Tuesday 2/19/19

I have only nine more days left of my pleasant sojourn in mystical magical “Witch City.” I’ll be driving away in my little red Prius on March 1. My first stop will be to visit my dear friends Cate and Frank in CT, whom I’ve known for nearly 25 years, when they used to put on the Craftwise Festival in Hartford. They had a large installation at Starwood every year when it was held at Brushwood, and I always enjoyed hanging out with them and their kids. It’s been awhile, so I’m looking forward to catching up.

I’ll be doing some more filming with Jimmy Clark at his studio in Sayreville, NJ, for his Tarot Trumps music videos, and his covers of Gwydion’s songs. Stay tuned!

I’ve been busily reaching out to friends and stores along the eastern seaboard for visits and gigs. So far, I have every day and night filled in ‘til Spring Equinox, when I’ll be serving as High Priest at an Ostara ritual at the UU Church in Richmond, VA, with HPs Michele Vogt. So far, I have book-signing gigs lined up for the following stores—with several more in negotiation:

March 2 Sat    The Amber Dragon, 1 Milk St., Branchville, NJ

March 9 Sat    Twisted by Nature, 207 N. Market St., Elizabethtown, PA

March 10 Sun Moon Raven Alley, 1398 Oregon Rd, Leola, PA

April 14 Sun   Wicked Mojo, 1004 Green St. SW, Conyers, GA

April 28 Sun   Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore, 5531 Roswell Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA

If you’re along my route and would like to see me, and can put me up for a night, please let me know! Email me with your address and phone number so I can put it in my address book and cell phone. Thanks! Oberon@mcn.org

In my last entry, I talked about the visit with the delightful Devin Person, New York City’s famous “Subway Wizard.” You can listen to our interview at: https://soundcloud.com/…/wizards-of-the-world-oberon-zell

After months in Salem, I’ve managed to avoid snow all winter. But finally it caught up with me. My little car had three inches of that white fluffy stuff all over it. Very pretty, and it’s melting fast enough that I don’t have to shovel it, so I can just enjoy looking at it out the window from a nice cozy fireside.

Last night, with the full super-moon, I was conducted through a remarkable past-life regression experience. I experienced brief episodes from a life during the Black Plague, where I was with a number of people on a pilgrimage to Glastonbury. The second took me to Firenze, Italy, where I experienced scenes from the life of some artist named Leo…

#pagan #roadtrip #wizard #bucketlist #adventure #ozptreon

Monday, 2/11/19

A lot has happened in the 12 days since my last journal entry; I’ll try and catch you all up.

Saturday, Feb. 2, was the Sabbat of Imbolc/Imbolg (Gaelic “in the belly”) or Oimelc (“in milk”), referring to the beginning of the lambing season in Ireland. Called Candlemas in the Roman Catholic Church and “Groundhog’s Day” here in New England, it is the festival of Brigit/Brigid/Bride, ancient Irish Goddess of the forge, crafts, midwifery, herbalism, poetry, and all creative endeavors. She is the patron/matron Goddess of my Ravenheart Family and Clan. Gypsy and I drove back to Goddess Mountain in Western MA to celebrate with High Priestess Lady Tiana Sophia Mirapae and her lovely Priestesses and Priests (all robed in white) in a beautiful ceremony in honor of Brigit. We wove Goddess eyes, sang songs, drummed and danced.and feasted well.

Gypsy, Ellen everet Hopman, OZ & Tiana Sophia at Imbolc

On Monday the 4th I drove out to remote Tingsboro to visit with Erinna Northwind. Erinna is a terrific writer and ritualist, and contributed many writings to Green Egg, Earth First!, and other Pagan/Gaian publications. Her own lifemate died a few years ago, so we old widows reminisced over our decades and lost loves.

Erinna and her two kids, Sarah and Tad, had lived with me for a few months way back in 1971, when we were still in St. Louis, before I met Morning Glory and moved to the West coast. I was with Julie at the time, and my own son, Bryan was there as well. Another family, Judy O’Rourke, and her three kids, were also part of the household (Judy died in 1993, but I’m still in touch with her daughters, Laura and Sandy). So for awhile there I was husband to three remarkable women and father to six precocious kids! Every evening I would read to them from Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamon (1960) and other books of magickal adventures.

Ten years ago, Judy’s daughter Laura wrote to tell me:

Hello Oberon/Tim,

Once in awhile I wonder where my passion for the Earth and my acceptance of the spirit of many living things came from, and I remember those few months my family lived in St. Louis. Although I was only 11 or so, the energy of the realness of the love that flowed there colored my soul permanently. Last time I wrote to you, when my mother had passed away in 1993, I serendipitously had found a copy of the Green Egg at the bookstore, or rather it found me, and I wrote to you back then. This time, I looked online and found the Green Egg easily. I am sorry to learn that you have had to ward off colon cancer and certainly wish you well.

I have been reflective in the past year or so, in particular, as I approach 50 years old, and I remember the days we stayed with Histah [my boa constrictor-OZ], and the iguana escaping into the neighbor’s trees, and playing on the rooftop, and dancing in the yard, and awesome Halloween decorations that literally scared the neighbors away…and the white rat who came up from the laundry to ask for dinner as very special weeks in my life. I am a writer, ever since the “ink bug” bit me listening to the ditto machine and collating the newsletter.

Thank you for letting us live with you then.

We just took a friend of my son’s in to live with us, and it seems so totally natural to do; yet, so many people say, “Wow, that’s really nice of you….” And while I don’t see it as exceptionally “Nice of us” to do, I do look back with gratitude that you opened your home and your hearts to my family when we really needed it and that even almost 40 years later, I still remember those weeks and believe they did add a great flavor to my life and myself.

I hope you are well.

Love,

Laura (O’Rourke) Davis

(Judy’s daughter)

Gypsy’s surprise birthday party–testimonials

Wednesday the 6th was Gypsy’s 70th birthday, and about 35 of her friends threw a big surprise birthday party for her at the First Unitarian Church, with testimonials and a table full of yummy hors d’oeuvres and just desserts. Jerrie presented her with fancy certificates of honor from the Massachusetts House of Representatives and The Mayor of Salem. The one from the House was:

“In recognition of a lifetime of work and advocacy on behalf of Salem’s Wiccan community and for your contributions to the City as a whole.”

It was signed by Robert A. DeLeo, Speaker of the House and State Representative Paul F. Tucker. Pretty cool! In what other city than Salem would the Mayor and the Speaker of the House honor a local Witch? We’ve come a long way since 1692!

After the big party, a couple dozen of us went out for seafood dinner at the restaurant, Sea Level, just down the road from Nu Aeon. Great company and conversation ’til late in the evening.

Devin Person, the Subway Wizard, and Oberon, the Wizard OZ

And yesterday afternoon (Sun.) we were visited by Devin Person, New York City’s famous “Subway Wizard,” with his 3-girl video crew. We set up a couple of chairs in The Cosmic Connection Temple of Stars at New Aeon, and recorded several hours of great conversation. We totally hit it off, and I look forward to our future Wizardly collaborations. The audio version will be available first, but I really look forward to seeing the edited video! See Devin’s YouTube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kSM-nWsrPg

Tonight is an Alexandrian ritual for Oimelc in the temple here at Gypsy’s home, Motherwit Manor. I’ve read Stewart Farrar’s What Witches Do, and Maxine Sanders’ autobiography, Firechild, and I’m really getting into this Tradition.

#pagan #roadtrip #wizard #bucketlist #adventure #ozpatreon

Wednesday 1/30/19

After driving back to the Ren Faire site 45 miles north of Houston, I spent another week with Dona in her little school bus. I hope you all watched the awesome Blood Moon eclipse on Sunday night, the 20th. It was quite a spectacle!

I took a Lyft to the Houston airport and flew back to Boston on Thursday the 24th. There was a huge storm which buffeted the plane like a small boat on a stormy sea as we flew into the Boston airport. The government shutdown was clearly affecting the airports, which were crowded with passengers backed up by flight delays and cancellations. If I’d scheduled my flight a day later, I might never have been able to go at all.

I was met at the airport by my good friend Andy Burke, who drove me back to Salem in the pouring rain and dense traffic. What would normally be a half-hour drive took nearly an hour. It was good to get back to Gypsy’s after the harrowing adventure. While I was away, there’d been quite a snowstorm, but most of it had melted by the time I returned—except for piles of hard drifts from the snowplows. Glad I missed it! However, it’s snowing here tonight, and the temp (with wind chill) is expected to get down to 20 below zero by morning!

Saturday the 26th was a wedding for the daughter of one of Gypsy’s friends, which was a wonderful event. Having performed hundreds of weddings and handfastings over the past 50 years, it’s rare that I’ve been able to attend a wedding where I am not myself officiating, and can just enjoy myself with no responsibilities.

Yesterday I did a major Skype interview, auditioning for a new TV show dealing with unexplained phenomena. According to the Casting Producer:

“I’m seeking experts in several specific areas. I understand that you have an expertise in magic and wizardry and I’m hoping that you might be one of the experts I’m looking for.

“We’re developing a new series for a major cable network that will help people experiencing unexplained phenomena understand what is happening to them. We want to help people who feel they are under a curse, experiencing demonic possession, or living in a haunted space understand what they are dealing with. This project will seriously explore the unexplained, and we are looking for accordingly serious experts who can back up their explanations of phenomena with historical examples of magic, curses, hauntings, and possessions.”

I think the interview went well, and I’ve signed their contract. Now we’ll just have to see if their proposal gets picked up by a “major cable network.” If so, this will certainly affect my plans for the coming year!

Other than the possibility of a TV gig—which would entail studio work in LA or NY, and on-location shooting—my current plans are to leave Salem at the beginning of March, driving South. I’ll be looking for people to visit, and possible book-signing and workshop gigs, in RI, CT, NYC, NJ, Eastern PA (Mt. Joy; Philly), MD/DC area (I want to visit the Smithsonian again…), VA, NC (my brother lives in Hendersonville), SC, GA (Marietta/Atlanta), FL (Orlando).

I’ll lay out more of my plans for this year’s Walkabout schedule in my next journal entry… If you’re along my route and would like to see me and put me up for a night or two, please email me with your address and phone number so I can put it in my address book and cell phone. Thanks! Oberon@mcn.org

#pagan #roadtrip #wizard #bucketlist #adventure #ozpatreon

Friday 1/18/19

Last Monday, the 14^th, we all went back into NOLA to see stuff we missed on our first visit. Most of the museums were closed, as we’ve discovered museums are all over the world on Mondays. But the old St Louis Cemetery #1 on Basin St. was open and offering tours, which we took. Fascinating! Because NOLA is at sea level, all the tombs are above ground, with many niches into which thin (now cardboard) caskets with bodies are shoved. After a year and a day, they are decomposed enough that another casket can be inserted, pushing the previous remains into a central well where they drop into a chamber below, to mix with centuries of other remains. This “receiving vault” is called a Caveau (Fr. “cellar”).

Tomb of Marie Laveau

Of course we visited the tomb of Marie Laveau (“The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans”), where there are always fresh flowers. Her burial in 1881 was recorded as the 63^rd of 84 remains in that tomb. We saw the pyramid tomb made for Nicolas Cage, and the big tomb with the Goddess statue where Peter Fonda tripped on acid (for real) in the 1969 movie, Easy Rider.

Portrait of Marie Laveau by Charles Massicot Gandolfo

After leaving the cemetery, it seemed logical to visit the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. A tiny museum in a shotgun apartment, its several rooms of displays were quite amazing and thorough, with numerous authentic working altars and artifacts. There was a lot of info on Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, born in 1801. A femme de colour (“free woman of color”), she was famous as a traiteur (“healer”), specializing in love potions and spells. She was a notable humanitarian, adopting orphans, feeding the hungry, taking in the homeless, visiting prisoners, and curing people during the yellow fever epidemics. Her daughter— born in 1822 and named Marie Angelie—carried on as Marie Laveau II until her death in 1862.

Voodoo Altar

The gris-gris room exhibited the four categories of gris-gris (spells): 1) Love and sex; 2) Power and domination; 3) Fortune and luck; and 4) Uncrossing or undoing another gris-gris. A large painting of a Voodoo ritual featured a naked Queen (priestess) dancing “Le Grande Zombi” with a snake. And the final room encompassed several working altars, covered with photos, petitions and offerings.

“Le Grande Zombi” dance

After the Voodoo museum, we all ate dinner at the New Orleans Creole Cookery, where I had a fabulous Creole sampler of shrimp creole, crawfish etouffee, gumbo, oysters Rockefeller and oysters Biennville.

Tuesday the 15^th we drove in two trucks for an hour and a half to Jiva’s family farm near Magnolia, Mississippi, where she and Ty have lived for 25 years. On the way we stopped to eat at the famous Mike’s Catfish Inn in Amite, LA, with a fabulous salad bar. I had yummy fried oysters, which I love. The farm was such a homey place—but no Internet, so I was offline for a few days.

Jiva & Ty’s home in Mississippi

After a nice walk in the woods, a lovely salmon dinner, and great conversation around the fire, Dona and I spent the night. We needed to get up early in the morning to drive 7 hours back to her bus at the Texas Ren. Faire site near Magnolia, TX. Now that we’re here, for the past two days I’ve been trying to catch up with my emails and messages, and to write this…

Monday 1/14/19

Full days! On Thursday the 10th, Jiva drove Dona and me into NOLA in her new midnight blue Tesla. What a cool car! No dashboard—just a large touchscreen. Jiva started the tour of the French Quarter at the Café du Monde, where we had to get traditional NOLA beignets (bain-YAY), positively heaped in powdered sugar. Apparently it’s the custom to blow powdered sugar all over tourists wearing black—which Dona and I were (black is the new black) But Jiva kindly spared us that indignity. We checked out several shops, and stopped into Hex on Decatur St. where I’ll be presenting on Sat.

Jiva’s Tesla

On Friday the 11^th we went out for the day on Jiva & Captain Ty’s double-hull catamaran sailboat, “Reina Jeannine Lafitte.” Their neighbor Hammond also joined the crew. What a great time, riding the waves, feeling the wind in our sails… We sailed the Chef Menteur Pass river up to Lake Pontchartrain, where we ate a nice picnic lunch Jiva prepared.

Jiva on her sailboat

Satyrday was my day for presentations at Hex on Decatur St. I did a 2-hour talk on Wizardry from 2-4, followed by book signing. Dona, Jiva and Ty came along, and we all went out for a Mexican repast before Dona and I returned for my evening workshop on Ritual Creation from 6-8. Afterwards Hex’s proprietor, the notorious Christian Day, took us out to a fancy restaurant called Kingfisher for a late dinner. I had to try alligator, as so many folks have recommended. It was delicious, much like pork; but it didn’t taste anything like chicken!

The French Quarter in NOLA

Sunday morning we had a Grey School Admin meeting via Skype, Some significant re-shuffling as we move forward into the new year…

Today we’re going back into town to do more touristy stuff…

Thorsday 1/10/19

A lot of stuff happening since my last Journal entry on 12/24. On the morning of the 25^th I drove up to Schenectady, NY, to spend Xmas with Scarlett and Lleu and their two darling little nieces, Amy and Leah. The girls adopted me as “Santa,” and we spent much of the day playing their favorite board game, Candyland.

Amy & Leah with Santa Oz

On Sat. the 29^th I did a Zoom interview with Sumati Sparks for broadcast on her “Successful Open Relationships and Polyamory Summit” on Feb. 19. Then on Sunday the 30^th Gypsy and I drove to Boston to record our “Cosmic Encounter” script with Karagan and Jamal. We spent a sweet New Year’s Eve with Jerrie and Charlie, welcoming in 2019.

On New Year’s Day Gypsy and I went to see “Aquaman,” which I really recommend! It’s epic and mythic, evoking the classic legend of the lighthouse keeper and the mermaid, the legend of Atlantis, the reluctant true king (as with Aragorn) and even the tale of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone to claim the Kingship. And the visuals are nothing short of spectacular—the best I’ve ever seen!

Oh, me father was the keeper of the Eddystone light;
And he slept with a mermaid one fine night.
From this union there came three:
A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me!

            (-Peter, Paul & Mary: The Eddystone Light)

On Thursday the 3^rd I dropped my car off at the realty office where my big birthday bash had been held in Nov. Barbara, the owner, is kindly letting me stash it there for Jan while I’m gone. Francine drove me to Logan Airport in Boston, where I boarded a plane to fly to Houston to see Dona. As always, we had a great conversation on the drive. On the plane I bit down on something hard that split my upper right molar #4 with a loud “CRACK!” From the airport I took a Lyft 45 miles north to the Ren Faire site in Plantersville, where Dona has a school bus she lives in during the Faire.

Dona in her bus

On Friday the 4^th, I tried to get into a dentist in Magnolia, the nearest town to the Ren Faire site, but they were all still closed for the hollydaze. So I took Dona to see “Aquaman” in 3-D. It was like seeing an entirely different movie than the flat version; another whole dimension, and unbelievably amazing!

On Monday the 7^th I was able to get into the dentist in Magnolia. His prognosis was not encouraging, but he drilled a bit out between the main part of the tooth and the section that had split and put in a filling, hoping it would hold it together. After that Dona took me on a tour of the Ren Faire grounds, which I haven’t seen since 1982, when I met her on my Unicorn tour of Ren Faires all around North America. She’s one of the senior Rennies, having been doing the Texas Faires (TRF, Scarborough, Armadillo) for the past 44 years.

Dona’s booth at the Texas Renaissance Festival

On Tuesday the 8^th Dona and I drove her truck to NOLA. I did the driving. We left at 11:11AM and after a 7-hour drive we arrived at our dear friends, Jiva and Ty, about 7:00, for a fabulous dinner of Jiva’s gumbolaya, followed by watching the premier of the excellent new “Project Blue Book” TV series. We’ll be staying with Jiva and Ty here at their beautiful home in NOLA, and also visiting their farm in Mississippi, over the next couple of weeks. Jiva and Ty have been together for the past 25 years, but they only recently actually got married, in a spectacular ceremony in NOLA that Dona attended.

Unfortunately, the filling that the dentist in Magnolia put in on Monday came out within 24 hours. So yesterday (Wed.) Jiva located a local dentist and Dona and I drove there to see what we could do about my tooth. The only option was extraction, which he did. Even with the anesthetic, it was excruciatingly painful. I confessed everything!

Today we’re going down to the French Quarter to check out Hex, where I’ll be talking on Sat., and just enjoy the Old City, visit the tomb of Marie Lavaeu (“The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans”), etc. And tomorrow we’re going out in Lake Pontchartrain for the virgin voyage of their new sailboat, which they’re naming either “Reina” or “Jeannine LaFitte.”

“Not all who wander are lost.”
–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

In my 76^th year of this incarnation, with everything I own placed into storage, I decided to go on an indefinite Walkabout. My Mission is to travel around the country making personal visits with old and new friends and lovers, interspersed with book-signings and talks at Pagan stores and gatherings. Previously, people who wanted to meet me had to come to me. Now I’m coming to you! (or at least to a Pagan venue in your neighborhood).

I hit the road on June 15 of 2018. After many adventures in California, Reno, Las Vegas, Austin, Guatemala, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinnati, numerous places in Pennsylvania, and NYC, I arrived in Salem, MA on Oct. 10, in time for Samhain. I attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto the first week in Nov., and I’ll be based in Salem through the winter, working to open the Cosmic Connection Temple of Stars, before heading off on the eastern and southern part of my journey (including several big Pagan festivals) in the Spring.

I am being supported on this Walkabout by appearances, fundraising events, and generous donations, particularly via my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/oberonzell.

NT-OZ

Tuesday 11/6/18

Another full and wonderful day at the Parliament. The highlight for us, however, was getting to spend over an hour and a half with Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” sitting in front of a nice fire in the drawing room of the historic Campbell House in downtown Toronto. We found so much to talk about! The entire meeting and conversation was filmed for a documentary on Margaret that is intended for release next October or so. Margaret’s husband Graeme Gibson and Gypsy joined us for part of the conversation, and Margaret gave me a pre-publication proof copy of her latest book, Hag-Seed, a modern adaptation of “The Tempest.” I can’t wait to read it! Then we all went back to the Convention Center for Margaret’s talk on “Climate Change and Women.” Lucy Cummings, who introduced her onstage and conducted the Q&A, referred to her as a “national treasure” of Canada.