What To Expect

Venue

North Star is located at Elkenmist, a working farm on 125 acres, in the Skamokawa Valley, Washington. It adjoins 250,000 acres of forested land.

Walking from one side of the campout to the other could be about 10 minutes. Bring decent shoes (ideally slightly waterproof, as the morning dew will get you).

Summer can be hot. It can get up to 90°F in the summer in the PNW. There is plenty of shade and we believe it won’t be too crazy, but if it is, we will drop everything and have a beach day at the river.

Expect lows of 50°F at night, but prepare for 40°F.

Sleeping outside is cold(ish). Expect to need twice the warmth than you’d need in your bedroom. Sleeping bags are designed for these conditions and are an easy solution. If you go with bedding, bring a little extra.

While we’re not expecting rain, there will be morning dew. This means that stuff you leave outside will get damp overnight. It also means you’ll want to put the rainfly on your tent (most tents come with a rainfly, so this note is for the person thinking, “maybe I ought to leave the rainfly off so I can see the stars.”)

We want to encourage you to pee in the woods :)

What to Bring

The absolute essentials are:

A tent
A sleeping pad
A sleeping bag or bedding
A flashlight or headlamp with extra batteries
Water (1 gallon per person per day)
A bowl, plate, and cutlery
A mug for all libations
Clothes for both hot and cold conditions
Rain jacket
Sunscreen

We also recommend:

Toiletries
A spare pair of shoes (in case the morning dew gets you)
Shower or water shoes for beach excursions
A couple of trash bags
A notebook and pen or pencil

Behold the packing list

Spiritual Expectations

In our creation of North Star, spirits have come through in dream, vision, and omens pushing it to fruition.

These spirits are Apollo and Jupiter in Cancer. Thus, North Star is a ritual for Apollo and Jupiter in Cancer.

Apollo is the god of music and divination, fast cars, health, psychological well-being, & hot non-binary trans mascs.

Jupiter is the god of sharing, abundance, joy, knowledge, and literally looking into the sky.

North Star is a container where their spiritual natures are drawn down to earth. The gods are not hypothetical. They are here.

There will be rituals, songs, sacred fire, star gazing, fruit trees, butter, feasting—such that we may participate in their mysteries.

They are here because we asked them. They are here because they told us they wanted to be here.

North Star invites participants to meet them through myriad manifestations and embodied practices.

If you have a telescope, specific star knowledge, a campfire song, or a campfire story, we invite you to prepare these to share.

In this way we become the phalanges at the end of their finger.

North Star organizers have taken painstaking care to generate a spiritual container that will be safe, fun, enjoyable, and beneficial for everyone and the land.

Please Consider:

Taking an attitude of caution towards classically malefic energies. Let’s lean toward leaving anything that could be classed as “malefic” at home.
For this first year together, we’d like to lean into the most life-giving planets—the Benefics & the Luminaries.
We aren’t here to police what tinctures you take in your tent, but consider the energies you contribute to the group.
Limiting Martial forces, for fire safety reasons (really!) & group harmony. It is fire season in the Pacific Northwest.
Gods and spirits who are not known for ‘playing well with others’? We want to play well with others.

If you’d like to create group space for a classically malefic energy, please divine extensively on it, centering the question: “how will this impact the group at North Star.” Once you’ve done that, if it passes the test, email us at northstarcampout@gmail.com.