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Before I dive into this blog, I wanted to thank everyone who donated art supplies via the Amazon Wishlist
and to the GoFundMe so that we could make the OmniFeral Temple possible:
– Hana
– Devin J
– Michael F
– Ashley A
– James L
– Taylor I
– Tiffany C
– Aarhonda C
– Irina P
– Jennifer S
– McKaela K
It’s because of you, we were able to provide an amazing art experience for attendees at the event.
We gave away so much art and now have the setup to do this again at other events. Thank you! ❤
I realize that it’s taken me time to get this written, but I went to two 4+ day long festivals in three weeks and I somewhat burnt myself out. That’s okay! I am finally playing catch up on stuff, but I also needed some time to really process just how amazing Temples of Pansophia 2025 was.
What is Temples of Pansophia? Temples of Pansophia is founded on the idea that sharing knowledge and experiences can make us a stronger community. Our aim is to create a space that allows us to come together and educate one another about diverse paths and, in turn, share that knowledge with others. A Five-Day Celebration in the outdoors of Kansas! Brought to you By: C.A.W.S. Our festival is dedicated to bringing our community together in a spirit of learning and universal knowledge. Temples of Pansophia deeply values the diversity of our community and is committed to creating a equitable, fair, and safer space for all attendees from all walks of life.
The event itself was held at Gaea Retreat Center in McLouth, KS; about 45 minutes outside of Kansas City. Gaea Retreat is a 168-acre nonprofit retreat space that features cabins, campsites, trails, a lake, and is host to many community events. It was my first time going there, so I was a little confused due to the fact that I had early entry so that I could setup the “OmniFeral Temple” in advance. Without going into major details, since they are outlined in a previous blog, the OmniFeral Temple was built to offer space for intuitive painting and immersive exploration of how creativity weaves into spiritual practice. While the temple itself was not centered on deity worship, it offered information and inspiration from global artistic and creative deities for those who wished to explore mythic archetypes tied to the act of creation.
I had the lovely “Glitter Goblin Creations” and their partner helping with the Temple through the duration of the event. At our Temple we made sure to have everything laid out nicely : paints, brushes, canvas, gray water for paint, comfort items and lighting. The Temple even included an Altar and a book of art/creative deities, I think everything turned out quite lovely. Once we were setup I had the opportunity to explore a bit.
Dogs are allowed on the property, but have a specific set of rules they need to follow so I brought Mugen (my corgi,) on this adventure. It was just past his 10th birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. He just loves camping and he did amazing at Gaea, plus he made loads of new human friends.
The following day, we all gathered in the main area for the opening ceremonies and a lovely communal meal. Each evening we were met with a wonderful ritual around the main bonfire before partaking in the festivities. The whole experience truly felt as if it was a Pagan summer camp, considering I had never had the summer camp experience before, it felt like a treat. We had a few nights there where it just wouldn’t stop raining so Mugen and I snuggled up to nap during the storms. Our Temple was open almost everyday and evening for attendees to create art for free. We had a schedule of events each day, but I am thinking next year of applying to be a “Featured Temple” so we can become more part of the week long programming.
Through the duration of the event, there was a beautiful scavenger hunt that began in a Labyrinth. The Hunt took us all over the property, it was truly a great experience to learn about Gaea as a whole. Each of the Elements were a clue, each path had five parts and each paths end was more interesting than the last. Fire took us to visit the Old Gods, Earth was buried in the ground, Water was actually in the lake and Air was high over a trail. It was honestly one of the best scavenger hunts that I had ever experienced – each path had each glass marble piece which was an addition to a pendant that we received before going into the Labyrinth.
Overall, the event was lovely and I would love to attend next year on a larger scale if my schedule will allow it. Since moving to the Midwest, I have been a Practicing Pagan again and learning a lot more about my beliefs. This was truly an amazing experience for me on my path of reconnecting with nature.
