I’m going to start with a very brief and woefully Incomplete list of some of the other things that happened at this year’s PantheaCon:
- Ivo Dominguez, Jr. helped us to see the shadow in our higher, middle, and lower selves.
- The Brotherhood of the Moon allowed us to see the face of the God in the face of every man.
- Selena Fox honored Pagan warriors and led a ritual of healing for ourselves, PCon, and the world.
- Christopher Penczak taught us how to work with the Three Rays of Love, Will, and Wisdom.
- Sam Webster held a discussion on how to bring the lessons of Hermes to the world, including an idea of creating a Pagan health care system.
- John Carosella led us on a shamanic journey to find animal medicine in some of nature’s smallest, most seemingly insignificant creatures.
And that is just what I attended. With roughly 12 options available per session and seven sessions available per day, the program at PCon is enormous and varied. There are sessions for everyone. The vast majority of the offerings are open to all and focus on some form of spiritual growth, celebration, or healing. They are led by wonderful people who do wonderful things in this world and for our community.
And yet, if you were paying attention to Pagan blogs over the weekend, you heard almost exclusively about one thing. You heard about it in language filled with anger, threat, and hatred. The picture painted of the con was one of violence and anger. If you weren’t there, you would think that this anger overshadowed the conference.
I’m here to tell you it didn’t. If you were there, you felt the charged atmosphere of togetherness. If you were there, you could very easily have enjoyed every minute of the conference with zero knowledge of the fire that was burning in one small corner. You would have grown and changed, partied and played, and come home recharged mentally, bodily, and spiritually.
I’m not going to name this issue. To name it would give it energy. It is a complicated hornet’s nest that I, as a white, heterosexual male am not going to stick my nose into. What I will say is this: choose where you put your energy. Whatever you give it to will grow. You can send your energy into the anger and hatred, thereby threatening your fellow Pagans, fanning the flames of more anger. You can put it into revenge, aggression, or boycott, which will cause more strife, spreading fuel to the fire of anger on the other side. Thus you energize that which you fight against.
Or you can put your energy into the majority of the conference. There were 2,331 attendees at PCon, last I heard. Maybe 200 or so had any knowledge of or were involved in this in any way. Most of the conference – indeed, most of the work done even by those who are central to the issue – was positive, loving, and healing. Energy placed into healing engenders more of the same. I choose to put my energy into the good stuff.
I’m not going to call anybody out. I’m not going to name anyone’s names, even those I agree with. It’s not my battle. What I will do is point out to those who were not there that this year’s PCon was a space of overwhelming love, healing, and unity. One issue, even if well publicized, will not change that.
Despite what you may have read, there was true unity in diversity this year. I saw it every time I walked through the halls. I saw it in the caring faces of both biological and transgender males participating in a men’s ritual. I saw it as polytheistic Witches clamored for a ribbon from the Flying Spaghetti Monster guy. I saw it as a heavily liberal Pagans sobbed openly during a ribbon presentation ceremony honoring Pagan soldiers.
Diversity doesn’t mean we all agree. It means we honor our differences while working together. It means that we CAN come together in one place despite our disagreements. In that coming together, we can learn from each other and grow as a family of religions. I choose to throw my gasoline on that fire.
YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, but this post though well meant screams of cisgender privilege . I had many rich experiences at the con as always . However, hate speech hurts us all. I sat in peaceful, silent meditation outside the room of a presenter whose hate speech hurts so many people, cis and trans alike. Hate is not a ‘small corner.’ I have great sorrow around this situation, in part because I so honor the contributions and years of work of the presenter. Change is happening , and that can be hard. But any human of good conscience must at least not let hate go unseen.
Thank you for your intentions.
Lance: I respect your view, but I disagree. I think people like Devin are doing the right work of love and inclusion, effectively turning the other side into a dinosaur.
So, I’m feeling a little confused. Tim’s saying that there has been a flurry of attention to the controversy at Pantheacon (and all of the coverage has been almost exclusively on that), but not enough of the other, more positive thing that went on there and his attempting to share a handful of those things is an example of privilege?
Thank you for this Tim. It seems like such a great experience and I really hope to attend next year. BB / 93!
Thank, thank, thank you! I went to some AWESOME ones as well!
I had a swell time. Helped lubricate the Hexenfesters Friday night. Saw Lon DuQuette and Rachel Pollock on Saturday morning. Attended the beautifully executed Exorcism on Saturday night. Chillaxed on Sunday with music by Lon, Sharon, Winter and Caith. It was grand!
THANK YOU. Someone who is talking about the entire Con, and not a single event. As someone who was unable to attend (hard to attend when it cuts into my time in the classroom as a college-level faculty member) – I appreciate this type of posting a whole lot more than reading emotional posting regarding a single event.
Thank you for your positive outlook on Pcon, Tim. I was also at Selena’s ribbon presentation. So touching and beautiful!
Except that most of the people talking about “that one event” aren’t angry? Well, OK, most of the people post about it aren’t angry –a lot of the comments are angry, but I wouldn’t even say “most” of those are, either.
I appreciate this post, Tim, but I also feel a bit sad while reading it. I’m glad there was so much unity in diversity at Pantheacon, and that you found so many things that work for you. And I agree that there are ways of dealing with this that only throw gasoline on the fire. But that just means we need to find respectful and inclusive ways of dealing with the issue while still confronting it head-on. Closing our eyes to it and saying we’re only going to talk about the positive is like a passenger on Titanic saying, “The orchestra plays so movingly, and the gowns are so lovely; why must everyone keep talking about the hole in the ship?”
I understand and agree with Lance’s comment about privilege. Tim, because you are (I believe, although you didn’t state it explicitly) cisgendered, you have the luxury of ignoring it. Of finding places where you are not reminded of your gender. The transfolks at Pantheacon might not have had this as many opportunities for this. And I feel strongly that this must be looked at with open eyes.
It may be true that what we give our energy to grows, but the inverse is not always so. If termites invade our house, choosing instead to focus all our energy on the pretty flowers in our garden doesn’t make those termites go away. Some folks at Pantheacon, and their supporters, are choosing to feed the energy of increased inclusivity and increased diversity, rather than the energy of trying to convince ourselves we’ve done enough already.
Hello,
Thanks for posting. I was in attendance at Panthea Con and had a blast. I attended a workshop with two new presenters Llyne Foy and Owen Cook. It was a definite highlight to sit for an hour and a half with two such knowledgeable presenters.
I read with interest where you write about pagan soldiers receiving ribbons. My group, The Sisterhood Of Avalon is very interested in doing out reach for pagan soldiers and their families. Could you tell who hosted the event that honored them? We have the money, supplies, the man power and a couple plans together for things to do. Now we just need to hooked up with the soldiers! Any help you could give would be appreciated. You can contact me directly, info below.
Blessings,
Vyviane
communitymatron@sisterhoodofavalon.org
Thank you all for your posts. This is the kind of respectful disagreement and discussion our community is capable of.
Eli: I fully admit to my privilege. However, I’m not ignoring the issue. I don’t think for a moment that no one knows what I’m talking about. There are options to work toward healing that don’t have to involve anger and threat. I think the ritual led by Devin Hunter and The Lady Yeshe Rabbit is where we need to go: open, honest expression, healing, and reflection.
[...] http://culture.pagannewswirecollective.com/2012/02/diversity-anger-and-pantheacon/ Rituals and workshops at PantheaCon, from “The Juggler”. http://bayarea.pagannewswirecollective.com/2012/02/22/pantheacon-2012-big-names-diverse-options-packed-rooms/ What else happened at PantheaCon, from the “PNC”. [...]
Thank you, I had a great time and even went to some of the same events. I was waiting to see Sharon Knight, Winter and a dear friend I had not seen in a decade, Caith and got to see the huge number of participants coming to the Bear Mother ritual with joy and anticipation. That was the first time I even knew that things were happening again. I saw the protesters waiting in the wrong place before they went to where ever the other ritual was and asked what it was about The con was more than one event and will be for most.
Thanks for this post, it’s interesting to hear, as one who isn’t able to make the con, what else happened there. I’m going to disagree with the other people that this post shows privilege– actually, I think the last thing the current controversy needs are more cis men’s opinions on it. In the social justice oriented online spaces I frequent, silence is expected from those who aren’t involved in the argument and have privilege over all who are. It’s getting frustrating to keep reading, in other places where people are talking about the controversy, “as a man, I think…” As the issue is about women-only spaces, the thoughts of men are quite beside the point.
What’s this about the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
I too attended PCon ’12. When I go to the Con, I choose to step out of cyberspace and into the Circle that’s created for the Con, meaning I stop all computer use until returning home. A fast of a sorts.
I made my choices of what to do in the different time slots. It’s a large hotel w/ event rooms scattered the length of the place (and on several floors). I did hear of Thorn Coyle going to sit in meditation outside Z’s ritual.
Imagine my surprise to return home and find out all that had been going on. Whew.
What amazes me is the contrast between my experience at PCon ’12 and what I’m now reading online. I’m not saying that the events concerning workshops/ritual and exclusivity and cis/trans gendered people aren’t important. They are. So is learning to recognize priviledge and how it may color our views.
All I’m saying, is that it was possible to be at PantheaCon ’12 and not know of these events. Because that was my experience.
HelenHawk: I agree.
NorthernLight: True, it doesn’t matter what I as a white, heterosexual cis-male believes about the situation. Sometimes the objective opinion of someone who is not emotionally involved in the fight is valuable, but that’s probably in more of a mediation role, which is outside the scope of this corner of cyberspace.
As for the Flying Spaghetti Monster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
His representative asked me why their heaven is better that Christian heaven. Answer: They have strippers and beer volcanoes.
As a person who wants to go to PCon someday, I appreciate
As someone that wants to attend PCon someday, I appreciate the coverage that you give here. Certainly what happened is an important issue, and I hope it can get worked out amicably, with *both* sides being able to remain gracious to each other and this not having a detrimental effect on the diversity of our community.
Since I have opinions that wouldn’t be popular with some, it bothers me a little to think that in the future, my interactions with fellow pagans (my brothers and sisters of *every* stripe and gender identity) may depend on what side of an issue I come down on.
Wow, this is such a teachable moment, such an opportunity for dialog and learning on all sides. I think it matter and providence calls for due diligence. The future success of Pantheacon depends less on people patting themselves on the back for what went well, than on attending to the needs of the community as a whole for the sake of building that community.
*I think it matters …
Russell: Good point. I agree. I just think that there are ways to do it that work with communication instead of threat, and hatred. The silent protest is one example. Another is the fact that 300 people attended the healing ritual open to all genders while 9 people attended the protested ritual. Those people taught with their actions.
I think that the important question for the future is should it have been scheduled at all. I’m easy overall and had a great time. It was just whenever they would break out the play dough that I would bolt for the door.
Acknowledging that there was more to Pantheacon than Z’s poor behavior and the protest against it is not privilege, it’s fact. Acknowledging good things does not mean that we ignore the bad; it means we use the good things to realize the positive potential as power against the things that are wrong. The fact that there was a heavily attended rite of the Bear Mother that included everyone does not cancel out Z’s behavior and hurtful words. But it does prove that there are a lot more people willing to be inclusive than exclusive. Which puts pressure on those who are not inclusive to either get right or get gone. Claiming someone who simply points out the positive things that happened at Pantheacon is exerting some kind of “cisgender privilege” demeans the term and makes it meaningless. At this point we have people screaming about boycotting Pantheacon. For a lot of us out here in the wilderness, Pantheacon is the only chance we have to meet family and friends for a year, and I am certainly not going to let one sparsely attended ritual done by one person I don’t agree with to destroy what is a very important event for me. That’s called “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
[...] I responded.”Tim Titus at The Juggler notes that there was unity in diversity at PantheaCon, and that for many, this debate wasn’t on their radar.Draeden Wren shares her experiences at PantheaCon, including a discussion with Z. Budapest.Storm [...]