Magic Under The Black Sun: Central Puget Sound Pagan Pride 2015

Yes folks, this weekend is Central Puget Sound Pagan Pride 2015! It's going to be an amazing weekend and I am presenting both days.

Saturday 8/29 at 3pm "Conflict Resolution for Magickal Communities"
Sunday 8/30 at 2pm "Pop-Up Ritual"

For folks who are unable to attend or just want a little more information on these workshops I am posting the basic information below.

Conflict Resolution for Magickal Communities

Identifying positions vs. underlying interests.

Positions are a person's assertion of opinion about what they want.
Positions are often "my" statements. E.g. "My way is 'x'" or "I need you to do 'y'."
Underlying interests are the needs and desires that motivate people. E.g. Safety or validation.
Ask "why"? If there is more than one possible answer to "why do you want that?," then that is not the underlying interest - it's a position.

Check your understanding.

If you want to be listened to, you must be willing to listen.
Make sure you really understand what is being said - don't assume.
Reflect back, paraphrase, and ask if you got it right.
Restate what appear to be the most important points to the speaker, not what is important to you.

Validate and respect emotions without buying into them.

The experience of emotion is always valid and genuine, even if the reasons they are being experienced doesn't seem to be.
Empathize with the speaker's experience, but remain objective.
Excessive buy-in (over identification) clouds judgment.

Pop-Up Ritual

The purpose of Pop-Up Ritual is to be a flexible and responsive alternative to formal planned ritual. The point is not to replace formal ritual, but to supplement it and to hone your ritual skills so that you can adapt when things don't go as planned.

Setup

Know 3-5 different ritual formats from different traditions
Keep a Ritual Toolkit

Items that represent elements, dieties, spirits, etc.
LED candles
Smokeless incense, cleansing spritzes, salt water, etc.
Duct tape
Other fun items that you find inspiring

Have a collection of ritual appropriate poetry, evocations, incantations, etc.
Have a variety of ritual music on an MP3 player and a set of wireless speakers
Be proficient in several quick and dirty magickal techniques that can be deployed in a ritual setting and performed by a group including novices

It can help to have a mechanism on standby for the most common magickal needs: healing, prosperity, protection, devotions, etc.

Before the Ritual

Know your attendees

What traditions are represented in your participants?
What belief systems?
How able are they?

If you've got several attendees with movement impairment, perhaps a spiraldance is not the best idea.
Have you accounted for any sight or hearing impaired attendees? Etc.

Ask them if you're not sure

Ask if anyone has any pressing magickal needs

If several people have sick relatives it might be time for a healing ritual, if many people are concerned about wildfire then perhaps a weather working would be best, etc.

Once you've decided on a goal for your ritual ask if anyone has a particular technique they'd like to use to achieve it

Your attendees are your best resource. Let them be as active participants as they'd like to be (within reason).

During the Ritual

Be flexible

Weather, bystanders, and sometimes participants can throw a monkey wrench in your plans. If one plan seems to go off the rails, just go with another idea.

Pay attention to your participants

Your ritual isn't just for you - keep an eye on participant energy levels, attention, and of course safety. Adapt accordingly.

Have fun

Ritual is supposed to be enjoyable and satisfying. Don't take yourself too seriously and allow things to unfold (within the bounds of safety, sanity, and reasonable timing).

After the Ritual