This weekend is the Conference on Current Pagan Studies at Claremont University. This year our key note speakers are Z Budapest and Hyperion. You still join us and register at the door for two days of interesting topics, great key note speakers, and engaging in current Pagan studies.
For a PDF copy of this flyer see Current Pagan Studies Conference flyer 2012
The Woven Circle will be teaching two traditional wheat weaving classes at the 2012 PantheaCon. The Woven Circle is made up of talented artists who travel to San Jose each year to share their enjoyment of straw art with the Pagan community at PantheaCon.
There will be a beginning class “Introduction to Wheat Weaving” on Saturday. This class focuses on beginning weavings techniques along with straw preparation and sources on books, materials, and local groups. In this class, each student will make at least two weavings: a Bridget’s Cross and Harvest Knot to bring home. All materials and supplies are provided.
We will be teaching an intermediate class “Intermediate Wheat Weaving” on Sunday for those of you who have taken wheat weaving classes or are advanced hand crafters. This class focuses on intermediate weaving techniques. In this class, each student will make a Welsh Harp using a locking technique. All materials and supplies are provided.
The Woven Circle (Angela, Carol and William) is dedicated to teaching arts and crafts as part of our service to the community. Angela is an eclectic Pagan writer and has taught crafts for 20 years. Carol is a bead and fiber artist, who has taught for crafts guilds, both local and regional. William (author of A Pagan Humanist blog) has been part of the Pagan community for over 30 years and has been teaching wheat weaving for over 15 years.
Resources for Straw Art You can buy straw from Black Beard in North Dakota (from Dennis and Sharon Hanson). Also, you can find wheat at Frank’s Cane & Rush Supply(7252 Heil Ave. Huntington Beach, CA 92647 – (714) 847-0707). Both are good places, and good people, to buy from. We recommend two books (yes there are more books but this should start you out just fine):
The American Museum of Straw Art hosts a spectacular collection of straw art from the US and around the world. Also, there is Wheat Goddesses, which is Cora’s web site with her show schedule. Her work is amazing and if you get a chance, please stop by one of her shows to see all the straw art.
Foibles and Follies of Being Human
Being human means being flawed; that is, being filled with follies and foibles. Notice that all this is about being. Of course Martin Heidegger’s Dasein comes to mind. To follow Heidegger is a long, and often fruitful road; however, here I would like to speak to the problems of just living in the world and ethics.
What I mean by humans are flawed is that we are imperfect, or more perhaps more along the lines of being limited in our knowledge and self-reflection. Knowledge is limited because of biological restrains on memory and perspective. With the advent of technologies (writing and data storage), memory may be of lesser concern. Perspective is what I think as a deep concern. Biological beings may not have the wider perspective to understand everything including ourselves. There is no truly objective view. Science, philosophy, and other disciplines do try to get us closer. Science in general seem very good at this but still the limit is how to step out side of being a biological being in order to find some objective understanding.
What does this mean for ethics? If we are all flawed and perhaps unable to find an objective view of ethics, how then do we live. Some find ethics in revealed truths or in authority. Although these may not always be bad choices, I think a quick look at history will show incidents where they have fallen short (perhaps I understated this a little). Ethics from nature present other concerns. I often turn towards philosophy for my own ethical understanding but there is the problem of which philosophical system to choose.
However, let me return to the idea of being flawed. Many ethical system have standards that most of us do fall short of. Yet, to be human is to understand that being flawed is not an excuse, only a reality that we struggle with. Also, I think that when we take a single path towards ethics, the shortcomings of the path become more apparent. Any single system, no matter how robust can, and often do, leave out or is unable to touch on all the complexities of being human. Am I then suggesting that we act inconsistent. Well, the short answer for now, is yes. Human are filled with follies and foibles but perhaps we should find strength in our flaws. In being able to inconsistent but for the right reasons. Perhaps Kant is right that we should never lie but then again I think there are times we should…to save a life for example.
Over the next year, I will try in my own inconsistent and flawed way take up this theme. Have a great New Year.
My first day at the 2011 America Academy of Religion was filled with science. The America Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) organized some workshops and reception.
This is part of the AAAS Science and Theological Education Project, which is an joint initiative with the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). Science and technology is and important part of modern society. As such, how can seminaries incorporate new topics into an already full curricula. These are the questions being explored here this weekend.
This weekend, I am attending the American Academy of Religion’s 2011 meeting.
As human beings, we love to create meaning out of things. I can remember days spent, as a child, studying the patterns in the sidewalk, the cracks in the ceiling, and the pictures in the clouds. As a teenager, I loved fairy tales and literature and looked for ways they entered into my daily life. And when I went to college, I discovered the tarot. What a wonderful tool! My first deck was given to me at 18. I loved the images, the stories the cards were telling, and the art. I loved exploring the different spreads and trying, through art and story, to make meaning out of things. I have read many books and articles, taken classes, and bought many beautiful decks. I have a series of art projects I have completed that use the tarot. I have been playing with the tarot for over 25 years and I still feel like a novice. I currently have over a dozen decks and only really connect with a few of them. I love the familiarity of the Rider Waite and always seem to return to it. This morning I was reading an article by Barbara Moore on the Llewellen site. In it, she talked about all the ways one could engage with the cards. I especially liked the part where she suggested to get to know the cards one at a time. You could choose to explore a card a day, a card a week, or a card a month. I find it funny that no matter how much time you spend with the cards, you are always a student of the tarot. So I decided I would study a card a week and record my musings. A card a day seemed to little time for exploration, a card a month seemed like overkill. But, a card a week seems like just enough time to look at meaning, story, symbolism. Plus, it gives me time to do some sketching of the cards. First, I need to decide which components to include into my study. I plan to take another look at Mary K. Greer’s “21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card” to help me decide on my format. I love the way she breaks down reading each individual card into so many insightful techniques. I also plan to keep a journal. I hope that by engaging in this process, I can make more connections with the cards and everything in my life.
I spent the weekend in San Luis Obispo creating art with my family. As part of the weekend art experience, we view an exhibit of book art where my aunt had one of her altered book on display; however, she did not feel it was worthy of being with the work of ‘real’ artists. I worry anytime when I hear someone say ‘I am not a real artist. As if there is a certification board for ‘real’ artist. What makes your art real is does it move you, friends, other humans, or fulfill your purpose for the art.
However this leaves open the possibility that art is so vague that anything anyone makes can be claimed as art. I think that there is a difference between this broad, and vague, sense of art and what is may be seen as popular and cultural art. However, the question of what is art is complex and depended on the reason, need, and disciple of the categorization. My question today is why do people doubt themselves as artist?
Even more so, many artist still after becoming “successful” doubt themselves as artist. Seeking validation seems to be a very human need. I have my own doubts but I do not create art for validation. I enjoy the validation and even seek it out but my goal for creating art is different. Art is a media for me to build relationships. Some time this is only a relationship with myself but often it is about community and connection to nature. In this sense, art becomes broad and powerful. In fact, I think that most people engage in art more often than they may see and thus much more of an artist. Perhaps all humans are artist; some make money with art but all of us make connections.
