Corby & Me, photo by Tony Mierzwicki |
Thursday Night thru
Saturday Afternoon
To avoid the
hassle of driving busy Bay Area freeways during the day, and because I’m not an
early riser, I drove down to San Jose late Thursday evening. I anticipated that this would allow me a few
more leisurely visits with other early arrivers, especially those from afar,
before the Con got nuts. I was right.
I had
printed out schedules of the events I was most drawn to ahead of time, together
with some hospitality suite schedules and meal dates made in the previous
weeks. Over the years I’ve relaxed my
schedule by not applying to do a presentation of any kind, rather only sitting
on panels now and then when asked, or performing a ritual role when invited to
do so. I try to get to the most
appealing presentations, but some of them are too crowded. I know that some of them I can see at other
venues. If I happen to get involved in a
compelling discussion or a tête-à-tête
and miss something I wanted to attend, I can follow where I’m drawn, or I can
break away if I absolutely have to be somewhere. This year I played it loose.
Since our
room reservation began on Friday night, Jeffrey and I stayed in a room with
Angela and Merry. They’re always fun and
we laughed plenty.
On Friday
morning Brandy Williams, Ted Gill and
I enjoyed a long overdue catch-up.
Brandy gave me some clarity and encouragement about a writing project;
I’ve been working on it this week.
I attended
the CoG meet & greet in the CoG/NROOGD/NWC suite in the afternoon, thus
fulfilling my NCLC-CoG annual attendance requirement (not that that will be the
only Local Council meeting I attend this year).
Pleasant, no drama, how nice!
As the first
programs were being offered, I was considering one called “The Ephesia
Grammata” given by P.
Sufenas Virius Lupus, mainly because I’d been following, and only mildly
engaged but very interested in, the feedback on “Don
Frew on saving Pagan lives, ‘Wiccan privilege’ and interfaith” at Gus
diZerega’s Pointedly Pagan blog at Patheos, I was planning to join a gathering
to discuss matters therein face-to-face in the CoG suite later in the weekend,
and thought I might take this opportunity to learn more. More about that below.
“A Thousand
Ways: Exploring Devotional Ritual Models,” by Silence Maestas was in the same
time slot. Considering what I’ve been
working on (“Cultivating Bhakti”), that subject tipped the balance and that’s
where I went. Her delivery was clear, if
a bit rushed for having so much ground to cover in a 90-minute session and
still allowing a little time for Q&A.
I took notes and gained some different perspectives. It was well worth my time.
Five
programs interested me in the late afternoon time slot, including Richard
Reidy’s and Brandy’s. However, as a
goddess-oriented Feminist Witch in service to the all-male Wiccan circle I
visit in San
Quentin, I’ve become more aware of wanting to seek worthy models and views
of male deities. So I arrived a bit late
for Jason Mankey’s talk “Finding the God: Male Archetypes of Deity in the Craft.” I was disappointed.
I must have
been doing other things when Gus diZerega introduced his new book, Fault
Lines: The Sixties, the Culture Wars, and the Return of the Divine Feminine. I’ve been reading parts of earlier iterations
of this work, and, having lived a life that fits into the title, I’m eager to
read it. I bought a copy from Gus later
in the weekend.
In something
of a blur of meals, socializing, and visiting hospitality suites, I arrived
late for Holly Tannen’s and Ruth Barrett’s concert. This is one performance I try always to
see. I recommend it to newer attendees
and others unfamiliar with their work.
Luckily I’d chatted with Holly earlier, and had a fine visit with Ruth
and Falcon the next day.
I’m happy to
report the return of Clifford Hartleigh Low‘s
Green Fairy Party, consistently one of the best parties ever. Had a great chat with joi
wolfwomyn out on the balcony and another with holy man origynal sinnerjee a bit later. Friday turned out to be my biggest party
night.
Saturday
morning, what a conundrum! Nine
presentations I wanted to attend, including the panel on sacrifice, which later
heard was outstanding; one on memory; one on “Rethinking Community for the
Solitary Pagan”[1];
and Sabina Magliocco’s on animal spirits.[2]
My sweetie
Corby was coming down for the day especially to attend the Turning Earth Singers’
workshop. He is joining that group, and
they are lucky! He has sound musical
training and a beautiful, strong baritone.
However, he got lost and phoned me in frustration. When he finally arrived, that event was over;
meanwhile, I missed all of them.
We passed on
“Hekate in Turkey” with Don Frew and Anna Korn, because we’ve seen much of it
and can see it another time. Also passed on Orion
Foxwood’s talk because it’s my policy to avoid standing in lines whenever
possible and I’m not comfortable in overcrowded spaces. I’ll see him In March anyway when we’re both
presenting at the Sacred Space
Conference. Instead, we went to Sam Webster’s “Tantric Invocation of
Hermes.” We both like Hermes a lot, and
we’ve worked with Sam and his late wife Tara on Hermes and Hekate New Moon
devotionals in the past, so we expected it to be time well spent.
Again, the
“Wiccan circle” at San Quentin hungers for more about the gods,
Thoth/Hermes/Mercury in particular. I
think I can bring them Sam’s detailed handout in order for them to learn that
process. Of course, I’ll check with Sam
for permission first, but since he’s an open source kind of fellow, I think
he’ll be amenable.
Saturday
afternoon I was interested in Timotha Doane’s and Kristen Olivers’s “Hekate:
Witness and Ally, and Jeffrey Albaugh’s on working with folktale. I couldn’t
bring myself to a presentation on privilege that claims to have a “Kick-Ass
Panel.” I knew I’d hear plenty about it
later anyway, because I’d planned to go to the discussion in the CoG suite
about “Wiccanate privilege” in interfaith.
We ended up hanging out, wandered the vendors’ room, and chatted with
various friends.
After dinner
Corby went home. By then it was too late
to get into Chrisopher Penczak’s
“The Sabbat of the Mighty Dead,” which interested me because of my own
understanding of, relationships with, and experiences of what I call the Mighty
Dead. I know others hold different
concepts about the meaning of that term.
Not only am I interested in all of them, but I also like to take
advantage of the opportunity to participate in the rituals of others who have
different styles of performing.
Saturday
night onward in subsequent blog.
[1] I do not currently have a
single magical working group to which I belong, although I’ve never been a
solitary in the sense of practicing alone.
I’ve always preferred to meet with others. I still do mainly work with others, only as a
guest or for a special ritual of one kind or another. Rather than calling myself a by the inaccurate
term solitary, I tend to refer to myself as a floater.
[2] Sabina’s presentations are
always deep, rich, and fascinating. Also
crowded, which means I sometimes pass because I can see her elsewhere.
I really missed not being at PCon again this year. I hope to attend next year. The programming is so good and full that I too always struggle with figuring out what I went to do most. I'd love to pick your brain on some of these topics, but this isn't the best medium.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Macha - it reads so well felt as if I was there! Mwah!
ReplyDeleteI'd be so happy to see you there next year, Cosette. Let's be sure to have a good visit.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, if you want to discuss with me anything mentioned here, email me -- or Skype or something.
Just letting you know my two books:
ReplyDeleteWiccan Trees, and Wiccan Wisdom, are free tomorrow Thurs 10th - Sunday 13th Apr.
http://www.amazon.com/Salamanca/e/B00JKU00K6
You can share with your members if you wish. I'd appreciate your review if you have time... Thanks!
Salamanca