‘Everybody is here. There are lots of hugs. We are back.’
A spirit of reunion permeated Sacred Space, a pagan conference held annually in early April. After a three-year hiatus, the event in Hunt Valley, Maryland, welcomed more than double its pre-pandemic attendance and, despite the host hotel’s broken air conditioning, was a huge success, said organizers.
“It was such an extraordinary blessing to be in the physical presence of our beloved community of magickal peers again. I know we all felt that,” said Gwendolyn Reece, president of the Sacred Space Foundation, the event’s host organization.
The indoor event is one of several traditionally held throughout the year to support the pagan community. After struggling through cancellations, lockdowns and low attendance, these events are back and, according to organizers, are bigger than ever.
“There was some critically important magick done during this conference,” Reece added, magick that hadn’t been done since 2019 — the last year Sacred Space was held, after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then again in 2021 and 2022 as waves of new virus variants made hosting a large conference questionable.
“I am grateful that we have such a strong-hearted, dynamic, spiritually courageous magickal community,” said Reece.
The event shared space with another, smaller conference, Between the Worlds, which is hosted periodically as defined by astrological timing. While the smaller event does increase attendance, it only does so by 30%, according to both organizations. This year, Sacred Space welcomed 625 attendees, up from 310 in 2019, according to Michael Smith, the event’s registrar.
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