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Pantheacon Highlights
Feb. 19th, 2008 10:15 pmRather than doing a day-by-day as I did last year, I thought I'd point out some of the highlights of Pantheacon for me:
1. Finally meeting some local druids! Not only that, managed to hang out with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jschonbr and try some of the Oak Ash and Thorn Brewing Company's Apple Piety Cordial, along with some of their other yummies (Lingonberry cordial, Blackberry cordial). I hope they get all the licensing straightened out so that we can buy some. :)
2. Went to many rituals, probably too many.
My favorite (no shocker) was the sort of mini-ritual for Olokun, because I really like the traditional Yoruba music a lot.
My second favorite was probably the Kali Puja, a ritual for the Hindu goddess Kali. The group is kind of a mix of traditional Tantric Hindu with western Wiccan elements, though chants are done in Sanskrit, and I understood bits here and there, which only made it weirder. It was different, odd, and cool, and if you have the last Sunday of the month free, you can go to their open rituals in San Francisco. You can read more about them at the link if you want to. One of the great moments was having the altar flowers passed around for everyone to smell and enjoy.
Other rituals:
Introduction to Graeco-Egyptian Magick: Always worth going if only for the history lesson. I wrote this one up last year; this year, we'd actually been to Alexandria. I bought the book and the CD.
Oracular Seidh: we saw this after the Kali Puja, and in the same room, so it was quite a pantheon whiplash. It's a traditional style of Norse oracle, and the Seers (three of them) were pretty great at answering questions. The length was amazing: four hours. I felt like I'd been through a Norwegian winter, but it was an awesome thing to see.
Ancestors Celebration: this is a traditional Orisha event, and it was held by the Ile I've been attending, but had a number of people from different faiths. Prayers to ancestors in a number of languages, and fun dancing around the room with my friend Amy.
ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin) Ritual: Ahh, druids. I'd missed two druid rituals, so I'm glad I got to this one. It was a bit louder and more dramatic than necessary in places, but interesting, with wee smatterings of Gaelic.
Pompeia: balancing the forces of earth and air, held by Thiasos Olympikos, a Greek reconstruction group. There wasn't a lot of energy, and we could definitely hear the Norse heathens in the next room despite there being a hard wall in between the two rooms. If nothing else, I realized I couldn't be a Norse heathen because it'd just give me a migraine. I'd like to see a real event from the Greek group, held outdoors, before making a judgment about the group. Not being able to use fire was a huge constraint for them.
3. Went to a few panels. In addition to two I went to about the Orisha, I really really enjoyed the one I went to with Thalassa. She is my absolute favorite speaker at Pantheacon.
A few quotes from her:
For people you don't like, you could send a Tower card that said "Merry Christmas." Or a Ten of Swords that said "Thinking of You."
"The I Ching, which is a 4,000-year-old divination system with a really bad attitude."
"Measure twice, ward once."
"I am even psychically dyslexic."
"I put on my Sunday best tie-dye."
"I belong to the ephiphany of the minute club."
"Divination is a profoundly subversive act."
About the Celestine prophecy and "transcending" the body: "Next time, don't incarnate into a body."
"It's sort of like strip poker with metaphysical consequences."
"That's why I created the Betty Ford Clinic of the Arcane."
"Yes, I am writing a book. The working title is The God-Damn Book.
1. Finally meeting some local druids! Not only that, managed to hang out with
jschonbr and try some of the Oak Ash and Thorn Brewing Company's Apple Piety Cordial, along with some of their other yummies (Lingonberry cordial, Blackberry cordial). I hope they get all the licensing straightened out so that we can buy some. :)2. Went to many rituals, probably too many.
My favorite (no shocker) was the sort of mini-ritual for Olokun, because I really like the traditional Yoruba music a lot.
My second favorite was probably the Kali Puja, a ritual for the Hindu goddess Kali. The group is kind of a mix of traditional Tantric Hindu with western Wiccan elements, though chants are done in Sanskrit, and I understood bits here and there, which only made it weirder. It was different, odd, and cool, and if you have the last Sunday of the month free, you can go to their open rituals in San Francisco. You can read more about them at the link if you want to. One of the great moments was having the altar flowers passed around for everyone to smell and enjoy.
Other rituals:
Introduction to Graeco-Egyptian Magick: Always worth going if only for the history lesson. I wrote this one up last year; this year, we'd actually been to Alexandria. I bought the book and the CD.
Oracular Seidh: we saw this after the Kali Puja, and in the same room, so it was quite a pantheon whiplash. It's a traditional style of Norse oracle, and the Seers (three of them) were pretty great at answering questions. The length was amazing: four hours. I felt like I'd been through a Norwegian winter, but it was an awesome thing to see.
Ancestors Celebration: this is a traditional Orisha event, and it was held by the Ile I've been attending, but had a number of people from different faiths. Prayers to ancestors in a number of languages, and fun dancing around the room with my friend Amy.
ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin) Ritual: Ahh, druids. I'd missed two druid rituals, so I'm glad I got to this one. It was a bit louder and more dramatic than necessary in places, but interesting, with wee smatterings of Gaelic.
Pompeia: balancing the forces of earth and air, held by Thiasos Olympikos, a Greek reconstruction group. There wasn't a lot of energy, and we could definitely hear the Norse heathens in the next room despite there being a hard wall in between the two rooms. If nothing else, I realized I couldn't be a Norse heathen because it'd just give me a migraine. I'd like to see a real event from the Greek group, held outdoors, before making a judgment about the group. Not being able to use fire was a huge constraint for them.
3. Went to a few panels. In addition to two I went to about the Orisha, I really really enjoyed the one I went to with Thalassa. She is my absolute favorite speaker at Pantheacon.
A few quotes from her:
For people you don't like, you could send a Tower card that said "Merry Christmas." Or a Ten of Swords that said "Thinking of You."
"The I Ching, which is a 4,000-year-old divination system with a really bad attitude."
"Measure twice, ward once."
"I am even psychically dyslexic."
"I put on my Sunday best tie-dye."
"I belong to the ephiphany of the minute club."
"Divination is a profoundly subversive act."
About the Celestine prophecy and "transcending" the body: "Next time, don't incarnate into a body."
"It's sort of like strip poker with metaphysical consequences."
"That's why I created the Betty Ford Clinic of the Arcane."
"Yes, I am writing a book. The working title is The God-Damn Book.
