Pantheacon 2009 -- Part the First

[qos]

Preparing for P-con this year was a much different experience than last year. Last year was my first time and I was presenting. To say that this year's preps were more low-key would be an understatement.

The flight down was uneventful, and I was happily surprised to run into lupabitch and teriel near baggage claim. They were rushed and barely had time to wave before moving on, but we caught up with each other waiting for the hotel shuttle and had a nice chat.

I've only been to the San Jose Doubletree the one time before, so I was startled by how familiar it looked as the van drove up. All of the sudden I felt like we'd only left a week ago; walking into the lobby almost felt like a homecoming. My teacher and her husband showed up a few minutes later, and there were hugs and greetings all around. She stood in the registration line with me for a while, but was still exhausted from their drive down, so we agreed to meet up later.

To be honest, there weren't many programs this year that really interested me. I went as much for the chance to see my teacher and absorb the general atmosphere as I did to attend workshops -- and I'm pretty sure I went to fewer workshops than I did last year.

Friday afternoon I rejoined my teacher at the Weiser Book Faire & Release Party. Each author had his or her own table where they had copies of their books and were available to talk with people. Thorn Coyle was there (yezida) and she was giving bibliomancy readings from her new book. She held out the book and fanned the pages, and the person put their finger in to stop the pages. She read from whatever passage their finger had landed on. I received a message about ancestor work.

I also met Lydia M. Crabtree, cofounder of Family Wiccan Traditions International, and we talked a bit about raising Pagan kids and being a writer. I really enjoyed meeting her.

Orion Foxwood arrived directly from the airport, and my teacher (who is a friend of his) and I sat down with him and Lydia at his table for a long conversation. I listened far more than I spoke, but I love Orion, and was more than happy to simply take in the atmosphere and listen to him and my teacher discuss common areas of practice.

From there we went to the vendor's room for the first time. I had told myself that I was not going to spend a lot of money this weekend, but I left that first evening with a short antler-and-smoky-quartz wand that felt perfect for underworld work and for travel.

I decided to treat myself to dinner at Spencer's, the expensive restaurant in the hotel, which was a mistake. I went in for steak, but the lowest price was $30 -- and the cut was too large for me to finish and I didn't have a refrigerator in my room to keep it for breakfast. So I ordered a seafood pasta instead, which was good, but not $23 worth of good. Never again.

At 7pm I went to "Silk & Honey: Erotic Tales from the African Diaspora" with Luisah Teish. She did the same presentation last year, but I'd missed it, and I'd been looking forward to having the chance to make up for it. The program said, Come and join Luisah Teish as she takes you into the world of the African Diaspora. This will be an interactive erotic storytelling session involving all your senses. Right up my alley!

Things didn't go quite as planned. First, Teish was late. Second, she had left some of her notes behind and the rest were mixed up with page numbers that didn't make sense, so her presentation was a bit fragmented. I had been expecting folktales and legends with erotic themes, but what she actually presented was erotic writings from her own life -- which were great in their own right, but not what I'd been expecting.

Teish herself was the primary attraction, and reason enough to be there. She is a large-bodied black woman in her sixties who is full of the erotic spirit. She is gleeful, funny, proud, and unabashedly sexy. Her style was down-to-earth, confiding, and brash at once. Most of the audience seemed to love her, but a few were clearly uncomfortable, including the youngish (ie: younger than me) man sitting next to me. There were several points when I was sure he wanted to leave the room but didn't feel like he could.

No Pomba Gira for me this year. I went back to my room and crashed.

Saturday morning I was up earlier than most people, as usual, and entered the coffee shop by myself. As the hostess was seating me, an older woman wearing a bright shawl invited me to sit with her, saying that she makes it a rule to try to meet people at breakfast at P-con. I was happy to join her. It turned out she was Victoria Slind-Flor, one of the presenters. We hit it off very well and spent the next hour in animated conversation. She also introduced me to two people who are involved with Lady Liberty League and the support of Pagan soldiers on the national level (names are written down somewhere), as contacts for spiritual direction with Pagan veterans efforts.

After breakfast, I joined my teacher for Orion Foxwood's "Unbinding the Threads of Illusion" presentation. Orion's sessions are always rather chaotic, due to his delight in tangential comments. Personally, I find him delightful, and because I don't use his specific system of practice I get more value from his general comments than the specific teachings of his path. He's also an extremely funny man, and I love his sense of humor. I attend his panels for the combination of joy and wisdom and humor, not because I want to dig into his specific tradition.

At 11:00am I went to Lee Harrington's (passionandsoul)'s presentation "Binding Intentions: The Art of Rope Magic." I had hoped he would spend significant time on bondage magic and ordeals, but the overall tone of the class was about the nature of fibers and the qualities they bring to magical workings. Lee's energy reminded me a lot of Orion's: very experienced and smart, but light-hearted, even bouncy. He even described himself as having "puppydog energy" at one point. Because I tend to do most of my work without tools, it was especially interesting for me to hear about the impact of materials on the energy of a spell or ritual. As with Orion, I wasn't sure how much of the specifics I was going to take forward in my own practice, but I took away several new ideas and principles to work with, and it was just fun to be in his presence and listen to him speak.

I think I went back to my room for a breakfast bar and a nap after that, not wanting to brave the crowds in the coffee shop. Then I gathered my robe and my gear and headed up to my teacher's room for my ordination.

Comments

[alfrecht.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing this up!

Not only do I enjoy hearing folks' experiences, but also some connections often get made...I met passionandsoul at my first PantheaCon a few years ago, but had no idea he was on LJ, so now I do! Hurrah!

I knew you were down there, but didn't actually see you...did our paths actually cross at some point perhaps, in the area of the Sprig in between events?

[qos.livejournal.com]

I saw you and waved a couple of times -- but either you didn't see me or you didn't recognize me -- or it wasn't you! ;-)

[alfrecht.livejournal.com]

All three are possible! ;)

I'm sorry if I did not see you; and I think I did recognize you at least one time, but was rather too late in the wheels clicking into that recognition to return your greeting. My apologies for that as well...

Don't hesitate to come right up in the future if you see me out and about anywhere, though! Perhaps in the near future, you might enjoy coming for dinner over here or something? (I'll see if erynn999 thinks that's all right, but she loves to have folks come over, so I'm sure it would be!)

[revpanthera.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd gone to the Binding Intentions instead of the one I went to. I'm glad you got to hang out with Victoria! I missed her Mardi Gras party last night. :( Ogam set up a feed to her blog on LJ. I don't know it off hand but if you go to my profile you can find it there.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pointer! I've added her to my feed!