Schedule

MerryMeet 2007
Leadership Institute
Please see the Leadership Institute
page.

MerryMeet 2007 Workshops
Workshop Information & Application Form

Draft Workshop Schedule
Subject to Changes

MerryMeet 2007 Poster Sessions
Poster Information & Application Form
See an example:
Weavers Local Council Poster

Just in case you missed the memo … we encourage each of the Local Councils to bring a poster representing the beauty, creativeness, sacredness, uniqueness of your area and people. If you don’t want to travel with a poster, then just bring the materials and we’ll supply you with the poster board and glue when you arrive!
Check the Posters information page for more details.

Watch this space for more Special Events and Workshop descriptions.

Merry Meet 2007 Workshop Descriptions

Kellianna's Lammas Chant Circle

Come to a Lammas chant circle facillitated by Folk Artist and teacher, Kellianna. Joining our voices together to honor Mother Earth is a powerful way to connect to Her and to each other. Kellianna writes her own chants, and also travels to festivals in the US and Europe collecting chants and songs to share at these circles. Our goal is to find joy in raising energy together through song and joining our voices together to become One voice. We will sing, chant and dance in honor of the first harvest festival of the year, but most of all, we'll have FUN!!!! www.kellianna.com

Chuck 2.0/Furnace -- The Middle Pillar: the Qabalistic Yoga of the West

For over a quarter of a century, The Star Lodge has used the Middle Pillar meditation as the foundation and engine of our ceremonial Magick. This technique unites the heavens and the earth within the body through focus, vocalization and breath.

Using shared chanting of different names of God and a shared vision of the Light of Creation returning to the world, we escape the walls we build around ourselves. Connected to the Light, we share in its diversity through its simple unity.

The Middle Pillar is a healing and energizing meditation, an energy yoga from The Western Tradition. Body centers represented by The Tree of Life are awakened and harmonized, then the Life Energy is circulated through the body as a bridge between the Earth and Sky. The energy is then passed from person to person, circulated as it was through the body.

Gypsey Teague -- Transgenderism, Transition and the Pagan Path

This seminar will explain how some transgenders come to terms with gender alignment while either maintaining or beginning a pagan path. There will be a very brief introduction by Gypsey and then a more detailed question and answer session with the audience and Gypsey on how each person deals with their own gender and paganism and how as a male to female transsexual Gypsey was able to reconcile a masculine path with a feminine deity.

Bryan Lankford -- Talking About Being Pagan

The topic of religious beliefs comes up very often in casual discussions and if you actually tell the person you are Pagan, Wiccan, or some other path then the inevitable question which follows is — What’s that? This workshop explores ways of discussing being Pagan with the non-Pagan public in ways that will seem neither threatening nor proselytizing. We will explore some of the common questions asked by non-Pagans and ways of answering those questions. This workshop is for anyone who wants to talk about their faith in either individual or group settings.

Beginner Pilates Mat class – Michael Thorn

Pilates is the ultimate abdominal workout. It’s the perfect method of body conditioning for strength, flexibility and toning. Working the core body muscles gives you more energy in your daily life and any physical activity from home and garden work to sports and recreation. Useful for women and men of all ages and fitness levels, this system of exercise can be fun and challenging.

Materials needed: exercise clothes, exercise mat and large beach towel.

Maria Simms – Quick & Easy Astrology for Magickal and Mundane Use

The astrological factors of the moment an action begins are significant to development and outcome. But these snide words of wisdom (author unknown) have been immortalized on a button: “It’s too bad the people who know how to run the world are too busy doing charts.” None of us have the time to do full charts for every ritual, spell, or mundane action you intend to initiate, even if we know how. All too often a timing decision must be made “on the spot,” with no time to do charts. So, how can you use astrology—quickly and easily—to aid your intent? Come to hear how to use quick and easy astrological tools and methods to choose the “right time,” accessible even to beginners in astrology.

J’Ann Peacock Alvarado – Forging and Directing the Intellect and the Will: Wands and Athames in Lore and Practice

A panel discussion of the Wand: It’s history, it’s use as a Magickal tool, a comparison with the Athame—differences and similarities of the wand ad various wand woods, materials for making wands—wood, metal, crystal, etc. A wood-trading table for exchanging different types of woods, canes and branches. (A possible hike to identify trees.)

Rachael Watcher – The Neo Pagan and Wiccan Position within Religious Intolerance or Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel?

I will discuss three underlying reasons for religious intolerance and how these causes apply to Neo Pagans and Wiccans specifically. I will discuss some of the underlying causes and solutions of these issues (if there are any) and illustrate that position with many examples and details from both personal and second-hand experience, as they apply to us.

Opeyemi – Magic and Medicine

We know magic works. This does not always fit nicely not the paradigm of the Dominant Culture, particularly when it comes to conventional medicine. Come explore the challenges, successes and future possibilities of carrying a Pagan belief system into the conventional medical establishment. This lecture/discussion will include such topics as: “Living in the belly of the beast” as a Pagan health practitioner “The Jonah Experience” of Pagans encountering major illness, seeking conventional medical treatment, and surviving the experience—undamaged. Also discussed will be “Outed” experiences with conventional medicine where a Pagan belief system is not volunteered by the client/patient, but identified by the mundane health practitioner, leading to fear, fascination, disgust or even persecution.

***********************************************************************
Ellen E. Hopman – Druids in the Grove

Join Ellen, Druid Priestess, in a lovely grove of trees (or, indoors in the event of rain!) for a discussion of the ancient and modern Druids. Wehre did the Druids originate? What did they believe? What do modern Durids do and how do they worship? How is Druidism different from modern Wicca? These and other topics will be discussed.

'Belly Dance for Ritual and Pleasure'

Come get ready for the Ball with a little belly dance. We'll be focusing on shimmies and the sensual figure eight. A shimmy can be small and unnoticed or loud and compelling. We'll show you all the shimmies we know, even the tongue shimmy! A figure eight mimics the movements of a snake and can be so small it is unseen. Then again, have you ever felt a snake move across your hand? If you think that feels good, wait until we show you the rest of the figure eights. You'll learn some basic belly dance, or deepen what you already know. And through it all we'll show you why this dance has lasted for thousands of years. Come dance with us!

************************************************************************

Andras Corban Arthen -- Which Witch is Which?

In this workshop we will explore the differences that exist between “traditional witchcraft” --- the magical practices, mostly derived from the British Isles, which have been generally passed down through families of witches --- and “Wicca”, the modern pagan religion that has provided most of the core beliefs and practices for the pagan movement since the 1950’s. We will compare and contrast these two approaches by using such criteria as their focus, definition, group structure, admission requirements, initiatory systems, training, and ritual style.

Generational Retention within the New Religious Movement of Neo-Paganism
Laura Wildman-Hanlon

The Pagan Census, conducted by Helen Berger in the early 1990s, found that “41.3 percent of all participants stated that they have children. Of these, 70 percent “claimed they encouraged their children to follow a Neo-Pagan spiritual path.” A number of years have gone by since the survey was taken. The question now is what happened to these children? Were we successful in providing a sense of both self and social identity, and fashioned strong enough ties to their community to cause the new generations to want to remain active within it after they reached the age of adulthood? Have they left to explore other spiritual paths? Become Born Again Christians? Or are they staying to help take the moment into the future. This talk is based on the findings from Laura’s initial research into this question.

Margot Adler – Paganism: What’s New, What’s Changed, How We Are Different Today

Drawing Down the Moon was first published in 1979—since then the movement has grown and changed. The number of Pagans has grown perhaps seven fold in the U.S. alone. There are more than 5,000 Pagan websites, there are Pagan AA groups, prison ministries, international interfaith works, charities, seminaries and rites for the dead. All these things have changed who we are as a movement in complex ways. This is a presentation and discussion of all these issues.

Margot Adler – Creating Ecstatic, Spontaneous Ritual

There has been a tendency in the Pagan movement to move toward theatrical rituals and away from the use of group participatory sound-based rites. This is partly because the movement is now so big, we no longer know all the same chants, as we perhaps did in the 1980’s. We also have come to rely much more on the staged performance of fabulous Pagan musicians. This is a workshop to get back to those spontaneous chanting roots, some of us may have forgotten, and some of us may never have experienced, sharing songs sounds, ululations and using them to crate the flow and ebb in rituals.

Macha Lilith ni Padraiga – Pagans and Life Crisis: What to do When the Sky Falls

How do Pagans help other Pagans and our families when we lose our jobs, get injured, get sick, die or go through some other major life crisis? What is needed “when the sky falls” in someone’s life? What is the most helpful? What should be avoided? Are we doing as well as we can in helping each other? What can we learn from the “casserole committees” and “lay ministers” of more formal religious communities?

Based on personal experiences, we will share how we have dealt with life crisis events, what helped us and how we have helped others. We will discuss what pagans do well in helping each other during difficult times and what we could do better. The focus of this workshop is person to person help, rather than the formal structures of the helping professions.

Peter Bishop & Cat Chapin-Bishop -- Whadda Ya Mean, “Quaker Pagan”? How (and Why) Witches Can be Friends

Despite its origins as a radical offshoot of protestant Christianity, many liberal Friends (Quakers) today are not Christian, and an increasing number self-identify as Pagan. What points of similarity and difference are there between Wiccan and Quaker practice and belief, and what do Paganism and the Religious Society of Friends have to teach and to learn from each other? Topics to be discussed will include the experience of Quaker worship, spiritual discernment among Quakers and Wiccans, business meetings as worship, and meeting “that of God(dess) in everyone,” as well as the current place of Christian ideas within the Religious Society of Friends. Time to reflect on and discuss some Quaker Testimonies (earth care, peace, simplicity) will be provided, and the Quaker technique of “worship sharing” will be taught.

Ludmilla Padlova -- Green Living

The workshop will begin with a review of current conditions in terms of human consumption of natural resources, as well as an overview of nature religion and of COG’s mission. It will outline steps that are necessary for institutional action and will go on to discuss in greater detail specific steps that individuals and groups can take for effective transformation toward a more ecologically conscious living and work practices.

Paula Chaffee Scardamalia -- Introduction to Shamanic Dream Techniques for Creativity and Life

Sleep dreams and conscious dreams all have gifts of guidance and inspiration for our lives and our creativity if we know how to receive and understand them.

This introductory workshop teaches you basic shamanic dreamwork skills. Learn how to:
- remember, record, incubate, and work with sleep dreams for guidance and inspiration
- make conscious dream journeys with the aid of a drum
- use the experiences and images of dream reality to enrich and inspire your creative life whether you are writing a novel, creating a ritual, or designing an oracle deck.

Adam Chertoff -- TanDao Kung Fu: The Universal Form

What is the Universal Form?

TanDao's signature exercise, developed by Lawrence Tan, the Universal Form is…

• a practical moving meditation for health, stress control, and longevity.
• a unique exercise that distills the essence of traditional mind/body disciplines like yoga, tai ji, and qi gong into a cycle with a beginning, middle and end that can be completed within three minutes.
• a simple and adaptable set of movements designed for individual needs and abilities. It can be done anytime, anyplace.

During this Workshop we first warmup with the Three Dragon Treasures exercises followed by Kung Fu Stance stretching, and learning the classical Horse Stance. We will then learn the basics of the Universal Form for Stretch, Dynamic Tension, and Flow.

Drake Spaeth -- Singing the Soul Home: A Celtic-Style Group Soul Retrieval

Before we can ever become fully capable of loving another human being with all of our soul, we need to HAVE all of our soul. How can we truly be said to love another if we cannot love ourselves? How can we we love ourselves if we are not completely ourselves on the first place? Sadly, traumas, losses, and even overly shrill alarm clocks engender in all of us varying degrees of "soul loss". What if it were possible, out of the genuine longing of our hearts, to call back to us those pieces of ourselves stuck or wandering in the Otherworlds? Wanna try? Join us!