Pagan Alliance conference update
September 25, 2011 in Events, Pagan Groups, Pagan Leaders
It was a typical grey and chilly day in San Francisco yesterday, Saturday, September 24th, for the Pagan Alliance’s First Annual Conference on Earth-Based, Nature Centered & Indigenous Faiths – Gender & Earth-Based Spiritualities, which, coupled with typical San Francisco parking issues may have caused the slight delay in starting. However, it can only be termed a success in production, topic, and attendance. The gravitas of the speakers called to discuss the issues of Gender and Earth Based Spirituality were certainly commensurate with the seriousness of the issue in our community. The tone of the occasion was added to by the venue. The event was held in the Unitarian Universal Center of San Francisco. 
Built of Stone in 1889, and added to in later years, using concrete construction attuned to the original sanctuary, its open and spiritual environment and aura of the sacred lent itself well to the topics and work at hand. Well done ladies and gentlemen, and I must say it was a very pleasant change to get off the grass and away from the porta-potties. It really is more than time that we approach our discussions with this level of serious professionalism.
Earlybird cost of this one day event was $40 for both morning and afternoon sessions not including lunch or the after event mixer. For a conference of this caliber, these were reasonable rates indeed though I half expected that such costs would be prohibitive. I am told, however, that there were nintety-nine pre-registrations and ten walk-ins, which is ample proof that I was wrong. A lovely program, bound and detailed, awaited the registrant complete with full, half, and quarter page ads to support its production; yet more proof of the level of skill that this young group has attained.
Several tables of information on other organizations were available to waiting attendees in some cases with calendars of events. These included Come As You Are (CAYA) Coven, The Circle of Dionysos, Earth Medicine Alliance, the holy order of the epicene ( lower case their preference), Fellowship of the Sprial Path, and Solar Cross Temple .
The morning began with a smudging ritual and opening invocation followed by opening remarks from joy wolfwomyn (lower case at her preference). Her remarks were succinct and I am delighted that she has developed into such a fine public speaker within the community.
Her welcome was immediately followed by the Key note speaker, Vicky Noble, “a feminist shamanic healer, author, scholar and wisdom teacher. Born in 1947 and raised in Iowa, she awakened to the Goddess and Women’s Spirituality on her arrival in Berkeley, Californiain 1976. Through a “shamanic healing crisis”, she opened psychically to the healing, art, yoga, and divination processes that led to the creation of the Motherpeace Tarot . Ms Noble spoke to two primary points: Increased consciousness, and
gender diversity in humanity. She focused on intersex births and the medical profession’s intervention both phyical and social, for the newborn. She, in turn was followed by other equally qualified and eloquent speakers in order:
Judy Grahn and Dianne Jenett, Polytheism and Gender Bonding
Daniel Foor, Embracing Ancestral Support
MamaKoatl, Beyond Belief, Reconnecting with Pachamana’s Heart
Sarah Astarte, Ph.D, Body Image: Healing, Wholeness and Gender
Dr. Sarah Whedon, It’s a Girl: Gender and Pagan Birthing
joi wolfwomyn, 3rd Genders in History
Dr. Hayden Reynolds, Messages of the Sacred Androgyne
Jeanne Eichenbaum, Beyond the Visible: Transgender Therapist’s Musing
Diana Paxson, Unmanly Men, Manly Women: Gender Roles in Viking Magic
Max Dashu, Interpreting Gender in the Cultural Record
Dr. Charlie Glickman, The Mystery and the Masculine
Derik Crowan, Social Constructionist’s Vision of Sacre Androgyne
Chandra Alexandre, Blood Mysteries: Goddess and Women in Tantra
Veronica Monet, Doorway to the Divine
Michael Gorman, Walker Between Worlds, a Heritage Reborn
Lance Moore, Integrity and the Claiming of Power
Rev. Teri Ciacchi and Tai Quyn Kulystin, Embodying the Sacred Whore
T. Thorn Coyle, Reunion of Love: Genderqueer Theology
Dr. Hayden Reynolds and Christine Brooks, Beyond a Gender Binary
Jason Mankey, The Horned God
Lady Yeshe Rabbit, Ritual of Radical Forgiveness
Dr. Judy Schavrien, Return of the Earth Goddesses: 5th Century Athens and Todayhs and the medical profession’s intervention both phyical and social, for the newborn.
Lady Yeshe Rabbit and CAYA Clergy, Presented A Ritual of Forgiveness and CAYA coven asked for Radical Forgiveness for any missteps that they may have made and offered forgiveness to thoese who have acted and spoken against them. This ritual is in direct response to misunderstandings that arose around actions last February at Pantheacon inSan Jose.
Now with such an impressive list of speakers and subjects before you don’t you just wish that they would take this show on the road? In the opinion Michele Mueller, doctoral student at the Graduate Theological Seminary of Berkeley, the audience was both appreciative of the quality of spokespersons and the relivance of their topics and that all were very engaged in the conference process.
Lunch, and a mixer after the event, were catered by Molto Benne of San Francisco. The conference hosts made sure to use funds collected to increase the quality of the event including food and drink right down to the pomegranate mimosas. Music was available throughout lunch and at the mixer after the presentations where folks could come together for some chat time with the presenters, and a silent auction.
No doubt the real key to this success was the active and continued pursuance of sponsorship and advertising. Sponsors this year included:Circle of Dionysos,SolarCrossTemple, The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Earth Medicine Alliance, and CAYA Coven. Vendors included, Pajo’s Soaps, Art of Max Dashu, Faerie Fotos/Faerie Sexy Apparel, Willowroot Wands, Stone City Sanctuary , Beansidhe Arts.
Congratulations on a job well done! We look forward to next year with great anticipation.
View more photos of event
Rachael Watcher with Greg Harder for Bay Area PNC
Calling the gender exclusion “misunderstandings” is rather soft-pedaling of you. CAYA coven’s subgroup committed hate on women for the sin of having been born with the “wrong” body parts. Looks to me from your write-up that the conference failed to teach anyone anything if you think it was mere misunderstanding. And CAYA thinking they are in a position to “forgive” anyone speaks of a continuing arrogance on their parts. They committed the wrongs. What they received was their due and the rage they needed to hear.
A wonderful day well spent!
Lysana, although you know me personally and have full access to speak with me or any other member of CAYA about this complex situation, you have not chosen to do so. At this point, having attended neither the original presentation at PCon nor the Conference, which we wholeheartedly sponsored, supported, and participated in, your comment here is both untrue and escalating. It reads as irresponsibly provocative and entirely self-referential. Yesterday’s conference was amazing and respectful to all perspectives. Our ritual was heartfelt and humble. I encourage you to check your facts rather than issue forth further polemics that create pain and cause harm.
Thank you! Wonderful Post, wish I could’ve been at the conference!
Next year’s date should be released soon.
The caterer was actually Molto Benne of SF not Melisabees.
In response to Lysana, you did not attend the conference I assume and therefore have no idea what all was said done, nor dealt with there. CAYA as a whole is an affirming and inclusive organization. You are confusing the Amazon priestesses (a closed group) with Come As You Are Coven as a whole. Also, Rabbit received death threats and many hate-filled responses to what happpened at Pantheacon and that is never acceptable regardless of your stance on any issue. Did you read: http://bayarea.pagannewswirecollective.com/2011/09/22/pagan-alliance-to-present-its-%E2%80%9Cgender-and-earth-based-spiritualities-conference%E2%80%9D/
In fact CAYA’s co-sponsorship on the event pushed us over a threshold where we were able to offer scholarships to many transfolk, as well as other low-income and disabled persons. The Conference was a wonderful and respectful interaction between folks of many different viewpoints and it is too bad that you didn’t attend, doubtless you could have learned something about the complexity of gender(s) in our community.
Lysana, et.al.
I am a white, straight male. Apparently also a person. I was not very familar with the base line of issues for this conference. While I was aware that “tenions” even anger existed about inclusion / exclusion of trangendered persons, I was not aware of the length and dpeth of those issues. Openly admitting ignorance at a conference makes me an idea target. I amsure you are aware of much stronger targeting, I am sure you can belittle my openness. I encourge you to do so. For perhaps in that process you can realize some of the “cis” persons are vulnerable. I’ll even admit I knew neither the use nor reason for the prefix before Saturday.
The persons at the conference were patient, did well at teaching, at providing information as well as a welcome opening series for thoughtful understanding of views. It was a very good experience.
The CAYA ritual did not solve the need for Radical Forgiving. Such can not be done in an hour, nor in a week. The event at Pantheacon was neither the first nor last of exclusion. The process will take a long time. Yet CAYA IS doing great leadership and pushing the issue. It is not comfortable. Please feel your own resentment about how llttle CAYA knows of that feeling. IF you can, undersand how every “not you” group has faced the same things over time; whatever rights — Mongolian, skin colors, heritage, weath, on and on — the process continues. CAYA is not the first to make the attempt to try some inclusion based on love. Yet it is better than trying to hold back exclusion.
I expect that your own feelings are accurate for you. I sitll ask, TRY. Just TRY to accept this and these attempts to bring positive change. Such is not easy. Such efforts have no guarantees. I think the efforts are worth it.
There is enough hurt in the world.
While there are many issues where my understanding is quite limited, my belief on gender did not shift at all from this conference. I believe that gender is fluid, points may be “defined” at a variety of the non linear path, yet the motion of anyone’s path is not “held” at any point, for change is constant. Anger comes with demanding ONE (or ONE changed) point is THE answer.
Most respectfully submitted.
I am a person not extremely well versed in Transgender history, perhaps almost “ignorant” of the recent years of tenston. In other words a person who can easily be a “target” in a tense setting, and where “issues” are in the long process of happening. At THIS conference, I was welcome and felt comfortable enough to expose that which I did not know; I felt comfortable in LEARNING. As a straight male who did not quite understand the importance of the prefix “cis,” I enjoyed the atmosphere and the pouring out of real knowledge. The tensions of a large variety of views was obvious, yet at this place and this time, there was a great effort toward understanding and acceptance.
Are there still “issues”? Of course! Yet more was done in a day to help understanding, acceptance and yes, compassion and love than I’ve seen over decades with so many, Oh WAY too many issues, Oh WAY too many hurts!!!
Are there negative feelings about avariety of opions, standings, openness? Of COURSE! Yet, for now, there is serious progress toward acceptance, understanding and yes, actual love.
The conference was and is a very positive, moving experience. Radical Forgiveness is not easy, nor is it accomplished in one short ritual. Yet I ask, please, please accept that it has begun, For whatever failings there are, these did not begin at Pantheacon. Nor did they end Saturday. Yet such are indeed moving TO a better understanding and maybe, just maybe, resolution.
@lysana, we seem to be at odds yet again, and yet again you are speaking of things with which you have no real experience. First, there was a huge amount of material covered at this conference that was not directly related to the events at PCon. That this article decided to focus on the few things that did relate is no reason for you, who did not attend the conference, to bash it from a distance. Second,whatever CAYA;s culpability in the events at PCon may have been, death threats are *never* an appropriate response. Perhaps you need to educate yourself on what constitutes “appropriate expressions of rage.”
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