Unless specifically stated, all workshops and rituals are for all ages and abilities. We encourage kids to participate – in our youth area and in our all-ages activities! We assume kids will be present at everything and so all activities are cultivated with family-friendliness in mind.
Specific activities for the kids can be found on our youth schedule page.
friday
5 ish Potluck
Potluck is an opportunity to gather and meet your friends from past festivals and new friends, too! Bring a dish to share with ingredients listed. Hot dogs, buns, and fixings will be provided and we will have two fire rings available for cooking: one for animal protein and one for plant based foods.
7 Opening Ritual – The Wild Coil: A Primal Serpent Rite – facilitated by Zehara Nachash
The Wild Coil is a primal, body-centered serpent rite designed to awaken instinct, shed outdated identity, and return participants to the raw intelligence of the spine.
This ritual unfolds in three movements: Awakening, Shedding, and Rising.
We begin in a grounded circle, breath deep and low in the belly, as rhythmic percussion calls the body into awareness. Through slow spinal waves, pelvic spirals, and coiling footwork inspired by African-rooted rhythm and Middle Eastern undulation, participants activate the serpent current within. The movement builds gradually—repetitive, trance-inducing, instinctual.
As the coil tightens, participants are guided to identify what has become too small for them—an old story, role, fear, or limitation. In a symbolic shedding, each person physically removes a strip of cloth or written intention from their body and releases it into a central vessel. The drum intensifies as the group witnesses the collective shedding.
From there, silence.
Crouched low like a coiled serpent, the group rises vertebra by vertebra—slow, deliberate, powerful. Arms open like the hood of a cobra. Breath steady. Presence embodied.
The ritual closes in grounded stillness, sealing the transformation through collective affirmation and breath.
This ritual is about 45 minutes in length. Please bring a piece of paper with something written on it that you would like to get rid of.
While this is a physically active ritual, Zehara Nachash is committed to making sure attendees of all ability levels are able to participate. If you normally bring a chair to ritual, please bring on this time as well!
Drumming and Dancing – Led by Doug
Bring out your drums and your dancing feet and feel the rhythm of the season.
11 Quiet Time
Wind down into firelight conversation.
saturday
8 Coffee at Tree Frog
Roll out of your slumber into a hot cup of joe, tea, or just come for conversation. Please bring your own mug or we have disposable cups available with a variety of fixins’ like sugar, creamer, etc…
8 Meet and Greet – Led by Jessica at Tree Frog
Now that you are awake, meet some Green Bandanas and fellow event goers. Silly ice breaker games to get us all warmed up to spend relaxing intimate time together.
9 Quantum Flow: The Five Animal Frolics – Led by Jessica at Tent A
Step through a Beltane threshold—where the body remembers, and the wild within begins to rise.
Within each of us lives the instinctual wisdom of the natural world, woven into the field of our energy and being. The Five Animal Frolics is an ancient qigong practice that awakens this inner knowing through movement, breath, and presence.
Together, we’ll journey through the archetypes of tiger, deer, bear, monkey, and crane—exploring strength, fluidity, grounding, play, and expansion. This is more than movement; it is a return to the body as a living, energetic expression of nature itself.
Come reconnect with your energy, your rhythm, and the wild intelligence within—allowing it to awaken, flow, and grow.
Please wear comfortable clothing you can move freely in. All experience levels are welcome.
10 Lactic Fermentation: A Simple Sauerkraut – Led by Reverend Mother FireRose at Tent A
We will review the foundations of fermentation, including:
– microbial selection
– salinity calculations
– environmental variable controls
– and food safety.
We will focus on the inherent organized chaos of microbial activity, celebrated through the lens of science, and empower attendees to dabble further in the art and science of cultivating probiotics with confidence and clarity.
10 The Power of Frequency + Sound Healing Experience – Led by High Priestess Sandi at Tent B
In this intimate workshop, you’ll be guided into the world of vibrational energy and healing frequencies—learning how sound interacts with your body, your nervous system, and your energetic field.
First Half: Learning + Activation
We’ll explore:
– What frequency is and how it influences your energy
– How different tones and vibrations impact your emotions and body
– The connection between sound, the nervous system, and energetic balance
– How to begin working with frequency in your own daily practice
Second Half: Immersive Sound Bath
You’ll be gently guided into a deeply restorative sound healing experience designed to:
– Calm the nervous system
– Clear energetic stagnation
– Support emotional release and integration
– Bring your body back into a state of harmony
This is your invitation to slow down, tune in, and allow your body to receive.
11 Mead – Led by TBA at Tent A
Come join community brewers as we discuss brewing and recipes on how we make wonderful concoctions! Please bring your homebrew to share with the community. This workshop is for those who are 21+ only and ID is required.
11 Tea – Led by Jessica at Tent B
Come join us while we brew some tea and exchange recipes, tips and tricks. Bring your favorite herbs, tea set, add-ins or snack! We will have plenty of hot water, honey, maple syrup, and an extra brewing pot.
12 Lunch
Eat at your campsite or bring your plate to Tree Frog and socialize!
1 Ritual 101 – Led by Watching Wolf at Tent A
Ever thought about writing or leading a ritual? Come join us for a discussion of the components that make up a ritual. We will discuss what goes into writing them, as well as some things to keep in mind when leading them.
While this workshop is geared for those who may not have led rituals before, all experience levels/traditions are welcome.
Participants invited to bring chair, notebook and pen.
1 Writing the Epic Divine: Co-authoring a Poem to Our Shadow-Selves – Led by Raven at Tent B
In this creative writing workshop, we’ll reflect upon the spectrum of our inner landscape—honoring the personal traits we celebrate and the ones that can feel a little harder to embrace. Through a collaborative activity, we’ll gently reframe our “shadow” qualities into unexpected sources of strength, insight and power. Together, we’ll support one another in writing affirmations that invite us to shift inner narratives from self-criticism to self-compassion.
As a group, we’ll weave these reframed aspects into a collective epic poem to our shadow-selves; celebrating the beautifully complex, many-faceted, divine humans that we are. This workshop is designed to be welcoming and low-pressure. No prior creative writing experience is needed—just a willingness to reflect, connect, and create together.
2 Forming a Community Ritual- Led by Watching Wolf at Tent A
Please join us for a workshop where we will form our closing ritual for the festival together as a community. If you would like to help shape this year’s closing ritual, or gain some experience collaborating to write a ritual, then this is the place for you.
Participants are invited to bring chair, notebook and pen.2 The Cost of Brewing- Led by Matt at Tent B
Like every hobby, brewing mead requires an investment in time, money, and space. But how much of each? This informal discussion will attempt to answer those questions.
3 Community Myth Crafting – Led by Marni at Tent A
A myth is waiting to be told. In this immersive workshop, participants draw mythic archetypes, journey through a guided meditation, receive words or images and speak short myth fragments into a shared story. The living myth that emerges will offer insights into the future of the community we are creating together.
3 Serpent Embodiment: Dance of the Sacred Coil – Led by Zehara Nachash at Tent B
Join Zehara Nachash, modern-day Snake Priestess and former professional belly dancer, for an immersive movement experience inspired by the sacred wisdom of the Serpent.
Blending African-rooted rhythms with Middle Eastern dance foundations, this workshop explores undulations, spirals, grounding footwork, and breath-driven movement to awaken transformation, power, and intuitive flow within the body.
This is not a performance class—it is embodied ritual.
All levels welcome. No dance experience required.
Come ready to shed. Coil. Rise.
4 The Basics of Heathenry – Led by Burt at Tent A
Let’s discuss the Basics of Heathenry. Heathenry is a modern, reconstructionist religious movement aimed at reviving the pre-Christian beliefs and practices of Germanic peoples. It is characterized by a polytheistic, animistic worldview, focusing on honoring deities and creatures of the multiverse (the nine worlds of Yggdrasil, the world tree), ancestors, and nature spirits (landvettir). Common rituals include blót (offering) and sumbel (toasting), with a strong emphasis on community, reciprocity, and ethical living. The interpretations of various aspects of the religion are often diverse so the discussion could be lively.
4 Drums – Led by Doug at Tent B
Workshop description coming soon!
5 Dinner
Eat at your campsite or bring your plate to Tree Frog and socialize!
6 Beltane Main Ritual – The Passage of Living Flame: A Beltane Rite of Becoming and Belonging – Facilitated by Reverend Mother Dio
We’ll begin by gathering in sacred space, honoring the season with herbs like hawthorn, meadowsweet, and ivy. These are symbols of new beginnings, joy, and lasting bonds.
The experience then deepens as participants are invited (one at a time) to walk between two small, safely contained fires. This “fire passage” is a symbolic step forward, an opportunity to release what’s behind you and step into what’s next.
As each person crosses, they help build a welcoming pathway for those who follow, turning the ritual into a shared act of support, community, and belonging.
We’ll close together at the maypole, grounding the experience and celebrating the energy of the season.
This ritual is about 30 minutes in length.
7 Drumming and Dancing – Led by Doug
Bring out your drums and your dancing feet and feel the rhythm of the season.
11 Quiet Time
Wind down into firelight conversation.
sunday
8 Coffee at Tree Frog
Roll out of your slumber into a hot cup of joe, tea, or just come for conversation. Please bring your own mug or we have disposable cups available with a variety of fixins’ like sugar, creamer, etc…
9 Closing Ritual – Led by Watching Wolf and Community
Join us in circle a final time as we take a moment to reflect upon our festival experience and express gratitude for our time together. This ritual was built collaboratively by the community during Saturday’s 2pm “Forming a Community Ritual” workshop led by Watching Wolf!
Participants are invited to bring chair. The ritual lasts about 45 minutes.
11 Check out time
Be safe on your journey home and we hope to see you again next season!
All dates, times, and workshops are subject to change. Please check back often to see any updates. Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by the workshop host(s) are solely that of the workshop host(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of Mountain Mysteries. Participant discretion is advised.
Throughout the festival weekend, you will have the opportunity to learn about and, at times, engage in spiritual practices from a variety of different traditions and individuals’ lived experiences. Participation in any and all activities during festival is purely voluntary. All things at Mountain Mysteries are an invitation not an expectation. You are welcome to participate at the level that feels right for you and It is OK not to participate or to pass on any activity at any time.
While spirituality can be an important aspect of an individual’s wellness journey, spiritual practice is not a substitution for professional physical or mental health care and other social support services. If you or someone you know is struggling, seek professional help.
Resource cards from the organization Hope For The Day are available at the festival. These cards list important crisis-intervention/support hotline numbers as well as a QR code linked to HFTD’s resource compass which lists financial assistance, food pantries, medical care and other free or reduced-cost help searchable by zip code. Please feel free to take one or a few of these cards home with you or access their Find Help resource page here: https://www.hftd.org/find-help