Darkover^® Grand Council Meeting

10/21/10 - Programming is up!

Esoteric Programming began at Darkovercon as a handful of classes teaching Tarot cards, and has grown to lively interfaith discussions, labyrinth walks, and memorial services. This year we will be working with high-energy classes, things that make noise, things that help you feel the way energy is transmitted. Bring your wits, your wands, your wishes, and be willing to join in. Highlights include our annual Falling Stars service to remember those who have passed, an energy-based labyrinth walk, Tai Chi and movement classes, and Craft classes for children and teens. Come and enjoy.

Esoteric Track - Coming of Age - Darkovercon 33

The Esoteric Track at Darkovercon is sponsored by Ecumenicon Fellowship with assistance of the Order of St. Michael.

Ecumenicon Fellowship is a multi-faith church in Maryland, founded in 1987, for people of many faiths to be able to join in common study. We are esoteric — seeking hidden ways, eclectic — freely choosing from many, syncretic — finding the whole greater than the parts, and mystic — respecting individual connection to Divine Wisdom. The Order of Saint Michael is an esoteric, ecumenical Christian Order oriented towards self-knowledge (gnosis in its original meaning) and spiritual growth. It is ecumenical, drawing wisdom from many traditions, and welcomes the insight and participation of people of all traditions.

Our purpose this year is "coming of age", and discussion of how many traditions examine the stages of life.

All classes are held in the Esoteric Room, across from the front elevators, with the exception of the Michaeline Mass on Sunday morning, held in Alternate Programming.

Esoteric Programming
Ridgley Room 2

Friday

2:00 PM - Setting the Wards. Creating a safe space for worship, healing, and instruction. All faiths welcome. Teachers and students of mystic ways.

3:00 PM - Writing Rituals for All Ages. It can be challenging to create effective ritual experiences that are appropriate for children and still interesting for adults. You have to include lots of movement or the children are bored - which is incredibly distracting. You also have to include the opportunity for the adults to experience the divine. If you are struggling with this challenge, don't give up! A Wiccan Priestess and Mother will share her experience as we create a Ritual of Thanksgiving together to share with the Con Community.
Tabitha Pierzchola & children

4:00 PM - Sabbath Service. Traditional Shabbat service. Sunset is at 4:31 pm.
Tovah

5:00 PM - Children's Ritual. Children's Ritual of Thanksgiving. Call forth your Inner Child for a Pagan Ritual of Thanksgiving. Children of all ages are invited to join in this family friendly gathering. Our ritual will be written and practiced during the "Writing Rituals for All Ages" workshop. You do not need to attend the workshop to participate.

6:00 PM - Coming of Age. Life Cycles in Many Traditions.
Patricia Buard - Christian, Fancy - Voudoo, Charles Butler - Wicca, Tovah - Judaism

7:00 PM - Tapestry Quarters and Net Meditation. This set of Quarter Calls and the Net Meditation that will be centerpoint of the ritual are written by members of the Order of Saint Michael and are used with permission for this class. The Tapestry Quarters call the Archangels to ward and witness the meditation in a very calm and quiet manner, weaving the Quarters into a tapestry of protection. The Net Meditation is a quiet, contemplative meditation of connection to others throughout time and space, both in the body and out, and to the Lady, in whatever form you see Her. All faiths are welcome. All we ask is an open heart and mind.
Julianne Toomey-Kautz

8:00 PM - What Do I See? Do you see ghosts? Do you see spirits? Come and share with a medium who has communicated with dead, departed, and other spirits for many years.
Lynda & Fancy

9:00 PM - Tea & Tarot. All people with psychic gifts or wanting information are welcome.
Charles Butler & friends

10:00 PM - Message & Healing Circle. Charles Butler, Lynda, Fancy & Others

12:00 MIDNIGHT - Chocolate Ritual with Ecumenicon & friends - come and laugh with Bullwinkle and Natasha!

Saturday

9:00 AM - Tai Chi & Yoga. Self-Directed with David Carradine

10:00 AM - Meet the Michaelines. Introduction to this Christian Order.
Patricia Buard & others

11:00 AM - Clergy Clatch. A Darkovercon tradition. Do you feel as if you have "clergy" in invisible ink on your forehead? Do people seek you out to talk through life's problems, spiritual or not, even if you've never met them before. This group is for you. We are pastors, priests, Eckankar, Buddhists, Witches, Wizards, Goethe, whatever your title, come and share.

12:00 NOON - "Be Still and Know". One of the many milestones that one faces in his or her life's journey is experiencing the death of a loved one. Rather it is the death of a spouse, partner, relative, friend, or a beloved pet, there is a vast hole of emotions and emptiness that sweeps over one's being. Many times questions of a sense of being, and the stronghold of one's faith begins to shake from doubt and uncertainty.
Lynda shares how she has witnessed how her gift of mediumship has given comfort, a sense of being, and a renewal of one's faith by allowing her to "see and hear" from spirit loved ones. She also encourages and shares how to be still and know for yourself that loved ones draw near.

1:00 PM - Guest of Honor panel - no programming.

2:00 PM - The Feminine Divine - Thoughtforms and Archetypes. For more than 2000 years the projective qualities of might-makes-right, competition, logic, and the-ends-justify-the-means have vastly overshadowed the receptive qualities of cooperation, compassion, justice, intuition and relationship. This has given us a world of constant war, public and private destruction of the earth, vast material gains of the few at the expense of our human and spiritual development. This unparalleled spread of unconstrained power is most evident in western culture. Could that relate to the fact that in these "First World" countries the Goddesses, divine personifications of female attributes, have been left out of our culture? Using Nybor's 13 Goddess paintings and some other images, we will seek them and call back some of the power and honor we have let drift away.
Elspeth

3:00 PM - High-Energy Workshop. Often we hold back in sending or receiving energy, come to this place for powerful work.
Tamar Lindsay

4:00 PM - Yoga. This is a yoga class that can be done regardless of your body type, yoga experience or mobility. It is designed to be able to be done standing up or sitting in a chair. We will explore some basic yoga philosophy and spirituality and the connection between the flow in our yoga postures and the breath. Wear clothes that are comfortable in and bring a yoga mat if you have one.
Anna-Sara Fire

5:00 PM - Falling Stars Ritual. Ritual of Remembrance for all those who have departed this year.
Tovah

6:00 PM - OPEN.

7:00 PM - Introduction to Shamanic Journeywork. Shamanic cultures provide us with a technology that has been used for ages. The heartbeart of the drum or rhythm of the rattle assist in taking one into a light trance or meditative space to access the "other realm." Learn the basics of shamanic journeywork and have the opportunity to do a journey in a safe, sacred container. If you are an experienced journeys join us to connect on the path. Recommendations: wear comfortable clothing, bring a blanket to lie on, bring an eye covering (bandana or scarf) and a journal/paper & pen. You are welcome to come, even if you follow none of the recommendations.
Rik Fire

8:00 PM - Free Flow Circle of Rhythm. Bring yourself, your voice, your hands to clap, rattles, other noisemakers or drums to the circle. We will free flow with each other and Spirit to create spiritual noise. For those of you that took the previous class, you may use this space to continue to do journeywork. The intention of this space is to listen to the sound of each other and what we create in community with each other as we honor ourselves and the All.
Rik Fire

9:00 PM - 12:00 PM - Clam Chowder - no instruction.

12:00 MIDNIGHT - Healing Circle with Haven. Haven is a healing circle in the Wiccan tradition.
Elspeth & Nybor

Sunday

9:00 AM - Michaeline Mass. Traditional Christian Mass.
Order of St Michael

10:00 AM - OPEN.

11:00 AM - OPEN.

12:00 NOON - Holy Conversations. Too often, we as persons & families come from religious traditions that do not embrace the fullness of who we are, or worse yet, condemn us. Join Interfaith Ministers, Rev. Rik Fire & Rev. Anna-Sara Fire in this safe and sacred container to share heartfelt experiences of both sadness and joy. Come open to transform with the message that Divine Connection is available to all of us.
Rik & Anna-Sara Fire

1:00 PM - OPEN.

2:00 PM - Closing the Wards.

TEACHERS for Darkovercon 2010

Patricia Buard - Patricia Anne Buard, OSM, KCSM, is member of the Order of St. Michael from its founding, and is currently its Prioress. She is a Christian dedicated to social justice, the defense of those in need, and the application of chivalric ideals to modern life. In her secular life she has been a costume designer, an administrative assistant, a local political activist and a life-long science fiction and fantasy reader who has been published in the Darkover^® anthologies.

Charles Butler - Rev. Charles R. Butler Neto is one of the Founders of Ecumenicon Fellowship and is trained in Christian, Wiccan, and Umbanda faiths, with some experience working with synagogues. He is currently the Papa of Rising Sun Terreiro, an Umbanda/Palo/Voudoun worship group. He is dedicated to Obatala - The Weaver, and Orunla - The Seer. He also interprets Clam Chowder in American Sign Language.

Fancy P. Cline - Studied in Louisiana under Mambo Mama Rose and was a student of Mary the Red, a Loa. In Haiti, she was elevated to 3rd degree with Papa Pierre St. John, an Emperor in Calada Shango in a Haitian Society. She functions as a 3rd Degree Voudoun Priestess in Rising Sun Terreiro.

Rev. Anna-Sara Fire, BA Journalism, MDiv (candidate) is an Interfaith Minister with the Ecumenicon Fellowship. Her ministry is focused on the connection between mind, body and spirit. She is an Vinyasa Flow Yoga Instructor and Personal Trainer and is establishing a yoga studio as part of the Village of Radikal Healing, in Bucks County, PA. Additionally, she is an Advanced Shamanic Practitioner, Reiki Practitioner, Hospital Chaplain, and widely-published writer on a variety of topics in both the English and Swedish languages.

Rev. Rik Fire, MSW, LCSW, is an Interfaith Minister with the Ecumenicon Fellowship, and also serves as one of its Board Trustees. As part or his Licensed Social Work Outreach, Rik has thriving private practice in Bucks County, PA that specializes in holistic healing and working with individuals on exploring sexuality, gender identity and queer issues. Rik is a Reiki Master, Advanced Shamanic Practitioner and connected to the rhythm of drum and chant.

The Fires, who in their ministries work both together and separately, provide a multitude of healing modalities and other events at the Village of Radikal Healing. Anna-Sara hails from Sweden, and came across the ocean 6 years ago after manifesting her new and loving family. Rik, her husband, is a life-long Pennsylvanian. The Fires are the very proud parents of a strapping and handsome 15 year-old son. The family dog, Cherokee, brings joy and unconditional love to all their lives.
The Fires can be reached via Ecumenicon Web-site (www.ecumenicon.org).

Lynda Jacobs-Hanley - As a member of her local church, she has been blessed by being able to work closely with my priest in using my spiritual gifts in helping individuals and families. She hosts group readings sharing with the audience the different spirits — loved ones — whom God allows to draw near. She also works with local ghost hunting groups, working as the spirit medium. This gives her the opportunity to use my gifts in helping families who are experiencing paranormal activity. She holds a B.A. degree in English with a minor in Biblical Studies. She currently lives in Annapolis, MD.

Elspeth Odbert Few of our cultural elders in America ever reach the status of "Living Legend" but 80 year old Grandmother Elspeth seems to have done so. Her reputation for honest advice and earth based wisdom draws throngs of people to gather in her teaching circles, as she travels around the country, weaves tales, startles with her homespun humor and heals with her powerful journeys of the spirit. Author of the beloved poem "The Challenge", and creator of the CD "Out of the Forest," Elspeth has been conducting workshops on spiritual growth and enrichment since 1991. Opinionated and outspoken, she is a great-grandmother, environmentalist, healer, teacher, pastoral counselor, shamanic practitioner, and irrepressible storyteller. As an honored elder in the Neo-Pagan movement, she is a living example of the timeless truths that she teaches. Elspeth, frequently called "The Crone on the Road," is known for her mesmerizing voice, which seems to come from a distant time and place, as much as for what she has to say. Her workshops reflect her primary concerns: stewardship of the earth, the under-recognized value of older women, the integral relationship between humanity and other beings, and the power of the individual to alter reality by power of will. Her contributions to personal development include "The Full Blown Rose" (previously called "Resonating with the Crone") a three-day retreat for mature women, and "Personal Evolution," a two-day workshop for adults of many ages and genders. She has recently completed a story/book for all ages, entitled "Gylantra's Legacy - a fable for a possible future." With the addition of Nybor's art, it is scheduled to be published in late 2010 or early 2011. When she is not on the road in Harvey, the RV, she is at home in West Virginia, with her beloved, Nybor, and their fur friends - Maggie and Max.

Tabitha Pierzchola Tabitha is a Wiccan Priestess with 6 years of practice designing rituals for all ages. She started studying the Craft of the Wise in Seattle in the early 1990's, and is now a Priestess in the Georgian Tradition. She has served as the coordinator for the Seattle Community Full Moons and as a Distinguished Faith Group Leader in Iraq. Her interest in conducting rituals that are appropriate for both children and adults began when her children were toddlers.

Debera Rothschild (Tovah) Debera grew up in a conservative Jewish household. At the early death of her mother, she started to question her own beliefs. In Hebrew High School, she took a class about Jewish Mysticism where she found some of the things she was taught to ring true. Later in life, her father would take her to temple with him on Saturday mornings. This became the way they reconnected in a spiritual way. In massage school, she began to think outside of just traditional belief systems and again to question her own religious beliefs. Although she never has forgotten where her roots are, at the death of her father, her religious belief system was shaken. Debera went back to the commandment of "Question Everything," and started incorporating some of the philosophies she was learning into her belief of "Life, Universe, and Everything." Lighting candles and the Sabbath services are ways Debera has found to reconnect with her father and the past.

Julianne Toomey-Kautz Julianne Toomey-Kautz is a founding member of the Order of Saint Michael. She is the Archivist and Hospitaller Coordinator (the subgroup for healers) for the Order. She has led meditations and rituals for both the Order and local groups. She is an avid fantasy and science fiction reader and writer and has been published in several fanzines. She is the current editor/publisher of "Deryni Archives the Zine." In her daily life, she is a library teacher for grades K-5.

Guests of Honour

Elizabeth Bear

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Amanda-Lee Ronayne

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Katherine Kurtz

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Clam Chowder

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