More Programme Suggestions

Some more programme suggestions have been made through our public Yahoogroups list, our alumni discussion board, and in the comments section of the blog:

• The aging Pagan population. What does this mean for our communities?
• Mental illness and Pagan communities: What to watch out for, how to respond to it
• Festivals... festival nightmares and how to avoid them
• Indigenous North American religions and their relation to pagan consciousness. Are we too different?
• Uniformed Pagans: Here or in Afghanistan/overseas
• Ethnicity and Paganism. Do our pagan immigrants teach their children the Old Ways or the New Ways?
• Participatory comparative tradition workshop or roundtable
• Dealing with family members who are not pagan; coming out to family and friends
• Ethics
• Dealing with the Christian "right" (ie, managing interactions)
• Finding a mentor/teacher; what to look for (or avoid) in potential teachers and mentors

Keep the ideas coming! Also, please let us know which topics that have been suggested are of most interest to you! This helps us best plan the programme that you, the participants, want to see.

What's in the Programme?

We're starting to have some discussion on our yahoogroups list about what should be on our 2009 programme.

Traditionally, the panels and discussions at Gaia Gathering have focussed on the issues we experience as Canadian Pagans living in the 21st century, with special emphasis on the experience of being Pagan in the host city. What are the common threads that we all share in practising our paths, regardless of geography? What regional differences exist in our individual and groups practices? How do we keep our Pagan identity socially in our daily lives, when we are challenged by being a minority faith, generally poorly understood (even by media), and still searching the murky waters of faith, belief, understanding, knowledge, and so forth?

Past discussions have included:

• Teachers, mentors and priesthood
• Walking the talk
• Running a Pagan business
• Being a Pagan Professional
• Managing Media
• Religious rights and freedoms in Canada
• Challenges facing francophone Pagans
• Pagan parenting
• Canadian Pagan music
• Organizing churches and non-profits in Canada

While some of the slots in the programme are filled by the local host city, the vast majority of the conference programme has historically been developed collaboratively by Pagans from across the country using the Gaia Gathering YahooGroup. We hope this year, that you'll also share your ideas on this blog.

So what discussions would you like to see at the Vancouver conference?