Classes, Presentations, Workshops & Rituals 2022
The Gathering Paths August 5th - 7th, 2022
DoubleTree Hotel, San Jose, CA
Friday 4 PM
Room: Cedar-Pine
Opening Ceremony
Presenters: Between The Veils Organization Co-Founder Tanuki Wise & Board President Jonathan Quant
Land Acknowledgements
Presenter: Kanyon CoyoteWoman & Gregg Castro
Land acknowledgement by local indigenous community voices, we recognize that we are in Tamien-Ohlone territory. Honoring truth and history and land acknowledgement is one step towards realizing how impacted we all are by colonization.
Kanyon Sayers-Roods is Costanoan Ohlone-Mutsun and Chumash; she also goes by her given Native name, “Coyote Woman”. She is proud of her heritage and her native name (though it comes with its own back story), and is very active in the Native Community. She is an Artist, Poet, Published Author, Activist, Student and Teacher. The daughter of Ann-Marie Sayers, she was raised in Indian Canyon, trust land of her family, which currently is one of the few spaces in Central California available for the Indigenous community for ceremony. Kanyon’s art has been featured at the De Young Museum, The Somarts Gallery, Gathering Tribes, Snag Magazine, and numerous Powwows and Indigenous Gatherings. She is a recent graduate of the Art Institute of California, Sunnyvale, obtaining her Associate and Bachelor of Science degrees in Web Design and Interactive Media. She is motivated to learn, teach, start conversations around decolonization and reinidgenization, permaculture and to continue doing what she loves, Art.
Gregg Castro [t'rowt'raahl Salinan/rumsien-ramaytush Ohlone], has been involved in preservation of his cultural heritage for over three decades, for both his late Mother’s rumsien Ohlone heritage, and on his late Father’s side, the since ended ‘Salinan Nation Tribal Council’ (serving two terms as Tribal Chair) and currently the non-profit organization, Salinan T’rowt’raahl. Gregg is a member of the Society for California Archaeology (SCA). He serves on SCA’s Native American Programs Committee (NAPC) as Chairperson. Gregg is a Co- Facilitator for the annual California Indian Conference. He is now the Culture Director of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone; within that role he is on the Advisory Board of the San Francisco American Indian Cultural District. Gregg is a writer and activist within the California indigenous community, on issues regarding cultural preservation, protection, education and traditional practices.
Friday 5 PM
Room: Cedar-Pine
A Rite of Reckoning
Presenter: The Fellowship of the Phoenix
The sun begins its descent and witches prepare to rise. Witches and queers, profaned and ostracized, gather! The nights lengthen again, our power swells, and our hearts revel. Radicals and dreamers, oppressed and rejected, come forth! The world right now is feeling harder than it has in decades for those of us who are different, who seek a peaceable world. Join us for a banishing of those things that would deny us that world. Let out your frustrations and fears within the container of community so that we move through the weekend with lighter, open hearts. Together we will fete our own divinity and reclaim our own sacred power in this world. This ritual is open to all conference attendees.
The Fellowship of the Phoenix is a Queer neopagan tradition and non-profit organization serving the unique needs of the LGBTQ+ community. We seek to encourage and reclaim Queer power, healing, and spirit for the individual and the community at large. We offer opportunities for relevant spiritual work in group formats and are working towards offering more guidance to the solitary practitioner. We have temples (local groups) in Chicago and Seattle, which host in-person rituals open to all LGBTQ+ adults throughout the year. We are also increasing our online activities to make the Fellowship available to people who aren’t able to attend in-person events with either temple. Find us at www.fellowshipofthephoenix.org
Room: Oak
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
Presenter: Patricia Pollinator
Pronouns: She/They
From Pagan nappers to Witchy insomniacs, reconnect with restorative, transformational sleep! Bring a cozy or a friend for a journey through Reclaiming-style ritual & trance to rebuild your elemental connection with rest. This ritual helps provide you with tools for tackling insomnia whether you are facing challenges sleeping or just want to curl up with a cat.
Patricia Miller is a theatre professional and professor, ritualist and Priestess in the Reclaiming tradition. She is interested in building bridges and acts of transformation, whether in performance space or in ritual spaces including Spiral Dance, Pantheacon, Witchcamps, Free camp, Many Gods West. In her professional life, she works in many genres as a producer and theatre director with professional credits across UK and Northern California.
Room: Fir
How to Wear a Spell
Presenter: Morgana RavenTree
Pronouns: She/Her
Learn how to use charms and talismans to create wearable spells, including charm bracelets and necklaces from a cross-cultural and multi-traditional perspective. Additional information about using symbols for various types of “fortune-telling” will also be presented.
Morgana RavenTree has been a practicing witch since 1978 and an Egyptian Priestess since 1993. A former anthropologist, she has always had a strong interest in studying non-North American cultures. As a member of Avaz International Dance Theatre since 1987, she has had the opportunity to study the cultures of the Balkans, Central Asia, the Middle East and Persia. A serious student of Silk Road cultures since 1991, she has studied with Honored Artists of Uzbekistan Viktoria Akilova and Qizlarkhon Dustmukhemedova, as well as Carolyn Krueger of Gulistan Dance Company and Dr. Robyn Friend. She is also the current President of Pagan Pride Los Angeles, Inc. and First Officer of the Orange County Local Council of Covenant of the Goddess, and teaches traditional Wicca in Southern California.
Instagram: @ghostwheel13
paganpridela.org
morgana@paganpridela.org
Room: San Jose/Santa Clara
Magic with Found Objects
Presenter: Wintersong Tashlin
Pronouns: He/Him/His
We can’t all carry a suitcase of magical working tools every moment of the day, yet there are times when, without warning, we find ourselves in just that need. This class will teach techniques for turning out a purse or backpack and with a few quick decisions, consecration, and charging spells, turn the contents into an on-the-go supply closet. And then, when possible, change them back again. Participants should each bring three random objects for practice.
Wintersong Tashlin (http://WinterTashlin.com) is a spirit worker, magician, educator, and activist who runs rituals and teaches classes on topics such as magic, spirituality, alternative sexuality, and relationships. His ritual work largely focuses on rites of personal transformation and ordeal; while his magical work is focused on a systematic approach to the interactions between people and the energies around us. As a spirit worker, Winter works with the wandering Dead, along with a diverse range of gods and spirits; offers divination service; and facilitates rituals for both individuals and communities on his own and with Clan Tashlin/Tashrisketlin, of which he is one of the founders. Wintersong has presented workshops and/or run rituals at events throughout the northeast and across the USA. His writing and photography has been featured in NewWitch Magazine, HUGGIN, and books by leading pagan authors.
No Dinner Break Scheduled
Friday 7 PM
Room: Cedar-Pine
Dinner with the Gods
Presenter: Gwion Raven
Pronouns: He/Him
Imagine if you received a phone call from your favourite deity. It just so happens they’ll be in town this weekend and they want to come to your house for dinner. How would you go about welcoming them into your home, providing them food, and entertaining them? Many Pagan and Witchcraft practices center around invoking, evoking, and inviting the gods to magickal rites. Occasionally they show up. Many times they don’t. How can you increase the likelihood the gods will make it to your ritual? Well, you can start creating a meal they can’t resist. Yep! We're gonna talk through setting up a dinner with the gods - The who, what, where, when, and how of it all.
Gwion Raven is a tattooed Pagan, writer, traveler, musician, cook, kitchen witch, occult shop owner, and teacher. Although initiated in three magickal traditions, Gwion describes his practice as virtually anything that celebrates the wild, sensuous, living, breathing, dancing, ecstatic, divine experiences of this lifetime. Born and raised in London, England, he now resides in Northern California and shares space with redwood trees, the Pacific Ocean, and his beloved partner.
Room: Oak
Hekate: Witness and Ally
Presenter: Timotha Doane
18+ only (ID required)
Hekate: Dark Moon Ritual and Shadow work. We will invoke Hekate and work with her as witness and ally. We will acknowledge our shadows, what we fear and reject. We will move out of the bonds of silence, fear and anger into that courageous place of fierce compassion.
Timotha is a lifelong torch bearer on Hekate’s path. She is also a Vajrayana practitioner and Chodpa. In the 60’s she began to work with Kenneth Anger. She has a background in Thelema. She has worked with the prison and death penalty abolition movement. She is a poet, and she is queer.
Room: Fir
Animistic Perspectives
Presenter: Sidney Eileen
Animism is a natural human impulse, as odd as that might seem in the context of greater Western culture. If you have ever cussed out an electronic device or a curb you tripped over, or thanked your car for making it there in time, you engaged with those things in an animistic way. Animism means understanding that everything has a soul, from you and me to every animal, plant, object, and place. It is a cosmological perspective on the nature of reality that is compatible with most cultures, traditions, and paths, and an important feature of the philosophies and cosmologies of a great many religions, both historic and modern. Join me as we explore what animism is, what I mean by “souls”, how to explore animism energetically, and how to apply animistic principles in your personal practice and everyday life. Fully embracing animism is a path to greater understanding of the spirits that exist around us, finding magic and wonder in urban zones, engaging compassionately with the world, and appreciating ourselves as one component of a much larger interconnected web of reality.
Sidney Eileen is a nonbinary, transgender, asexual, animistic, polytheist witch, and an artist, blogger, writer, and teacher. They acknowledge divinity and unique natures in not just deities, but in all manner of ephemeral and supernatural beings, spirits, living beings, and the souls that embody the physical objects and spaces around us. Their practice is lifelong and of an intuitive nature, seeking fulfillment through mutable asymmetrical balance. Their perspective as a witch and an artist influences everything they do.
Instagram: @sidney_eileen
Facebook: bySidneyEileen
Twitter: @sidney_eileen
Room: San Juan/San Carlos
Introduction to Playing Card Divination
Presenter: Rose Shannon
An overview of how to use playing cards for divination. You will learn the basic meanings of the colors, numerology, and suits, as well as how to read a simple three card spread. There will be time at the end of the presentation for practice. Bring a deck of cards, if you'd like to try doing readings.
Rose is a diviner, teacher, tantrika and witch, initiated in both the Feri and Sharanya traditions. She has particular divination experience with tarot, playing card cartomancy and I Ching. She lives in San Francisco, California.
Friday 9 PM
Room: Cedar-Pine
Queer Magicks - A Rite of Invocation
Presenter: Lasara Firefox Allen
Pronouns: They/Them
We come together to celebrate Queer Magicks. This is a Rite of Invocation. Together we will banish that which does not serve, and celebrate our godds, our ancestors, our paths, and our Beingness—here and now. Our survival is magick, and magick is our survival. Let us invoke. Let us recognize. Let us acknowledge. Let us dance!
Please bring water in your own vessel and your preference of snack for the grounding section, so as to minimize the passing of germs. This is an alcohol-free ritual—please do not bring alcohol into the space.
Lasara Firefox Allen (they/them/theirs) Lasara Firefox Allen (they/them/theirs) is a writer, Witch, and gritty academic. Having grown up in the wilds of Mendocino County, Lasara currently resides in Oakland, with/in the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Ohlone people. Lasara is a peer and a social work practitioner who practices from an intersectional and anti-oppression-focused feminist framework. They are a co-conspirator for our collective liberation.
Room: Oak
Fundamentals of Uti Seta
Presenter: Ryan Smith
Pronouns: He/Him/They/Them
Modern Norse practice has many different forms of mysticism which can offer practitioners new ways of gaining insights into themselves and the world around them. One of these forms of practice, Uti Seta, is both safe for many practitioners and easy to learn. Join the author of "The Way of Fire & Ice" for a hands-on workshop on Uti Seta, the Norse form of deep, trance meditation, and the wisdom it brings.
Ryan Smith has over a decade of experience organizing Pagan and Norse Pagan groups. Ryan has facilitated workshops, talks, and rituals at PantheaCon and Many Gods West along with group and solitary ritual work in local communities. He is one of the founders of Heathens United Against Racism (HUAR). His other works can be found online at onblackwings.com and at the Wayward Wanderer on Soundcloud.
Room: San Jose/Santa Clara
Drum Making Playshop
Presenter: Don Schulz
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Come make your own Magickal Tool! The drum is considered by many to be the oldest of the magickal tools and, as such, has a hallowed place in every practitioner’s tool bag. Here's your chance to imbue this most venerable of tools with your own energy and spirit with this rare "pay to play" Playshop. There will be 20 spaces available, 15 advance registration with a large menu and 5 on-site with more limited offerings. For prices and more information go to https://www.facebook.com/events/194135092922075 or email me at drummaker@thedifferentdrum.net
Advance registration closes 2 weeks prior to the conference or when sold out. 12 and older only, please.
Note: The fees for this playshop are independent of the Gathering Paths registration fees.
Those first drums were crude, lopsided, a bit askew, but… That sound. No, I stand corrected. Not sound. Feeling. It went clear to my bones, unlocking memories of past lives, visions of unknown places and peoples, connecting me with Spirit in a way I’d never experienced before. The simplicity of nothing more than wood and hide, intertwined in such a way that it transcended itself was actually, well, spiritual. So I listened to the drums. I communed with them. I asked them what they wanted. Oh, the visions they gave me! I spoke with drum makers in my dreams and in the ethereal and a single, simple command came back. Let the drums be what they want to be. Don’t force them. Let each have it’s own voice, it’s own personality. I’m no longer a maker of drums. I’m a guide. Join me on my journey.
Room: San Juan/San Carlos
Anonymous Spirits: On Approaching the Divine without Names or Knowledge
Presenter: L. Phaedrus Hreóchor
Pronouns: They/Them/He/Him/His
What do you do when you don't know Who is knocking on your door? Sometimes we can't discern Who it is, and sometimes They intentionally stay anonymous. Maybe you don't have a good connection, maybe you don't have access to a good diviner, maybe you aren't asking the right questions, and maybe They just aren't telling. This workshop will examine first whether one should build a relationship with unknown Gods and Spirits, and secondly how to go about it without offending Them or furthering cultural appropriation. There are advantages to not knowing, but compensating for the disadvantages takes a lot of work. First, we will look at how much knowing matters. Then, we will discuss tools for building trust without background, and a practice without any lore.
L. Phaedrus Hreóchor is a trans, genderfluid, queer magician, polytheist, diviner, and spirit worker currently living in New England. They work with a range of Gods and Spirits, though much of their practice is focused on anonymous Beings, local city spirits, and their dead. Hreóchor is a journeyman mage in clan Tashrisketlin/Tashlin. You can find Hreóchor on their blog: seekerphaedrus.wordpress.com.