A very special thanks to Sean Fitzgerald for his beautiful design work for our
conference. Instagram @seanfitzgeraldart)
Registration is Now Open!
REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE: CLICK HERE
We
are offering a sliding scale of $75 USD to $25 USD in an attempt to
make this event as accessible as possible. Not familiar with sliding
scales? (Here is some wonderful information to help you choose the right payment level. Thanks to Vyviane at Land Sea Sky Travel for calling our attention to this resource.)
APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP: CLICK HERE
Scholarship applications are open through Sunday, 3rd October at midnight PST. We will notify all applicants by Sunday, 10th October.
CAN'T MAKE THE CONFERENCE?
No problem. All workshops will be recorded, and video recordings will be made available to registered users through the end of November, 2021, so you are welcome to register even if you cannot attend on the day.
PRESENTERS & THEIR WORKSHOPS ARE LISTED BELOW.
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We are honored to announce the list of our six presenters for the conference on Saturday, 16th October, 2021.
Morpheus Ravenna
WORKSHOP: For the Living and the Dead: Creating death rituals for Celtic polytheist lifeways
When we lose someone in a spiritual community, we need grieving, funerary, and memorial rituals to help us process the death, support the dead person’s spirit, and appropriately honor their remains and their memory. What might Celtic polytheist death rituals look like? This talk will draw on historical, mythic, and folkloric narratives as well as archaeology to identify elements of ritual from the deep well of Celtic cultures which can inform our death rituals. I will also discuss ritual structure to highlight the core elements that are needed in each of the different types of death ritual. My hope is to offer a set of tools to help us envision contemporary death rituals inspired by Celtic polytheist lifeways.
Mortellus
Mortellus is the High Priestex of the Coven of Leaves in Western North Carolina, a Gardnerian coven operating an Outer Court training group who like to say that they are a bubbling cauldron of esoterica slithering their way through Western North Carolina. Additionally, Mortellus is a Mortician, Medium, Necromancer, and author of Do I Have to Wear Black? Rituals, Customs & Funerary Etiquette for Modern Pagans. Currently, they reside on three acres that are hastily becoming overgrown again with their spouse, three-year-old twins, and one really, really ridiculous dog.
WORKSHOP: Dying Pagan
This workshop covers: preparing (and assisting a loved one in preparing) for death, legal issues, navigating family, support, death rituals of all stages, death process and rituals, behind the scenes of deathwork, and more - it really delves into nearly every topic.
Sharon Arnold
Sharon (they/her/theirs) is a queer nonbinary writer and sometimes educator who weaves social philosophy and cultural theory into essays on art, artists, histories, and culture; including a reconnection to ancestral practices rooted in a blend of Irish, Scottish, and American folk traditions. Their interest is in the way these converging paths share deeply interwoven expressions of knowledge which continue to shape our contemporary lives; especially when nurtured in community, conversations, and connectivity.
WORKSHOP: Beyond the Altar: The Politics of Restorative Ancestor Practices
Can we engage restorative ancestor practices in ways that lead to positive impact in our lives and communities? Many of us from multiple diasporic lineages are seeking to nurture a cultural connection through the histories and practices of Celtic polytheism. We may find we’re navigating these traditions from distant lands in ways that respectfully acknowledge and honor the lands where we now live. How do we begin to repair the severance from our relatives, our past, our cultures, and the land? What are the overlaps between the way ancestors, spirits, and Gods are inscribed into the landscapes of Celtic nations, and the ways they—and we—are present in our respective bioregions? This round-table discussion will include your participation in discussing questions such as these towards decolonizing and unsettling settler colonialism in our work as a spiritual, political, and reciprocal praxis.
Rue McDonald
WORKSHOP: Broom Wisdom: Giving to Death as Decolonial Practice
In this workshop, Rue will share what they've learned through their land restoration work blended with Death Priestxing practice and animist relationship building with broom, a invasive plant species here on L'kwungen and WSANEC territory. Guided by ancestral story and death practices of their lineages, Rue explores how invasive plant removal can offer wisdom and insight about decolonizing environmental & social ecologies.
Izzy Swanson
Izzy is an Energetic Safety and Trauma Specialist. She’s been practicing Earth-based spirituality for more than 20 years. Izzy is a dedicant of the Morrigan. Her first experiences of the Morrigan came shortly after she began a program of recovery and she has been devoted to the Morrigan since that time. Izzy believes that her work with trauma and addiction recovery is supported by her devotional practice to the Morrigan and she has dedicated her work in offering to the Goddess. Find Izzy on the web.WORKSHOP: In the Mossy Margins: The Role of the Psychopomp in Celtic Polytheism
The space of time that exists between the moment of death and the moment in which the soul reaches its final resting place can be vulnerable and unstable. It is the work of the psychopomp to guide the souls of the dead through these liminal spaces. In this presentation, we will the discuss various roles of the psychopomp. We will also explore the different ways in which we see those roles being carried out by the gods and other beings in the mythology and history of Celtic Cultures.
Scott Richardson-Read
There is a saying in Scotland "you're only ever three feet from heaven" which I interpret to refer to the idea of the otherworld being ever present or maybe just how beautiful Scotland is. This leads to another fundamental WHY of Scottish folk magic. The focus on transitional times and place, liminal moments or basically change. There are places which are thin or nearer the liminal and at certain times these places become a door. These can be calendar dates like Samhuinn and Bealtainn or life changes stages like marriage, birth, death etc or even times of day like dawn and dusk. Scottish folk practitioners believe things come back or through and for this reason go out of their way to protect these places - these literal or figurative doors - from intrusion from the other than human community.... (read more of Scott's bio @ The Cailleach's Herbarium).
WORKSHOP: Death's Door - Exploring animistic features of death through Scottish folk belief
This short presentation will explore instances of early modern folk traditions around death through a lens of animism. This will be a discursive presentation attempting to weave threads together from folklore, oral history and ideas around the Sìth (sidhe), animism and the importance of a handling death in right relation. This discursive presentation will raise questions helping attendees to examine their own practice and world view and attempt to challenge some of the inherited christian thinking within polytheism and folk magic in general.