Classes & Rituals 2022
The Gathering Paths August 5th - 7th, 2022
DoubleTree Hotel, San Jose, CA
Sunday 9 AM
Room: Fir
Tea: the History, Mystery, and Magick
Presenter: Kitchen Witch Gourmet Tea - Jenay Marontate
Come with me on a journey of Tea. We will start with a recap of the basics of learning the types of tea and how to brew them. We will explore the dynamic and powerful history of tea. I will share with you the healing elements, and health benefits of this ancient elixir. Together we will share and discuss the intuition of our grandmother's Kitchen Witchery and their herbal tea magicks. I will discuss the harmonious balance that tea rituals, tea meditation, and tea magick and bring into your day to day life to lift you up and elevate your connection to this beloved plant.
Jenay Marontate created Kitchen Witch Gourmet tea company 12 years ago. A delicious adventure into edible magic that will elevate your tea drinking and dining experience. Recently signed to Llewellyn to write a book on the topic of Tea Magic Jenay is overjoyed to share this passion for tea with you.
Facebook: KitchenWitchGourmet
Instagram: @kitchenwitchgourmet
Sunday 11 AM
Room: Cedar-Pine
Dancing the Rhythms of the Earth & the Seasons
Presenter: Maureen Atkins, Sacred Circle Dance Facilitator
Pronouns: She/Her
Sacred Circle Dance is a type of dance that is all inclusive-beginners welcome. All dances are taught first. We will dance the Seasons and Elements. Music from around the world. Dances are soulful and meditative as well as playful and celebratory.
Maureen Atkins has been teaching Sacred Circle Dance since 1995. Over the years she has taught at past pagan gatherings, dance camps, dance retreats and collaborated with other presenters. The dances taught are fine for beginners and embody the Wheel of the Year and the rhythms of the earth.
Room: Fir
Unconventional Tools and Altar Supplies
Presenter: Sidney Eileen
Pronouns: Ze/Zir/Zirs
The only essential for witchcraft practice is yourself. Everything else is icing on the cake, tools which can be used to aid in achieving focus for your magical or devotional practice. Are they fun? Sure. Inspiring? Absolutely. Useful? Undoubtedly. Essential? Not usually. Even those items which are almost ubiquitous in modern witchcraft can be problematic for individuals, be that due to financial limitations, space limitations, being in the broom closet, bad associations, allergy, disability, or more. Even if having one or more of those items is feasible, maybe it just doesn’t seem to click or hold the power for you that it does everyone else. Maybe something less conventional, but with greater personal meaning, will work just as well or better. Join us as we discuss alternatives and creative means of finding and consecrating magical tools and altars supplies that are respectful and perfect for your personal practice.
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 Jose/Santa Clara
Writing From Your Body—A Somatic Writing Workshop
Presenter: Lasara Firefox Allen
Pronouns: They/Them
Please bring the writing implements of your choice.
Do you want to deepen your writing process? Join me for a somatic writing experience. Your body has stories to tell: ancient stories, new stories, stories of heartbreak, stories of breaking through, stories of joy, deep stories, wild stories, silly stories; your stories. Your markings, intentional or unintentional, carry stories, as do your cells. Your scars, body art, bones, and blood all hold memories. This workshop offers you an opportunity to write out some of the stories your body holds. Through embodiment practices, writing prompts, memory exercises, and other techniques, Lasara will help you uncover some of your hidden voices and allow them to speak.
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 Ukiah with/in the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Pomo people. Lasara is a social work practitioner who practices from an anti-oppression and intersectional feminist framework. They are a Harm Reductionist, social justice activist, and a co-conspirator for our collective liberation.
Room: Carmel/Monterey
CircleSinging
Presenter: Evelie Delfino Såles Posch
Pronouns: Siya/She/Her
(Description pending)
Evelie Delfino Såles Posch is a sacred song singer/writer, culture bearer & music educator. She is a devoted chantress (in 34 languages); Certified Sound Therapist & Pranic Healer, and ritualist. She has roots in her indigenous Babaylan (witch doctor) tradition from the Philippines as well as with Reclaiming. Evelie has been singing all her life according to her mother and first teacher, Divinia. Evelie's music ministry brings her to assisted living & rehab centers, hospitals, retirement homes, & even prisons. She can be found on social media avenues such as:
Facebook: evelie.posch
Twitter: @evelie_sings
calrevels.org
Facebook: CaliforniaRevels
Room: San Juan/San Carlos
DUE TO ILLNESS, THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN CANCELED
Queering Cosmologies
Presenter: Rev. George Garcia-Marshall
Pronouns: They/Them
Modern Pagan religion is beautifully diverse and ever-changing. Our endlessly varied traditions find inspiration in myriad sources; everything from the histories left for us by Christian missionaries to ecstatic gnosis. Many modern practitioners seek mediation between the two, and it's that balance we'll explore together through some lecture and active discussion on how that parity might be achieved.
We'll talk about how our worldviews give us a template for manifestation and spiritual wholeness. Cosmologies (worldviews) are the maps with which we navigate our larger world, giving it context and meaning. Rather than a literal topological or civic map, these maps are fluid and discuss subjective findings about our experienced world. We'll discuss what our worldviews consist of, and explore together how the act of engaging those worldviews can lead to a more cosmologically engaged spiritual and magical practice. We will end with some guided meditation that provides a look into the developing cosmology of the living, polytheist, and queer home tradition of the presenter.
This workshop is open to all conference attendees.
George is a queer witch, teacher, and clergyperson originally from the Midwest. They are the national Director of Education for the Fellowship of the Phoenix, a non-profit Neopagan organization for queer people. They have been active in pagan and queer community for their entire adult life and were ordained in the summer of 2021. The core of their work centers around helping people to claim and maintain personal power in the face of very relevant fear; to help reorient people in their world so that they can continue to experience divinity and hold on to hope. They can be reached at george@fotpseattle.org
Sunday Lunch 12:30 - 2 PM
Sunday 2 PM
Room: Cedar-Pine
The Well of Song: An Improv Singing Circle
Presenter: Sharon Knight
Pronouns: She/Her
Imagine that there is a great Well of Music residing deep within the collective consciousness. This is the place from which all music pours out, and where all music will return. We can all tap this flow of music, and learn to trust the song that comes out of us. This will be a facilitated song circle, where we'll sing together in 4-part harmony based on music drawn right from the Well in the moment. Sharon orchestrates to give you a place to root, but you will be invited to reach into the Well and begin a song also.
Sharon Knight is a lifelong musician and artist with a deep love of this beautiful jewel of a planet we live on. She creates from an animistic worldview, and loves to sing to the sea and the wind and the trees. She also loves to sing with you, and hear your beautiful voices woven in harmony!
Facebook: SharonKnightMusic
Room: Oak
African Martial Arts Demo
Presenter: Katt
Pronouns: He/Him
Ever wanted to learn about how Egyptians used their Khopeshes, or how the Zulu used their Iklwas and Shields? How about the use of the Shotel? show up at the class and find out.
As a follower of Sekhmet, I have always been pulled toward weapons and combat. It was that pull that got me interested in martial arts, which I have been involved in for over 30 years. I have studied various arts such as Kendo and Saber fencing. I worked with the Black Swords, which I am still a part of but, it is currently led by one of my students. I am also a founding member of HAMAA ( Historical African Martial Arts Association). It is my hope to help people on their personal journeys as martial arts helped me.
Room: Fir
Stones that Live and Breathe: Passionate Engagement with Venerable Images
Presenter: Silence Maestas
Pronouns: He/Him
18+ only (ID required)
Today’s pagans and polytheists love engaging with religious imagery, and we do so in many ways. How do these forms of engagement connect with the past, and how are they distinct to our specific modern contexts? How can we individually and collectively engage with religious images in responsible and respectful ways? What implications do these images have for our modern spiritual practices? Join us in exploring this rich topic with other iconophiles.
Silence Maestas is an author, educator, and artist based in Salt Lake City, UT who has presented at PantheaCon, Many Gods West, SpiritCon, online polytheist conferences, and regional gender- and sex-positivity conferences. Drawing on a background in witchcraft, devotional practice, and diverse religious traditions, Silence aims to empower people through information and direct experience.
Facebook: SilenceMaestasWriter
Room: San Jose/Santa Clara
Clothing Swap
Presenter: Phoenix Starr
Pronouns: Birdie/they/them
Do you have witchy garb, accessories, or ritual tools you'd like to give away or trade? Bring them to our clothing swap! We ask that you do not drop and go, please take your items with you when you leave so our host doesn't have to clean up the mess!
Phoenix is an eclectic Pagan of nearly 15 years with dramatic flair and a passion for fashion.
Room: Carmel/Monterey
DUE TO ILLNESS, THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN CANCELED.
Worshipping the Queer Self
Presenter: George Garcia-Marshall
Pronouns: They/Them
Our world is increasingly difficult to navigate as queer folk; full of messaging that tells us to stop being ourselves and systemic obstacles that seem to consistently push back on us. Calls for self-care are rampant - with excellent cause - but what often gets suggested as self-care would be more honestly called triage that ultimately supports the status quo. The advice to engage in more self care activities is too often limited in scope, so let’s broaden our view of ourselves.
What if we instead considered caring for our selves as a primary need instead of a response? What if we focused on our selves with the same level of devotion that we do our divinities and spirits? Let's discuss the concept of self-care and our culture's messaging surrounding it. The idea that we even need to be reminded to care for ourselves points to both personal and cultural conflict. As pagan, polytheist, or otherwise magical folks we already have tools of caring and love; we'll talk about centering our selves in the work and worship that we're already engaged in.
This workshop is open to all conference attendees. Discussion will prioritize the voices of queer and POC community members and thank attending allies for respecting that boundary.
George is a queer witch, teacher, and clergyperson originally from the Midwest. They are the national Director of Education for the Fellowship of the Phoenix, a non-profit Neopagan organization for queer people. They have been active in pagan and queer community for their entire adult life and were ordained in the summer of 2021. The core of their work centers around helping people to claim and maintain personal power in the face of very relevant fear; to help reorient people in their world so that they can continue to experience divinity and hold on to hope. They can be reached at george@fotpseattle.org
Room: San Juan/San Carlos
Rites of Earth Reverence
Presenter: Mark Green
Pronouns: He/Him
This is a ritual with a simple purpose: to express, center, and honor our devotion to the Earth of which we are a part. It will present opportunities for participants to make oaths of commitment to action, to take on roles in their local communities related to Earth service, and to express their devotion and humble love for this amazing Planet that is our home.
Author of ATHEOPAGANISM: An Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science, and a Pagan for 35 years, Mark Green is a writer, poet, thinker, ritualist, singer and activist. He is best known in his local area as the founder of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the largest environmental organization on the North Coast of California. He works in the nonprofit sector, lives in the exquisite watershed of the Russian River (Coast Miwok/Southern Pomo land) with his partner Nemea and Kiki, the Circus Cat, and seeks to eat this magnificent life with both hands. He is a proud member of the 30-year-old Pagan circle Dark Sun.
Facebook: dracowyrm
Sunday 4 PM
Room: Cedar-Pine
Closing Ceremony
Presenters: Between The Veils Organization Co-Founder Tanuki Wise, Board President Jonathan Quant, Gregg Castro