Report from Starwood: workshops

I'm a workshop junkie, and Starwood is a great place to indulge my habit. I attended workshops with Deborah Lipp (who will tell you the things you can hear only at Starwood), Macha Nightmare, Christopher Penczak, and Skip Ellison (and some lesser-known Pagans, too).

Christopher Penczak was the biggest surprise and delight. I'd heard of him and seen his books in bookstores, but I'd never read him. I'll remedy that shortly (I have The Temple of Inner Witchcraft on order). Christopher is young, prolific, engaging, smart as a whip, and very knowledgeable. I attended two of the three workshops he offered, and I'm ready to become a groupie. I've never gone into trance as quickly as when led by him. His wide ranging discussions of Wicca, ceremonial magic, spellwork, traditions of invocation, and about 150 other topics, held me transfixed.

I attended both of Macha's workshops on death and dying. Regular readers know that I've been feeling drawn to working more with death, and Macha literally wrote the book on Pagan beliefs and practices. She is truly a Wiccan elder (although not that old; I would guess that she's in her 50s). Her energy is wonderful. Like me, she's passionate about green burial.

Adonis and I held an ongoing conversation about Pagan/Wiccan beliefs and thealogy. Talking about ideas - he knows the way to a woman's heart. We had great connection while we were there. I would like to find more people to engage with intellectually at Starwood, but that hasn't happened for me yet. Maybe next year I should put up a sign: "Smart, idea-hungry Pagans who want to talk spirituality meet at my camp in the Dark Moor...."