 |
| PantheaCon 2013 "Crones" rear l-r: Magenta Griffin, Rachael Watcher, Macha NightMare, Selena Fox, Vivianne Crowley, Margot Adler; front Anna Korn, Glenn Turner |
I’m annoyed that the comments for the post on The Wild Hunt
are closed only two days after its publication. I had stuff to say.
I’ve been to many a Pcon, and have been there in various capacities, both
inside organizing as a volunteer and as a presenter. Thus, I’ll share
what I had wanted to say, and more, on this blog.
The first year, in downtown San Jose, not near the airport,
I helped run the Green Room and had a role in Reclaiming’s Brigit ritual there.
Over the years, I’ve had panels that have had people sitting
in the aisles and spilling out the doorway.
(Pagan Clergy, Death & Dying, et al.) I’ve been a functionary
in rituals others created and presented some of my own. (big Brigit ritual
written by Laurel Olson Mendez, 19 priestesses; “Witchual: A Spell”; Oracles from the LivingTarot – really screwed up on that one; et al.)
The year 2000 CE saw the first performance of three of
Goddesses Alive! using Lauren Raine’s gorgeous goddess masks, in celebration of
the late Abby Willowroot’s Goddess 2000 project, at the old Jack Tar Hotel in
San Francisco. This ritual, in a much more polished form, was performed again that December at New College of California (RIP), and had its final performance at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Salt Lake City in 2015 — one of
the great honors of my life.
One year when it was at the Oakland Convention Center I
headed the volunteers. It was not a good
experience for me, sorry to say, since my efforts were stymied by arbitrary
interference, to the point where I would never again volunteer there.
Cherry Hill Seminary presented symposia the day before the
Con began three or four years, thanks to PantheaCon's Glenn Turner’s offering us rooms in which to
hold them. One year we even managed a
CHS hospitality suite shared with the House of Danu.
 |
| Our Predecessors |
In 2008, we did a Besom Brigade -- thank you, Steven Posch -- in the DoubleTree lobby.
My “Growing Pagan Elders” study was rejected three years in
a row, for reasons unknown. I had
originally conducted this study for presentation at the Claremont Conference on
Current Pagan Studies, and I’ve been paid to present it elsewhere. It was a lot of work and was about something
we as Pagans were facing as our movement matured. I got over 700 responses on my open-ended survey
on Survey Monkey. By “open-ended” I mean I left lots of space for
narrative,
Finally, after three years, I was given the 9 am Monday time
slot, when everyone has left or is preparing to do so. So who was sitting
in my very unsexy presentation that year? Margot Adler, Selena Fox, Ivo
Dominguez, Michael Smith, Amber and Azrael K, and other leaders, so I guess it was interesting
enough for them. Hmm, do I sound bitter about that?
After that I quit submitting proposals, except for sitting
on a panel now and then, and just attended so I could visit old, seldom seen
friends, attend a ritual or presentation as they interested me and if they were
led by a friend – in which case I knew they’d be good.
Some years I was away at another Pagan gathering the same
weekend. Last year I didn’t go because of the furor and dysfunction.
This year I was given the 7 pm Friday evening time slot, a time when many
had not yet arrived, for another unsexy talk on creating Pagan infrastructure
called “Have Paganisms Gone Mainstream? The Spiritual Meets the Secular.”
To my surprise, we had a full house, a double room that was one full room
and about 1/3 of the spill-out room, maybe 50 people. Of course, I forgot to ask someone to take
photos and forgot to pass around a sign-up sheet. Discussion was so lively that Con staff had
to throw us out of the room for the next talk, and I got lots and lots of
positive feedback throughout the rest of the Con. Very satisfying.
I do applaud and appreciate Glenn for creating these
opportunities to create Pagan culture. 'Back in the day' that creation
and cross-fertilization was done in the context of outdoor camping festivals,
especially in the South and Midwest. My theory about why there were so
few on the West Coast was that we are already liberal and accepting and don’t
need to sneak off for private meetings where we weren’t jeopardized by the
threat of outing. PantheaCon has played a major role in the cross fertilization and evolution of contemporary American Pagan culture.