Christopher Penczak may be the most prolific contemporary Pagan author.  With almost 20 books to his credit, Penczak has published texts that cover a wide range of topics from gay witchcraft to Reiki to establishing a  relationship with plant spirits.  Of course, he is best known for the Temple of Witchcraft series, which presents the training system for the tradition of the same name that he co-founded.

One of Penczak’s talents is to synthesize a wealth of information from a wide variety of esoteric sources into a unified, coherent system.  This is exactly what he does in his newest book, The Gates of Witchcraft:  Twelve Paths of Power, Trance, and Gnosis.  Starting with a foundation in British Traditional Wicca, indeed in Gardner’s Book of Shadows, Pencak fleshes out Gardner’s original list of consciousness-changing techniques and adds new paths, all the while folding in techniques with roots in everything from the Northern Seidr to entheogens to sacred sexuality.

As a member of the Temple of Witchcraft, I don’t usually review Penczak’s books.  However, this book is a fantastic foundational book for Pagans of all paths and experience levels, that I felt it was important to discuss it here.  So rather than review the book, I thought I’d let the author speak for himself. Last week, I interviewed Christopher about his new offering.  His thoughts tell the story of his book better than I ever could:

Q: What was your inspiration for The Gates of Witchcraft?

CP: The core of the idea comes from the British Traditional Wicca Book of Shadows, a section known as the Eight Ways of Raising Power, or Eight Ways to the Center. It is a section on different methods of entering trance and/or raising power for rituals. I was fascinated by the list, but found some of the groupings confusing. I reworked in specifically focusing upon trance, and added four more paths, making twelve in all.

Q: Could you describe the book in your own words and give us a basic overview of the 12 paths?

CP: The Gates of Witchcraft is a manual for magically oriented people to explore many different methods of trance, from the exhibitory and exciting methods that raise our body’s systems to the more inhibitory techniques that lower our bodily systems and relax us. The techniques include meditation, breath work, sound, movement, isolation, plant substances, sexuality, ordeals, ritual clothing, sacred space, sacred time and dreams.

Q: Our readers are on a variety of paths and may not identify as Witches,  How can your book be an aid to Pagans and magick workers of other paths other than Witchcraft?

CP: While its drawn from the traditions of British Traditional Wicca, and my own experience and work is oriented towards teaching those who identify as Witches, it might be more suited for those who identify as practicing a magickal spirituality. I think anyone on a Pagan, Ceremonial Magician, or Shamanic Path might benefit from it. In fact, I think even those in other more broad traditions, practicing martial arts, yoga, tantra, herbalism and even other communities not specifically metaphysical, such as the BDSM, might find it interesting.

Q: Meditation and breath both hold a strong place in your work.  Which of the techniques were more out of your comfort zone?

CP: I think the isolation and ordeal paths were more out of my comfort zone at least in terms of writing. I’ve done some isolation rituals for my own personal practice and helped others with them, but haven’t written much or done any formal teaching on them. I am not a British Traditional Wicca initiate, and while I think the “properly prepared” section of ritual binding and scourging in initiation was important to include, it is not my own initiatory experience.

Q: In the book you present a large selection of techniques.  It can be hard to know where to start.  How would you suggest that people begin to explore the 12 Gates?

CP: I wrote them starting with the most simple and most safe, and progressed to the more difficulty and potentially dangerous, at least for the first few. I suggest meditation, breath work, sound and movement as the starting places. Each chapter ,too, starts with more basic exercises and becomes more complex by the end of the chapter.

Q: You quote Gardner’s book of shadows, which proclaims “the more the better.”  How would you suggest incorporating multiple paths into one ritual without losing focus.

CP: The very last chapter gives some creative examples of uniting several paths in one working. I think if you focus on your intention in the ritual, and then think which of these paths support that overall vision, you’ll be doing great. Avoid the “Everything but the kitchen sink mentality.” Every ritual doesn’t need every path. I think determining if it is inhibitory or exhibitory is the first step, then which paths will help in that method?

Q: How do you utilize the 12 Gates in your own practice?  Which are more foundational for you?  Are there any that you choose not to enter?

CP: Many of them are a fundamental part of my daily meditation practice, or monthly ritual practice. Meditation, breath work, sound and movement/posture or staples for my solitary work. I am a big believer in plant magick and plant trance, but don’t use that path daily, with perhaps the exception of incense for meditation and ritual. Entheogenic rituals are used to punctuate important workings, not a regular practice for me. As a Witch, Sacred space and sacred time are an important part of my ritual practice. Sexuality is a part of my spirituality, but not always in a ritualized way. Like plant trance, it is for a special occasion ritually. I am also very fond of dream magick and trance as of late. I don’t use the isolation or ordeal paths that often, but its nice to know how to play that card when I need it.

The Gates of Witchcraft truly presents a dizzying array of trance and consciousness changing techniques.  It can be so easy to get stuck with just a few ritual favorites, but this book offers a wide variety of new paths to experiment with in order to perfectly fit the work you are doing.  It is now available on Amazon or on the author’s own site.  Whichever Gate you prefer, Penczak’s new book can help you find your key.

Just to add to the last post about The Dragon and the Rose’s workshop schedule, there will be a Qabalah class at the store that starts on Wednesday May 2.  The course will meet every Wednesday night for 12 weeks. Ever been curious about ceremonial magick?  Check out Dragon and the Rose!

Santa Ana’s Dragon and the Rose has announced its workshop and event schedule for May 2012.  The store promised a month of Beltane fun, Tarot, meet-ups, and fundraising for a great cause.  Join them if you can!

Tuesday, May 1^st at 7:00 p.m. we will be celebrating our Beltane Ritual and Arielle’s 24^th birthday.  This is our biggest Sabbat celebration of the year, with the best food and the most fun!  We will dance around the May Pole, leap the bale fire, feast and frolic!  Please let us know if you plan to attend so that we may be well prepared!

Tuesday, May 8^th at 7:00 p.m. is our Full Moon Ritual.  This is open to everyone.  There is no charge to attend, although donations are gratefully accepted.

Wednesday, May 9^th is Pagan Meet Up.  To learn more, go to Meetup.com and look for Orange County Pagans.

Saturday, May 12^th we are participating in the Walk Like MADD event in Huntington Beach in Arielle’s honor.  If you would like to become part of our walk team, or make a donation to this cause, you can go on-line to www.madd.org. Click on the red “Walk” box, select location “Orange County, CA”, find our team name “Friends of Arielle Rose Estremo” and join or donate.  Cash and check donations are also being accepted at the shop.  Make checks payable to “MADD”.  Thanks for your support!

Saturday, May 19^th at 3:00 is the Tarot Meet Up at the Corner Bakery at The Block in Orange.

Tuesday, May 22^nd is our next Year-and-a-Day class for our first-year students.  This is a little later in the month than usual due to our Boston trip.

Saturday, May 26 at 7:00 is our next Drum Circle and Potluck Dinner (weather permitting).  We will be having Mexican Food, although you are welcome to bring whatever  you like to share.  We begin eating at 7:00, light the fire at 7:45, and start drumming at 8:00.  This month, Candy Eaton will be leading our circle.  The cost is $8 for drumming and if you don’t bring anything to share on the food table, maybe throw a couple bucks in the food bucket.  Drums and chairs are available if you don’t have your own, so come out and join us around the fire and under the stars for a great night of drumming.

The Dragon and The Rose is located at 1636 E. Edinger Avenue, Suite U, Santa Ana, CA 92705

Telephone: (714) 569-0100

E-mail Karen: karen@thedragonandtherose.com

Hours:  Noon to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

The classic Lerner and Lowe musical Camelot is not so much about the Arthurian legends as it is about revolutionary new ideas and the struggle to bring them into the world.  This Arthur is a reluctant warrior who, encouraged by his Merlin to “keep thinking,” seeks creative new answers to the futile system of battle, death, and justice-by-the-sword that stagnates his kingdom.  Frustrated with “might makes right,” he introduces a world of equality fueled by a new maxim, “might for right,” and introduces the seeds of democracy into the his medieval world.

The musical opened in 1960, the year that John F. Kennedy won the presidency and, like Arthur, represented a young ruler filled with hopes of reform and who challenged his country with groundbreaking new ideas.  Kennedy’s time as president coincided with the decade in which the idea of the “Age of Aquarius” was beginning to enter the popular consciousness.  The youth of the day looked forward to an age of true equality, and end to war, and brotherly love that was promised by what they believed was this new astrological era.

In this sense, the Arthur of the musical and ­President Kennedy are pretty similar.  Both presided over (perhaps overly) optimistic ages which inspired their citizens while irritating the upper classes.  This is the premise that drives Mysterium Theater’s production of Camelot, which opened this weekend.  This Camelot is set inside the Kennedy White House, paralleling the Aquarian optimism of the two famous rulers.

The concept works.  The show combines the two periods.  The set is a castle, Arthur wears a crown, and carries an impressive Broadsword as Excalibur, and the knights still joust.  But the costumes are from the 60’s, Morgan LeFey is Marilyn Monroe, and the Beltane-inspired song “Lusty Month of May” is sung during a martini-guzzling key party.

As Arthur, Duane Thomas is genuine and thoughtful.  He looks nothing like Kennedy, nor is he a physically imposing warrior-king, but he doesn’t need to be.  His idealism is honest.  He is inspired by his revolutionary ideas.  He comes across as a philosopher king who is truly concerned for his people and willing to sacrifice raw power in order to establish real justice.

I rarely like Guenevere in any version of the Arthur legends.  One way or the other, she seems to always come off shallow and Marie Antoinette-ish.  Daina Baker Bowler avoids that track in her Jackie Kennedy inspired interpretation of the role.  Her transformation from young, fearful princess to materialistic queen to tragic accidental destroyer of Camelot is satisfying and complete.  Her expressions are real, her voice beautiful as it changes through the show, and her chemistry with both Arthur and Lancelot is tangible.

Robert Dudley carries a wonderful swagger as Lancelot.  As he walks the line between his love for his king and his passion for his queen, the internal conflict comes off impressively.  Erik Hjortnaes brings an appropriately slimy quality as Mordred, Arthur’s son and eventual bane.  His devious performance is reminiscent of the Devil/Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees.

Keith Bush is an excellent bright spot as Arthur’s friend and confidant, Pellinore.  He has more energy than anyone on stage, and his constantly humorous presence drives every scene that he is in, making his more serious work toward the end all that much more gripping.

Of course, neither the Arthur of this retelling nor John Kennedy were able to complete the work they so optimistically began.  Arthur’s past comes back to destroy him, and Kennedy’s presidency was cut short by a sudden hail of bullet in Dallas.  Still, their place in history is secure.  Arthur’s quest for the Grail of his high ideals is legendary, and Kennedy remains respected, even by those who disagree with him.

Their Aquarian ideas lived beyond them.  The Round Table’s symbolism of equality among all those who sit at it is firmly set in the popular mind, remaining a representation of the democratic ideas that the Arthur of the musical strives so hard to implant.  Kennedy asked America to challenge its assumptions and work to put a man on the moon.  Although he died, his challenge became reality by the end of the decade.

This version of Camelot doesn’t deify Arthur or Kennedy.  It presents them both as real men with passions, dreams, and flaws.  It shows us that dreamers aren’t always liked, and they don’t always succeed in their lifetimes, but unless you pull hard you will never get the sword out of the stone.

Details:

Camelot at Mysterium Theater

19211 Dodge Avenue

Santa Ana, CA 92705

Phone: (714) 505-3454

Click here for showtimes and dates

Santa Ana’s The Dragon and the Rose, has released their April schedule of events.  It looks like a great month of rituals, drum circles, and stones.  Stop in for a full moon or just drop by and pick up a herkimer diamond for 15 % off!

Here is the schedule:

Tuesday, April 3rd at 7:00 p.m. we gather for our Full Moon Ritual.  There will be a light supper followed by ritual at 8:00 p.m.  All are welcome and there is no cost to attend, although donations are always gratefully accepted.

Tuesday, April 10th at 10:00 a.m. Shelli from Tobias and Alysha will be here with some great new stones and crystals!  If you would like to join us for coffee and donuts and shop direct, you can get better pricing!  Let me know if you plan to attend so that I can have enough donuts on hand!  If you are interested in a particular stone, let me know so that we can be sure Shelli has some for you to look at.

Tuesday, April 10th at 7:00 p.m. is a Year-and-a-Day class for our first-year students.

Wednesday, April 11th at 7:00 p.m. is Pagan Meet Up.  For more information or to join, visit www.meetup.com and look for Orange County Pagans.

Saturday, April 14th at 7:00 p.m. The League of Vampiric Bards will be performing their “Tax Man Sucketh” Show.  There will be refreshments and a “Gothic Open Mic” segment, so if you’d like to share some of your poetry (tax related or not) bring it with you!  There is no charge to attend, but donations to the Tip Skull are always appreciated.

April 15th is our 3rd anniversary in business!  It is a Sunday, so we won’t celebrate until the 17th.  We will have cookies and specials all day!  Come on over and say hi and see what’s new!

Tuesday, April 17th at 7:00 p.m. is a class for our second-year students.

Saturday, April 21st at 7:00 p.m. (WEATHER PERMITTING!!!) is our April Drum Circle and Pot Luck.  We begin with POTLUCK dinner at 7:00 p.m. (That means bring something to share or be prepared to throw some money in the bucket to defray the cost of food!)  We light the fire at 7:45, and begin drumming at 8:00.  This month Liz and Meredith will be our drum facilitators.  They will be alternating months with Candy Eaton (who just did our March circle–thanks, Candy!)  The cost to drum is $8/adult.  The bucket will be passed while we are drumming so that everyone puts their fee in.  We have had some problems in the recent past with people not paying, and it is not a good way to keep our drum facilitators!  These ladies provide a valuable service, and we need to support them if we are going to continue to provide this event!

Tuesday, April 24th at 7:00 p.m. we gather for our New Moon Ritual.  There will be a light supper followed by ritual at 8:00 p.m.  All are welcome and there is no cost to attend, although donations are always gratefully accepted.

Friday, April 27 through Sunday, April 29th we will be in Escondido vending at the Escondido Renaissance Faire in Felicita Park.  The shop will still be open, although I will not be here.  Fluffy will be on hand to take care of your needs.  (Thanks, Fluffy!)  We will also be in Escondido the first weekend of May!

Our stone of the month is Diamond!  All herkimer diamonds are 15% all month.

The Dragon and the Rose is located at 1636 E. Edinger, Ste. U, in Santa Ana.

Also, Karen Estremo, owner of The Dragon and the Rose, will be participating in the Walk Like MADD fundraiser to combat drunk driving event in Huntington Beach on May 12.  This is personal for Estremo, whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver in May, 2008.  She would have been 24 this year.  To donate or to join her team, go to Walk Like MADD’s site and search for “Friends of Arielle Rose Estremo.”  All who join will receive a special gift.

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination is a wonderful, family friendly exhibit at Santa Ana’s Discovery Science Center.  It includes props, costumes, and fascinating technological analysis for adults and interactive Star Wars themed games for kids.  As modern mythology, Star Wars strikes a chord in many a Pagan heart.  The exhibit closes April 18.

Today, a local church performed a Native-inspired healing and cleansing ritual for Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, site of the worst mass shooting in Orange County history.  While not officially Pagan in nature, it included many elements of dispelling discordant energy that would be perfectly recognizable to the Pagan community while being quite foreign to practitioners of mainstream faiths.

Read about it here.

If you live near Seal Beach, consider supporting the salon once it opens.

The Diviners by Jim Leonard, Jr. is a play that many layers to it, but more than anything else it is a play about water.

Water has a pretty good reputation.  It sustains all life on the planet.  It keeps our crops, lawns, gardens, and pets alive.  It keeps our bodies clean, cools them down, and provides hour of recreation.  The very survival of the ancient Egyptians depended on the annual flooding of the Nile.  Christians use water to symbolize spiritual cleansing, and Pagans work with this same power when they acknowledge “the living waters of her womb.”

Scientists talk about Earth being in the “Goldilocks Zone,” the small region of space just far enough away from the sun that water can exist in liquid form.  Any closer and you have steam.  Any farther, and you have ice.  Earth’s distance from the sun is “just right” for life to exist.

Of course, it’s pretty well loved as one of the four elements, too.  We talk of water as relating to love, compassion, connection, and healing.  The moon, probably the heavenly body most adored by pagans, corresponds to water.  Water corresponds to psychic work in many systems.  All in all, that’s a pretty good day for one substance.

But then water, like any element, has its dark side.  All of the elements can kill, and tragedies like Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Japan and Indonesia remind us that water is no exception.  Water may be the ultimate reminder that what gives life can also take it away. Elementally, water’s dark side can include emotions like fear, anger, and jealousy. Water reflects our images as we are, not as we want to be. Oceans, especially western ones, represent death in some belief systems.

The Diviners, the current offering at Mysterium Theater, incorporates all aspects of water.  There is deep love in this play.  Love is present in many of its forms.  There is the protective, parental love that Ferris Layman (Tom Royer) clearly shows for his mentally challenged son, Buddy (Andrew Paskil).  That love is fueled on an even deeper level by the unhealed wound of losing his beloved wife.

There is the fierce, protective love that Buddy’s sister, Jennie Mae (Amanda Riisager), shows for her brother.  Perhaps most importantly, there is the healing bond of love that connects Buddy to CC Showers (Mike Detrow), a vagabond ex-preacher who arrives in town seeking escape from his own demons and a baptism into a new life.

There is also a very watery connection of trust the local farmers feel for Buddy.  Water is irrational; working with it requires intuition.  One of the play’s themes, brought out most often by the character of Basil (Robert P. Purcell), is to trust intuition and feeling over rampant industrialization.  The play begins with Buddy using a divining rod to find water, and then predicting the approach of a storm, all over the scoffing of other (rational) townsfolk.  But Basil trusts Buddy’s special connection to water to an almost mystical extent, perhaps because of his distrust for over-rational modern thinking.

Buddy, of course, is the play’s central character, through whom all of the water flows.  His special connection to water comes at a price however.  His mother drowned trying to save him, and he can sense her in the water around him.  But while he can find water by seeking out his mother in the world around him, he is terribly afraid of the precious liquid.  This fear, an aspect of water’s dark connection to emotions, keeps him from bathing, quickens disease, and ultimately brings him face to face with mortality.  Water is Buddy’s gift; it is also his shadow.

The other main character in the play, CC, is Buddy’s other half.  CC’s preaching was infected with thought instead of feeling, language instead of emotion.  Where a good preacher can get the crowd up and rolling in a sermon-induced frenzy, CC was too controlled by his rational mind to let go and whip up a good revival.  Where Buddy feels, CC thinks.  Where Buddy trusts, CC analyzes.  Where Buddy loves, CC fears.

Coming together is the perfect healing opportunity for both of them.  They teach each other.  Buddy brings CC the gifts of perfect love and childish trust.  CC acts as friend and mentor to Buddy, helping him come to terms with his fear of water and trying to help the boy understand the world from a more adult point of view.  They complement each other.

But full healing requires full submersion, and CC resists complete submersion into the local town life just as much as Buddy resists the submersion in the river that would heal his wounds.  Buddy resists physical water, which would heal him.  CC resists elemental water, in the form of love and acceptance, which would heal him too.  Eventually, we come to the climactic moment in which the two must come together as one beneath the water’s surface.

Mysterium’s production hits all the right notes.  The set is sparse, allowing the audience to focus on the themes of the piece.  These are simple, honest people, and the actors engage that honesty in a very poignant way.  Although Buddy and CC take center stage, this production subtly hints that each person is living their own lives, with their own struggles, needing their own healing.

Water can heal and water can hurt.  It does both in The Diviners.  At that final, tragic moment, both CC and Buddy touch the depths of life’s pain. The play’s message seems to be to find balance.  Wade in life’s cool, cleansing waters and you will find love and joy. Avoid them for fear of pain, and you will end up stuck at rock bottom, “like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.”

THE DETAILS:

The Diviners

March 1 – April 1

Mysterium Theater

19211 Dodge Ave.

Santa Ana

(714) 505-3454

PantheaCon is an annual Pagan spirituality conference held in San Jose over President’s Day Weekend.  During the four-day conference, thirteen meeting rooms play host to rituals, workshops and performances held over eighteen 90-minute sessions (and this is just the official conference programming).  People come to PantheaCon to come together in community with fellow Pagans, to participate in transformational rituals that they might not be able to experience in their own home towns, to learn from top Pagan authors and leaders, and to party!  According to Monday morning’s “PantheaCon Daily Oracle,” 2,331 people were registered for this year’s Con.  Each one of us approached the Con from a different angle, bringing diverse needs to the event, and taking vastly different impressions home with us.  These impressions are gradually appearing all over the internet, and they paint a beautiful picture of Diversity and Unity, as well as the need for growth in both.  Looking back on the weekend, I see the theme of Unity in Diversity as the next step in our community, a goal that we are pushing toward.  It is through truly delving into our diversity, really understanding the various traditions and customs within the grander scheme of Paganism that we can come to a place of Unity.  I approached the weekend with a goal of participating in various styles of rituals, especially the kinds of rituals and experiences that I would not usually go to, either because of my comfort zone or because I don’t know people who host these types of rituals.  There are many stories that will come out of the Con… this is my story!

We arrived at the Con at 12:30pm, and immediately I felt like I recognized and “knew” everyone that I saw.  The lobby and Con registration were starting to get busy with people checking in, combined with people-watchers and those waiting to connect with old friends as they arrived.  By the time we left the lobby, we ran into several people that we knew from home, recognized from other events, and people that we connect with throughout the year on social media.  Notable in our lobby welcome crew were both Jason Pitzl-Waters of The Wild Hunt Blog and Devin Hunter from Modern Witch Podcast.

While I was very tired from the early morning ride up to San Jose, the energy and excitement was building throughout the Con, and I wanted to get right in and take part in it.  Although I rested through the opening ritual, I was in line and ready to attend Selena Fox’s “Triple Goddess Magic: Inner Guidance Quest” during the first session of the Con.  My first impression- if you ever have a chance to be in Selena’s presence, especially in ritual, take it!  During this session, we learned physical postures to connect with each aspect of the goddess, asked each aspect for a message, deeply communed with each aspect, and then brought each aspect together to receive a message and symbol in our minds to connect to the Divine Triple Goddess.  It was an excellent way for me to start the weekend feeling invigorated and connected to the Goddess and to those who were in the workshop with me!  Unity was alive and humming in my soul!

At the late afternoon session, I attended Mary Greer’s “Who are you in the Tarot?”  This workshop featured Greer’s thesis from her most current book Who are you in the Tarot?, which is that we are all represented in the tarot by two to three cards which correspond by numerology to our birthdate.  After participants fumbled over the math to determine their numbers, we all separated into groups to talk about what our numbers mean to us.  At the end of the session, each group came up with a mantra to represent our group.  As a 3/12/21, I learned how to work with the Empress, Hanged Man and World cards.  Our group’s mantra was “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”  I went to dinner feeling abuzz, radiating “LOVE” energy, which stuck with me throughout the Con and the days since!

I ended my day by attending the “Conjurers, Root Women, Vodou Queens and Hoodoo Mamas” ritual led by The Iseum of Black Isis.  This ritual was so incredibly beautiful, powerful, joyful!  I have never attended an African Diaspora ritual, and I am so glad that I went with the theme of “Diversity” to give this ritual a try.  There was so much love in the room as each goddess was sung for, and ultimately, as we were each crowned, shown  Hathor’s mirror and reminded that we are all not only part of the goddess, we are part of the first mother of us all, the Black Isis.  This ritual resonated Unity in Diversity in my heart throughout the weekend, and the songs have remained with me throughout the week.  Yeshe Rabbit has written a lovely blog post on this ritual, which can be found on her “Way of the Rabbit” blog.

On Saturday morning, I began my day at the “Wake up to Spirit” ritual with the Come As You Are Coven.  This ritual always gets me started on the right foot, with beautiful songs, dancing, and most important to me, an opportunity to look in each person’s eyes present to give and receive the blessing that “The Divine in Me Honors the Divine in You.”  This ritual truly spoke to the message of Unity in Diversity as we came together to honor each other, recognizing our differences, yet knowing that on a deep level, we honor each other and the divinity that we each hold inside of us.

Energized, I headed to vending to look around, where I had my first of several opportunities to chat with Mojo and Sparrow of the Wigglian Way Podcast.  They are fabulous people and I was so happy to get to talk to them throughout the conference.

To round off my morning, I attended the “Bast: The Great Cat Goddess” ritual led by Avia Moore and the Priestesses of Stone City.  In this ritual, Bast was called into the room to play and cuddle with ritual participants.  We jumped, meowed, danced, and unfurled balls of yarn.  The man next to me ended up with a bloody nose after getting bonked a bit too hard in the spirit of play.  According to the PantheaCon program, Priestess Avia is the daughter of the Stone City Founders.  I’m not sure how old she is, but I’m guessing she’s a late teen, and the room was absolutely beaming with pride when she closed the ritual by stating that this was her first ritual as priestess.  This ritual spoke to my goal to go outside of my comfort zone and to seek out playful rituals.  There was definitely a sense of Unity in the room, even as we bapped at each other and tugged at the strands of yarn!

Saturday afternoon, I attended Christopher Penczak’s “Ritual of the Green Devil.”  This was a rather intense ritual that led us down the seven gates, through the chakras, exploring the seven deadly sins alongside seven virtues, where we ultimately found ourselves back in Eden- an Eden that we had never lost, even though we might have lost the map to get there.

Saturday evening, we decided to explore an area of the Con that held some mystery for us- the Hospitality Suites!  We stopped in and talked to people in various rooms, and while I’m glad that I challenged myself on a personal level to visit the suites (I’m not a party kind of gal!), it still felt awkward, like we’d crashed someone’s party and we weren’t quite sure how to fit into the conversation.  We ultimately found ourselves at the Circle of Dionysos pre-ritual party, where we met Dr. Hayden Reynolds and we got the hint that the ritual was going to be themed to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  I cannot imagine a better way for me to let my guard down with a group of strangers than to the tune of “The Time Warp,” so I grabbed a drink, tried to chat it up with some people, and prepared for a fun night. 

I give an enormous amount of credit to the Circle of Dionysos for the amount of work that went into this ritual.  Many of us know how much work goes into writing a ritual for a large audience, however, most of us don’t know what it’s like to write a ritual that almost everyone already knows the lines to, plus includes people shouting back lines at you based on the lines and actions that may or may not go with the re-written words of your script.   I felt it was important to share a bit more about the ritual here than some of the other sessions that I attended because it adds to the Gender Identity discussion that follows the Con.  After the ritual, I briefly told Dr. Hayden Reynolds that I would mention the ritual on the PNC, so here goes!

“A Modern Dionysian Initiation,” held by the Circle of Dionysos, was a re-telling of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  The ritual followed Brad and Janet, who were trying to find the drum circle “after announcing their engagement to the group of teenagers playing Dungeons and Dragons on the tenth floor.”  Brad and Janet stumbled into the Dionysian lair where Dionysos’ “creature” (a gigantic dildo) was born.  The Circle performed nearly the entire movie, live, without the screen version to fall back on.  They re-wrote the story to include characters from Greek Mythology, cut a few scenes and songs here and there, and re-worked the story to fit the PantheaCon audience, including the line “Gods Bless Tranies and Queers” in the pool scene, rather than “God Bless Lily St. Cyr.”  The end of the ritual was extremely powerful, as Zeus and Hera prepared to leave for Olympus.  As we know from Rocky Horror that Frank (or in this ritual Dionysos) doesn’t get to go along.  In the ritual, Dionysos and his friends don’t take this lying down, and he confronts Hera, telling her “We are the new Gods, and you will accept us.”  I was touched by power in this line delivered by DK Cowan.  The overall theme of this ritual was an excellent example of Unity in Diversity all rolled in to one, both for me personally and for the Con.  I would have never stumbled across a ritual of this nature on my own, and I am very thankful for the opportunities available at PantheaCon to experience such an event. 

Sunday afternoon, I attended the workshop “Grandmothers as our first Goddesses” with Victoria Slind-Flor.  This was a touching workshop where we took a guided meditation to meet with our grandmothers, visit with them, and ultimately honor them by making poppets of them and telling their stories to one another.  During this ritual, I spoke to my grandmother and gained some great insight into my personal calling and my goals for personal growth and healing.

Later in the afternoon, I attended Pagans in the Media: A panel on modern Pagan leadership, led by Devin Hunter.  I believe that Devin plans to play the recording of this panel discussion on “The Modern Witch Podcast,” so I’ll defer discussion on this panel, except to say that I found the discussion inspiring and enlightening (so go listen to the recording!).

I rounded out my Sunday at the “Rite of the Bear Mother,” led by The Living Temple of Diana and the CAYA Grove of Artemis.  This ritual was very important to me personally, as I had identified it in my own mind as the opportunity to come full circle with work that I have been doing over the last two years regarding my own personal growth and healing.  The ritual was quite powerful and healing.  Since this ritual was born out of the controversy last year regarding gender identity, I truly believe that the ritual was carefully constructed to fit the theme of Unity in Diversity.  There was an absolute sense of Unity in the crowd, which was palpable, and quite healing.  Events surrounding the ritual added to the dynamic of the need for ongoing discussion about diversity.  Both Devin Hunter and YesheRabbit have written blog posts about their experience with this ritual, which you can find here and here.

I woke up Monday very sad to greet the waning hours of PantheaCon.  I packed up the room as best I could and headed to my final workshops.  Along the way, I ran into various friends who I had met throughout the weekend and said my “goodbyes.”  I got a lipsticked kiss on the cheek from a sweet young man I had befriended on Saturday morning.  I promised him I would see him next year, and that I would be sure to run up to him and give him a hug when I did.  I made my way over to the “Belly Dance for Fun and Magick,” workshop, but sadly, the presenter never showed up.  Apparently there was a miscommunication with programming, and she didn’t know that she had a session scheduled.  Unity in Diversity shined through at that very moment when one of the workshop attendees offered to lead us in some simple moves to get our bodies moving.  We are all leaders in one way or another in our Pagan community, and this fact shined through as we all danced and shimmied the hour away together.

My final session was the “Yeshe Tsogyal Devotional,” led by Yeshe Rabbit.  Once again, I am brought back to the theme of Unity in Diversity as I think back to this ritual, which was so different from any ritual I had ever been to, yet still spoke to my heart and touched me deeply.  When I say “different,” I acknowledge that I have never been to an Eastern tradition ritual such as this.  Rabbit shared the full text of the ritual on her blog, along with some additional background information, which I recommend taking a look at.  I was very touched by the personal sharing that took place in this very intimate devotional ritual, and I plan to learn more about Yeshe Tsogyal.  As a representation of the “Speech of the Buddha” and the ways that I have learned that she has empowered others, I can see working with her in my work with empowering women would be helpful.

After lunch we packed up the car and headed south.  It took us three hours of deep discussion to re-connect and share about our weekend with one another, and it has taken me much of the week to process everything emotionally and come back down to earth.  My weekend was very blessed with unity, diversity, new and old friends, healing, challenge, and love!  I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my weekend, and that it gives you a fresh perspective on PantheaCon.  I know I’ll be back again next year, and I hope to see many of you there as well- I’m counting down the days until we do the Time Warp again!

PNC Southern California was born on the drive home from PantheaCon last year, and the picture on our mast-head was taken one year ago tonight. I couldn’t let this go by without mentioning it! It has been a fun adventure, and we look forward to the coming year! If you have interest in writing for PNC Southern California, please get in touch with us, we’d love to have more writers so we can cover more news that comes out of our community! Blessed Be!