Sunday we presented a salon at Oak's house in the Mission. "We" being ICT, Independent Craft Teachers, a small group of seasoned Reclaiming priestesses who also happen to be Feri, although it's the Reclaiming part we're concerned with in these salons. Well, not the last one, which I was unable to attend.
We had a goodly group of 17 people total, including Oak, Anne, Thorn, Medusa, Fern and me. I was especially pleased that my pals Urania and Denise could make it. Most of the others I hadn't met before, as it seems they're more recently part of the larger community and since I've not been teaching for several years, I've only had rare occasions to meet newer folks.
We started with a round of who we were vis-a-vis Reclaiming. We spanned from a few months to nearly 30 years (me).
People said they had a great time and really enjoyed the conversation. The organizers in particular were pleased with how it unfolded.
One of my favorite things to do is talk with Pagans about Paganism and Pagandom. I seem to have a huge appetite for that kind of discussion. I feel strongly that it's up to us as Pagans, as an NRM (new religious movement), to define ourselves. If we don't do it, then journalists and reporters and sociologists will. So when I can get such an opportunity, I jump for it. That's one of the reasons I just love the annual CCPS and PantheaCon and Pagan festivals.
Maybe I'm getting jaded, but it seems to me that we Pagans keep having the same conversations over and over and over again. Or maybe it's just that I have so many of them that they seem to be the same. I was jotting notes on topics people mentioned during the first round that I had something to say about. Of course, this was a salon, not a lecture by Macha, so I behaved myself and didn't hog all the discussion time. But I sure wanted to. I was bursting with things to say, opinions, reflections, anecdotes, bits of lore, word meanings and connotations.
Guess I should jump on this and ride it.
Fern and Oak offer their happy experiences.
By way of notes, I took this photo of the whiteboard with ideas, words, connections.
Ah, I've always thought that I was REALLY born to run a salon.
ReplyDeleteAnd I bet you can cook up workshops on at least half of the stuff you jotted notes on!
ReplyDeletethanks, Macha, for getting that board up! Hecate...i'd love to be at a salon with you! I guess in some way blogging is an ongoing salon. But it's great also to meet in person and just have a wide open discussion.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like so much fun, and such worthwhile work! If I lived closer, I would love to attend...
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the pic of the whiteboard, too.
The )APAUSICOTS( have noticed that whiteboards are very limiting, and that one can achieve nearly infinite space (well, as big as the room is anyway) by using flip-chart size post-it notes.
ReplyDelete