Tomorrow I head off to Pantheacon, the largest Pagan gathering on the West Coast.  It is always a treat to go and immerse myself in our larger community, the (statistically) ‘normal’, the granola, the techno, the weird, the geeky, the fey, and every other possible type of human being who can gather together in mutual respect and harmony, for with all the superficial differences among us, and some that I grant are deeper, we are still, all of us, Pagans.  And that matters.  A lot.

Years ago I worried it seemed there were not many young people coming.  No more!  If PCon is at all like it has been the past few years, us “elders” who really are becoming “elders,” are the shrinking minority.  Our small post WWII beginnings, and first exuberant flowering in America during the 60s, has grown steadily.  Alas, the oldest generation of writers, such as Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente, and Stewart Farrar, have passed on to the Summerland.  The next generation, of which I am a relative Johnny-come-lately, are getting a bit long in the tooth.  Looking over the program, most of the authors giving presentations this weekend are people a lot younger than I am.  That’s good.

The past few years PCon has been held in the very large Doubletree Hotel in San Jose.  As I understand it, this will be the final year at that venue.  There are too many of us!  Even with many large overflow hotels near by to put people up, the area cannot handle the crowds.  I got my room months and months ago, or I would not have one in the Doubletree.

While meeting together we will have a rich smorgasboard of workshops before us,  on history, ritual, music, interfaith, herbalism, politics, different traditions, healing, and much more, including just celebrating our being together.  I’ll share some of the presentations with you.

It is wonderful to see British Traditionalists (like me), Celtic, Asatru,  African Diasporic folks, Druids, Erisians, and many more come together to celebrate the many ways human beings have to honor the Divine.  (I have tried to provide reliable links here.  If I error regarding YOUR tradition, please inform me.) The Sacred spins out its beautiful abundance and we respond in kind,  Many old friends practice these other paths, and it is always a joy to see them again as we gather from all over the west, and sometimes even farther away.  

I sure hope I can find the time to blog…