For much of the time I've been associated with the world of paganism, I've noticed a distinct lack of direction. There are plenty of personalities, and colorful ones at that, but there aren't many trend-setters on the vanguard of occultism to whom we could all look for clear and authoritative leadership. Sure, many people have read and admired people such as Scott Cunningham, but that's mostly what Scott was before his death, a writer. When I think of leaders, visions of Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin fill my imagination: men or women who could take a diverse group of people and bind them together to accomplish any kind of grand scheme.
I think that was what may have sabotaged me before I went to the Cascadian Pagan Leadership Conference the weekend of October 20. I thought that I was going to walk away with new ideas, cutting-edge technology, freshly learned skills to help me gain some leadership qualities. I thought, in the grander scheme of things, that this could be a powerful force to help evolve our disparate sects into a viable, cohesive organism. One that could make the world sit up with eyes wide and say, "Oooooo... witches...."
I should know by now not to get my hopes up too much about anything.
The keynote address, given by Fritz Muntean on Friday evening, was without a doubt the most informative session I attended all weekend. Fritz spoke on "Pagan Leadership: Past, Present and Future," in which he demonstrated how the Major Arcana of the Tarot can serve as a blueprint of the stages a person goes through on his or her journey toward becoming a leader. I know of one woman who was very impressed that Fritz had taken this angle. I could tell by the way she spoke that she found the lecture, although slow in places, a refreshingly new approach to the subject of both leadership and the Tarot. Fritz was pretty well informed and has gone to school, of which he was keen to remind us on several occasions.
However, a workshop I later attended that Fritz and two friends facilitated wasn't quite what I was led to believe, based on the brief in the conference program. I wasn't the only one who felt a little put out when we found the discussion group that was supposed to deal with "Beliefs, Practices and Ethics" ended up being a plug or, rather, as Fritz put it to his audience, "an unveiling" of a new pagan publication called The Pomegranate that he is helping to produce. While I am glad to hear about a new pagan publication, I was disappointed by this little deception.
The session with the greatest attendance seemed to be "Going Public" by Merrie Foerster. She started off by giving us each a handout that asked some pertinent questions in a rather light fashion. Then, as she began speaking, my wicked little self had to quip whether this was a talk on paganism or something else regarding closets and coming out. It got a couple of chuckles, which was good, especially since a couple of women got their noses bent out of shape about a perceived slight regarding self-identification as witches. Except for that little tangential tantrum, Merrie's session was rather enjoyable, even if I was lost on where it fit into the scheme of leadership.
The rest of the weekend was, in my opinion, unimpressive. Indeed, I cannot see any Aleister Crowleys or Starhawks emerging from these incredibly overpriced sessions. It cost $90 for the weekend, which included Saturday's sumptuously catered lunch by Simply Elegant and admission to the entertainment provided on Saturday evening by the band Wicked Celts.
During the course of the conference, I saw several problems that I just couldn't ignore. Confrontation and challenge, not only of the facilitators but of other listeners as well, was the order of the day. Those observing closely could see a rift materializing between economic groups, intellectual circles and traditions. Much to my surprise, someone even made an issue of the conference's homogeneous ethnicity - that is, "Where are all the nonwhites?" Furthermore, I saw exceptionally bad manners exhibited by one woman, who started pointedly clipping her nails while Norma Reise was trying to establish rapport with her audience.
Also, not all the facilitators seemed to be appropriately or adequately prepared. One person who attended Herb Mitchell's workshop on "Handling Conflict" bluntly confirmed this, regarding that workshop at least, and added brutally: "Herb is the last person qualified to teach conflict resolution."
Admittedly, I was not able to make it to all the sessions. No one could, since you always had to choose between one session and another; two classes ran concurrently at all times both Saturday and Sunday.
There was one bright spot. It is always nice to make new acquaintances and to renew old ones, and I made the most of my opportunity. While most at the conference were locals, there were several people who came from Arizona, Las Vegas and even Canada. That these persons would make a journey of such distance to attend truly spoke to my heart. The ladies that came from Las Vegas are virtually cut off from the rest of civilization due to the nature of the Las Vegas lifestyle. They were thrilled and energized to be around so many other witches and whatever-you-want-to-call-yourselves.
I did take the time to discuss with others what they felt could help improve any future conventions. These are some of the constructive suggestions made:
I have no doubt that the organizers of this event had nothing but the best of intentions, and I wholeheartedly congratulate Alex Kirby for having pulled it off. I know he put a lot of work into this weekend outing. But I also feel that calling this a "leadership conference" was a bit of a misnomer. "A Cascadian grab bag o' seminars," sure. Pagan? Undoubtedly. However, we will never accomplish any kind of pagan culture revolution based on the leadership displayed and discussed at this conference.
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