Gaia Gathering: The National Canadian Pagan Conference

NOTE: Also posted to the "Ottawa Pagans" comm.

GAIA GATHERING: The National Canadian Pagan Conference

What:
A peer-to-peer gathering of Pagans from across Canada (with visitors from other countries, as well) centered on the question of “What makes our Paganisms uniquely Canadian?”.

( From the Website )

Last Year’s Website: http://www.gaiagathering.ca/
(It will be updated with this year’s information as we get/develop it).



Date: The May Long Weekend (May 19th, I believe), 2008.
Yes, this conflicts with Midgard.
(A thought: Could Midgard be moved to one week later, just for this year, so that the Ottawa community can participate in both the national Conference and the local Fest? You might – maybe – get some cross-country, or out-of-country, folks hanging around, wanting to maintain the fun, who might be up for attending Midgard as well. ;-)



Theme: This year’s theme is “Trade Winds and Portages”
This theme is both a nod to Ottawa’s being a traditional meeting place (neutral territory, if you will) for many cultures, AND a reference the whole idea of cultural and inter-trad/path cross-pollination.


( Programming )

Beyond that, though, it’s up to you.
Because Gaia moves around, it allows each host city a chance to really shine. As such:


Keeping the theme in mind, what do YOU (yes, you!) want to see at Gaia?


Would you like to see panel discussions or round-tables (or what-have-you) on various different paths – some of the Reconstructionist Paths, for example?

What about a discussion on the retelling and adaptation of myths and stories for contemporary use/inspiration? (In Ritual, or otherwise).

How about any of the hundred things that I haven’t thought of, but that YOU want to know about or (BETTER!) that you want to *talk* about?

:-D

That’s right! We’re looking for VOLUNTEERS. :-D

( Who and What We Need )

We really want to get the program laid out BY the end of November, so the sooner I hear from all of you, the better. :-) Do talk to me, ASAP. :-)

Lastly, if you have any questions, e-mail them to me and I’ll try my best to get them answered. (I’m not one of the organizers, I am merely their mouthpiece. ;-)


I look forward to hearing all of your wonderful ideas.

- TTFN,
- Allison/Amazon

Things For-Which I'm Grateful

Yesterday was totally awesome! :-D

There was a lady at the end of Brunch who came over to our table and said "You people have the most interesting conversations. What group are you?"
Anyway, it turns out she's a non-Pagan Goddess Woman, and she's going to come by and join us one of these weeks. :-)
So hurrah! :-D


Also: the get-together I had last night? Phenomenal. :-D Other than the bit where I showed up late to my own shindig (doesn't that just figure), I had a wonderful time and, I think, everyone else had a wonderful time, too. :-)
There were people who came, who I hadn't expected to be able to come, and people who came who I hadn't seen in an *age*, and everyone seemed to get along really well. And someone developed a cruuuuuuuuush. ;-) (Hehehe. I am *so* amused by this. It just makes me grin. And/or smirk. ;-)

Hehehe. :-)


Anyway, it went really well, and my husband was actually able to make it out(!!!) which, given the exhausting teaching job he had this weekend, I wasn't sure he'd be up for.
But yesterday went well, and he had enough energy to not only come out, but to (thank goodness!) show up early and greet/meet people when they came in. :-D


I must say, I was also tickled pink by:

1) Mike arguing over my bill with my husband (who he didn't know was my husband - it's funny. I talk about Paul all the time, but I don't usually refer to him by name, just by Roll) It was very funny in the same way that watching my dad argue over the bill with [insert friend-of-the-family here] when said friend-of-the-family has taken us all out for dinner.
I was quite delighted. :-)

2) The fact that I got lifted up so many times in the last two days that, uh... I think I actually pulled a muscle. Okay, so I'm not so tickled about the muscle-pulling, but the lifting up is fantastic. :-D (I seriously become six years old and giggle my head off because "I'm flying, I'm flying!!" It's kind of like feeling like a princess, y'know?)


Anyway, so that was awesome. :-)

and that is what I'm grateful about. :-)


I've decided that I must procure a bottle of wine for libations. :-) (To the LCBO, after work!)



In other, novel-related news: I'm kinda writing it in two different times. Like, half of it is done in memory and dream, and the other half is done in the present and awake.
I want to inter-mingle these two story-lines, so that as my protagonist falls apart in the present, the reader is also learning the story of the root of her falling-apart-ness at the same time.
I am, I confess, not totally sure how to do this.
Barbara Kingsolver did it - or something like it - in The Poisonwood Bible, but I'm not sure I can do it as well.
... I can give it a try, though. :-D

Wish me luck! :-D

(no subject)

I am 1500 words behind schedule.

And feeling torn.

I shall go and write for a while, and see what turns up.

- TTFN,
- Amazon.