Phoenix Phyre 2025 Festival Recap

This year has had a rather awesomely busy start to the festival season, which means you guys are in store for yet another recap post. This time, I’m going to tell you all about Phoenix Phyre 2025 in Apopka, FL.

About Phoenix…

Phoenix Festivals, Inc. is a non-profit organization that holds two gatherings each year. One is in the fall, called Autumn Meet (which was actually my first experience a few years ago), and the other is in the spring, called Phoenix Phyre.

In their own words…

“Every March and September, Phoenix Festivals, Inc. gathers for a five day, four night outdoor event at Wekiwa Springs Youth Camp ​to share and celebrate our beliefs. Each day is filled with workshops, community meals, live entertainment, rituals, drumming, and dancing. We strive to provide an unforgettable and spiritual experience in a fun and safe environment. All ages are welcome to this Metaphysical Retreat in a gorgeous, natural setting.”

Well, that pretty much says it all!

The theme this year was “following our dreams.”

Okay, so here’s the deal. Because of a few issues with a previous campsite, the venue had to be changed. This was our first time attending at the new place, so we weren’t totally sure what to expect… but…

Location

Holy trees, batman! Wekiwa Springs is beautiful.

It’s far enough away from the nearest city so that you don’t hear cars or traffic, but close enough so that you can find groceries within a 15 minute drive. This state park has a large campground that groups can rent and comes complete with a full set of facilities — multiple communal buildings and plenty of shared cabins (with electricity). Of course, you’ve also got tons of space to pitch a tent if that’s your preference.

On the other side of the park is a popular tourist attraction: Wekiwa Springs, a natural water feature that I suppose is kind of like the beach for the locals. We took a stop there on our way out. It was pretty packed, but at least a mile of woods separates the campsite from the springs, so you don’t have to worry about the crowds.

The Experience

Friday

The festival officially started on Wednesday, but that didn’t quite work for our schedule. We packed up the car on Friday afternoon and headed out. The destination is a little north of Orlando, so it was about a three or four hour drive for us depending on traffic.

As soon as we pulled into the state park, we found ourselves on this nice little paved road shaded by tree branches. It was so serene that I had to stick my phone out the window and snap a picture (not recommended, but my phone was uninjured).

The campsite is a bit of a drive from the entrance, but that’s nice because it makes it feel really secluded. After we pulled in, we checked in at registration and grabbed some cool wrist bands.

And then, rather immediately, it was time to unpack the car. Although we were staying in a cabin (and thus, not bringing our giant tent) our car was still extremely full due to all of my musical equipment. My PA may be on the smaller size, but it still takes up a big portion of our back seat!

The camp site isn’t huge, but it does take at least 5 minutes or so to walk from one side to the other. That’s a long way to lug gear. Lucky for us, there are staff or volunteers driving golf carts around. Selene took some items to our cabin while I headed for the community center with my guitar.

I must confess that I was not exactly sure where to set up, so I just made a large pile of gear. I could worry about that later. For now, it was time to hoof it over to Laura Perry’s ritual, titled “We Are Joy.”

I was pretty excited to finally meet Laura Perry in person. We had spoken online for quite a while, as she was a guest in Season 2. I was also very curious what one of the rituals for Ariadne’s Tribe would feel like. Plus, she asked me to open the ceremony by banging on a frame drum.

The Altar from Laura’s Ritual

The ritual was beautiful. We sang while we processed into the building. Once inside, offerings were given to Minoan deities. And then we sang more! Actually, we made noise for quite a while. The highlight of the ritual was people just dancing around joyously and making happy sounds. At the beginning, it was rather cacophonous, but at some point it coalesced into one group mind. All of a sudden, the drum beats, random noises, and rhythmic movements of 30 or 40 people were all synchronized. We stayed in that moment for a short time, then closed the ritual.

A Flower from Ritual

And we all took a souvenir with us — a flower that had been charged with joy on the altar.

After that ritual, it was time for my concert. I didn’t set up cameras, so I don’t have any video. Also, I don’t have any pictures. Sorry. But I can tell you that I opened with an acoustic cover of Running Up That Hill and closed with My Way. I think I fell into a musical time vortex, but I was told that I played for more than 90 minutes. (Although I have no tokens of this performance, I should point out that you can view other concert videos on my Patreon page)

And oh boy, was that heat necessary. We were having some unseasonably cold nights that week, which were down in the 40s! For us Floridians, who feel icy at any temperatures below 70 degrees, that was downright death.

At some point or another, after spending a couple of hours in our warm cabin, we grew hungry and decided that we needed to munch on some of the snacks we had brought (which were still in the car). I ventured out into the darkness.

I made it a few steps down the paved path before the beauty of nature overtook me. There were so many stars in the sky. And planets, too! I needed to capture this moment and share it with others. So I took out my cell phone to take a picture. In the darkness, of course, my phone defaulted to its low-light exposure mode, prompting my to stay still for three seconds.

Look, I don’t particularly care for running. It takes a lot of motivation. And I suppose that decreasing my time in the cold was sufficient motivation.

So yeah, I ran to the car. Overall, I would describe the experience as “quite unpleasant.”

Anyway, Selene and I had the entire cabin to ourselves, so we decided to do a bit of rearranging. We pushed two of the single, twin mattresses up next to each other so that we could both sleep in the same bed (don’t worry, since we’re married, this is okay). It actually made for a decently-comfortable situation!

Saturday

Saturday morning started without a hitch. We woke up in our makeshift bed and made our way around the campsite, passing by some interesting areas, like a table of takeaway affirmations.

Some flags flying in the wind… and the affirmations table…

I went to the community center to teach my workshop, entitled “Sound & Magick.” Did I have a plan for this workshop? Yes, I certainly did. But did I execute said plan? Nope.

There was a small group gathered. I proceeded with a general opening and discussion of instruments for a couple minutes, which sparked some questions. And then we just went with those questions, asked more questions, and had discussions of whatever topics sprang forth as a result, like “what makes music feel primal?” After the first few minutes, I had deviated entirely from my lesson plan. It was definitely spur of the moment conversation, but I really, really enjoyed everything we talked about — so thank you to everyone who attended!

Selene’s workshop was shortly after mine. She facilitated a lovely cacao ceremony. I did not partake and mostly hung out in the background taking a few pictures and making sure the water was boiling properly, but I think everyone had quite a wonderful experience, especially those folks who were trying cacao for the first time.

My beautiful wife teaching and a bubbling cauldron…

After Selene’s workshop, we popped into Laura’s, which was a fascinating look at how the labyrinth shape has been used for thousands of years all over the world. I had no idea!

And then it was hunger time again, so we departed on a quest for lunch. We found a charming little pizza place called “Anthony’s” a few miles away. I got a meatball sub. I would definitely rate it, at least, as “decent!”

Once we returned, I posted up at my table in the community center for a little bit and set up my runes for some readings.

Auctions and Divination, what a delight

And then the auction started, hosted by Eric (that’s Eric with an “E,” not Aerik with an “A,” and not the Eric with a hat — yeah, we had a little confusion over names that weekend and I’m going to campaign that we cap out phonetically similar names at a maximum of two for next time). His performances are always hilarious.

Things wouldn’t be complete, however, unless Selene and I took a selfie in the woods.

Selene and me…

And then as the sun began to set, I took a picture of the woods by themselves. By themself? Itself? Itselves? I think I broke pronouns. Sorry.

Sunset in the woods

The next item up on the agenda was main ritual, in which there was a trance possession of Dionysus and a short reenactment with Psyche. Each quarter was lit up and had its own individual altar. Some little strips of fabric were burned in the ritual fire. There was drumming and some dancing. It was a nice little show!

An altar and the main ritual fire

After that, we stole away for another secret ritual and then hung out at the drum circle for a little while. The drummers were excellent! I’m not sure what time it was when we were done hanging out with everybody, but it was late and we were pretty tired.

Sunday

The last day of festival is usually pretty short. We woke up and went to closing ritual, then it was time to reset our cabin. We did rearranged the furniture to the original pattern, gave it a good sweep, said our goodbyes, and then started driving back down south to get home.

Along the way, however, we decided to make a couple of pit stops.

First, we decided to check out the Wekiwa Springs.

The Springs!

The springs are actually pretty cool. The portion closest to the entrance is pretty touristy and there were a ton of people laying out on a big hill with beach towels. Like I said earlier, I guess this is the closest local thing that is adjacent to beach, so people treat it as such. If you walk a little deeper, it gets more secluded and there is a large area for canoeing or paddle boarding. And there were lots of tiny fish in the water!

After we left the park and officially got on the highway, we decided to make a second pit stop at Disney Springs. If you’re wondering why, I’ve got one word for you. Dole Whip. Wait no, that’s two words.

Mission Accomplished

Actually, if I’m being more precise, it’d be “pineapple dole whip” and that would be be three words. Anyway, it’s a fantastic way to end any spiritual journey.

Future Dates

If you’d like to catch a future gathering by Phoenix Festivals, you can look forward to these dates…

Conclusions

Phoenix was a blast. Maybe next time you’ll join us. If you’re looking for more info, you can check out their website or Facebook group.