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My Workshops

As part of my outreach to the members of ADF, and to bring ADF to the Pagan world at large, I have taken to giving workshops on a variety of subjects, both scholarly and spiritual, at both ADF Festivals and other Pagan festivals.

Workshops, even more than rituals, can facilitate communication and understanding between people, and I love it when my audience engages me with questions and comments during the course of my presentations. And some of these workshops can get quite lively!

I have presented at 8 ADF festivals so far: Trillium, Desert Magic, Wellspring, Summerland, Muin Mound Madness, Midnight Flame, Eight Winds Mountain Earth and Three Realms. I have presented at two non-ADF festivals so far, Starwood and the gay Between the Worlds, and I will also be presenting at Pantheacon in 2008.

Below is a list of my current workshops with short descriptions:

The Nature of Sacrifice

Much of what ADF does in ritual is based on the concept of sacrifice. What does this word actually mean? What relevance does it have in the modern world? How can we have sacrifice without killing animals? This workshop will explore the ancient origins of the practice, how sacrifice has changed over the centuries and what it means now for modern Pagans, especially those of us in ADF.

Chaos and Cosmos: Bringing Them Together

ADF has a very distinct and coherent way of looking at the cosmos and how it relates to our reaching the Gods, Spirits of Nature and our Ancestors in ritual. Based on the beliefs of ancient Indo-European Pagan peoples, this cosmology embraces tripartition and such concepts as the Sacred Center, World Tree, Three Worlds, Three Realms, Fire in Water, etc. This workshop will examine this cosmological system, its origins, and its use in ADF Ritual.

A Welsh Wheel of the Year

While there has been much work done in ADF on the Wheel of the Year for some hearth cultures, especially the Irish and Norse, scant attention has been paid to Welsh hearth culture. In this workshop, we will examine a possible Welsh approach to the ADF High Days using folk customs, folklore and storytelling.

Living in Integrity by Being Real

Wisdom can be found in the strangest places. In this workshop, we will explore the concept of 'being real', and how that feeds into personal integrity, through the children's story, The Velveteen Rabbit.

Concentration in Ritual

When we perform public ritual, we need to focus on many different levels at the same time - on a personal level, on the level of working with the other celebrants, on the level of the congregation, and in the Otherworlds. This workshop will give attendees the opportunity to learn and practice a set of techniques to enable them to work on all four levels simultaneously.

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