Welcome to Folleterre: part of the global network of radical faerie communities.
Folleterre aims to be a “pink lighthouse” where queers expand their special gifts and nature, explore the relationship between sexuality and spirit, and aims to provide a place of safety, homecoming, inspiration – a home for an ever-growing family of kindred souls.
Folleterre is a sanctuary from the materialism and consumerism of much of gay life: a place for respite and healing in the beauty of nature. This is a home where faeries can be gentle and intimate together and also as wild and creative as their spirits move them to be.
Folleterre was founded in 2005 following ten years of Eurofaerie gatherings and four years of searching for land. The local forest already had the perfect name: “bois de la folleterre,” translatable as “land of the queers” or “land of the crazies.”
The Folleterre Sanctuary consists of several hectares of land within a nature reserve in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France. The land features mountain trails, forests, streams, meadows, gardens, fruit trees, a farmhouse, and a barn.
The ceremonial opening of Folleterre took place on the Autumn equinox of 2005, with 30 queers gathering from several countries – Holland, France, Germany, UK, Spain and the USA – to ignite a fire of passion, healing and love. Since then, hundreds of faeries have visited the land during gatherings and at quieter times. People have started living on the land consistently during the summer months.
Sanctuary life involves living, working and playing together–in the kitchen, chopping wood, growing and harvesting fruit and vegetables, constructing and improving the property, going with the natural flow of life on the land and simply being. Much skill sharing happens at the sanctuary, with faeries learning from each other in areas such as massage, building, cooking, gardening, make up, performance and more.
Gatherings are the liveliest times at the sanctuary, when you can meet people from many cultures, join in workshops, hold parties, share in heart circles, enjoy vegetarian feasts and revel in unlimited glamour!
Folleterre is a multi-lingual space and the best possible accommodations are made for all abilities and disabilities. The sanctuary is dedicated to providing welcoming hospitality to all who come.