. I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in Rhode Island and it’s well after midnight. I find that regardless of the time or my physical location, I just love writing fine print. I think I’d like to write fine print in every single state. Anyway, here it goes: there are external links on this page. Many of those are to Amazon products. If you use one of those links to make a purchase, Amazon will pay me a small commission. That’s all. I’m tired. Goodnight.

What do you get when you throw a hundred magickal people into a hotel in Orlando during the summer? I'll tell you all about it in this festival recap.

#festival #community #summermagickfest

http://aerikarkadian.com/2025/06/19/summer-magick-fest-2025-recap/