DarkoverCon

The Darkover(TM) Science Fiction Convention Esoteric Track (Darkover Esoteric Track) was started up more than 10 years ago to provide for the spiritual needs of the conference community for spiritual counsel and for an open classroom setting explaining the religious background to the magick behind energy practices mentioned in the Darkover(TM) series by Marion Zimmer Bradley and the Deryni Chronicles by Katherine Kurtz. The track allows for Christian Mystic, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Orthodox, Eckanckar, Wiccan, Druid, Voudoun, Umbanda, and many other traditions to be explored in a safe environment. We have included counseling courses and intensives in various subjects.

Press HERE to return to Darkover website. BIOS of Teachers follow the CLASS SCHEDULE

CLASS SCHEDULE & DESCRIPTIONS

DarkoverCon™ ESOTERIC TRACK

Friday - 3 PM – Setting the Wards

Friday - 4 PM - Shabbat Service (Niko)

Friday - 5 PM – The Way of the Oracle (Diana L. Paxson) - People continue to feel the need for supernatural guidance, and seek out those who through true vision or simply by good counseling skills, can help them. Diana shares her vision of the role of the oracle in community.

Friday - 6 PM Sharing Spirituality with Children (LuAnn Day) - What if any are the spiritual needs of children and adolescence and how a parent who is not “religious” can meet their children’s needs. Can a child be taught spirituality without being taught religious dogma from a particular faith tradition? How can spirituality enhance family life.

Friday - 7 PM – Reading with Alternate Tarot Decks (Tabitha Pierzchala) There are many Tarot decks today do not follow the “traditional” 78 card format. Join us to learn how / practice reading with Divination decks that have no Arcana and no suits – but lots of symbology.

Friday - 8 PM - Intro to Vedic Astrology (Rosanna Tufts) Learn how the sidereal zodiac reveals your karmic puzzle! It’s 23 degrees behind the zodiac you’re used to — How do the actual planetary placement show both your life’s problems AND their answers?

Friday - 9 PM - Introduction to RúnValdr (Tchipakkan). This is a system of energy working using Norse Runes and other symbols. This workshop introduces the symbols and what each of them is used for (doesn’t include the attunement).

Friday - 10 PM - Dangerous Meditations (Tamar) - Some meditations can be hazardous even though you’re “just sitting there.” First lecture, then experiential; attendees must be at least 18 and responsible for themselves. Not recommended for the unstable.

Friday - 11 PM - Continued Meditations (Tamar)

Friday - 12 Midnight - Open

Saturday - 10 AM - The Gender Dance in Vedic Astrology (Rosanna Tufts) The Gender Dance in Astrology: How do the masculine and feminine signs really operate? What happens when masculine planets are in feminine signs (and vice versa), and how does that affect the way you operate in life? How do certain combinations tend to gayness or lesbianism?

Saturday - 11 AM - RúnValdr Activation (Tchipakkan) - At this session we’ll give the attunements and start learning to use the system, including passing on attunements to others.

Saturday - 12 NOON – Sharing Spirituality with Children (LuAnn Day) - What if any are the spiritual needs of children and adolescence and how a parent who is not “religious” can meet their children’s needs. Can a child be taught spirituality without being taught religious dogma from a particular faith tradition? How can spirituality enhance family life.

Saturday - 1 PM - Guest of Honor Speech (no conflicting programming)

Saturday - 2 PM - Vedic Astrology - The Moon’s Nodes (Rosanna Tufts) - Obsession and Renunciation — The Moon’s Nodes: Considered an afterthought in Western Astrology, the Nodes are major players in Vedic Astrology. How do they show where you tend to go overboard in life, either voraciously consuming something you can’t get enough of, or assiduously avoiding something that makes you feel sick just thinking about it?

Saturday - 3 PM – Clergy Clatch - Open to everyone who feels like they have “clergy” stamped on their foreheads. An annual coffee / tea/ what have you conversation about ministry and fandom.

Saturday - 4 PM – Orthodox Symbology (Niko)

Saturday - 5 PM - Falling Stars Memorial Service (Tovah) - Annual memorial service for those who have passed in the prior year.

Saturday - 6 PM - Holy Conversations (Rik & Anna-Sara Fire) Too often, we as individuals & families come from religious traditions that do not embrace the fullness of who we are, or worse yet, condemn us. Join Interfaith Ministers, Rev. Rik Fire & Rev. Anna-Sara Fire in this safe and sacred container to share heartfelt experiences of both sadness and joy. Come open to transform with the message that Divine Connection is available to all of us.

Saturday - 8 PM - Conscious Evolution – choice, change, commitment (Grandmother Elspeth) . The most powerful force in the world is thought. Thought focused through purposeful intent can complete itself through your own powerful energy, and allow change to manifest into three-dimensional reality. Humanity is a world civilization in transition. The old paradigm no longer works. That which got us here will not get us out. It’s up to each of us to take charge of our own soul.

Saturday - 9 PM - Open (Clam Chowder concert is going on)

Saturday - 10 PM - Open (Clam Chowder concert is going on)

Saturday - 11 PM - Open (Clam Chowder concert is going on)

Saturday - 12 Midnight – Healing Circle (Grandmother Elspeth)

Sunday - 9 AM - Michaeline Christian Mass (Order of St. Michael) (Alternate Programming) (Order of St. Michael) - Open Christian service of prayer and sacrament.

Sunday - 10 AM - Open

Sunday - 11 AM – Transits of Venus and 2012 (Rosanna Tufts, Tamar Lindsay) The Transit of Venus and 2012: An in-depth look at the only planet that draws a Pentagram in its orbit! The second in the Transit of Venus pair happens next June, which won’t be seen again for over 100 years — what does it mean for you?

Sunday - 12 Noon – Holy Conversations (Rik and Anna-Sara Fire) Too often, we as individuals & families come from religious traditions that do not embrace the fullness of who we are, or worse yet, condemn us. Join Interfaith Ministers, Rev. Rik Fire & Rev. Anna-Sara Fire in this safe and sacred container to share heartfelt experiences of both sadness and joy. Come open to transform with the message that Divine Connection is available to all of us.

Sunday - 1 PM – RúnValdr Advanced Practice (Tchipakkan) - In this session we’ll practice healing, distance work, making magickal objects, and other things RúnValdr makes more direct.

Sunday - 2 PM - Closing Circle - Bringing down the wards and sending blessing to all participants at Darkover.

Sunday - 3 PM - Dead Dog (in Hospitality) - This is the wind-down from Darkover Frenzy. Just a hang-out time. Go and enjoy.

BIOS of Teachers and DESCRIPTIONS OF CLASSES will be posted at Darkover and available as a brochure with the Ecumenicon Table in the Dealers room. If you wish full information, email Charles Butler at chazzer3332000@yahoo.com.

BIOS

TEACHER BIOGRAPHIES (ongoing, they may not be teaching in any given year)

REV. CHARLES BUTLER, NETO (Charles) is an interfaith minister with Ecumenicon Fellowship and long-time coordinator of this track of instruction. He is trained in traditional and mystic Christianity and was raised in a Pentecostal home. He is ordained as an interfaith minister with Ecumenicon Fellowship, a Wiccan priest with the Temple of Isis Rising, and worships in his home an an Umbandisto. He was born in Brazil, reared in Atlanta, has a BA in Latin American Studies and is returning to Wesley Seminary in Spring 2012 to pursue work as a prison chaplain. He is also an ASL/PSE interpreter and often interprets for the Clam Chowder concerts. Although he has organized this track for this year, he is spending time at home.

LU ANN DAY

GRANDMOTHER ELSPETH (2011) Writer, speaker, teacher, counselor, storyteller – Grandmother Elspeth is a living example of the messages she brings. At 81 she frequently travels about the country to speak her truths. Elspeth is an honored Elder in the Neo-Pagan movement, and co-founder of The Haven Way: an eco-spiritual path of personal and planetary transformation.

REV. ANNA SARA FIRE (2011) is an interfaith Chaplain, trained at Stockholm University, focused on Sami Studies, and an interfaith minister with Ecumenicon Fellowship. For the past 6 years she has been a student of Shamanism under Rev. Dr. Crow Swimsaway and Bekki Shiningheart of the Church of Earth Healing. She is currently working in chaplaincy in a local hospital. She is also a trained teacher in Vinyasa Yoga.

REV. RIK FIRE (2011) is an Ordained Interfaith Minister with Ecumenicon Fellowship. His primary spiritual pathways are Shamanism, Ifa, Gnosticism & Unitarian-Universalism. He is employed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for a managed behavioral healthcare company. His eclectic private practice specializes in working with clients in areas related to spirituality, gender & sexuality & energy healing, as he is also a Reiki Master & shamanistic practitioner.

TAMAR LINDSAY (2011) began meditation in the mid-1970s, studying with an eclectic teacher and joining his mystery school, Foundation Capstone. Her path might be loosely described as “eclectic including Buddhist.” She has taught specific subjects at various sessions of the mystery school, and at several Ecumenicons and a few other esoteric conventions as well. Her teaching has focused primarily on labyrinth work and basic sacred geometry. This conference she is focused on concentrated meditations.

ORDER OF ST. MICHAEL (2011) is an esoteric, ecumenical Christian community oriented toward self-knowledge (gnosis in its original meaning) and spiritual growth. The Order provides a community for those seeking to enrich their traditional faith experiences and for those searching for a personal path to the Divine. Members seek contemporary meaning in traditional forms of worship and prayer, combining the rich traditions of the past with an exploration of contemporary mysticism and ritual.

NIKO

DIANA L. PAXSON (2011) was inspired by Marion Zimmer Bradley in the 1970s to begin her writing career. She is the author of 29 novels, including the Chronicles of Westria, numerous short stories, and non-fiction books such as Trance-Portation, Essential Asatru, and Taking up the Runes. When Marion’s health began to fail in the 90s, Paxson took over writing the Avalon series. Her most recent novel is Sword of Avalon, set in the 12th century BCE, which includes the forging of Excalibur. Her next publication will be Seeing for the People, on the history and work of oracles, due out in February 2012. She lives in the multi-generational, multi-talented household called Greyhaven in Berkeley.

TABITHA PIERZCHALA (2011) is a Priestess in the Georgian Tradition of Wicca with 20 years experience working with the Tarot. She started studying the Craft of the Wise in Seattle in the early 1990’s. She has served as the coordinator for the Seattle Community Full Moons and as a Distinguished Faith Group Leader in Iraq, and is currently leading the Nature Spirituality Circle and teaching Wicca 101 at Paint Branch Universalist Unitarian Church.

DEBERA ROTHSCHILD (Tovah) (2011) grew up in a conservative Jewish household. At the early death of her mother, she started to question her own beliefs. In Hebrew High School, she took a class about Jewish Mysticism where she found some of the things she was taught to ring true. Later in life, her father would take her to temple with him on Saturday mornings. This became the way they reconnected in a spiritual way. In massage school, she began to think outside of just traditional belief systems and again to question her own religious beliefs. Although she never has forgotten where her roots are, at the death of her father, her religious belief system was shaken. Debera went back to the commandment of “Question Everything,” and started incorporating some of the philosophies she was learning into her belief of “Life, Universe, and Everything.” Lighting candles and the Sabbath services are ways Debera has found to reconnect with her father and the past.

TCHIPAKKAN (2011) is an artist, writer, healer, and eclectic pagan-heathen-rustic. She teaches on subjects from energy healing, to herbalism, especially spreading RunValdr. She has written articles in pagan magazines, and published several cookbooks of pagan cookies; she sculpts images for altars and votive offerings, and paints book covers. With Jane Sibley, she is the co-founder of the Changing Times-Changing Worlds interfaith esoteric conference, designed to expand the knowledge of (super)natural human abilities at the intermediate and advanced levels. She is a scholar of both the modern neo-pagan movement and historical paganism.

REV. ROSANNA E. TUFTS, MMDA (2011) is Ecumenicon’s Minister of Music and Dramatic Arts, ordained in 1994. She holds a Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory, and is the composer of The Passion of Persephone and (in collaboration with Charles Butler) According To Us. Formerly the High Priestess of Rosewood Coven, she is now an award-winning speaker (Toastmasters), and is certified in Handwriting Analysis and Vedic Astrology. She is the host of the OZ-Some Success! talk show on BlogTalkRadio, where she interviews people who are exemplars of overcoming great odds and merging their passions into successful careers. She is the new Chair of Ecumenicon Interfaith Conference 2012. Talk to her about teaching at that conference in April of 2012.