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<\/p>\nI\u2019ve already had con drama this year. I admit I was a little surprised.\u00a0 A friend of mine asked me to speak up in a Facebook thread about\u00a0 a white man running a Voodou ritual. I also brought up the fact that none of the featured speakers for this year\u2019s con were people of color, and asked the individual in question what they were doing to lift up the voices of people of color. While I think some good conversation had, the whole thing was a bit of a horrible mess. A lot of feelings were hurt and some white fragility came up to the spotlight.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping maybe someone from the MEC board, which organizes Convocation, will think about trying to get more diverse featured speakers. As a white lady, it\u2019s weird to be a person speaking up and asking questions about racial issues.\u00a0 I\u2019m certainly no expert on the topic, but I\u2019ve come to realize that dismantling white privilege is a task we all ought to be working on.<\/p>\n
So racial tensions and careful dialoging were my prequel to Convo.\u00a0 Moving on, I\u2019m looking forward to seeing some old friends, meeting some new people, and generally getting some work done.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got two workshops I\u2019m putting on: one on gesture and movement in ritual, and one that\u2019s a talisman making workshop for kids.\u00a0 I\u2019m happy to see that Convo is putting consent on the menu, and I\u2019d encourage everyone to go to at least one consent workshop, especially if they\u2019ve never gone.\u00a0 It\u2019s an incredibly useful tool to have in your interpersonal toolkit.\u00a0 The Druid Suite will also be putting on some informal workshops on consent throughout the weekend, so if you can\u2019t make one of the official ones, please come on by.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my idealized schedule of what I\u2019d totally go to if I didn\u2019t have to deal with chronic pain, chemical sensitivities, and whatever odd emergencies might crop up in my little convocation clan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
9:30am
\nMelissa Hill (which means I\u2019m definitely going to this one!)
\nIncluding Gesture and Movement in Ritual
\nI was asked to present on this topic at the last Convocation in discussions on Sunday. I\u2019m so glad they accepted the offering. I\u2019m looking forward to sharing all I\u2019ve learned, and I\u2019m sure I will pick up a trick or two from those who attend as well.<\/p>\n
1:00pm
\nDruids Discuss Consent and Hospitality, Druid Suite room 524
\nLast year the Druids ran consent workshops out of our suite and we\u2019re doing it again this year. Come on by for spirited and openhearted conversation on the topic.<\/p>\n
2:00pm
\nMelissa Hill
\nTalisman Making for Kids
\nBring your kids! I hear the presenter is great!<\/p>\n
2:00pm
\nDame Wilburn
\nThe Cultural Miseducation of the Pagan Community
\nIf I wasn\u2019t going to be teaching kids how to make talismans I would absolutely be going to this.<\/p>\n
4:00pm
\nJade Rose
\nHold The Bowl a ritual for Sigyn
\nI\u2019m excited for this one, since I too have used the bowl motif as an offering and magical working for Sigyn and I\u2019d love to see how She gets interpreted and presented in this ritual.<\/p>\n
5:50pm
\nDruid Fellowship in the Druid Suite, Room 524<\/p>\n
11:00pm
\nDame Wilburn
\nMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Ritual
\nI\u2019ve heard nothing but wonderful things about everything that Dame has ever done, and have never made it to one of her rituals. I am determined to go to this.<\/p>\n
9:30am
\nPat Camarena-Rose Barbary
\nTarot Intensive: The 4 Suits
\nI\u2019ve been reading tarot for years, and so would enjoy this, but I will especially enjoy it since Pat was one of the people who spoke on the Facebook thread about inclusion and mentioned that she was a PoC as well.<\/p>\n
11:30am
\nEliSheva Nesher
\nSeeing for the Tribes-A Ritual
\nOne year at Convocation I pretty much did nothing but go to every workshop that EliSheva presented and her work was incredibly empowering and healing for me. So much of what she talks about is community, and so much of my work is rooted in community. I\u2019d love to see her present a ritual.<\/p>\n
1:00pm
\nDruid Fellowship in the Druid Suite, Room 524
\nDruid are great hosts, and we always enjoy meeting new people at Con.<\/p>\n
2:00pm
\nMagdalena Knight
\nConsent Counts
\nConsent is a topic near and dear to my heart. I\u2019m thrilled to see that con has more than one Consent offering this year. I hope that means they will redesign their policies and procedures in order to align with consent best practices soon.<\/p>\n
4:00pm
\nWitchdoctor Utu and Baba Teddy (Ted Jauw)
\nVooDoo, HooDoo, Conjure, Rootwork and You
\nI\u2019m really excited about this, and would try to go to more offerings if I could. I\u2019ve seen a lot of people vouch for his work, so I\u2019m quite curious. I wanted to make it to the Harriet Tubman ritual last year, but being a spoonie is real.<\/p>\n
5:30pm
\nDruids Discuss Consent and Hospitality, Druid Suite room 524
\nThis is our second Consent offering in the suite, if you\u2019ve missed the first, please come on by.<\/p>\n
12:00pm
\nControlling personal space: consensual interactions
\nBill Ehle, Jenn H, Solinox Silverstar
\nMore awesome consent stuff! You should go!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Going to a big pagan convention is always an adventure. Here’s my plans and report on Convocation so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2262,"featured_media":13691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[223,93,793,6,11,292],"class_list":["post-14356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-convention","tag-convocation","tag-drama","tag-druid","tag-pagan","tag-wiccan"],"yoast_head":"\n