April is almost over but I’ve yet to write about the Great Texas Trip. I wouldn’t want any of the terrific people I met out west to think this reflects poorly on them; it’s simply a reflection of the distractions I found when I got home.<\/p>\n
The saga starts in the Dallas\/Fort Worth area, where I was the guest of Sacred Journey Fellowship<\/a>. My old friend David Pollard, who was once on the CUUPS board with me and is currently president of CUUPS, is active with this Unitarian Universalist<\/a> congregation. The Fellowship has been around for many years, and has been known by many names, but in its current incarnation in Garland, Texas, it is unabashedly Earth-centered. I almost wrote unabashedly Pagan, but you know, they say Earth-centered and far be it from me to redefine someone else.<\/p>\n Saturday I presented a daylong workshop that I like to call Propping Up the Magic<\/a>, all about the use of magical tools. The space was great, and the participants enthusiastic<\/a>. I’ve done this workshop in much more limited time frames, an hour or two, but it was wonderful doing it over a whole day, much more like what I’d envisioned. It’s intense work. <\/p>\n On the next morning I did the “sermon” at Sacred Journey’s Sunday Service. This one was hard. I talked about Isaac and his legacy. We used a recording of his Hymn to Bridget as an intro; terribly appropriate since Bridget was Isaac’s patroness and is the Fellowship’s patroness for this year. However, hearing him sing is hard for me. I never know quite how I’ll react. This time, as I am wont to do, I cried. Not a great way to start a speech, but I muddled through. Dave P. recorded the talk and put it on the CUUPS podcast<\/a>. <\/p>\n I had a couple of days off after that, but had to spend part of that time fussing at the hotel chain where I was ensconced. I didn’t travel with my antique, weighty laptop, so was happy to find public computers in the hotel’s business center. One little problem, though; they were running blocking software on it. I tried to access the site for Chrysalis Moon<\/a>, where I’ll be speaking in July, and found it blocked as an “Alternative Spirituality\/Occult” site. Displeased. Tried to access my blog. Blocked: “Alternative Spirituality\/Occult”. Very displeased. (I could, however, get into the Council of Magickal Arts website<\/a> — go figure. Heads up, CMA, apparently you are neither “alternative” nor “occult”. Who knew?)<\/p>\n I immediately shot off a nasty gram to their customer service department, pointing out that “Alternative Spirituality\/Occult” people travel for business, too. I have not yet gotten a satisfactory reply, as the local franchisee is trying very hard to weasel out of a “religious discrimination” charge by saying the sites might have been “Social Networking,” which they block (Why, I can’t imagine. If you want to keep your employees off FB, that’s your privilege, but travelers?). However, I do not intend to let the matter drop. “No one else has ever complained,” they said. Well, dear ones, someone is complaining now.<\/p>\n (No, I’m not going to rat out the chain or hotel here, at least not while we’re still in dialog. I will, however, tell all if I can’t get this resolved to my satisfaction.)<\/p>\n That said, the time was otherwise restful. I had a comfy room with a big TV, which was a novelty since I haven’t had television since I left New York state last November. Although after half a year, one thing had not changed — 57 channels and nothing on. <\/p>\n From DFW, I headed down to San Antonio on Tuesday for my workshop Internal Tarot<\/a>, sponsored by the San Antonio Pagan Alliance<\/a>. Another one of my favorite workshops, this one looks in detail at the iconography of the Major Arcana, with meditations to develop a relationship with the cards. Again I was gifted with a nice long time slot, and a great roomy space in the community room at Heimdall’s Bridge<\/a>. Support your local metaphysical shops, folks. They’re a rare breed and you will miss them when they’re gone.<\/p>\n I had time on Wednesday to hang out with Lyssa, my San Antonio host, and to have dinner with Dydan from the SAPA<\/a>. Had great vegetarian food downtown at Green<\/a>. They have a garden in the front yard, so I felt right at home. The zucchini tamales were amazing and I don’t remember ever having refried black beans that tasty.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Lyssa drove me down to the last leg of my trip, The Council on Magickal Arts’ Beltane<\/a> campout. The Hill country was lovely on the drive, even though they are in deep drought. That cast a bit of a pall on the event, since that part of Texas is under a serious burn ban — no candles, no tiki torches, no campfires, no bonfire. But the spirit of the participants more than made up the difference.<\/p>\n I presented my Ritual Participation Skills<\/a> workshop and managed to And then home.<\/p>\n But I might be back in Texas before too long. Spirit Haven<\/a>, the CMA<\/a> land, needs a serious upgrade to their wastewater handling systems (as in, “or else” from county government). CMA stalwarts in Houston are in the early stages of planning a fundraiser for later this year, and I might be on the guest list. Here’s hoping.<\/p>\n But before that, you can catch me at my next stop, the Florida Pagan Gathering Beltane<\/a>, May 5-8, <\/p>\n For a full list of my travels, check out the Events<\/a> tag right here on my blog. And If you want me at your event, remember, I can be had<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April is almost over but I’ve yet to write about the Great Texas Trip. I wouldn’t want any of the terrific people I met out west to think this reflects poorly on them; it’s simply a reflection of the distractions … Continue reading coerce<\/strike> seduce a number of helpers for my Saturday night ritual. I had to do some serious rethinking on it, as it was originally going to be a lead-in to the lighting of the Revel Fire bonfire. Couldn’t do that. So instead, I filked Isaac’s song “Avalon is Rising”<\/a> to “We’re the Fire Rising” and we became our own celebratory bonfires. It worked, thanks to the many singers, especially the lovely Darwin Prophet<\/a> and her guitar, who volunteered their talents. I used a lot of Isaac’s music; I hope I did him proud.<\/p>\n