ancestral WISDOM - The Pagan Alliance

13th Annual Pagan Festival
ancestral
WISDOM
May 7, 2016
11:00am-5:00pm
MLK Civic Center Park
Berkeley, CA
Pagan Alliance
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Welcome to the 13th Pagan Festival
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Civic Center Park, Berkeley
11:00 am to 5:30 pm
Presented by
The Pagan Alliance
www.thepaganalliance.org
Our thoughts. Our prayers. Our blood. Our breath. The roads we walk upon. The
ways we speak. Our pain. Our beauty. Inventions. Flights of fancy. Song. Tears.
The rhythm of our feet. We inherit so much, from ancestors of both blood and spirit.
To honor our ancestors is to honor ourselves. To remember our ancestors is to
acknowledge that we, too, build the future. - T. Thorn Coyle
Program design by Guillermo Prado, 8point2.com
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Pagan Alliance
Schedule
10:50 Opening Ritual Yeshe Rabbit Matthews
11:00 Welcome to the Pagan Festival-Ancestral Wisdom
11:05 Ryan Smith, Speaker
11:20 Daughters of Cairo
11:30 Barbara McGraw, Speaker
11:45 Adocentyn Research Library-Board members Don
Frew and Anna Korn
11:50 Ariellah and Elizabeth Zohar-International Fusion
Belly Dance Artists
12:00 Invitation to Ritual and Keeper of the Light
Ceremony Ritual Clergy: 2015 Keeper of the Light,
Crystal Blanton
12:45 MCs Shay Black and Amelia Hogan
12:50 Welcome and Performance for 2016 Keeper of the
Light Glenn Turner
1:15
2016 Keeper of the Light Glenn Turner
1:35
Shay Black, Singer
2:05
Crystal Blanton, 2015 Keeper of the Light, Speaker
2:15
Amelia Hogan, Singer 2:45
Max Dashu, Speaker
3:00
Carly Ozard, Singer
3:30
Yeshe Rabbit Matthews, 2011 Keeper of the Light,
Speaker
3:40
Lily Holbrook, Musical Artist
4:15
Rev. Patrick McCollum, 2005 Keeper of the Light,
Speaker
4:25
Tribute to James Bianchi with Carly Ozard
4:35
Morpheus Ravenna, Speaker
4:50
Serpent Sirens Honoring the Elements
5:00
Closing Children’s Ritual in Respect to Our Ancestors
Pagan Alliance
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The Pagan Alliance
Mission and Diversity Statement.
The mission of the Pagan Alliance is to educate our
Communities and the general public, to promote
acceptance of our faiths and traditions, to work for justice,
to connect our communities, and celebrate our spiritual
diversity.
We recognize the dire need to unite based on concern for
the current ecological crisis that faces our Mother Earth. The
Pagan Alliance is committed to education of the general
public with the intention of changing public views, opinions
and response to the Pagan Community.
Through public education, we hope to create an increased
acceptance and understanding, and to dispel common
misconceptions. We are committed to justice, and
eliminating prejudice and ignorance in all communities,
including all ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations,
gender identities, and age, size, and class affiliations. We
are also committed to incorporating sustainable living and
alternative lifestyles into our programs and events. We
sponsor activities and events that reflect how our traditions,
which are supportive and in tune with Nature, and play a
positive role in healing human’s relationship with the Earth
and with all cultures.
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Pagan Alliance
The Pagan Alliance Sigil
A Sigil is a symbol created for a specific magical purpose.
A sigil is usually composed of a complex combination of
several symbolic geometric figures each with a unique
meaning or intent. The Pagan Alliance Sigil has been a
talisman and symbol of strength for many. The Pagan
Community, our friends, and our allies have joined together
in pride and celebration of our religious freedom for twelve
years at the Pagan Festival. Over the past 15 years, the
Pagan Community, The Pagan Alliance, The Pagan Alliance
Sigil has undergone profound changes. This year the Sigil
is dedicated to Ancestral Wisdom and is displayed at the
festival.
Help the Alameda County Food Bank Give away to benefit
the Alameda County Food Bank
Tickets are a $1 donation each.
Tickets & Prizes are at Info booth.
Pagan Alliance
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Festival Theme: Ancestral Wisdom
Our Ancestral Wisdom of human cooperation points to
our need for Future safety nets. We are the ancestors our
children and grandchildren need to ensure that they have a
decent future life.
– Glenn Turner. 2016 Keeper of the Light
The ties of our ancestors run through us and into those of
our kin, regardless of whether we can see them or we even
want them. These threads of ancestral wisdom weave a
tapestry that connects us in history, culture, strength, love
and knowledge.
– Crystal Blanton
The ancestors are our own families, the mighty dead of our
world, the beloved dead of our communities. Their wisdom
guides us and nourishes us. Their experiences and pathways
can inform and illuminate our own lives. We better know
ourselves through them. May their light and love lead us
into brighter places.
– JoHanna Hill, President,
The Pagan Alliance Board of Directors
Ancestral Wisdom lives within our bones, Lies within the
mitochondria of each cell, Linking us back to the First
Mother, Follow that link to a deep knowing, Red blood and
white of bone, Seek the wisdom that lies within.
– Rowan Fairgrove Eps
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Pagan Alliance
Festival Theme: Ancestral Wisdom
“Some are so blind that they bring their offering to
earth-fast stone and also to trees and to wellsprings, as
the witches teach.” This condemnation of ancient wisdom
comes from the Latin penitential of Halitgar of Cambrai.
An 11th century Anglo-Saxon translator added the gloss
swa wiccan tæcath (“as the witches teach”), proving that
“witches” were still understood within a context of pagan
ceremony.
– Max Dashu, Suppressed Histories Archives
CAYA Coven’s Daily Practice in 2014 proclaimed, “I am the
Legacy of my Ancestors. I am the Legend of my Descendants.
With grace and awe, I create the Now. Blessed be.” Just
as all water is one water, all times are one time. The past
and the future are with us, watching us, collaborating with
us, even now, in our DNA and in the cycles of energy that
sustain the planet. We can feed and be fed by the wisdom
of those who came before and those who are yet to come
by calling forth our own wisdom right now.
– Yeshe Rabbit Matthews
Pagan Alliance
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2016 Keeper of the Light Glenn Turner
Glenn Turner is a community elder and currently works on
Bay Area climate justice, social justice and mental health
issues. She has been organizing Pagan events since 1968
when she and her friends started an early Wiccan group
called NROOGD. She is also a long time member of the
OTO, having joined in 1983. As one of the founders (1975)
of Covenant of the Goddess (COG), a Wiccan church, she
is currently the organizer of its annual gathering called
MerryMeet which will be held in San Jose from August
11 to 14, 2016. (To apply to teach one of the MerryMeet
workshops, email glenn@ancientways.com; MerryMeet
website coming soon.) She opened Ancient Ways store
in Oakland CA in 1988 and organized the Ancient
Ways Festival from 1984 to 2010. In 1994 she started
PantheaCon, held each during Presidents Day weekend at
the DoubleTree in San Jose, California and she serves as the
general ringmaster of the event. See www.pantheacon.com
for more
At her shop and gatherings, she has taught classes on a
wide range of topics. She is available at Ancient Ways on
Fridays for Tarot and Palm readings. For an appointment,
please call Glenn at (510) 653-3244. Ancient Ways store
is open from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm daily at 4075 Telegraph
Ave. Oakland, CA 94609; selling books, candles, statues,
incense, oils, herbs, and other metaphysical accessories.
See www.ancientways.com for a list of supplies, and mail
order info.
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Pagan Alliance
Festival Ritual Passing of the Staff and
Community Light
All Are Welcome to Join the Circle at Noon
At this year’s ritual, 2015 Keeper of the Light Crystal Blanton
is priestess and will pass the staff to 2016 Keeper of the
Light Glenn Turner
The annual honor of Keeper of the Light recognizes
someone for contributions that not only effect the Pagan
Community but international communities. This honor is
given to someone who is a catalyst for change, learning,
justice and equality.
Each Keeper of the Light contributes to the Staff by adding
a message by ribbon or on the wood. The magical intention
of the passing of the staff and gifting of the lantern is to
lend strength and support to Glenn Turner to enable her
to continue her work for social justice, and preservation of
our mother earth, and her service to the Pagan community
and the community-at-large. Blessings to her to do this
work in good health, integrity, prosperity, love and with
ancestral wisdom. Join in the circle and lend your energy
to this intention, receive a blessing to support your own
work, to this earth, or to your Gods. With the wisdom of
our ancestors, together, we can build communities of love,
justice, equality, and prosperity.
Pagan Alliance
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2015 Keeper of the Light
Crystal Blanton
Crystal Blanton is a social worker, activist, writer, priestess,
mother and wife from the Bay Area. She is a Solar Cross
Temple board member and the 2015 Keeper of the Light
for the Pagan Alliance. She is the author Bridging the Gap
and Pain and Faith in a Wiccan World. She is the editor
of the Shades of Faith and Shades of Ritual anthologies,
and co-editor of Bringing Race to the Table; Exploring
Racism in the Pagan Community. She currently writes for
the Wild Hunt, Sage Woman, the Daughters of Eve blog
on Patheos, and is the founder of the 30 Day Real Black
History Challenge and website. Blanton is passionate about
the integration of community, spirituality and healing from
our ancestral past, and is an advocate for true diversity and
multiculturalism within the Pagan community. She continues
to work in her local community as a social worker, and within
the Pagan community, by facilitating and participating in
discussions on topics of social justice, diversity, leadership,
and the use of restorative justice practices to empower the
community voice. www.CrystalBlanton.com.
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Pagan Alliance
Pagan Alliance
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Authors Circle
sponsored by Adocentyn Research Library
Since the inception of the Pagan Festival, local authors
have been featured. Please join us in the Authors Circle for
readings by our esteemed local authors. Following each
reading there will be a Q&A session. Meet one on one with
authors and have your book signed. Books are for sale at
the Authors Circle.
11:00–11:45 am
11:15 am-Noon
1:00-1:45 pm
1:30-2:15 pm
2:00-2:45 pm
2:30-3:15 pm
3:00-3:45 pm
3:30-4:15 pm
4:00-4:45 pm
4:30-5:15 pm
Patricia Leslie
Carolina Montagu
Gus DiZerega
Patrick McCollum
Morpheus Ravenna
Natalie Case
Crystal Blanton
Diana Paxson
DeTraci Regula
Serena Toxicat
ALTARS
West
North
East
South
Center
Temple of Aphrodite
Crossroads of Hekate
Circle of Cerridwen
Spark Collective
2015 Keeper of the Light Crystal Blanton
Ancestors Altar
JoHanna Hill & The Pagan Alliance
Kuan Yin
Miss Tiki & The Pagan Alliance
Oshun Water Altar Arlynne Camire & The Pagan Alliance
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Pagan Alliance
Children’s Activities
Mystical Quest- Earn 3 Stars and win a prize (Quest Cards
available at Festival Info Booth with Miss Molly)
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Children’s Crafts with Miss Moxie
Come have some fun with your child making a variety of
spring themed crafts. Parents will be taught the how to’s
from their children as you craft together. Adult guardians
must be present for their children to participate.
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
May Pole Dance-Come dance around the May Pole, be and
celebrate spring
2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Children’s Crafts with Miss Moxie
4:15 pm - 4:45 pm
Afternoon Children’s Story
Story Telling Pavilion
5:00 pm
Ritual in honor of our Ancestors
Choose one of the Elements. Earth, Air, Fire or Water
Learn about the Elements through the wisdom of the
ancestors
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Workshops and Activities
Mystical Quest- Solve 3 Riddles and get a raffle ticket
(Quest Cards available at Festival Info Booth)
11:00 am
Tarot Storytelling with Susa Black
The Pagan Alliance Tarot Booth
2:00 pm
Altar Tour with Stella Iris
Meet in the Center of the Park
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Sekhmet Empowerment Ritual- Priestess Sarah Astarte.
Sekhmet, the ancient Egyptian Lion Goddess, is the deity
that represents power, strength, and healing. Prior to ritual,
there a short lecture on Sekhmet. Everyone will reflect
about their sense of personal power. The ritual will begin,
and includes disclaiming and releasing that which holds
one back (negative messages, destructive tendencies, fear),
walking through a veil (overcoming an obstacle), receiving
blessings, and roaring and growling to claim one’s power!
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Pagan Alliance
Master of Ceremonies: Shay Black
Shay Black is an avid song catcher, musician and singer
and is known for his extensive knowledge of songs and
music from the Irish, English and Scottish traditions. Born
in Dublin, Ireland, he moved in 1994 to Berkeley, CA from
Liverpool, where he had lived for the previous twenty years.
While in Liverpool, he toured and recorded with Irish band
Garva, the illustrious Stan Hugill and the fabled sea shanty
group Stormalong John.
Shay teaches Folk Repertoire at Berkeley’s Freight and
Salvage and his most regular local gig these days is the
weekly Starry Irish Music Session at The Starry Plough pub
in Berkeley every Sunday. He tours regularly in the US and
Europe with his brother Michael as The Black Brothers, also
with siblings Martin, Frances and Mary Black as The Black
Family. In the bay area, he performs individually and with a
myriad of musicians and singers in the bay area, including
Nauticus and Dogwatch, both sea music bands, and De
Dannyboyz, an occasional group that plays weddings,
sessions, parties and wakes.
Apart from recording with the Black Family, Shay has
recorded and performed with the California Revels, Shira
Kammen, Peter Kasin and Richard Adrianovich, Dogwatch,
Sharon Knight and Pandaemonium, In Harmony’s Way and
many others. He has performed at PantheaCon, and sang
with the Spiral Dance Chorus, under the direction of Evelie
Delfino Sales Posch. Shay has been a staunch supporter of
The Pagan Alliance for many years, and this is his 9th year as
MC of the Pagan Festival.
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Mistress of Ceremonies: Amelia Hogan
Amelia Hogan is a long-time polytheist, pantheist, witch,
and founding member of the Coru Cathubodua (Morrigan)
Priesthood, a sometimes touring and teaching musician of
over 30 years currently residing in the San Francisco Bay
area. Her interests include singing, polytheist devotional
practice, folklore, storytelling through music, performance,
recording, leading good ritual, serving on the board of the
San Francisco Folk Music Club as well as planting, growing
and then eating tiny potatoes; good tea and hospitality; and
fencing and archery.
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Pagan Alliance
SFLBGT PRIDE
June 25 and 26, 2016
Annually, the Pagan Alliance volunteers as a Donation
Partner with San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and
Celebration. Our volunteerism results in a grant. We are
seeking volunteers for June 25 and 26, 2016. Please contact
Pagan Alliance, Executive Director, Arlynne Camire at
arlynnecamire@gmail.com or text with your info
(510) 872-1188.
Because of you …
Funding and Fundraising for the Return of the Pagan Festival:
Because of the many volunteers at the Festival and at
fundraisers, the Pagan Festival remains a free offering to the
community. Please help keep it FREE! We would like to thank
the following: SFLGBT Pride for the Donation Partner’s Grant
and all the volunteer who donate time, skills and sweat equity to
make the Pagan Festival, our events and fundraising possible.
Pagan Alliance
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Performers
The performers who bless our stage are from different paths and
traditions. Performances are community offerings. The Pagan
Alliance is grateful for their contributions to the celebration
of our community pride. For more information regarding the
performers, please visit their websites listed below.
Shay Black www.black-brothers.com
Amelia Hogan www.reverbnation.com/ameliaisaverb
Carly Ozard www.carlyozard.com
Lily Holbrook lilyholbrook@vpweb.com
Ariellah
www.ariellah.com
Elizabeth Zohar www.elizabethzohar.com
Daughters of Cairo Belly Dance
Facebook
Tatseena’s Serpent Sirens tatseena.com
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Pagan Alliance
Vendors & Info tables
Businesses
Wizard’s Wand (WizardCraft
Technologies)
wizardswand.net
Willowroot Wands
Ancient Ways
ancientways.com
Astral Chrysalis Designs astralchrysalis.com/
Organizations
Articmoon Designs
articmoondesigns.com
Come As You Are Pagan
BansheeArts Congregation
bansheearts.com
cayacoven.org
Capizano’s Culinary Delights
Coru Cathbodua Priesthood
www.capizanos.com
corupriesthood.com
Corven Design
Covenant of the Goddess
etsy.com/shop/CorvenDesign
cog.org
Divine Gypsy
Fellowship of the Spiral Path
www.flickr.com/photos/
spiralpath.org
thedivinegypsy/
Heathens United Against Racism
Eyescream
heathensunitedagainstracism.org
eyescreamjewelry.com
Hrafnar
Follow The Trees
hrafnar.org
followthetrees.com
Polytheists at UC Berkeley
Glowees
heathenchinese@gmx.com
www.glowees.com
Reclaiming
Josephine Mbugua Designs Reclaiming.com
Just Rewards 4
justrewards.com
Lulu Deux Millinery
luludeuxmillinery.com
Mother Earth Fine Arts & Crafts
Patricia A. Leslie
http://carterhaughbooks.wix.com/
patricia-a-leslie
PureSource Gems and crafts
bitahp@yahoo.com
Rainbow Gems
bitahp@yahoo.com
Sensory Revolution
Sponsored by the Pagan Alliance
sensoryrevolution.com
The May Tree
themaytree.net
The Sacred Well
sacredwell.com
Tarot /
Divination
Booth
Pagan Alliance
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Pagan Alliance
Staff & Volunteers
The Pagan Festival is an event that requires the dedication
and hard work of countless volunteers. We would like to
thank this year’s staff and all the volunteers who have made
the Pagan Festival possible.
Arlynne J. Camire, Executive Director & Festival Director
Board of Directors
JoHanna Hill, Board President and Altar Coordinator
Donald Burbano, Board Vice-President, Project Manager
Molly Blue Dawn, Board Member, Pagan Festival Info Booth
Manager & Community Organizer
Christine Oswald-Tigerman, Board Member, Outreach
Director & Stage Manager
Dean Jones, Board Member and Author Circle Coordinator
Victoria Slind-Flor, Board Member, 2009 Keeper of the Light
Liana Scheer, Board Member
Staff
Benjamin Penn, Security Manager
Yeshe Rabbit Matthews, Vendor Coordinator
Robin Dolan, Assistant Stage Manager
Moxie Penn, Children’s Crafts and Event Coordinator
Caeli Stewart-Morrison, RN-First Aid
Richard Aldous and Barry King, Webmasters
Teresa Lee, Graphic Artist, Event Art and Flyer
Event Insurance by Reclaiming www.Reclaiming.org
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You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your
love and affection. — Buddha
“Ancestral Wisdom? I’m not dead yet! I’ve been dead forever and will be
again, only alive for an instant. I’m looking forward to lots of romantic,
sexual, intellectual, creative, and travel adventures - and so should you,
no matter how old you are”.
Or more succinctly: “I’ll be mellow when I’m dead” - Weird Al.
— Russell Williams
Our Ancestors carried our lives with them, through the past into our
present. Whatever they lived through, whatever they learned, however
they survived, our lives were made possible because they survived, they
lived, they learned, they kept going through good times and terrible times
and all the times, from the beginning to our time. Now we are charged with
carrying life, the wisdom to live well, and the courage to keep going into
the future, when we will be the Ancestors.
— Wishbringer Molly Blue Dawn,
High Priestess of Serendipity of CAYA Pagan Congregation
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Pagan Alliance
“He Is Not Dead
I cannot say, and I will not say
That he is dead. He is just away.
With a cheery smile, and a wave of the hand,
He has wandered into an unknown land
And left us dreaming how very fair
It needs must be, since he lingers there.
And you—oh you, who the wildest yearn
For an old-time step, and the glad return,
Think of him faring on, as dear
In the love of There as the love of Here.
Think of him still as the same. I say,
He is not dead—he is just away.”
— James Whitcomb Riley
Pagan Alliance
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The Sacred Well Ad (Use from Last years Program)