The last day of PantheaCon always has an element of sadness. People are packing and going back home. Virtually everyone is requesting a late checkout and it takes hours to get one of the trolleys to move your things back to your car. Attending workshops becomes a challenge, but I managed to get to two.

The first was “Oracles and Divination in Ancient Egypt” by Richard Reidy, who is the author of Eternal Egypt: Ancient Rituals for the Modern World. Richard’s approach to the practice of ancient Egyptian religion is a bit different to that of Tamara L Siuda (whose workshop I attended on Saturday morning). Richard’s approach is that he limits himself solely to source texts. As I have previously discussed, this seems to me to be largely a matter of taste. (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 4:23 am
filed under: Events, PantheaCon
email this post | 4 Comments »

I presented my first workshop on the morning of Sunday 14 February 2010, at PantheaCon. This was quite a special day, being both Valentines Day and my second wedding anniversary. My workshop was titled “Magickal Initiation in Ancient Egypt.” The workshop went quite well, with a large group experiencing an authentic Graeco-Egyptian ritual.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that there were two workshops on Neoplatonism, one following on from the other. The first, “What is Neoplatonism & Why Should I Care?” was presented by Don Frew, who is widely known for his interfaith work. Don’s workshop was very easy to follow and was an excellent introduction to Neoplatonism. Don showed just how important Neoplatonism was to Gerald Gardner, and by logical extension, to the practice of contemporary Wicca.

Lunch was a lot of fun. (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 4:07 am
filed under: Events, PantheaCon
email this post | Comments Off

I decided to start Saturday 13 February 2010, at PantheaCon with “Ancient Egyptian Prayers” by Tamara L Siuda, the current head of the Kemetic Orthodoxy group. While Tamara holds two Masters Degrees in relevant fields she doesn’t limit herself to a purely academic approach of worshipping the ancient Egyptian deities. She and her group incorporate elements channeled through dreams as Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG) and practice ancestor worship. UPG is a hot topic within reconstructionist circles. On the one hand it cannot be unambiguously verified from academic source texts, but on the other hand it restores the vitality which ancient religions had in their heyday. (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 3:37 am
filed under: Events, PantheaCon
email this post | Comments Off

On Friday 12 February 2010, PantheaCon kicked off. While I don’t know the exact numbers, PantheaCon is the biggest event that Jo-Ann and I attend, and typically attracts roughly 3000 pagans from all over the US, as well as a few from overseas. PantheaCon is put on by Glenn Turner of Ancient Ways, along with a small army of volunteers.

The problem with PantheaCon is that there up to a dozen presentations at any given time slot. Scheduling all these presentations is a nightmare. (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 2:54 am
filed under: Events, PantheaCon
email this post | Comments Off

There’s not much point in adding to the voluminous praises heaped upon San Jose’s PantheaCon. I will say, however, that it brings together a huge number of authors, presenters and pagans from all over the US and is a showcase of the diversity inherent within our community. There is so much to see and do, that it is impossible to avoid the disappointment of missing events due having to make too many choices. It would be very difficult to not have your own personal path enriched through contact with representatives of paths very different to your own.

In the years that I have been going to PantheaCon I’ve met some absolutely wonderful people who I feel very close to. They know who they are, and probably don’t need to see their names in print.

There is far more diversity in the pagan community in the US than in the Australian community from which I have come. Reconstructionists are as rare as hen’s teeth in Australia, (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 1:52 pm
filed under: Events, PantheaCon
email this post | Comments Off