From March 2 to 4 I will be a featured speaker at the Toronto Pagan Conference.
It will be held at the appropriately named Valhalla Inn in Toronto. For information on reservations and special rates, go here.
I will be speaking on the following subjects:
7:10 – 8:50 PM, Friday “The Return of the Divine Feminine: Thoughts on the 60s and the Culture Wars”
Based on a book in progress. During the ’60s feminine values embedded themselves within American patriarchal culture. Feminism, environmentalism, alternative religion, and exploring consciousness are examples. This cultural upheaval led to the current US “culture war.” Nevertheless, only by integrating the Divine Feminine can spirituality overcome secular modernity, resacralizing human experience. NeoPaganism may play a historical role out of all proportion to our numbers.
9-10:00 AM, Saturday, I will be on a panel discussing “Under the Academic Eye: Is Pagan Studies Good for Pagans?”
1-2:30 P.M., Saturday, “Religion as Sacred Performance Art”
This workshop will investigate the spiritual meaning of the incredible diversity of religious practices in the world, both Pagan and non-Pagan. In the process, it will challenge the arguments that all religions are heading towards a common goal, that the Gods are all aspects of the God and Goddess (or some similar conception), that religions are able to be reduced to cultural expressions, that the Gods are social constructs, and that the Gods are timeless. Ultimately, religions are the most uniquely human expressions, and are best seen as sacred performance art.
Sunday, 3:30 – 5:00 P.M. “Learning to Dwell With the Powers of the Earth”
Pagans often describe themselves as an earth or nature religion, but what does that mean? Why do people today appear to have lost the ability to connect with the powers of the earth and how might they regain this capacity? This workshop will provide an introduction for understanding how we have lost touch and how to regain that connection. Much will be in lecture/discussion format, but there will be exercises, some in the workshop and others you can practice afterwards.