The Flowers of Vaudeville

Short History Of The Witches Sabbath: Walpurgisnacht Celebration

“It would be nice if annually we had an actual get together… and it could change out every year… and that would encourage a lot of people to sign in or watch it or participate long distance,” Stanton LaVey expressed to Shane Bugbee in a recorded conversation. In air of mutual agreement, a digital equivalent for what the Walpurgis whimsy is intended for, Shane exclaimed, “I think Walpurgis should be the new Christmas, I think we should all get together on Walpurgis… all over the world” in a non-denominational celebration of the feminine energy which permeates and is utilized by all witches of every degree. Propelling the event, the idea to fashion new holidays in the face of older traditions, and shortcomings within such.

“Think of St. Patrick’s Day,” Bugbee articulated to RealityCheckTV documenting the original moment, “This is what St. Patrick’s Day should be.” Intent of the event is the coagulation— amassing— of energy. A nondenominational moment; taking what esteem typically given to holidays, though has through time devolved and degraded from the guise of mindless ‘mindfulness’, when all tend to lend solely to plays of reciprocal altruism and consumerism. Christmas, the aforementioned St. Patrick’s Day and even Halloween increasingly lose their touch; so in its place, nature fills a necessary gap.

Coming up with a list of legible and generally agreeable understandings which encapsulate what the Witches Sabbath is to be for the time it is around every loop around the sun. A negation of imposed and artificial belief, consensus, hierarchy, generalities and authority, in place of an uplifting of personal prowess, subjective circumstance and respecting of nuanced existence.

Beginning big right from the onset of the now annual (as intended) festival of the Witches Sabbath began its bash in the city of Chicago. The initial celebration was means to shed the skin, clear the air, tear down prior pains and husks of past bullshit. Culminating in a ritual of destruction performed by the event mastermind Shane Bugbee, festering in the Age Of Undoing— which had already begun the year prior.

Willed into being by the same person who enacted the Milwaukee Metal Festival, and given infernal blessings with her presence and approval: Karla LaVey. The first Witches Sabbath was a starting flare-up fever dream; so loud and infectious that 12 squad cars and 2 police helicopters with the Chicago Police Department arrived with the intention of killing the energy. Nonetheless, it persisted in its debauchery.

From the eruption in Chicago, the Witches Sabbath then went on to do another go, this time in the city of Los Angeles. Air being more of a somber, melancholic atmosphere in the wake of the sudden passing of Stanton LaVey a few months prior. Sticking with LA for a slight stay, the third Walpurgisnacht celebration took place for another round with a ritual for the event attempted by Sharon LaVey.

Segueing from the stints in LA, the fourth and most recent year of vaudeville, occurred on the edge of where Juarez, Mexico begins and El Paso, Texas ends. Kink, color, and Charon’s Canyon culminating in two ritual ceremonies. Faulty wiring at an already somewhat uncertain venue led for some fretting prior; but will-working, French Toast handy, it coalesced into a tight affair. Setting the scene was first a rite of affirmation, turning two adepts’ hormone replacement therapy injections into an energized emotional expression. Taking to the alter (a bar counter which had been aesthetically converted), event ringleader Shane Bugbee then proceeded to perform his own psychodrama to synthesize all the coalesced charges up until that point.

A Fifth Witches Sabbath has yet to happen, that’s the next one up. Starting April 30 and going all the way until May 3, what will happen in total is a roll of the dice on the hour every hour it’s in effect. What can be implied by prior practice, is it’s not to be missed by any means.