Workshop Schedule
Saturday 8/17
North Workshop Area
12:30 April Wells Granny's Story Time
2:00 Stone Creed Grove Introduction to Druidry
3:00 Stone Creed Grove Druidic Blessing Rite
4:00 Noy Chounramany The Womb of Initiation
5:00 Rev. Ginger Marshall Magickal Resistance: A Tool and A Strategy.
6:00 Alex Ott Candle Painting
South Workshop Area
12:30 Rev. Ginger Marshall Spellwork for New Witches
2:00 Shellie Smith Political Magic
3:00 Christina Blacklock Crooked River Crones Pagan Learning Collective
4:00 The Maenad's Den Gender-Fluidity in Deities
5:00 Arlechina Verdigris Singing & Dancing the Orphic Hymn of Hekate
Sunday 8/18
North Workshop Area
1:00 April Wells Knot Magic
2:00 Stone Creed Grove Introduction to Druidry
3:00 Stone Creed Grove Druidic Blessing Rite
South Workshop Area
1:00 Arlechina Verdigris Trancework & the Mysteries
2:00 Dante Saelios Introduction to Thelemic Rituals
Workshop Presenters & Workshop Descriptions
Alex Ott: is a Sexual Health and Wellness Psychologist with a Bachelors in Art Therapy. Combining the art of painting and aromatherapy, candle painting is a form of relaxation for many.
Candle Painting: Saturday 6:00 NORTH WORKSHOP
Use white candles as your canvas and paint away with paint brushes and melted candle wax.
April Wells of Granny Fricket's Thicket is an eclectic fiber witch and a crone. She brings her own style of witchery to everything she tries her hand at. She has been weaving her magic into crocheted items for decades and loves to bringing magic to life
Granny's Story Time: Satuday 12:30 NORTH WORKSHOP
This workshop is geared to the younger set. A story or two (maybe a story about Stone Soup complete with Stones?) to keep the kids entertained. Folktales need to be passed down, handed down, taught. I would love to be able to embrace telling stories to the coming generations. Stories at the 'knees' of a crone.
Knot Magic: Sunday 1:00 NORTH WORKSHOP
Knot magic goes back to some of the earliest spells. It is simple, It is portable. It is inconspicuous. Knot magic an be done with literally anything you can tie. This workshop will provide you with the background on knot magic as well as a bit of simple hands on. Remember that "tying the knot" is associated with getting married and hand fastings are elaborate forms of knot magic. Here you will learn the basics on which you can build your knot magic/cord magic repertoire.
Arlechina Verdigris: Arlechina is a dance ethnologist who specializes in the ritual and combat dances of the Mediterranean past and present. She has been teaching trancework, folk music, and folk dancing for over 20 years and has been studying these things for the last 30 years. She runs a tumblr blog on living polytheistic music and dance traditions of the Mediterranean and uses her background in oral traditions to interpret the folkloric coding embedded in classical texts. She reconstructs dances as well as music of the ancient world, pairing poetry with the rhythms and movements that belong with them. Her original work has been used to aid in the reconstruction of Roman, Hellenic, Minoan, and Kemetic folk religion and has been used by authors such as Adrienne Mayor (identifying dances of the Amazons), Carolina Varga-Dinicu (dances of the Mediterranean and Middle East), and Laura Perry (with her work on Modern Minoan Paganism).
Singing & Dancing the Orphic Hymn of Hekate: Saturday 6:00 SOUTH WORKSHOP
This is a choose your own adventure workshop with 4 options.
Option 1: We are going to sing in Greek. Will anyone be able to tell that it is Greek? Who knows but we are going to make some noise with Greek as a guiding inspiration for sounds.
Option 2: We are going to smack frame drums to a simple rhythm that goes really well with the Orphic hymn to Hekate. If you don't have a frame drum, a hard backed book or a medium sized cake pan will do nicely.
Option 3: We are going to do a chain dance that goes really well with the chant and the rhythm. Just a simple little modified Syrto so your body has something fun to do with it.
Option 4: We can do all of the above at once if you are feeling particularly ambitious. It could be chaos. It could be great. It could be great chaos. Let's find out together.
Trancework & the Mysteries: Sunday 1:00 SOUTH WORKSHOP
This workshop will explore how Mediterranean trance rituals are structured and what they are used to do. We will also go over some of the Mystery Religions of the ancient Med and discuss the needs of practical reconstruction and advice on adaptations for accessibility. This will be accompanied by a brief walkthrough of how to use a working altar for trancework and how to prepare yourself to go into an altered state safely and reliably.
Christina Blacklock: Crooked River Crones will present a workshop about what it means to be a Crone in today’s society, what this role entails, and how one becomes a “crone.” Afterward, we will have a panel discussion with some of our most sassy ladies who would love to tell you a thing or twelve.
Crooked River Crones Pagan Learning Collective: Saturday 4:00 SOUTH WORKSHOP
Public discussion of the Crone Salon and classes offered there. Some talking about the CRC group, and what that means to the community, and talk about the school and what we offer.
Dante Saelios: We are a diverse community of individuals who are dedicated to every person’s right to express themselves as they will. We believe that everyone has a unique purpose - a Will - and through the bonds of fraternity, we can work together to assist and encourage one another on our individual paths. Our goal is to provide a welcoming space to exchange our collective knowledge and experiences with one another as we all work toward the things that are most important to us. As such, as chartered by the United States Grand Lodge, we affirm that the structure of O.T.O. is based on a staged series of initiations or degrees. In the rituals of these degrees, O.T.O. seeks to instruct the individual by allegory and symbol in the profound mysteries of nature, and thereby assist each initiate in discovering his or her own true identity.
Introduction to Thelemic Rituals: Sunday 2:00 SOUTH WORKSHOP
Join Chariot of Eternity O.T.O. in ritual and lecture starting with a banishing, otherwise known as the elimination of unwanted forces. "The Magician must therefore take the utmost care in the matter of purification, firstly, of himself, secondly, of his instruments, thirdly, of the place of working."
We then proceed to the lecture portion, "Science and Art that provokes Change in conformity with the Will" as a specific definition for the magick found in Thelemic rituals. With similar concerns of all rituals, Thelemic rituals are purposeful and require intention. It is a self-application incorporating symbols, elements, and correspondences from various mystical systems. Thelema has particular banishing, invocation, consecration, meditation, and communion rituals specific to its long and varied practices. Recording rituals and being radically honest with all aspects of existence is of distinct note. Please bring your questions, self-constructed rituals, and anything else to this examination that celebrates light, life, love, and liberty.
We will then close with another banishing ritual.
Reverend Ginger “Stormwalker” Marshall is a priestess ordained in the Society of Aset Rising. Her ministry includes pastoral care, teaching magical practice, as well as self-creation and life mission. She has led Pagan services at events across the region, leads scheduled Sabbat services in a Cleveland hospital chapel, and is co-teacher of a Witchcraft 101 class. She is on the board of Cleveland Pagan Pride and co-founder of Crooked River Crones. Ginger is a frequent contributor to The Buckeye Flame and other outlets. By day Ginger is Administrative Coordinator of LGBTQ+ clinics at a Cleveland hospital. She also lectures medical, PA, and nursing students on LGBTQ+ patients. A Northeast Ohio native and US Navy Hospital Corps veteran. She is out and open as a Pansexual Transgender Pagan. Ginger enjoys good coffee, occasional good trouble.
Spellwork for New Witches: Saturday 12:30 SOUTH WORKSHOP
A spellwork class for beginners covering the basics of using magick effectively and safely. We’ll talk about the importance of focus and intent, and cover some techniques to improve both. We’ll go over tools, altar, and space. Finally, we’ll get into how to craft your own spells and why your spells will always work better.
Magickal Resistance: A Tool and A Strategy: Saturday 5:00 NORTH WORKSHOP
Witches have always operated outside the rules of society, often opposing or undermining power structures, authority, and oppression. As a Priestess and Witch I see resisting injustice and abuse as a sacred calling and duty. Magick resistance includes strong “defense against the dark arts.”
The strategy of magickal resistance involves spells, but it also includes mundane acts to unsettle, disrupt, and challenge problematic paradigms.
Noy Chounramany: Theosophist and Freemason, writes and speaks on topics such as comparative religion, spirituality, and esotericism. He is currently serving the Theosophical Society in America as a national speaker, Central District Director, and President of the Canton Study Center of the Theosophical Society in America. He served as the American Federation President of the International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women Le Droit Humain from 2021-2022 and is currently serving as President of the Hopewell Masonic Group of Canton, Ohio.
The Womb of Initiation: Saturday 4:00 NORTH WORKSHOP
Women have been an integral part of prehistoric cults, established religions, and the ancient Mysteries since time immemorial. This workshop will examine the leading role of women in antiquity and the restoration of women in modern spirituality, occultism, and esotericism.
Shellie Smith is the founder of the Maenad's Den and the Order of the Celestial Serpent, and co=founder of Akron Alliance of Pagans and Occultists. She is a priestess of Hekate and Dionysus. Her main areas of study include ancient Greek and Roman religion and magic, divination, natural magic, healing modalities, and traditional witchcraft.
Political Magic: SATURDAY 3:00 SOUTH WORKSHOP
"How has magic been used to influence politics? How can we use magic to protect ourselves in this volatile time?
This workshop will include: A brief history of the interconnectedness between politics and magic
-Situations where magical use was prevalent in political machinations, including during World War II and the 2016 Presidential election
-How magic can be used to empower the disenfranchised, including sigil work and rituals inspired by the ancient Mediterranean.
The Maenad's Den: Shellie Smith and Melody Ashley are leaders of the Maenad's Den, an occult group in northeast Ohio. Melody is a Kemetic sacerdos of Set and is the founder of the Path of the Red Sands. Mel's area of interest include shedding light on lesser known Kemetic deities, methods of divination, and spirit work. Shellie is a priestess of Hekate and Dionysus and is the founder of the Order of the Celestial Serpent, co-founder of Akron Alliance of Pagans and Occultists, and founder of the Maenad's Den. Her main focus of study is ancient Greek and Roman religion. She also studies divination, herbalism, healing modalities and traditional witchcraft.
Gender-Fluidity in Deities: SATURDAY 5:00 SOUTH WORKSHOP
One of the principle tenets in neopaganism is that of gender. But what if something defies perceived gender norms? Many deities do not fit into the traditional roles of 'male' and 'female' - they either subvert gender norms or exhibit gender fluidity. This workshop strives to illuminate those deities that bend these traditional views. with an emphasis on deities in the Egyptian, Greek, Norse, and Roman pantheons.
Stone Creed Grove: has been engaged in public pagan worship since 1990. Over its history, it has aimed to provide meaningful religious experience, public education about pagan religion, and religious community for all people of good will. We welcome the full participation of people of all ages, ancestries, skin tones, gender identities, orientations, and abilities in the work we do. More can be learned at http://stonecreed.org/. Stone Creed Grove is part of the registered non-profit Ar nDrioacht Fein: A Druid Fellowship.
Introduction to Druidry: Satuday & Sunday 2pm NORTH WORKSHOP
One of the leaders of our modern-day druid group takes interested people on a journey from what we know about ancient druids through some of the modern organizations and practitioners of what is now called druidry. This will cover some of the methods we use in modern times to uncover the way ancient people practiced religion, and how ancient religion does and does not influence modern druidry.
Druidic Blessing Rite: Saturday & Sunday 2pm NORTH WORKSHOP
In this ritual, we provide participants a chance to honor those spirits that are important to their own personal practice, in the hopes that the spirits will reciprocate our own efforts with blessings of their own. We identify spirits in 3 approximate categories well-rooted in both ancient and modern pagan practice: Our beloved dead, the powers of the natural world, and divine beings whose names and personalities we know from their myths and past worship. We hope to build relationships with these beings as allies as we go through life. Just bring yourself and a willingness to participate!