Pantheacon - Back to basics? Hardly!

Pantheacon rolled into town this past week and brought with it the usual kaleidoscope of Pagan diversity. Wiccans, Druids, Hoodoo Priestesses, conjurers, mountain folk, sorcerers, wizards, bent-kneed dedicants and this Corporate Pagan from your neighbourhood were all there in their ritual finest. And talking of clothes, we pagans are not afraid of mixing our colours and textures!

But pageantry and spectacle aside, there is serious work that happens at Pantheacon. The theme this year was “back to basics”. Initially, when I read the course description I thought I might skip this year. I read “back to basics” as “craft 101”. It would have been a huge mistake not to go.

I’ve realized recently that “basic” doesn’t mean “beginner”. It means “at the base” or “foundation”. I like to look at that another way and substitute the word “Elemental”.

The vast majority of speakers, presenters and ritual hosts completely understood the semantic subtlety between “basic as beginner” and “basic as elemental and at the core essence of”. On more than one occasion a presenter commented how easy it was for large groups of people to produce a magickal working together with limited instruction. We simply knew how to work together regardless of tradition. The rituals were reduced to the absolute, minimal, elemental and simplistic forms and yet, paradoxically, were all the more complex and profound because of it.

One teacher commented on ritual space and noted that as long as we have breath in our bodies, we have all of the sacred space we need. The elements and Deities are always contained within us and the ability to access them and foster our relationships with them is practically always in abundance.

One ritual I attended consisted of concentric circles. Each person placed their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. Each ring, representing stages of personal and spiritual development, was held by each other person who, in turn, held someone else. I thought of myriad times in my life where a simple touch - to know I was held and supported – would have meant more to me than any circle casting, athame-wielding, corner calling production ever could.

Yet another class focused on the body in prayer. Simple movements combined with a sublime supplication to the Goddess. The movements were inspired by the Sufi Mystics and the repetition created an altered state of consciousness that seemed so familiar and accessible, one buried just below the surface of every day thought.

And one piece of work centered entirely on the breath. I breathed for ninety minutes. Sounds basic, I know, but there was nothing simple about it. Mindful, intentional breathing is complex work. The physical and physiological effort was grueling. The effects of the meditation left many people sobbing uncontrollably. Some were laughing. They had that particularly knowing and almost “I’ve just found IT and it was here all along” tone to their voices that echoes Divine madness. Still others were holding on to each other as if just discovering that the person next to them was actually, truly, indefatigably The Divine.

And I took great pleasure in witnessing simple acts. I was listening to a certain, flamboyant presenter. His story was of a simple, humble tradition. I turned around and saw a good friend of mine smiling from ear to ear. The speaker was using words and phrases from my friend’s home lineage. The look of joy on my circle mate’s face as the words resonated on a level so deep within, was awesome. And I mean “awesome” in its truest form.

Other people shared food, offered rides, tended to the needs of those with them, supported each other in the midst of soul-wrenching work and then reveled in the sheer joy of being Pagans together in such a public way.

Back to basics? Well done Pantheacon. Mischief managed.

Bright Blessing of the Mother,
Gwion