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Five PantheaCon Highlights

Five PantheaCon Highlights

Last updated on: February 17, 2016 at 9:13 pm by Annika Mongan

Five PantheaCon Highlights 2016-02-17T21:13:26-07:00 Annika Mongan

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Another PantheaCon is over and it already seems like a week has gone by, or two, or maybe I’m still there and about to go to the next thing on the schedule. PantheaCon does that to me. It distorts all sense of time. Each day goes by in a flash, punctuated by meals that always seem to follow each other too quickly. And yet when those short days are over and I am back home, I feel like I am looking back on weeks. I find it odd that my houseplants are still moist from the last watering, the sorrel in my garden is still in bloom, the lemons just as ripe as when I left.

I like to call PantheaCon my ninth Sabbat. It’s as firmly a part of my wheel of the year as solstices, equinoxes, and cross quarters. If Imbolc is my new year, PantheaCon is the event that anchors me on the new turn of the wheel. Stories and blog posts are just starting to emerge, and we don’t yet know the impact of this year’s convention. This year I am especially curious to read the reports of others, since most my own experiences took place outside of the main programming.

I only made it to a handful of workshops and rituals. My schedule was full of events I wanted to attend, but instead I reunited with lovers, old and new, and explored the concept of tribalamory. But that is a story for another time. Before the memories fade, here are some highlights from the presentations I did manage to visit.

1) The Ole Time Good Spell Feri Pagan Tent Revival

The Ole Time Good Spell Feri Pagan Tent Revival

What can I say? It’s the one event at PantheaCon that I vowed I would return to every year, and I am glad I did. Can I get a Hallefuckinglujah? My partner showed up early and was second in a line that grew quickly. I can only imagine how many folks arrived too late and were turned away. We sat in the front row, next to my favorite crone (she’s awesome, I wrote about her here) I shouted “Hallefuckinglujahs” and “Preach It Sista” and “Amen” a few times too many and now sound like a frog. Unlike in previous years I was able to let go, join the clapping, the shouting, the dancing, and was glad for the glitter fan as the room heated up.

And yet, as always, Jenya reminded us that despite the hilarity of the format, “this is church, this is ritual”. And it was. Maybe I am wrong to say that it was deep despite of all the laughter and fun. Maybe we were open and went deeper because of it. My partner said that Jenya’s sermon was more powerful than any he had heard in his decades in Pentecostal services. Many of us were broken open, renewed and encouraged. “There is nothing like this anywhere else in the world,” I said to my partner. “That choir, the preacher man, Sister Jenya, this amazing crowd, the raising of energy, the laughter and heartbreaking truth – where else do you ever get a ritual like this?” Nowhere.

2) Pagan Humor, once again

My other PantheaCon staple is Angus McMahan’s stand up comedy. The event was finally relocated to a room that is lit by more than a single light bulb (his words). I also enjoyed being able to inhale oxygen between laughs, unlike in previous years. With all of our shadow work, social justice discussions, and different magical energies at PantheaCon, an hour and a half of laughter on Saturday afternoon is as refreshing to me as a nice long walk in the woods.

Some of Angus’ stories will crop up again in our community, as they always do, and will become (stolen) inside jokes. It’s almost like Angus gets to be an adjunct member of our community, which is great, because we couldn’t actually live together. Because in my house, we love our salad spinner far too much. (You’ll have to visit his blog to learn about his unfortunate lack of understanding regarding the importance of salad spinners).

Last year’s PantheaCon. I totally failed to take pictures this year.

3) Raise The Horns for Jason Mankey

There are many amazing people who go out of their way for the Pagan community, but this year Jason Mankey deserves a special shout out. His presentation on Athames and Other Pointy Things was full of fascinating information as well as hilarious (did someone say, ahem, pointy things?). I hear the same was true of his other talks, which were my partner’s favorite presentations this year. In addition, Jason fed all of us Patheos writers on his own dime and dealt with our blogs even while at PantheaCon. Instead of taking a day off, he did yet another talk and book signing the day after, only to fly to ConVocation for more talks, presentations, rituals. And finally he will be moderating a panel of Patheos writers (good luck with that one!). I’m exhausted just writing about his schedule. Our community truly runs on many un- and under-compensated labors of love.

4) Lon Milo DuQuette and Sharon Knight & Winter

I meant to spend more time listening to music, but alas, I missed most concerts. I did, however, enjoy a couple of songs by Lon Milo DuQuette, whose show was titled Don’t Write Me Off Because I’m Old. All I have to say is, don’t write him off because he’s old. Don’t. Oh, and buy his stuff, as he likes to suggest in countless humorous ways.

My most frustrating scheduling conflict was between Sharon and Winter‘s concert and a Cernunnos ritual. I ended up at the latter, a beautiful ritual with plenty of movement in a room that didn’t allow for movement. I was disappointed that it ended early. But there was simply not enough space to run and play with the Horned One. On the plus side, I was able to see the second half of Sharon and Winter’s show, enjoyed old favorites as well as a taste of their new Portals album. I am looking forward to sitting down at home and listening to the album without a dozen other things beckoning for my attention.

I love my partners. I complained that I didn’t take any pictures at PantheaCon this year, so they took one of the cool revival glitter fan on my altar.

5) Hospitality Suites & Grapefruit Juice

What would PantheaCon be without hospitality suites? I meant to visit them all, but only made it to Reclaiming, the Green Fairy Party, and the Four Paths suite. At the Reclaiming suite I enjoyed meeting new people both from my own tradition, as well as visitors curious about Reclaiming. At the Four Paths suite, hours of extroverting (that should be a verb) with Ivo Dominguez made for another PantheaCon highlight.

This was also my first year visiting the Green Fairy Party. I simply abhor the taste of alcohol in every form, even in chocolate and desserts. (Maybe it’s because I grew up in Germany and will forever associate the taste of alcoholic drinks with being a teething toddler). This year I decided to go anyways, and found that the Green Fairy Party is fun even without drinking Green Fairy drinks.

I did, however, consume a considerate amount of grapefruit juice. I know, I fit the California hippy stereotype, but what can I say, I love grapefruit juice. Invitations to share drinks at the bar were plenty, and I drank glass after glass while reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. In the end, everything at PantheaCon always comes back to community.

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