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By Brent Winter, TAPA newsletter editor
Thursday evening: After driving through a terrible rainstorm that caused multiple wrecks up and down the interstate—giving me plenty of time to reconsider my lack of belief in reincarnation—I arrived in Atlanta for the Mystic South conference. Having survived my initiatory ordeal, I went to dinner with my friend C. at my favorite burrito joint from back in the day when I lived in Little Five Points. I was delighted to learn that the unfussy food, the death metal/garage rock vibe, and the sangria were as good as ever. Additional fun was had inside a giant screaming skull and in church with Sister Louisa. IYKYK.
Friday: My plan to attend an 8 a.m. session turned out to be overly ambitious after the urban adventures of the night before, but 9:30 saw me learning about the ancient goddess of love of the ancient Germanic peoples. Nothing like a little mythology, anthropology, history, and folklore (with a generous dash of saucy talk) to start off the conference! Plus there’s just something about being around so many pagans and like-minded folks all at once. It may sound like a cliché, but the energy really is palpable. During the afternoon I learned about fairies and took my very first shamanic journey (achievement unlocked: two totem animals discovered), and that evening I went to the very well-attended Tapas With TAPA social hour. Synchronicities and snacks abounded, and the company was most excellent. Friday night I saw the musical duo Clouds Without Water perform a set of hypnotic music with psychedelic visuals. Full disclosure: I’m married to one member of the duo. Other full disclosure: their music that night induced trances and moved people to tears. Saturday: Overly ambitious or not, I was up and at ‘em at 8 a.m. because I was giving a presentation on the quantum physics of divination. It went well, except for the part where a physicist in the audience raised his hand to say I’d gotten something wrong, and then another physicist who attended the talk approached me afterward to say there was nothing wrong with my presentation. I didn’t have a physicist fight on my conference bingo card, but such is the magic of Mystic South. In the afternoon I learned how to perform a banishing ritual, do ancient Greek divination with dice, and establish a heartfelt relationship with the runes. In the evening I attended a very crowded oracular ritual but decided to forgo the oracular part because the line was just too long for me. I’m one of those people who likes to wait for the buffet line to subside, and I guess that holds true for otherworldly nourishment too. Not listed are all the chance(?) encounters with friends and acquaintances, the new connections I made, the surprisingly intimate conversations with people I’d just met, and everything I learned: about Spirit, about myself, about the folly of drinking blue cocktails at a hotel bar. If you’re thinking about going to Mystic South, I highly recommend it. You can save money by driving with friends and splitting the gas, splitting a room, and either giving a presentation (free registration) or volunteering (discounted or free registration). A number of TAPA folks attended and/or presented, and I for one hope to see you there next year! Blessed Be, Brent
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Organizing for Pagan community, education, and visibility in the Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh NC area. Archives
September 2024
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