ConVocation 2009

The last weekend in my over-scheduled month of February found me at a gathering called ConVocation, near Detroit. My understanding is that each year's theme is taken from one of the Major Arcana of Tarot, this year the card being XV, Death. The con was titled "From the Shadow to the Mountain Top." ConVocation is sponsored by MEC (Magical Education Council).

Winter/Rodney and Jack/Deedra of Trillium Reclaiming met me at the airport -- Detroit Metro is one of the nicest airports I've ever used -- with a big glittery sign with my name on it. That's a first, and a fun one, too! As soon as I entered the Troy Hilton Hotel, Con Chair Cindy Dugan handed me my registration package and escorted me to my room, where I met my companion, Susan Wilson from Hearth & Grove Fellowship in Kalamazoo, who'd just arrived.

Susan presented me with a sweeping cloak she'd made, matching one she'd made for herself. She's mailing it to me because I didn't have room in my luggage to take it home with me. I'm eager to get it. I know I'll have many occasions to put it into good witchy use.

After the opening ceremony that first evening evening, Susan and I joined Jack, Lea and other Trillium folks for a chant and song exchange. I learned a few new ones -- well, I didn't learn them all that well because my senior mind needs to sing them longer than we did in order to retain them. I also experienced chants and songs I've known for years that had been transformed by the folk process. The one I liked best, and which was really powerful, was a dark mother chant used by the folks in the Church of Asphodel from Massachusetts. I need to contact them to learn it better. I found it compellingly powerful.

Speaking of the Church of Asphodel, King Raven Kaldera came to my first workshop, "Intrafaith: Creating & Sustaining Pagan Community." As is my style, I engaged attendees in dialogue about the topic. I learned that the Church of Asphodel was created with a mission to include Pagans who have a harder time fitting in with other Pagan groups: transgendered folks, people with lots of tattoos and piercings, those who have limited social skills or Asperger's disorder, who have Tourette syndrome, who've been disinvited from other groups. I think this is such a righteous mission. I'm glad the Church of Asphodel is doing this work, even though I couldn't do it myself. They have my respect. My heart was gladdened to learn that a person I got to know a bit when I visited Gainesville some years ago, Zot Lynn Szurgot, is the former "Speaker of the House of Commons" of the Kingdom of Asphodel. Their Asphodel Choir performs ancient, modern, and original folk songs. And speaking of choirs, Susan's Hearth & Grove Fellowship also has a small Pagan choir. Reclaiming's Spiral Dance chorus also performs at Pagan events here and there, now and then.

During that session, I backtracked to fill in attendees on the whole concept of interfaith as well as intrafaith. It seems that interfaith activities are much more limited in other parts of the country than they are where I live. Too bad. We can fix that, though.

I didn't manage to get to any earlier workshops on Friday morning. Among those I'd have liked to attend were "Instant Drumming" with Alex Wedmedyk, whom I know a bit from Starwood. I'd love to learn more about drumming and to be able to do it better. The last drum workshop I took was a frame drum session with Kevin Roddy at PantheaCon a few years ago. How pathetic is that that I've done so little?

Another workshop I missed in that time slot was "Story Telling (Oral Wisdom" with Trillium Reclaiming. Their group emphasizes singing, chanting and storytelling, and I can tell you they're very, very accomplished in all those areas.

The Con staff had me heavily scheduled, however. Immediately after my first workshop I had a booksigning, followed by a rehearsal for our Brigit ritual. Even with a script, performing a ritual with people you don't know, whose skills, strengths and weaknesses you can only guess, presents a challenge. More about the Brigit ritual later.

I'd have liked to sit on on "Manifestations of Orisha" with Joy Wedmedyk, (Apetebii Osa Irosun), had I the opportunity. Joy is a lovely woman I know from Starwood, where I invited her to participate in a panel on thea/ology last year. She and everyone else on the panel and in the pavilion listening had a great time.*

I had expected to see some CoG folks there, but didn't. I did see some former CoG folks, like Puck who used to be in Seattle. There wasn't even a CoG info flyer on any of the tables.

Later on Friday I arrived for my Besom Brigade workshop, only to find very few folks there. Those who were were enthusiastic, but we needed at least five to make our pentacle. Con staff got the hotel staff to scrounge up some additional brooms. They beat the bushes for people to come. We managed to get a few teen and young adult Pagans there. Here we are learning the welcome song.

I suspect there were so few people because my workshop ran concurrently with one called "From the Ordeal Path to Sado-Shamanism: Pagan BDSM." Here's the description:

From the Lakota SunDance to monastic submission, the elements of BDSM have been part of people's spiritual lives for millenia. We will explore the ways one can incorporate these varied practices into you spiritual life from the perspective of authors and practioners Michelle Belanger and Raven Kaldera.

That's some competition! I'm sure twirling brooms seems tame compared to sado-shaminism, even though the besom is a shamanic form of transportation. I didn't meet Michelle, but I've seen her talking about vampires and vampirism on the History Channel.

I missed the FOCAS (Federation of Circles and Solitaries) meet and greet because I needed to get some food in my body. I met several of them a few years ago when CoG members Oberon Osiris and his wife Banshee took me to meet them after I'd presented at an AFSC LGBT Peace Conference at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, where I'd also met Raven for the first time. I like that their focus seems to be on public service. I especially like that they rescue black cats!

I'd also have liked to attend "As Green as the Goddess: Environmentalism for Magickal People,"with Nekita, although I'm unclear as to how our Pagan environmentalism would be different from just plain old enviromentalism. I know we bring a sense of wonder and magic, an awareness of our dependence on the Earth and the interconnectedness of all Life.

Trillium Reclaiming presented "Sacred Bondage Lecture and Discussion: The Sacred Art of Bondage as Magic Tool of Transformation." I missed that, too. I missed "Conversations with Crones" with Judith due to schedule conflict. Others I missed were "Salt, a Historical and Magical Perspective," with Soror Ananyelka, OTO, and "Don't Check Your Brain at the Door," presented by Andrich Vitimus. I'm known to say with some frequency, "You don't have to check your brain when you enter a sacred circle." The "Mojo Bag Class," The Feral Fool: Honoring the Trickster," "The Eightfold Path of Altered States," and "Take Back the Night: A Dark Goddess Ritual" all appealed to me but didn't work out for me to attend.

Brigit Ritual

I'm ever so grateful to all the folks who helped make this ritual as good as it could be. This was the third time this particular scripted ritual to Brigit has been performed. A bit of its history: In 1999 I was contacted by a reporter, who'd been recommended to me by Oz Anderson of Albuquerque, to help her with a piece she was doing for the Fox TV station in Sacramento. (I know -- Fox, yikes!) For this story Michelle Hofland,** the reporter, needed some footage of a ritual. Well, you know how difficult that is to accomplish -- or at least was back in those days. Not to mention how hokey they seem on film when it's really the experience you have and carry in your heart and not the appearance of what's being done. I agreed to cooperate, but boy! did I take a lot of flak for it! That's a story for another day.

The then-Marin Ritual Planning Cell of Reclaiming collaborated with me. We began with the standard Reclaiming Brigit ritual, which involves a holy well and sacred flame. Urania and Luanne and I worked together to come up with a scripted triple Brigit invocation. The space had a fireplace at one end, concrete block walls painted white, and a light-colored linoleum floor. Joelle created four exquisite altars in the Quarters, each glowing with lots of candles. Urania set up the well and cauldron in the center, draped with white lace and surrounded by white flowers, with an anvil a bit to the side. The cameraman used a camera that required no lights. We directed him to shoot only towards specific sections of the room, to turn the camera off during most of the time when people were approaching the well/flame, and we offered people veils to wear if they were uncomfortable with having a camera there. What this meant was that we were able to perform the entire ritual entirely by candlelight and flame from the cauldron. This lighting resulted in a beautiful, nuanced video. I don't live in the area where it was broadcast, but a friend who does managed to tape that segment for me. It came off really well. I even heard compliments from a friend in Massachusetts who'd seen it on a Fox news broadcast in Florida.

The second time this ritual was performed was for the Center for Multifaith Education at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. One of the program offerings involves giving students an experience of the rituals of different religions. Since I was asked to do this on behalf of Witchcraft and Paganism, I chose to recreate the Brigit ritual we'd done for filming because (1) She's a goddess, (2) She's more than just Craft; She's important to Druids and Celtic reconstructionists, among others, (3) She's triple-aspected, and (4) She's not a threatening or scary divine personage.

For the New York ritual I sought the aid of other Pagans, most of whom I'd had little to no experience working with ritually. One of my Minoan Sisterhood friends, Lynn Pacifico, and Reclaiming friend Vajra served as the other two Brigits. A few New York Gardnerians, a Minoan Brother, and several local Reclaiming folks gathered props, wrote the two guided meditations, and performed other ritual roles. By all accounts, we succeeded in honoring Brigit and affording an opportunity for others to know Her better as well.

For this most recent performance, I enlisted the help of MEC Board Members Cindy Dugan, Kathy Blizzard and Jane Pierce in casting, procuring props, and preparing the room. Kathy crafted a lovely Bridey dolly from straw and lace, as well as erecting all five beautiful altars.

Constantina/Galatea embodied Bridhe of the sacred flame of inspiration and red-haired PK embodied Brigantia of the healing waters.

In my experience, the guided meditations reviewing the year just past and looking forward to the upcoming year by Winter and Jack were the best I've ever seen. These are difficult meditations, more difficult than most. Add to that the fact that there are few people of my acquaintance who are really adept at this sort of thing, in spite of the fact that they're done all the time in Reclaiming circles, where they're called "trances." They were far better than I could have done, although I consider myself only competent, not particularly talented. I tip my pointy black hat to them!

Here's a photo of some of the Trillium Witches who helped.

* * * * *

Saturday night Trillium Reclaiming offered a Queer Mysteries ritual. This was interesting to me for two reasons. One is the matter of experiencing how current and far-flown Reclaiming groups do ritual, and the other in light of the queer performance ritual I attended the previous weekend at PantheaCon. Let us say that in general I have a more formal, "old school" ritual aesthetic than most Reclaiming groups. Having said that, however, I experienced a well-planned, focused, elegant ritual. The heart of the ritual consisted of a beautiful story-telling by Matt of the Greek myth of Ganymede, cup-bearer and lover of Zeus, followed by a co-creation of a brew. Again I will say that these folks know their stuff. I was very glad I'd gone.

It snowed quite a few inches on Friday night and Saturday. That was a real treat for this California gal, especially since I was in a cozy hotel with amenities. Trillium sent out for Chinese; we dined together and hung out later for gossip, clowning and general schmoozing.

Sunday morning did a lecture/discussion called "Serving Our Own & Others" about community service, counseling, working with established service agencie/charities, the value (or not) of creating our own service agencies/charities (elder hostels, hospitals, food banks, homeless services., etc.) This time Joshua and Elizabeth from Church of Asphodel came, in addition to Raven. I learned that they, and others, are already establishing Pagan service agencies. It's my hope that we can all keep in touch and share our experiences and learn from one another.

The Trillium folks took me to lunch at a Lebanese restaurant on the way to the airport Sunday afternoon. Wonderful lunch, in fact, the best meal I had all weekend -- the Con hotel was lame on decent dining establishments. To my delight, the folks from Trillium Reclaiming lavished me with their gracious hospitality and pleased me immensely with their competence, spirit and grace.

To me, ConVocation is one of the best-kept secrets in American Pagandom. This was their fifteenth year, and they attract nearly 1,000 attendees, yet I'd not heard of them until they invited me. Neither have many of my Pagan friends around the country. Had I known of it, Cherry Hill Seminary and myself personally would have placed an ad in the program. I'm glad I know now. The secret's out and you readers now know of it, too. If you get the opportunity, go.

Next year's ConVocation theme is XVI, The Tower, "Surviving the Storm." Check it out.

* I notice that back in July of 2008 I said I'd be writing more about this panel, and then I never got around to it. In a nutshell, panelists were Tony Mierzwicki, Greco-Egpytian Reconstructionist; Ian Corrigan, ADF Druid; Joy Wedmedyk, Ifa; myself, Reclaiming, Anderson Faery/Feri and Witch at Large; and origynal sinnerjee, Reclaiming Craft, Radical Satyr of Radical Faeries and who knows what all of his own uniqueness.

** Michelle now works for MSNBC. The last I heard from her was when she was covering Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans; she was horrified.

*** Besom photo by Susan Wilson; all Brigit photos by Caridwyn.

Claremont Pagan Studies Conference

Last month I was fortunate to have been asked to give one of the keynote addresses at the Conference on Current Pagan Studies sponsored by the Religion Department of Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, Los Angeles County, Califoria. My talk, called "Out of the Broom Closet and into the World," ranged widely, but essentially addressed the underpinnings of Paganism, compared our current state with that of the early Christian movement, explained something of the interfaith movement, and suggested what we have to offer the world. For the first time ever I used a power point presentation to enhance my talk. It was easier than I thought and really helped illustrate some of the things I spoke of.

First out the gate, speaking on "Images of Individuation within the Feri Tradition," was my friend Jeffrey Albaugh; this was his first presentation. He was kept his cool while lots of technical adjustments were made in order to tape and broadcast the conference live.

Also early in the program William Blumberg, a student at Cherry Hill Seminary, read a paper on piety that resulted from his "Doing Thea/ology" course this fall. He also graciously suffered interruptions in his talk while technology had its way. He did a splendid job; I was so proud that he represented CHS.

Like all conferences, the papers were uneven, with more good and outstanding than weak.

One of the more scholarly papers was Galina Krasskova's "Performativity and the Development of Modern Heathen Culture."

I was delighted to get a short visit with Sabina Magliocco, who also presented a paper. I cannot imagine her ever doing a poor one; she always excels.

Saturday evening after the day's papers had been given I whipped up a simple ritual with the help of Jeff's grounding and drumming by Alfred Sureynam. Judging by the looks on people's faces, I think they left happy.

Among several fascinating papers, I found Misha Houser's talk about Pagans' political emergence, and her experiences as an "out" Pagan delegate from Southern California to the Democratic National Convention in Denver last Fall affirming of our maturity.

I was disappointed not to see Lauren Raine, who was scheduled to present "The Return of Spider Woman Community Ritual and Weaving a 'Webbed Aesthetic'." She had to cancel due to illness. Photo on right is one of Lauren's creations.

Sunday's keynote speaker, Wendy Griffin brought attendees up to date on the state of Pagan studies and scholarly books about Paganism. Wendy never disappoints.

Helen Hye-Sook Hwang spoke on "Historicizing the Voice of Seeking Mago, the Great Goddess." Mago is a great goddess of East Asia.

Other provocative talks were:

• "Re-Riting Woman: Lucy Irigaray and Dianic Wicca," by Kristy Coleman, Ph.D. Kristy's new book, entitled Re-Riting Woman: Dianic Wicca and the Feminine Divine, has just been published.

• "Lesbian Wraiths: Cosmological Themes in Filmic Representations," by Marie Cartier; and

• Not to be overlooked, "The Need for a Strong Goddess Vision in an Apocalyptic Society: What Kali, Demeter and Isis Can Teach Us To Survive," by conference organizer Dorothea Kahena Viale.
  

Evidently CHS is gaining a better reputation every day, because three Ph.D.'s at this conference approached me about the possibility of teaching for us. What a morale boost that is!

I am grateful to Kahena and CSU for this opportunity.

Which PantheaCon Did YOU Attend?

After reading a few blogs about various people's experiences at PantheaCon two weekends ago, I realized our experiences are so vastly different that they might have been experiences of different events. Of course, each of us has a different experience in the very same space at the very same moment, but there was so much going on at PantheaCon that many of my friends and I barely crossed paths.

The CHS Winter Intensive kept me busy all day Thursday, the day before PantheaCon itself began. We had a full room, and I'm relatively confident that Jim Bianchi, Patrick McCollum and I gave attendees some notions worth pondering, and then, hopefully, using.

Thursday evening CHS had a meet-and-greet at the bar area. Many people who'd come from the East Coast and Midwest arrived the evening before, so we had opportunities to catch up. Notably with Jerrie Hildebrand, Holly Tannen (a West Coast friend), Ruth Barrett and Falcon River, and several other fun Pagans.

For me, this was a year of rituals. Three strong rituals in three days (two back-to-back on the same evening) gave me plenty of stimulation.

Trying to choose just which event one will attend in each time slot -- assuming one even attempts to do something in each time slot, which is kinda nuts -- is difficult. I was definitely drawn towards Sam Webster's talk, "What Is Evil?" I figured Sam is local and he's my friend so we can chew over that perennial question more at leisure another time. Also competing for my attention in this time slot was Raven Grimassi's "The Evolution of the Witches' Sabbat"; I'm keen on Pagan history. Instead, with friends Holli and Freyja, I chose to attend "Egyptian Journey with Sekhmet & Hermes-Thoth," conducted by CHS teacher Michelle Mueller, M.Div., and Ivo Domínguez, Jr. I have a strange relationship with the goddess Sekhmet (see description in my book Witchcraft and the Web), plus the intellectual side of me has always been drawn to Hermes-Thoth. An oracular ritual, Sekhmet encouraged my work but said She wouldn't make my burden lighter.

Friday evening I was tempted by Luisa Teish's "Silk & Honey: Erotic Tales form the African Diaspora," since I know what a great story-teller Teish is, and also tempted by "Pagan Humor (Or Why Are the Gods So Fond of a Joke?," but I had a date with my friend Sabina Magliocco for our annual Friday night dinner at PCon. We always have fun together.

After dinner I was again conflicted about whether to go to the "A Fool's Journey" ritual put on by my local "Remaining" friends, or to try to make it to Orion Foxwood's "Journey to the Enchanted Tree." I seldom get a chance to hear Orion speak. I ran into Amadae, who said she was feeling a bit alienated, so I invited her to come to Orion's with me. She had never heard of him. In addition enjoying Orion's kooky personality and wisdom, I was fascinated watching the ASL interpreters trying to sign his puns. Puns aren't really translatable into ASL. Kevin Roddy, who was liaison between the Con and the signers, wore a look of distress. Regardless, Amadae loved Orion's talk and no longer felt out of place.

Clifford Hartleigh Low's Green Fairy party is one I don't like to miss. For some reason, this year it was on the second floor, a more public venue than its usual location on the ninth floor. Fun though it was, it didn't have quite the ambiance it's had in past years. Plus dress and Kala weren't there, at least not when I was. I chatted with Grant Potts, another CHS teacher, and Paul for a while, then returned to Orion and CHS Board member Tony Mierzwicki and the women who were hanging with them. One of these women, of Orion's line, had thought, from my name I guess, that I was a 20-something Goth woman. What a hoot! Another was originally from Santa Rosa, where she'd skated competitively. She planned to return to the sport, of which I am a huge fan, so I'll be looking to see her when I watch televised figure skating competitions.

Late that night I managed to get a half hour alone with Orion, affording us a much better opportunity to catch up with each other. Meaning that I ended up blowing off the "Pomba Gira Masked Fete!," even though I'd brought a red dress to wear to it.

Saturday morning I had a breakfast date with Kevin from Hawaii, only since he got deep into some processing with the deaf Pagans he'd helped get signing this year, he missed it. (Kudos to Glenn for seeing that our deaf colleagues got the opportunity to immerse themselves in this huge event!) Fortuitously, along came Ivo, ready for breakfast, giving us a chance for a good one-to-one visit. Kevin and I rescheduled for the next day, with Anne Hill too.

Breakfast made me too late for Michelle Jackson's "Create Your Own Tarot or Divination Deck Using Collage." At 11:00 rushed to Christopher Penczak's closed presentation called "The Seven Gates of the Goddess Ritual Pathworking" on Saturday morning, but alas arrived after the doors had been closed. Instead of trucking on over the the "Lost & Endangered Religions Project (LERP)" presentation by Don Frew, Dr. Layne Little, and Dr. Archana Venkatesan, I got to schmoozing and checking out the vendors' wares. Gus diZerega blogged about LERP on beliefnet. Again, since Don is local and is a friend, I know I can learn lots about LERP, already have, in fact, when not at PCon.

Corby came down for the day. Lots of folks wanted to hang with him as well. Despite other presentations calling me, I didn't manage to get to another one until Corby and I went to Dr. Little's "The Secret Masters Behind the American Superhero." He had assembled an amazing collection of pulp fiction and comic books from the early 19th Century to the mid-20th, mostly from Western Europe and the U.S., but with themes from the "exotic Orient" into a Power Point Presentation. This is an area about which I know next to nothing, so everything was new to me, and well worth my time.

Attending Layne's presentation meant that we didn't make it to Max Dashu's "Goddess, Snakes & Chimeric Beasts of Iran." If you check out this blog more or less regularly, you know I'm a big fan of Max, and attend as many of her local shows as I can. This was one I haven't seen, but I'll keep my eye open for a local showing.

We went to the Pagan Alliance suite for pizza night that evening.

We missed "Oracle of the Living Tarot" that evening, [photo on right is Origynal Sinnerjee as The Hermit card, the one pulled for the coming year] Prudence Priest's "Baltic Paganism," which Victoria said was excellent, and Holly Tannen and Ruth Barrett's concert. We hung around the bar and lobby playing with Oak, Judy, Denise, and others. This year also seemed to be the year of open secrets. Had some enjoyable heart-to-hearts with Ron Dickinson.

When time for "Kali Puja: Worship of Goddess Kali Ma," my matron, came around, I was too tired.

Sometime during the weekend I dropped by the CoG suite to view the video Greg and Rachael made about the People of the Earth event I participated in at the Interfaith Center of the Presidio last April. Rachael gave me a copy, but I need to get another one in a more universal format. Each participant will get one. They're doing a follow-up gathering this coming Saturday, but I and some other participants from last year have scheduling conflicts and won't be able to make it.

Since I'm not an earlybird, I entered Patrick's talk, "The Nature of Magic: Goddess Myths & Witch Thealogy" a bit late. Patrick and I talk about this sort of thing a lot. I sat with Kevin behind Ocean, a deaf Pagan for whom Patrick's talk was being signed, and watched the signers taking turns. They can only manage about 15 minutes at a time before they switch off. Kevin helped me read the ASL a little bit. Attending this meant I missed Don Frew's "Gobekli Tepe: The World's First Pagan Temple." I've seen his slides from this particular trip at his house, but without the formal commentary. I'm promised another chance to see it.

One of my bigger choices meant that I missed "Folklore as History? The View from Colleges & Cauldrons," with Raven Grimassi and Sabina. I knew it would be interesting and well done. But I just had to go to "Writing Pagan Songs & Chants" with Holly Tannen and Ruth Barrett. It was fun. We each wrote a new verse for "Old Time Religion." Mine was:

There are those who worship Kali
She is fierce and She is poly.
She's a bloody, red-hot dolly,
And She's good enough for me.

Gimme that old time religion.....

At 3:30 I had wanted to attend Steve Blamires' "The Faery Tradition of Fiona Macleod" -- I haven't seen him in years, since he moved from Sonoma County to Alaska -- or "The Non-Dual, Polytheism & Contemporary Magic(k)" panel, which I would have loved to be on. All reports indicate it was wonderful

Instead I ran into my old friend Brandy Williams autographing books. We haven't chatted in about eight years and had tons to share. Evidently her presentation "Seshat -- Ceremonial Magick for Women," scheduled the same time as Folklore and Writing Chants, was well received, and she's working on another book, an anthology. Also spent some fun time with her husband Alex, Kat Sanborn, and others.

Sunday night was my biggest challenge when it came to where to go. I was tempted by two presentations because they sounded fun: "Divining Your Deity" and "Those Who Have Gone Before," as well as "Druid Ritual with Danse Macabre" that Jim was part of. Alas, I had kin to support, and they were doing something really provocactive. Besides, Beau Caughlan was my date that evening and we both wanted to go to "Dearly Beloved... An Ol' Time Feri Tent Revival." With a rousing gospel choir at the far end of the room as you entered, the room was jumping before the ritual began. It was so strange to hear scores of people reciting Feri liturgy together as we began the ritual, called the quarters, and off and on throughout the ritual. Medusa and Jenya did great jobs. I don't know the man who 'preached,' but he was cookin' too. Veedub and Ron were part of the choir. Unfortunately, the ritual was so popular and the room so crowded that we didn't get a program. I have to get a pdf from veedub so I can review it in my mind. One thing I loved most about it was that it lacked the pretension one often encounters when groups of Feri folk get together. [ducking]

Afterward we dropped in on the Green Egg Omelette launch party, where I picked up my contributor's copy, autographed a few copies, got some autographs, posed for a few photos, etc. I'd have enjoyed staying longer, but Beau and I were headed for the Queer Gods ritual that Origynal Sinnerjee got me psyched to see. No disappointment there.

The ritual was entitled "Yes They Are! Meeting & Greeting the Queerest of the Gods." The quarters were saluted with singing by a beautiful basso who sings with the SF Opera. An array of gods from various cultures and times regalled us with stories and 'tude. Among the, Gwydion of the Cimry, Quan Yin from the Orient, and Pan from ancient Greece. Best, to me, were Aphrodite with Her laptop open to Craig's list personals; Gary Suto strutting a biker bear Apollo; JoHanna's Sedna; Amara personifying Erishkegal, complete with red patent leather bustier and meat hook. Over the top, as always, was Hapi, god of the flooding Nile portrayed by the one and only joi wolfwomyn covered in green glitter, with her green dreads spilling from a topknot, wearing something that looked like a hula skirt made of rubber tubes, and an enormous green glitter penis -- and nothing else.

My absolute favorite was Origynal Sinnerjee's Loki, hands roped together, head partially shaved, white painted face, and gag. Once the gag was removed, there was no stopping him. He even drummed for Aphrodite's unrobing of the beautiful ones and for Pan's mock copulation with his hands tied together. Man, that fellow knows how to shape the energy!

I'm trusting that he won't mind my posting here his notes about how he portrayed Loki [WARNING: The following may be offensive to some.]:

As Loki, I shaved off all my facial hair (including my eyebrows since Loki had warned me that he would burn off my facial hair if i didn't remove it) and wore only clown white makeup (Thanks Pi!) so my face would be a blank canvas except for a bindrune of the runes lagaz, othel, kenaz and isa drawn in red lipstick on my forehead. I wore a black fishnet shirt (made by Yahroe! from Bumble BE) with a black leather harness and boots (Thanks Marcus / Pan), Silver metallic tights (Thanks Rio), black go-go shorts with metal buckles (Thanks suppervision) a chain collar (Thanks Tigger Bouncer!) a blue ball gag and black and red flogger (Thanks Sheila!) My hands were bound together at the wrists in front of me with rope by Silverfang / Hapi. Extra special thanks to Piwaket / Quan Yin who helped me shave my mohawk and get undressed and dressed in between scenes. Here’s my Loki scene! Enjoy!

Kore-Erishkegal exits. Dionysus places a purse down next to altar and walks away. Loki, seated in audience, disguised in full length, hooded black cloak kicks the purse into the center of the circle. Dionysus glances over, turns away. Loki begins howling and stomping his feet, knocks his chair over and crawls over to altar crashing into the drums and basket of rattles. Dionysus rushes over and removes the hooded cloak to reveal Loki, seated with hands bound in front of him with rope, a ball gag in his mouth, and a furry set of ears on his head. Loki shifts to kneeling position, pulls out a business card and wiggles it. Dionysus takes the card and Loki beats out a drumroll to announce himself

Dionysus: : “Loki, Scar-lip, Sky-walker, Sly-One Laufeyson. Subversatile Wizard of Lies.”

Loki: “Aaaaah!!! “Thank you very much, you wonderful Womanly One! I gotta tell ya I just looove your work! All those brilliant ads for liquor you see everywhere at Pride Parades, ‘You’re here!! You’re queer!! Drink booze, wine and beer’!! May I?”

Dionysus: “If you’re lookin’ for Kore-Erishkegal, she went thata way!!”

Loki: “She reminds of my daughter Hel—rotten bitch hasn’t called or tried to visit me since she became Queen of the Underworld!" "She’s ashamed of me—afraid that if she hangs out with her polymorphous perverse papa that she’ll become a target of violence—after all, we are far-too-frequently battered and banished, beaten and bound by the assumptions and expectations of others. And as soon as we get free, my kids and I are goin’ kamikaze on your asses! Hahahahahaha! Ragnarok’s gonna be da bomb, baby!! Look at this shitty-ass world we live in and tell me you really want a bunch of war gods running the show!! Those horny-helmet-wearin’ buttsuckers disembowled my son, tied me up with his fuckin’ guts, then abandoned me in a cave without a goddam safe word!"

Dionysus: “Hmm, sounds like something my Maenads would have done back in the day.”

Loki : “My ‘nads indeed!” “Speakin’ of which. Well hello there.” “you havin’ fun tonight? Are you by chance circumcised?” “I know, how rude of me… We’ve only just met.” “And yet, folks who are transgender often experience people we barely know asking: ‘So, are you ‘pre-op’ or ‘post-op’? As if my package were any of your goddam business!!! Perhaps one of the best things about being a shapeshifter is that I can instantly change my sex without having to spend thousands of dollars and hours upon hours gettin’ judged by shrinks for my little ‘gender identity disorder’! What does it take to pass as a ‘real man’?" Loki: "And what makes me ‘feel like a natural woman’? Is it hormones? The clothes I wear, how I style my hair? How I walk or talk or rock around the clock? Gender is the great cosmic joke, a ruse I use to get whatever I want and sometimes more than I bargained for!! Loki: "Like that time we had a bet on a building project with this shitass giant, but his stallion was the one doin’ all the work. "So I turned myself into a mare to lure his horse away from the job! "That’s the last time I let a stud fuck ME without a condom!!" Loki: "Seventy-four hours . . . of gut-busting labor . . . with an eight-legged colt . . . bucking and kicking inside of me!!! I was sore for months!"

Loki: "Those old stories they tell about me reveal more about your fears and anxieties—that transgender folks are tricking you, deceiving you, that we’ll seduce you with our little secret and you’ll find yourself in a scene out of ‘The Crying Game'." "After all, if I can change my gender whenever I want and you’re attracted to me, then what does that make you?" Loki: "Bisexual? Trysexual?? You name it, I’ve tried it. Hel! I invented all the fun shit!! Fishnets and fetishes! Bondage and discipline! Sado-masochism! Turnin’ tricks! Cheatin’ on your partner! Lewd jokes! I once played tug-of-war with a goat tied to my cock and balls!!!"

Loki: "Show of hands! How many people here tonight actually call yourselves ‘queers’??... And ya wonderwhy so many people out there think you’re too weeeeeird to get married?? Well I got me a wife and let me tell you Sigyn’s the most devoted partner—devoted to naaagging me every waking minute about all my extra-marital affairs, all my illegitimate children…. Come to think of it, the only good thing about getting’ hitched is the ginormous party you get to throw the day it happens. My favorite was when Thor’s hammer got stolen by this shitass giant who would only trade it back it for that brotherfucker Freja’s hand in marriage. Even though he’s built like a brick shithouse Thor still managed to squeeze his big ass into Freja’s wedding gown." Loki: "I of course was the matron of honor! After Thor smashed that jismface giant's skull open, I figured hey—we got a professional wedding photographer, and Thor in drag totally hammered on gallons of mead"— Loki: "Well! Why not tie Thor’s drunk ass up and shoot a bondage scene for Gowned and Bagged magazine?? Thor puked and pissed all over the wedding dress! Hahaha! When he sobered up, Thor was really pissed!! Like that time he found out I’d been bangin’ his cum drunk slut of a wife Sif. Thor would have cracked MY skull open if it weren't for....”

Hapi: “That’s enough!”

Beau and I joined the rehearsed participants and other celebrants in the Pagan Alliance suite afterward. The last I saw of Beau, he was in a liplock with a handsome black fellow in a skin-tight Wonder Woman shirt.

I managed to squeeze in a brief interview with Don Lewis of MagickTV before he had to catch a plane out of there. It's now on YouTube here.

Talk with journalist Michael Night Sky, who's been conducting an ongoing interview with me for PanGaia magazine.

As you might imagine, by this time my mind was saturated with so much input and I craved some time to sort, assimilate and integrate. Nevertheless, I stayed to the end.

Again, I was conflicted about which workshop to choose. I know that Victoria's "Our Grandmothers as Goddess" would be great, as are all her offerings, but it was at 9:00 a.m. At 11:00 there was "Sacred Circle Dance" which I've gone to before with Kevin and really, really enjoy, there was Angela and William's "Intermediate Wheat Weaving," for which I don't know if I have the necessary skill level, and a panel called "Pagans, Interfaith & the International Scene." Since I do plenty of interfaith work and was not invited to be a panelist, I was free to attend Ivo's "Divine Embodiment: Assumption, Drawing Down, Aspecting, Possession." This was the first chance I'd had to hear one of Ivo's talks since we were both guests at Sacred Harvest Festival in Minnesota back in 2004. Based on his latest book, Spirit Speak, his talk was rich, informative and thought-provoking.

Beau and I had hooked up again Sunday morning. While he went off to another workshop after lunch, I went to Freyja's workshop "A Pilgrimage: Circling the San Francisco Bay." For being so late in the Con when lots of folks had already left for home, she had a fine turnout, mostly people from Northern California. Part talk and part experiential ritual, this workshop got everyone thinking about the many divine and magical places and forces in our unique bioregion. Freyja, who has traveled widely learning about our Earth and working with native shamans, has written an excellent book called Circling San Francisco Bay.

That's more than enough about my time at PantheaCon. Whew!

Swan Lake

Last night my friend Victoria took me to see Swan Lake at the San Francisco Ballet for my birthday. I don't think I've ever seen a full ballet before, except The Nutcracker and the wonderful Dance Brigade's Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie. This was a brand new production choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, with sets and costumes by British designer Jonathan Fensom. We had good dress circle seats and she brought opera glasses. I was able to see the whole stage and look closely when I wanted to.

My experience was enhanced by the fact that balletomane Victoria explained lots of things and gave me back stories on dancers, other productions, ballet in general -- although I do have a basic ballet vocabulary from dance lessons nearly 60 years ago -- and this ballet in particular.

Both of us were blown away by the corps de ballet of swans. More than 30 dancers swept the lake surface with grace and precision never missing a step or formation. Plus, sometimes they had to hold what looked like difficult poses for prolonged lengths of time when other dancers were being featured. Victoria said Tomasson's choreographic vocabulary was limited, but that it was superbly executed, and he kept in the best of this ballet's traditional choreography. (She'll correct me if I misstate her.)

Most of the costuming was cool, except that Odile in her close-fitting black feather headdress looked like Liza Minelli in Cabaret.

We both liked the 'social' sets, especially the stunning ballroom set, which reminded me of the best of Hollywood's Busby Berkeley, Mitzi Gaynor (trained by acclaimed ballerina Madame Kathryn Etienne), Fred Astaire, and tap geniuses (genii?) such as the Nicholas Brothers. But the lakeside set was pretty corny. It consisted of a big black plastic rock and a dry-ice-enhanced lake. (I'm assuming high culture folks who follow ballet won't be offended by my comparisons to pop dancers. I think they're all amazing.)

I guess I should mention that Odette/Odile was danced by Tina LeBlanc, soon to retire from performing, and Prince Siegfried by Cuban-born Joan Boada.

I'm back

Readers, please excuse my long absence. I've been under a dark black cloud for many months. I can see rays of light piercing the rains we here in California have finally been blessed with, and with the return of Brigit, my spirits are lightening.

My sister Catherine is doing a fundraiser for a most worthy cause, Shakti Rising, a rehab facility for women in San Diego. Details here. If any famous person is reading this, please consider contributing a doodle. The date is nearly upon us. Thanks.

Poem for Brigit's Day

Joining in the magic Oak is generating, I offer the following poem, one of my favorites by one of my favorite poets, imagist Amy Lowell, for Max and Nava:

A Decade

When you came, you were like red wine and honey,
And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.
Now you are like morning bread,
Smooth and pleasant.
I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour,
But I am completely nourished.

Boom!

I recently read a thought-provoking book called Boom! Voices of the Sixties, Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today, by Tom Brokaw. With such a high-profile author, a former TV network newscaster, it's not surprising that it got a lot of attention. It's well-deserved.

My most active and engaged adult years were spent from that time until now. Obviously I have reason to have an interest in the period. It's one thing to have lived those times from the inside and another to reflect upon them in hindsight. And yet another to have those personal reflections reflected in the thoughts of someone who was up-close-and-personal with prominent figures of the time and present at many significant events. In addition, the book fills in ancillary facts of which we might not have been aware at the time.

Reading history has always been a pleasure to me. Reading revised history has, too. Reading history one has lived provides even more insights as one approaches eldership.

I was going to comment on this book anyway, but in conversation with my daughter and her boyfriend yesterday at our intimate Xmas dinner, they mentioned how interested they were to see the movie Milk. Although a native of San Francisco, Deirdre was a toddler at the time of the Jonestown catastrophe, followed nine days later by the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. She wants to know more. I'm keen to fill in the curious. Boom! is a good start.

I recommend this book, especially to those who were not alive at the time but, along with everyone else older or younger, reap the benefits of social progress made during that era.


* Some day I'll relate a fun anecdote about George Moscone and me. And maybe another tidbit about Dan White. SF is not so big that you don't come into contact with people of note when you live there.

Change Is Coming -- Phoenix Rising

Sunday afternoon I attended a Change Is Coming meeting in a Gerstle Park Victorian. One of three in the County on Sunday and others on Saturday, it was attended by about 50 people on a rainy day. In introducing ourselves, we got to hear some heartening stories not only of experiences people had working on the Obama campaign -- flying to other states to walk the precincts, phone-banking -- but also of driving to Mississippi and getting arrested during the efforts to register voters during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Our initial task was to come up with about four key issues important to us, with the idea of doing something to move those issues forward on a national day of service on January 19, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the eve of the inauguration -- and the first birthday of my mother since her passing; she would have been 98. All of our small groups identified health care as one of the most critical and immediate. Not surprisingly, most of us are not enthusiastic about the plan President-elect Obama has been proposing; we want universal health care, like the rest of the developed nations.

Saturday Corby and I went to the annual KPFA Crafts Fair after having missed it last year. Supporting independent media is a high priority for both of us. Although we did spend a fair amount of money, we found the turnout disappointing. We're used to its being crowded. But perhaps because of the thinner crowd, we encountered friends and had longish talks with them.

One was Elly Simmons, whose Blue Room Christmas tree ornament I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. She didn't manage to get enough money to make it to the ceremony at the White House, but she did get a write-up in the West Marin Citizen. Elly's ornament is above. You can see all the ornaments here.

I feel optimistic about our country. I'm dazzled by Barack Obama.

If anyone is thinking about giving me a Yule gift, my preference is a donation to Cherry Hill Seminary. Even if you aren't among those who'd be inclined to give me a present, we welcome your contributions. We desperately need funds to grow and to achieve our goal of accreditation. And your gift today will be matched by an anonymous donor, up to $5,000. Thanks for your consideration.

Send Elly Simmons to the White House

My friend, artist Elly Simmons, needs help to get to a reception at the White House on December 2, at the invitation of Laura Bush. The reason is that our Congresswoman, Lynn Woolsey, invited Elly to design an ornament for the Xmas tree in the Blue Room. Her design is one of those chosen. She says it's "full of appropriate symbolism!!"

For the past two years Elly has been traveling at her own expense to document Tents of Hope: A journey of compassion and peace with the refugees of Darfur, Sudan, for an art book she's doing for Pomegranate Artbooks. As a result, funds are depleted and she needs help in order to follow through on this fantastic opportunity. To that end, she seeks small donations towards plane tickets for herself and her daughter, Maralisa. If you can help, please send your check payable to Elly Simmons at P.O. Box 463, Lagunitas, CA 94938. E-mail her at info@ellysimmons.com to let her know so she can book her flight.

Elly describes the overriding image as being "that of a phoenix bird rising from the ashes, with a number of other symbols thrown in." I'm sure it's beautiful, as is all her art. I'm mailing a modest check tomorrow. Won't you join me?

Finding Spiritual Kin

I want to mention Chris Highland, the fiancé of Carol Hovis, Director of Marin Interfaith Council. I like him a lot. We’ve chatted, and I told both him and Corby that I’d like them to meet, I think they have a lot in common. He was at the Visionary Marin event honoring Isabel Allende I attended.

I recently discovered that he was once chaplain of the Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy here in San Rafael. This group co-sponsors, with MIC, "Shelter from the Storm," an interfaith service for the homeless in San Rafael on the eve of Thanksgiving. That’s the event in preparation for which I’ve been bugging some of you about singing “Demeter’s Song.” Corby and I have readied ourselves to sing it tonight at this service. We’ll also offer is as a grace at tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner at my sister Catherine’s house -- the first since our mother's death this past May.

Evidently, Chris also has experience as a prison chaplain, and since I'm prepared to accept a long-standing invitation -- nay, plea -- to visit some inmates at nearby San Quentin the minute I learn that pending litigation has been settled, this is another area I'd enjoy discussing with him.

Chris sent this. I think you'll resonate with his sentiments, as do I.

I am ever so thankful that we have a new administration going into The White House.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Fart in the Punchbowl

Throughout the first meeting of the Pagan Studies Group at the AAR, presenters mentioned the words "culture" and "cultural" and "religion" and "religious" as though religion were not a cultural construct. I had the temerity to question this. The response was a nonplussed silence.

I realize that in state supported institutions such as Cal State-Long Beach and Colorado State-Pueblo, the line between state and religion is fuzzy. I realize they have to watch their steps carefully in order to avoid jeopardizing their state funding. But, really, religion is a part of culture. I felt that I said, "The emperor has no clothes." I felt really awkward when my comment elicited such a blank response.

Later, some of the presenters told me that the subject was just too complicated and frought with opportunities for misunderstandings that they didn't feel they could take it up in the limited time they had. Some solace, I guess, for my feeling like a boob.

AAR in Chicago

My friend and colleague, Jason Pitzl-Waters, has posted about the recent AAR Annual Meeting in Chicago. There's so much to say, so much juicy thinking crammed into a few days a year. For the most part, I had a great time. The air was charged with excitement about the then-upcoming election. I was as excited as anyone, wore my big Obama button at all times. The streets were being blocked off in preparation for the big celebration in Grant Park, directly across the street from the hotel where the main action of the AAR was taking place.

(Photo of me, Graham Harvey and Doug Ezzy, taken on my camera by someone. ?)

It's challenging for a night owl to make it to morning presentations. Sharon and I stayed at The Palmer House, not at the Hilton Towers where most meetings took place. That first morning we hustled to the first session of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Graup and Religions and Popular Culture Group. Chaired by Doug Ezzy from the University of Tasmania, its them was Talking with the Dead.

Sonja Spear of Indiana University gave the first paper, entitled "Haunted Irvington: Civil Pride, Memory, and the Klan." We came in during that presentation so missed much of it. She had photos and talked of an old house said to be haunted that was now owned by a Lesbian couple -- let's hear it for legalizing same-sex marriage!

Anne R. Key* of CIIS illustrated her talk, "Los Muertos Tienen Sed, los Vivos Culpas (The Dead Are Thirsty, and the Living Are Culpable): The Use of Image in Rituals Honoring the Ancestors in Pre-Conquest and Modern Mexico," with wonderful photos of many kinds of El Dia de Los Muertos altars from throughout Mexico. She explained the meanings of such things as marigolds, arches, marigold-petal paths, Katrinas, and cut paper designs on the altars, as well as the differences among the several days of the celebration. For instance, one day is for children who died, another for the unnamed, etc.

Following on the theme, Chas Clifton of Colorado and Wendy Griffin of Southern California presented on "Campus Pagans and the Day of the Dead: Civil Religions and Cultural Boundaries." Speaking from the perspectives of a small, state-supported university in Pueblo and a large, state-supported urban university in Long Beach, they too had photographs of El Dia de los Muertos altars, albeit less traditional ones. Their talk underscored how much more visible Paganism is and questioned the boundaries between "traditional" Pagan practices and Neo-Pagan syncretism.

Jason Winslade of DePaul University walked in the liminal realm between speaking about and doing by using a few props: hats and candles. His paper was called "'When the Veils Are Thin': An Occult Performance Theory." I'm eager to learn more and hope he will be able to join us at Cherry Hill Seminary soon.

Most exciting of all was Adrian Harris' paper called "The Halloween of Cross Bones," about a modern urban shaman named John Crow (aka John Constable) in London and the last resting place of a class of medieval streetwalkers known as the Winchester geese, with whom Crow had been in psychic contact. Here's some history and images, including shrines to the geese, of the Southwark area south of the Thâmes

And that was only the first session, folks!

* Anne R. Key is also the name of one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, for obvious reasons.

Freedom To Marry

In light of the disappointing results of recent elections, I publish the following press release from September. I am proud to be a member of a Pagan organization that's finally taken a public stand on this issue.

Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:59 pm (PDT)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Covenant of the Goddess
P.O. Box 1226
Berkeley, CA 94701 U.S.A
http://www.cog.org

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Lisa Morgenstern,
National Public Information Officer
661-406-2081

BERKELEY, CA-September 2008 ; Covenant of the Goddess, a National Organization of Wiccan Congregations, offered a statement in support of Gay and Lesbian Marriage in California and Massachusetts.

“Covenant of the Goddess has, since its inception in 1975, had clergy willing to celebrate the religious if not the legal joining of two members of the same gender. While we respect the right of the individual clergy within COG who may choose not to perform such a ceremony, we are in support of marriage between two committed adults of any gender, and a majority of our celebrants are willing to perform such ceremonies.”

Covenant of the Goddess is supportive of stable family environments between spouses who are becoming family and views same gender marriages as a civil right. “As Pagans who are Witches or Wiccan, we remember our history and know that marriage is a civil contract, and historically, such was done to determine what property and belongings and livestock would be paid or received by the father of the bride or groom when the two families made an alliance. Same gender marriages date back to Ancient Greek and Roman times, when the majority of citizens were pagan. Marriage today is one way that two people can immediately become next of kin, and in today’s society with national privacy act issues, it is even more important for everyone in a loving committed relationship to have this right.” States Elder Priestess Lisa Morgenstern, National Public Information Officer for Covenant of the Goddess.

Covenant of the Goddess was founded in 1975 to increase cooperation among Witches and to secure for Witches and covens the legal protection enjoyed by members of other religions. The Covenant publishes a newsletter; issues ministerial credentials on request to qualified persons; sponsors a national festival each summer; and encourages networking nationally, as well as regionally through local councils.

The Covenant is incorporated as a nonprofit religious organization in California, though it has grown to be an international organization. It is a confederation of covens and solitary members of various traditions, who share in the worship of the Goddess and the Old Gods and subscribe to a common code of ethics. The Covenant holds a Grand Council annually to decide matters which require deliberation by the full membership. Decisions are usually made by consensus.

In recent years, the Covenant has taken part in spiritual and educational conferences, interfaith outreach, large public rituals, environmental activism, community projects and social action, as well as efforts to correct negative stereotypes and promote accurate media portrayals. Its clergy perform legal marriages (handfastings), preside at funerals and other rituals of life-transition, and provide counseling to Witches includingthose in the military and in prisons. The Covenant also provides youth awards, sponsorship of college and university student groups, and legal assistance in instances of discrimination.

####

Celebrating Isabel Allende

Last night the Marin Interfaith Council honored author Isabel Allende with the Visionary Marin award. While a band played, we wandered around bidding on auction items, dropping raffle tickets in buckets for prizes, and noshing on lovely little tidbits of food at high, small round candlelit tables -- in other words, no sitting down to eat.

I chatted with several of my MIC friends and acquaintances, and recognized a few luminaries of sort: The Rev. Janie Spahr (I nearly introduced myself to her), Jean Shinoda Bolen (a close friend of Isabel's and BFF of one of the attorneys for whom I occasionally).

Leili First, one of our Sufi members, had assembled a slide show showing events of members of MIC. This played throughout the evening until the ceremony began. I was happy to see among them a photo of people dancing the Maypole that I took in Anne Hill's yard some years ago.

When the time came for introducing Isabel and bestowing the award, all the seats were filled except up front, so I caught the eye of Fu Schroeder, abbess of Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, who was in the front row, and she indicated I should sit in one of the empty seats next to her. After the ceremony, I realized I was in the section reserved for members of what Isabel calls her "tribe." (That's Green Gulch Farm in the photo, the way it looks driving by on Highway 1; that's the Pacific Ocean in the distance.)

Without exception, from Buddhist to Roman Catholic, from to Sufi to Presbyterian, from Hindu to Pagan, every single person I spoke with was elated about the election of Barack Obama. Most were also disappointed at the passage of Proposition 8, which changes the Califorinia Constitution to ban same-sex marriages, and which, I am confident, will not stand the test of the courts.

When the Rev. Carol Hovis, Director of MIC, first took the mike, her mention of the election outcome elicited cheers. The election results were obviously on everyone's mind because they were referenced frequently and each mention drew unrestrained applause.

Isabel is a tiny woman with a big spirit. In an inspiring acceptance speech from atop a plastic milk carton so she could look over the lectern and reach the microphone, she spoke of her life and the changes and challenges she'd met along the way. She spoke of her work and of the death of her daughter Paula. She spoke of her relatives in Chile and of her American husband. Several times she referred to the "plums" on her chest. Her beloved maternal grandfather had hoped she'd been a grandson rather than a granddaughter, and only finally accepted the fact that she was a girl when she grew small plums on her chest.

She spoke later of the joys of lovemaking and how both she and her husbands appreciated her somewhat bigger plums. She said that she admired the Dalai Lama, but that he was celibate and she much preferred carnal pleasure in her life. She said when she writes love scenes in her books, she is fantasizing about Antonio Banderas. Towards the end of her speech, she revealed that her husband, attorney Willie Gordon, does not seem to notice that the plums have turned to prunes.

Isabel is about five months older than I. She looks fabulous. At one point she asked the audience if they did not agree that she looked great for a 66-year-old, to applause. She said with a laugh, it's very expensive and takes a lot of hard work.

She spoke of fear and risk, and that being paralyzed by fear was a waste, how life was worth taking risks, that it was not without pain but was well worth it. In this regard, she mentioned her soul mate, Grace, who, with her daughter Sabrina, been in a head-on collision on the Golden Gate Bridge this past May. Grace broke many bones, displaced all the organs in her body except her heart, and lay comatose for many weeks. When she finally regained consciousness, she proclaimed how happy she was to be alive. She said the episodes of pain pass, and when they're gone, she doesn't remember them so she is happy. Grace had been a long-time Zen practitioner who gained enlightenment from a close brush with death. While Isabel spoke of this, I sat next to Fu Schroeder, who happens to be Grace's partner.

Isabel ended her speech with yet another reference to Tuesday's election, saying she is now so proud to be an American. Her last words were, "Yes, we can!" Of course, we repeated this heartening phrase.

When Fu had left her seat to go on the dais to present Isabel with her award, and Isabel returned, Isabel set next to me for the rest of the evening. She loved the California poppies tattooed on my forearms. At the end of the ceremony, I introduced myself to her as the "token Pagan" in MIC, and she said she herself is a pagan. (I use the lower case because she is pagan by nature and in outlook but not by affiliation and practice.) She had already identified herself using that term earlier in her speech. I am not "outing" Isabel Allende on this blog; I am merely stating a similarity in outlook that she shares with Neo-Pagans.

All in all, I felt welcomed with genuine warmth by my colleagues in MIC and comfortable representing a Pagan presence at this significant event.

Peter Hughes Passes, Samhain Approaches

What would a blog by me be like if it didn't contain notice of someone's passing? I'm so ready to be free to write other things. However, since this is the next-to-last day of our year, I want to remember Peter Hughes.*

Peter had put together a beautiful art photography book of B&W photos of Witches, which was/is the title of the book. Most of the models, myself among them, were local to Northern California. His wife, Denise Sallee, wrote the text. They asked me to write the introduction, which I did some years ago. The book hadn't found a publisher until Sam Webster decided to publish it. Sam's wife, Tara, became ill, and that situation consumed Sam for the last two years. So I don't know the fate of the book, but I do know that, according to someone close to Denise and Sam, that the project is not dead. Apparently there are those who still want to see it in print. When that occurs, you, my readers, will be the first to know.

In the meantime, I toast Peter with espresso that he loved and wish him peace.

I'm off to the AAR Annual Meeting in Chicago in the morning, to circle with Gaia's Womb in Samhain with dear friends and visiting Pagan scholars. My companion for the weekend will be Sharon Devlin Folsom.** Sharon lives in Illinois now and we haven't seen each other in several years. My pal Sparky T. Rabbit will also be there, hopefully with a CD of his wonderful albums, Lunacy and Hand of Desire.

For updates of what's going on with Pagans at the AAR, check the Cherry Hill News, The Wild Hunt, and here.

Today I gave the concluding blessing to the Marin Interfaith Council monthly lunch meeting, this time about teen suicide. They loved it. Several people came up afterward to thank me. This was the first thing I've ever been asked to do at a meeting. The director asked me because of the season. I was happy to oblige and I left feeling really good. I leave you with the piece I offered there, with wishes for a very Blessed Samhain.

This is the Feast of Samhain, when the veil is thin that divides the worlds, the seen from the unseen, the day-to-day from the Mysteries.

And now we pause on the threshold, and prepare to journey beyond the boundaries of the world, leaving behind the fading husk of the passing year, going down into the darkness of Winter, and through to the joy and the boundless dance that is the bright heart of the promise of Spring.

For Samhain is our New Year, the New Year of the Witches.

And when we say Witches, we mean those with a certain wit—even wisdom—who follow the Old Religion of the Goddess.

And when we speak of the Goddess, Who is Moon, stone, star, and of the Horned God, the Sun, the life of animals, we recognize our kinship with all of life, the interwoven chain of connection that sustains all, and that this tapestry of life is our common trust and treasure; we are committed to its service.

When we call the Goddess as Maiden, Mother and Crone, we see Her in all women, all shapes and colors and ages, and we honor women for strength as well as beauty, for knowledge and experience and the power that comes from within, for She is the Mother of inspiration.

When we call the Horned One as Lover and Consort, we see Him in men, and we honor men for tenderness and kindness as well as courage. And He wears the horns because we honor the animal self in each of us, forever untamed and free, the heat of desire, our miracle bodies, the drumming of our hearts.

And when we invoke the Elements of life--Air and Fire, Water and Earth--we know what is needed to sustain life, and we know what is needed to sustain hope, and we know, with breath and nerve and blood and bone, what is needed to sustain the balance of our lives.

And we pledge ourselves to care for this Earth, and to preserve It, even through these times of fear and sadness, when our culture has gone so far in the direction of death and destruction.

And so we will come to the Ocean of Tears, to look in that glistening mirror, and to hear the voice of low and ceaseless thunder, wrapped in the taste and smell of the spray, and to remember what has passed, what has passed beyond boundaries, gone beyond change.

And we too will cross, and renew ourselves, and reclaim the future.

For when we dance the Spiral of Joy, together we vow to release that brilliant hope for all life...

Starhawk, Robin Weaver,
M. Macha NightMare,
Samhain ‘79, ‘88, ‘90, 91, ’92. ‘06

* I had planned to include his photo and a brief published obituary, but this program does not seem to want to upload it.

** See the chapter called "Interview with a Modern Witch" in Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon.

Sequoia Costumed

In the spirit of the season, I present some photos of Sequoia all tricked out for actions. Virgo that she was, she archived plenty of wonderful photos of herself. Thanks to Terri Compost for forwarding them. The photo above shows an incarnation of Kali.

You may remember I mentioned Sequoia as Sequoia; that tree holding the sign is Sequoia. Beneath that is Sequoia as leopard.

Sequoia and I shared a love of cats. Well I remember the drama surrounding her as she crafted this outfit.

The frog Sequoia. The mug in the frog's hand cracks me up. Rev. Jim is the man on the right.

Although she's not costumed in this photo, this is a great shot showing her tossing her head back, hair aflowing, mouth open in a guffaw. This is exactly how I remember her at her best. You can almost hear her howl of laughter. And, as you can see, that's a sheriff upon whose shoulders she rides.

There are two great photos of Sequoia in full Witch regalia, but I'll have to save them for next Samhain since I don't have them yet.

On a parting note, see Samhain article here.


[Drat! I wish I could make this text wrap around the photos.]

More on Sequoia

Altar at Sequoia's Wake

There will be a memorial for Sequoia at Greenfield Ranch on November 16. Terri sent me a wonderful collage showing many faces of Sequoia at her best, but evidently they're in a form that this blog does not want to upload. As soon as I get them as individual photos, I'll try again. In the meantime, here is one of her at her wake:

I love it when people take these last photos. One of my friends who didn't know her who saw this whole series of photos said it made her cry to see the evidence of love it showed. She wondered how something like this might look to archaeologists in the future. Moot, of course, since she chose cremation.

A Mighty Redwood Has Fallen

I write today of the death of a mighty priestess. Sequoia Greenfield died in her sleep early this morning of leukemia and other blood disorders. She was in the loft of the house at Greenfield Ranch in Mendocino County that she built with her own hands -- with the help of friends for wall-raisings and such.

Sequoia was one of the first members of Susan B. Anthony Coven No. 1, founded by Z Budapest, in Los Angeles in 1971. Born and reared in Cleveland and escaped to California in her teens, Sequoia was a force to be reckoned with. In an early incarnation as a biker chick, Sequoia was known as Super Pat. She changed her name for good after LA bikers put a price on her head. Soon thereafter, she headed north, where she ended up at Greenfield Ranch.

I met Sequoia in the early days of Reclaiming Collective, and when my then-coven, Holy Terrors, first joined CoG in 1981. I found her overbearing and intimidating at first, until I learned that when you stood up to her, she wasn't such a bully. From then on we did lots of things together, most notably (to others) a ritual called "Kali, the Terrible Mother, and Other Dark Goddesses" at CoG's MerryMeet in 1987 at Saratoga, California.*

The one thing Sequoia was most vain about was her long "naturally red" hair. She never considered chemo because she intended to go out with that head of hair of which she was so proud. She even mentioned it again yesterday when Corby and I were visiting with her, that when she was laid out, it was going to be with her hair unbound and spread around her head and shoulders.

This is a woman who traveled the world, mostly alone. I remember when, on her first trip to India, she wrote wonderful travelogues to her friends describing her experiences. (This was before the Internet.) She once described how she was in an unfamiliar small village in India, when there was a celebration to a Hindu goddess (name lost in the recesses of my senior mind), the villagers grabbed her and put her at the head of their procession. Evidently, that particular goddess had red hair and here came this stranger with red hair just on the goddess' feast day, so I guess they considered Sequoia to be the goddess incarnate.

A licensed pilot herself, Sequoia's heroine was Amelia Earhart.

Many years ago Sequoia, who took many classes in town (Ukiah), was working with a saw in some sort of woodworking class, when she looked up. They tell you, "Never look up." She had sawed off her left thumb and forefinger. After the wound had healed, Sequoia spent the Fall and early Winter of that year learning to reuse her hand by stringing bead necklaces as Yule gifts for her friends.

At Earth First! events, she often dressed as either a mountain lion or a redwood tree. She had a full mountain lion outfit she road her bike with, with fur and ears on her helmet and a fake fur tail streaming behind her. So if you see published photos of a redwood tree standing next to the Secretary of the Interior at Yosemite National Park, that's our Sequoia. She wants to be cremated with wearing that tail and holding a Susan B. Anthony dollar in each hand.

Her devoted partner of recent years, Rev. Jim, also an activist, cared for her tenderly during her dying days, and before then. He and the Greenfield community will be doing a spiral dance on the Tor on Samhain. They are waking her in the farmhouse for the next day or so, painting her casket, drinking tequila, telling Sequoia stories. At a later date I will be coordinating a memorial for Sequoia in the SF Bay Area.

Yesterday Corby and I sang "Weaver, Weaver" to her. She loved it. We observed her face soften as we sang. Corby and she had grown a warm friendship over the last 15 years or so. He worked on her neck yesterday, relieving her of much of her pain. She told him he was the best thing that ever happened to her friend Macha; I agree. Rev. Jim was one of the best things that ever happened to Sequoia, as our late mutual friend Judy Foster used to attest.

Here is Sequoia ready to dance the Crone in Reclaiming's annual Spiral Dance ritual in 1982:



I feel fortunate to have been Sequoia's friend and honored to memorialize her at a future date. "In love may she return again."


* This ritual was originally created by Sharon Devlin, Beth Bone Blossom and I for Ancient Ways/MerryMeet at Harbin Hot Springs in 1984.

Death of a Priestess

Last night my friend Tara Webster passed through the veil. My friend Thorn was among those in attendance at her crossing. Here's the first announcement:

With great sorrow I must report that early on the evening of October 8th, Tara Webster - Ishtara, Soror Adessa of the Order of the Golden Dawn, Witch, Mage, Dancer and Healer - has succumbed to brain cancer and passed peacefully beyond the Veil into the next world.

Her husband Sam, along with many witches and magickal folk were with her, surrounding her with love and singing hymns of Hecate to her as she departed. Sam asks for whatever thoughts, prayers, and energy work you can bring to this transition, with focus on the highest chakras, from now until three days after, or up to 49 days.

Prayers and offerings to Hermes, Psychopomp and Lord of Thresholds, and to Tara's matron goddess Hekate, Keeper of the Keys of all the Universe, are particularly appropriate.

E-mails of condolences may be sent to cancellarius@osogd.org and will be forwarded to the family.

- 555

"Term of all that liveth, whose name is Death and inscrutable, be thou favorable to us in thine hour. And unto her, from whose mortal eyes the veil of life hath fallen, grant that there may be the accomplishment of her true Will, should she will absorption in the Infinite, or to be united with her chosen and preferred, or to be in contemplation, or to be at peace, or to achieve the labor and heroism of incarnation on this planet, or another, of any star, or aught else, unto her may there be the accomplishment of her true Will, yea, the accomplishment of her true Will. AUGMEN."

I knew Tara as a Priestess of Hekate. For many months Corby and attended small New Moon rituals to Hermes and Hekate with Sam and and Tara in their chapel. A graceful bellydancer, Tara wore the mask of Isis* as she danced Her into manifestation at the first incarnation of my goddess masks ritual, part of the Goddess 2000 celebration, at PantheaCon in San Francisco.

Although I knew Sam better than Tara, when Tara and I first met, we discovered we had a lot in common in terms of both approach and praxis. My experiences with my first coven, the Holy Terrors*, paralleled hers in many ways. I spoke of a cartoon published in an East Coast Pagan rag, Harvest (defunct), in the '80s that we Holy Terrors couldn't believe was so like we were. When we HTs first discovered this cartoon, we rolled around laughing. No one we knew subscribed to Harvest (if it even had subscriptions). We treasured our photocopies of the few episodes we'd found; later I found an opportunity to mail away for better copies of a full set. The cartoon was the Death Crones, and Tara was part of the Flaming Crones, the circle from which this cartoon arose!

When I heard she was weakening, I planned to go see her this weekend. I regret I didn't make it in time. I will visit her viewing and offer prayers for her easy transition. My life was enriched by my having known Tara. I will dance with her in Samhain circle. In love may she return again.


* A coven of nine women, Holy Terrors was the first coven to form from classes taught by Witches in what later evolved into Reclaiming Collective, and still later, Reclaiming Tradition Witchcraft. Some day I'll write more about the HTs, maybe even scan the only extant photo of us together.

The First Spiral Dance

After seeing the video clip of Spiral Dances on YouTube and being told by Chas that he couldn't identify me in clips of the first one in 1979, I found this still from the same event. I don't know who shot it: I suspect it may have been Kevyn Lutton. Here you can see me on the right (second person in, about a third of the way down from top of the photo), wearing a velvet and brocade robe and leaning back a bit because Deirdre's on my hip, but you can't really see her, or her bald father, the late Rod Wolfer. I think the woman in the right foreground is Glenn Turner.

The dancer in the big white Maiden mask in the video is Diane Baker, co-author of Circle Round. The three goddess masks were made by Medea Maquis and weighed a ton. They are now in a private collection. The Elements masks, which you can't see but are also big heavy suckers, were made by Eleanor Myers.* They were clay and I think that over the years all of them have broken.

I remember Selene Kumin Vega dancing one of the goddesses. Forgive my senior mind for not recalling exactly which one -- Mother, I think. It was a long time ago. Selene is slender and graceful. She choreographed the Goddess dance at one Spiral Dance (at the SF Women's Building) in which I dance one of three crones (the late Judy Foster being another). Selene has the ability to bring out the best in people. She never made me, who's not much of a dancer, feel clumsy or awkward, just magical. Or "priestessly," if you will.

* If anyone knows Eleanor's current whereabouts, I would dearly love to know too. Please contact me at herself@machanightmare.com if you have any information.

The Veil Grows Thin

It's that time of year again, my favorite, when the shadows lengthen and the sunlight produces a magical quality of light. Here's a video clip of several Spiral Dances. If you know what I look like, you can see me clearly in some of them. This past year, when filmmaker Susan Stern shot the ritual, I'm wearing red. In the one from 1979, I'm slim, with long brown hair and a toddler on my hip. In 2007 I'm round and grey-maned.

The sweet soprano you can hear on this video is the late Susan North, of whose death I wrote last January. You can also see photos of two other significant Reclaiming Witches in this video: Raven Moonshadow and Judy Foster.

I think this video gives you an idea of how intoxicating dancing a spiral with hundreds of others can be.

Alas, I won't be there this year. I'll be dancing with the Dead in Chicago with other visiting Pagan scholars who are there for the AAR Annual Meeting. I surely do hope we dance a spiral.