Take a scary romp through the Cultic Twilight werein all conspiracies dwell, as Robert Anton Wilson shares the results of decades of research into the hidden activities of secret societies, both real and imagined. The information herein is based on Bob's latest book, Everything is Under Control, an encyclopedia of conspiracy theories.
Jeff "Magnus" McBride, both an experienced teacher and student of the magical arts and a respected force in the Magickal Community, is one of the foremost artists of performance magic in the world. Presently headlining at Ceasar's Palace's Magical Empire, Magnus is Hollywood's Magic Castle Magician of the Year and NBC's World's Greatest Magician, a founder of The Mystery School and the World Magic Festival, and he created the role of Joran on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Do you wish to enter the world of the Ancients? Then you must wear the mask of the Ancients. On Saturday night we will don the masks we have created over the weekend and enter a portal to the worlds of the Ancients. It is always important to present ourselves to any entity or situation we may encounter clad in a persona of our own design, offering no power of knowledge of our true Selves to unfamiliar spirits. Our goal is to explore and expand our abilities as shape shifters.
This workshop will include a discussion of mask making and the role of masks in shamanic transformation by Jeff (Magnus) McBride and Abbi Spinner. Ian Corrigan and Linda Florist will join them to demonstrate two methods of mask making: copper-sheet masks and muslim-and-paste masks, and Magnus and Spinner will help us decorate simple plastic masks for our Saturday night ceremony. An area will be set up to continue to work on the masks through Saturday. Please bring fabric and materials to exchange and share as we create our masks.
Abbi Spinner has been a teacher and performer of music, drumming and dance for ten years. She has studied with master drummers and dancers from West Africa and North America, and facilitated drum circles and workshops across New England and throughout the Southeast. She is a frequent performer with Mothertongue, (New England's largest Pagan choral group), and Circle Skin & Bone, a well-known percussion ensemble. She is also 1/5th of the dynamic women's percussion ensemble, Sister Adsum. Together with Jeff (Magnus) McBride she has released one cassette tape, and is in the process of creating another much-anticipated collection of music.
A percussion workshop with a special focus on trance rhythms and group entrainment. We will begin with a review of basic hand- drumming techniques, then move on to learn several semi- traditional rhythms from West Africa, and create non-traditional polyrhythmic pieces. All drummers are welcome, regardless of experience level. Please bring drums, shakers, bells, and other percussion instruments. Tape recorders and notebooks are also welcome.
Patricia Monaghan, PhD is one of the pioneers of the contemporary women's spirituality movement. She is the author of several books including the classic encyclopedia, The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines, now in print for over 20 years, which just received the award for Best Visionary Non-Fiction at the International New Age Trade Show. She has just completed two new books: The Goddess Path: Myths, Invocations and Rituals and The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations to the Goddess. She teaches interdisciplinary studies at DePaul University in Chicago and is currently at work on a book on the Goddess in Ireland. (Many of her books and the tape The Way of the Goddess are available from ACE)
Make a sunwise circuit of Ireland in this slide presentation. Travel from Kildare, where Catholic nuns recently relit the sacred fire of the Goddess Brigid; down through scenic Munster, home of the fairy queens; into Connemara, to see sheila-na-gigs and sacred stones; and back across the fertile midlands to the stunning winter solstice shrine of Newgrange. Yes, there will be jokes and stories; what would a tour of Ireland be without them?
For 200 years in ancient Greece, there was a secret religion of women who followed the God of Ecstacy, Dionysos. Then, mysteriously, the religion of the maenads disappeared -- or, perhaps, went underground. What were these women doing on the mountaintops together? Was it connected with shamanic practices? What vestiges of maenad beliefs and practices survived their disappearance?
Rev. Ivan Stang
is Co-Subfounder of the Church of the SubGenius, radio personality, crackpotologist, clay animator, and author of The Book of the SubGenius, High Weirdness by Mail, and Revelation X: the "Bob"apocryphon (all available through ACE), and Arise!: the SubGenius Video.
Donald Michael Kraig has taught and practiced the Western Magickal Tradition for over twenty years. He is a Tantric initiate, a Kabalah scholar, and a researcher in the field of Ceremonial Magick. Donald holds a B.A. in Philosophy from UCLA where he also studied Music, and has performed on keyboards with rock bands, even opening for such acts as Elton John and Great White. He is a Certified Tarot Master and a Grandmaster with the American Tarot Association, and both teaches and works professionally in multi-media, animation and web design with Disney Interactive and Knowledge Adventure. Widely recognized for his historical perspectives on Occult organizations like the Golden Dawn, Donald is a former editor of the Llewellyn New Times and Fate Magazine, and author of the classic ritual textbook Modern Magick and his latest book, Modern Sex Magick.
Sex Magick is simply the ability to channel the powerful energies raised during sexual activity into purposes other than pleasure. Most occult historians have seen this as being a rather direct line, primarily from the Sufis to the O.T.O. to Aleister Crowley. Here is a well documented new and fascinating history of how this system developed, tracing it from ancient times, through the Kabalists, some of the great writers (including William Blake and Emmanuel Swedenborg), and even into the hands of the surrealists!
Tantra is far more than the "yoga of sex" as many self-styled Tantric "experts" have claimed. It is a complete system of spirituality, as complete as the complexities of the Kabalah and as direct and straightforward as any of the numerous Neopagan systems popular today. In this class you will discover the "other side" of Tantra, the 98 per cent that does not deal with sexuality. Topics will include opening the senses, crazy wisdom, meditation, breath, magick and much more.
Ian Corrigan is a Chameleon, ACE organizer, and a well-known Pagan clergy and teacher in the Northeast Ohio area. Ian is a former Archdruid and Director of ADF, a founding member and Elder of Stone Creed Grove, ADF, and author of four books on Celtic Paganism: The Portal Book, The Book of the Dragon, Grammary, and Druidheachd. He is one of the finest bards of the modern Pagan movement. He has been performing songs of the British Isles and Neo-Paganism for over 20 years, and his music and poetry have delighted audiences at A.C.E. events and Pagan festivals across the U.S.A. and Canada. His extensive Magical scholarship, his talents on guitar, drum and penny-whistle, and his deep, rich vocals are an unmatched blend in the music of the ongoing Bardic tradition. (Music tapes, lecture tapes and books by Ian are available from ACE.)
Liafal is a Chameleon, an ACE organizer, and a founder and Senior Druid of Stone Creed Grove, ADF. She is a professional educator and a Priestess of the Traditional Craft, National Members' Advocate for ADF, a past officer of the Ohio local Covenant of the Goddess, and has been a major motivating force behind the Starwood Festival Kids Programming for many years.
In Celtic lore the spiritual principles of prosperity, wisdom and poetic inspiration are present in the deity called The Dagda - the Excellent God. Through ritual, vision and meditation we will open ourselves to the power of the Dagda. We will seek to bring his loving and inspiring power into our hearts and lives. Bring your needs for prosperity and inspiration, and your desire to meet and know this powerful spiritual ally. (Workshop & Ritual)
Catherine Cartwright Jones holds a B.F.A. from U.C.L.A., has 25 years experience as a professional artist and craftsperson, and is a professional illustrator with a special interest in bodypainting and batik. She is an instructor at Kent State University, and has offered her classes and services to the Starwood Community for several years.
An overview of 4000 years of sacred and secular henna body art, including it's use in Moroccan sex magic, in Tantra, ancient henna use in Minoan and Greek Goddess cults, and as part of Sudanese healing rituals.
Henna painting is a traditional women's ritual art used to temporarily tattoo hands and feet for averting evil, beautification, and ritual blessing. Learn the origins and meanings of henna patterns, henna preparation, and application techniques for the darkest color and finest detail.
Joseph Rothenberg, R.N. is a Registered Nurse, an Ohio licensed professional counselor, and a bio-feedback technician. He holds degrees in Psychology and Political Science from Case Western Reserve University. A Co-Director and founder of ACE (and the Chameleon Club), Joseph has studied and presented workshops for over 17 years. (The panel discussion The Self in Transformation, with Joseph Rothenberg, is available from ACE.)
A variety of light/sound and electrical stimulation devices will be available to examine and use. A brief explanation of this technology will be offered, followed by a discussion on artificially induced altered states of consciousness as a tool for art and communication.
Nema has been practicing and writing about Magick for twenty-five years, with articles in The Cincinnati Journal of Ceremonial Magick, Aeon Magazine, Starfire, and other publications. From her experiences with Thelemic Magick, she developed Maat Magick and it's aim of transforming the human race. She is an Elder (former HPS) of the Circle of the Sacred Grove, Church of Pantheist Wicca, an initiate of Adi Nath Tantra. She is the author of Maat Magick: a Guide to Self-Initiation, and is a contributor to Donald Michael Kraig's new book Modern Sex Magick.
Nema expands on the idea of Mask-dancing, a ritual, project and method presented in her book Maat Magick: a Guide to Self- Initiation. She presents theory and practice for crafting masks and for using them ritually, astrally and spiritually. Lyrus Landholder joins Nema to discuss dancing the masks "on the outer" in business, social, and personal situations. The key to effective communication lies in speaking familiar languages through a personality comfortable to the listener.
Lyrus Landholder has studied and practiced many paths of Magick for over twenty years, from Wicca to Thelema, Tantra to Kabbalah. He is an Elder and past High Priest of the Circle of the Sacred Grove (Church of Pantheist Wicca), and a founding member of the Chameleon Club. He is a fine cellist, composer and arranger, with a B.A. in Music. Lyrus was trained in Yoga at the Light of Yoga Society in Cleveland, and has been practicing Yoga for 22 years. He has been presenting Morning Attunements at Starwood and WinterStar for over ten years.
Lyrus will lead us in an easy morning session of Yoga, demonstrating basic stretches, breathing exercises and meditation. Great flexibility is not required, only the willingness to push and pull the body in a few new directions. The emphasis is on gentleness! Please bring a small mat, a towel, or a blanket to put on the floor.
Sade Wolfkitten holds a degree in Production and Performance through CSU's First College, and is a past member of the theatre troupe The Subliminals. A fifteen-year member of the neo-Pagan community, she has hosted a Pagan radio show for over 4 years, produced a short film on neo-Paganism, developed kids' programming for the Starwood Festival, and has self-published a book of Earth-friendly children's activities, Green Maidens and Acorn Boys. She and Terry form Carnival Kaotica, an illusionist/jester circus sideshow.
Terry Sindar is a writer of Gothic/Pagan related fantasy. He has written for Gothic, fantasy, and Pagan magazines such as Specter Magazine, Bi-Luminescence, Through the Trees, NOX, and Shadowdance, and is the author of the surreal Goth/erotica novel, Goddess ov fhee Crucificion. Terry has a degree from Hocking College in Wildlife Biology, and has created Thee Gothik Faery Grove, a formal tradition based on his shamanic visionary experiences. He is a percussionist, and a founding member of the ambient tribal band, Minstrels of Enchantment.
A historical overview of travelling performers from earliest times to the present, with a focus on their role in preserving the folklore, myth and magic of Mankind's earliest beliefs. The discussion begins with primitive ritual and moves through the troubadours, Commedia dell'Arte, mummer's plays, and Punch & Judy to medicine shows, pitchmen, and the circus side show, past and present.
Jason Gazda
first learned to play didgerdioo at The Telluride Mushroom Festival in Colorado (1995). Since then he has made it his life's work to get everyone playing and making didgeridoos, and has taught at medical seminars, collegiate alternative healing classes, pagan and music festivals, and to the inquisitive passerby. His didgeridoo instruction and production company "Rhythm Army" has received widespread acclaim for its unique, quality products and its business philosophies and practices.