Rules and Expectations

Consent

it isn’t just sexy…  it’s required! Please ask permission before touching anyone’s body or personal belongings (including hugs and casual touch). We love to show our affection for one another, but we must always be certain we have enthusiastic and ongoing consent!

By choosing to attend this event you are knowingly and voluntarily consenting to being present in an environment where kink and sexual activities may occur. However, this environmental consent does not constitute consent to participate in any particular sexual or kink activity. Your participation in any activity requires your own freely given consent, and the consent of every other participant must likewise be freely given.

“Pack It In, Pack It Out!”

There is no trash or recycling service / pick up on the land. Each camper is expected to pack out individual trash as much as possible, and take a bag of trash and recycling out of Wolf Creek when you leave. Gatherings generate a LOT of trash. Please do your part to help alleviate the amount of waste.

Substances and Intoxication

We discourage the abuse of any drugs, including alcohol.

Alcohol will not be supplied at this event. Alcohol use and other forms of intoxication are discouraged with the exception of our libations night occurring Thursday evening (before the event officially starts for a reason). Outside of libations night, attendees should not be visibly intoxicated during this event and any alcohol use must only occur in your private tent or in the parking lot.

The Land holds a firm boundary around particular drugs, namely: speed/meth, heroin, cocaine, and GHB (and its derivatives). “Not In You, Not On You, Not In Your Vehicle” is the key phrase. These intoxicants should never make their way over the bridge to the Land. If you are found to have them on the Land, you will be asked to leave. 

We hold looser restrictions around marijuana use, especially if there is a medical need. Smoking cannabis must be restricted to designated smoking areas (parking lot, back porch of Garden house, South side of the fire pit, and the Dirty Rabbit Hole)

Smoking & Fire Rules

No private fires or barbecuing (not propane, not charcoal). The only fire allowed will be at the main fire pit and it will be maintained by designated fire tenders. If there is a fire ban in place, there will be no fires at all.

There is to be no burning of candles, incense, herb bundles, cigarettes, joints, spliffs, bras, panties, or anything else on any paths, meadows, woods, outhouses, and so on and so forth throughout the Land. Designated smoking areas include the parking lot, back porch of Garden House, South side of the fire pit, and the Dirty Rabbit Hole.

Water & Hygiene Products

Please bring only biodegradable soaps, shampoos and other hygiene products as our wastewater drains directly onto the land. All of the water that comes out of a faucet comes from our own well and is tested regularly for purity.

While there are sinks on the land and a pumphouse, we encourage all attendees to bring plenty of their own water as to not deplete the well water which is limited.

Spiritual Spaces

Respect the land and spiritual spaces! If you feel a call to tend to the spiritual elements on this land feel free to spruce up alters and leave offerings, but do not take anything from an alter or spiritual space and treat these spaces with respect.

The Ancestor Room (second floor of Garden House) is an extremely sacred space. No shoes are allowed to be worn in the Ancestor Room and it maintains a quiet space. Anyone found to have taken from or vandalized the Ancestor Room will be asked to leave immediately and may be banned from returning to the land.

Nomenus asks that there be no photographing of any alters on the land! Please respect these wishes

Pets

Nomenus discourages visitors from bringing pets to the Sanctuary, so we will only be allowing service animals. If bringing a service animal, you are responsible for taking care of them and keeping them out of trouble. Because of pet allergies, no animals will be allowed in Garden House or the Barn. If a pet becomes troublesome, the Stewards may ask the owner to board the pet at a kennel in Wolf Creek.

Police

We try to involve the police as little as possible. If lives are in danger or somebody’s brandishing a deadly weapon, run and call 911. Otherwise, it’s best to talk to a Caretaker or Organizer first, in case we can handle the problem without calling the Sheriff. If you do call 911, if able to, please follow-up with a caretaker or organizer so we can be aware of their arrival.

Creating Community

The goal in all of this is to maintain a healthy community at the Sanctuary, where people can pursue their dreams and connect with each other in those ways that one finds in faery space. Making community together is not always an easy task, and it takes caring for each other, talking with each other, listening to each other, and working with each other for it to happen well. If something is rankling you, we ask you to talk with people so we can figure out a solution.

Adult Themes / Kink / Sex

Nudity is allowed at all times and in all spaces. Kink and sex acts are allowed almost anywhere (exceptions being the kitchen, the ancestor room, garden house). By attending this event you are consenting to witnessing nudity, sex acts, and kink acts.

No interrupting sex or kink scenes! Only join in a pre-existing sex or kink act if invited by the participants. Some kink acts may make you feel uncomfortable, but as long as what is occurring is consensual, do not cast judgement – the land is large and you may move yourself to different areas to avoid seeing scenes you do not wish to see.

The organizers may require a participant to leave the event if the participant:

• Violates consent;
• Engages in harassment, coercion, assault, or other prohibited conduct;
• Creates an unreasonable safety risk;
• Violates event rules;
• Disregards reasonable instructions from event staff; or
• Otherwise engages in conduct that the organizers reasonably determine is incompatible with maintaining a safe event environment.

Removal from the event does not constitute a determination of criminal or civil liability.

Safety Guide

Fire Safety

In case of fire: Grass fires spread FAST! It may be too late already.

• Yell loudly for help. If there’s an air horn nearby (they’re at outhouses, Garden House, Barn, pumphouse, cabins), blast it on-and-off while running to the fire.
• If you hear an air horn: run in that direction. If you’re near a vehicle, consider driving to a fire barrel to fetch tools, or carrying people to the fire.
• Send the first person who arrives to call 911.
• If you don’t have an air horn, send the second person to get one (and blast it on the way back).
• Everybody else run to the fire barrels, marked with red reflective tape (at the edges of the meadow). Grab a burlap sack, dip it in water, beat the fire with the wet sack. Grab a shovel or rake, and clear a fire break well ahead of the fire, as wide as the grass is tall.
• As more people arrive, set up a bucket-brigade to pass burlap back and forth for dunking in water.

Never pour water on a grass fire: it doesn’t help in the slightest, and uses up your water. Grass fires are fast. If it reaches the forest, we’ve burned down our woods and a chunk of the valley.

Water bottles (glass or plastic) left in the sun can act as magnifying glasses; we once found cloth with a big hole charred by the sun. If you see a bottle left outside, please bring it in!

Poison Oak

It is the most common plant here; it especially grows in dappled shade under the trees (right where you’d camp). If you brush against one of the leaves and then touch a faerie who’s allergic (maybe yourself; most people are), they can develop an itchy, weepy rash that doesn’t add to the gathering experience. Walk through the underbrush and sit on the sofa, and some people here will get really sick.

Fortunately, Poison Oak isn’t that hard to avoid. First, learn what it looks like at this time of year. (Early Spring: vertical shoots with tiny, purply leaves – very oily! Summer: medium green vine or shrub, with 3 leaves coming together at the stem. The only other 3-leaved plant is wild raspberry, which has little thorns. Fall: pretty flame-red leaves are oily even after they drop.) You’ll find that most cleared campsites don’t have any in the way, but watch on the edges, especially when pitching your tent. If you go hiking, keep a close eye out and know that going off the trail often means having to back up to find a clear path; be sure to put your hiking shoes and clothes in a safe spot afterwards.

If you’ve been exposed: look in the first-aid areas for Technu, which neutralizes the oil. (Instructions on bottle.) Second choice: shower in cool water with lots of soap, washing the oil away from the rest of your body. Developing a bumpy rash? Ask somebody who knows what it looks like, and see about cortisone cream. If somebody’s face, mouth or throat swell up, see Emergencies; they need treatment to make sure the windpipe doesn’t swell shut.

Rattlesnakes

Aren’t territorial or aggressive, but they sometimes sunbathe on trails and can’t get away quickly, remember, they are more afraid of you then you are of them. It’s a good idea to look where you’re walking, especially when away from the busy areas. (Some years there’s a rattler living under Garden House, who is exposed while going to and from the meadow. In Spring, before Beltane crowds arrive, there’ve been baby rattlers around the Barn.) If you’re in the high grass off the trails, stomp a bit so they hear you coming (they sense vibration). Climbing in rocky areas, don’t put your hands where you can’t see! On the other hand, in 25 years the only snakebite was on the nose of an obnoxious dog.

If you hear a rattle, freeze. Unless he’s coiled, he’ll be moving away. If you stepped right next to him and he’s coiling up, your instinct is right: jump away!

Food & Wild Animals

We ask that you keep any food you bring for personal use locked in a car when not being enjoyed, as there are wild animals in the area, including the occasional bear and mountain lion.

Please only store food in the Garden House fridge if you have food-related access needs that prevent you from eating the communal meals.