See upcoming circles here: https://queerspirit.net/events/drum-circles
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Set up to be a space for spiritually inclined queers to find each other, share our stories and make magic together, Radical Faeries and friends have been meeting at the Queer Spirit Circle in London since early 2005. For 21 years the Circle has been meeting at full moons and seasonal turning points for spiritual exploration, connection, and community-building through ritual, music and dance. The Circle is not only a meeting point for spiritual queers in the city, it acts as a gateway to Radical Faerie community gatherings, Queer Spirit Festival and other queer spiritual initiatives.
We meet to attune ourselves to seasonal and lunar cycles, and to affirm the interconnectedness of life – these actions bring healing, balance and open the gates to our creativity. We also remember the sacred, spiritual roles that queer ancestors held in traditional cultures the world over, including the Celtic, and through our rituals reclaim those powers for use in the world today.
Queer Spirit Circle first gathered in the group room of a squatted Victorian hospital in Stockwell – the Ann McCall Maternity Hospital, occupied in the 2000s by an artists’ collective, who held open days and events that the local community loved. I led the circle along with lesbian friend Anna, around 16 people came to the first one – we spoke about our spiritual interests and flew together on a meditative journey through the dimensions – we felt spiritual presence holding our circle as our minds merged into a collective visionary journey. Anna brought creative ideas to the circle: we made things, created shrines, we sang, went on shamanic journeys … and we drummed. Over time the drumming became the focus as we increasingly came to appreciate the power of making rhythms and dancing at full moon – power that releases stuck energy, moves emotions, connects us to spirit, bringing healing, balance, well-being.
Once Lambeth Council evicted the artists and demolished the derelict building to build new flats, the Circle had to move. Circle regular (since the very first one) Jose Rainbow invited us into his warehouse apartment just off Old Street, where he had lived with a collective of creative party queers since the late 1990s. The (hard-)partying days over, the spacious loft still held a community spirit and had ample room for the, still young and forming, queer spirit circle – 30+ people would gather regularly for a full moon drum and dance ceremony, followed by all night playtime in central London comfort.
Occasionally the Circle would pop up outside in a park, or at a squat or queer rave. We had an amazing circle late into the night on 11/11/11 at a squatted shopping centre in Camberwell where we were all extremely energised thanks to dried fly agaric that had been harvested at Folleterre Faerie sanctuary. There were many hours of dancing and wooping!
When Rainbow relocated to Hastings the Circle moved to its new and still continuing home, the Wheatsheaf Hall in Vauxhall, a Victorian community hall that has something of the atmosphere of a medieval church.
Our first gathering at the Wheatsheaf was for Winter Solstice 2012 – our launch was billed as an ‘End of the World Party’ (a reference to the end of the Mayan Calendar), at which we made ritual, dancing through a silver frame, to symbolise moving from the world of division and separation into a new paradigm of love, oneness and light. We have been celebrating the arrival of the new unified paradigm at every meeting at the hall since. It takes time to birth a new age… to make the shift from the Piscean to Aquarian consciousness – each time we meet we continue to affirm the shift, and the role of queer people in bringing it about.
“What is spiritual, what is sacred, is being redefined. It is being redefined in a fluid way. Gay people, by their very nature, exist in a state of internal fluidity that will make us vital in this time of planetary challenge. As we enter the Age called Aquarius it is useful to remember that the constellation Aquarius represents the youth Ganymede, who Zeus took up to Mount Olympus to be cupbearer to the gods, and his own lover.” Andrew Ramer, Two Flutes Playing read more on the queer age of aquarius here
Autumn Equinox 2017 the Circle met in Green Park to make ritual on behalf of LGBTQ+ people living under homophobic regimes in Commonwealth countries and then delivered a letter to Buckingham Palace (which we also sent by post) calling for positive action:
November 2018 our Samhain Circle took place at a temporary Oscar Wilde Temple installation in Clapham:
We have enjoyed many deep and ecstatic Samhain Circles at the Wheatsheaf, honouring the ancestors and dancing to meet their spirits:
During the pandemic the Wheatsheaf Hall became a COVID testing centre – and social distancing rules meant we had to get creative. We held an afternoon circle in the bandstand in Chiswick Park, summer 2020:
During the pandemic we also met for drumming and cabaret at the Two Brewers, south London’s long-standing gay venue that generously gave our group space to meet in their disco bar without any charge:
Occasionally we hold a pre-Circle heart circle, drum workshop, breath ceremony or shamanic journey:
We’ve also held electronic shamanic performance ceremony, featuring Faerie Mystic:
Over 20 years the circle has fulfilled its aim of being a meeting point for gay, lesbian, bi, trans and friendly straight queers: a regular London social-spiritual event but also a gateway into exploring the Radical Faerie community, a signpost to the Queer Spirit Festival and also simply a space to come have some sacred fun – the Circle invites connection and intention, free expression and playful prayer – and together we co-create a musical journey, an offering into which we pour our emotions, our hopes and any shadows and fears we wish to transform.
Queer Spirit Circle begins its 14th year at the Wheatsheaf Hall on Saturday January 31st, 2026. Sign up for the mailing list at queerspirit.net
See upcoming circles here: https://queerspirit.net/events/drum-circles
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