Athames, Airlines and California State Law

In the frantic aftermath of PantheaCon when I was attempting to travel from CA to MI, I acquired another suitcase (Thank you Crystal). To say that I over packed might be an understatement, considering I had to get another suitcase to get home.

Anyway. I placed all my ritual tools in my ritual tool box in my carry-on suitcase (see the problem yet?).

As I waited for my luggage to pass through, I am approached by a TSA agent who asks if I have anything metal in my suitcase. I said, "Not that I can think of." He unzipped my bag and I got a glimpse of my ritual box, my heart sank. From my box he pulls out my athame looking at it with surprise and curiosity.

I immediately admitted to my error and offered to hand the contraband item to Crystal who was still waiting to see me through security. I explained what it was and he called for a supervisor initially saying he would let me give the athame to Crystal.

I am taken into a roped off area while the TSA Supervisor is called over to inspect my athame. I knew immediately I was going to be in trouble. She held my athame and gave it a look of complete and utter disgust. She then began calling over other TSA officers and passing it person to person. My stomach is tied in knots and I am kicking myself for being so careless with such a precious ritual tool.

The original TSA Officer tells the supervisor that I have a friend who can take the athame and mail it to me. The TSA Supervisor indicates that I should be detained immediately.

I am.

I watch as they wipe my athame for explosives, measure and weigh it and then use a black light on it. I couldn't imagine what was going on until an officer comes over to question me.

"What is the dagger used for?"

"It is not a dagger. It is an athame. It is a ritual tool of my religion. Here is my business card which indicates that I am clergy for my religion."

"But what do you use the dagger for?"

"I use the athame in ritual."

"But what religion is this?

"Wicca. It is a federally recognized religion. I just came from a convention with over 3,000 others who have a similar belief system as I do and more than likely travel with their athames."

"We will be looking for them then and they will be detained too. What do you do with this dagger in your religion?"

"It is a tool for focusing energy."

"I don't understand..WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THIS KNIFE?"

"I use my athame to focus my energy. If you are implying, asking or insinuating that I utilize my athame to cut, maime or otherwise bring harm to animals or other humans, you are way off base, officer."

"Well, we are going to release you and confiscate your dagger because it is illegal in the state of California."

"I understand that you need to do what you need to do. I would like information on how to get my athame back after I get home."

"You want this thing back?"

"Officer, despite the fact that it has a monetary value of at least $65 to $75 dollars, it's spiritual value to me is the same as your family's Bible might be to you. Please, understand I am not going to be letting this go. I must know where my athame is and what becomes of it."

This line of discussion lead me to several more minutes of repeating myself while the officers grappled with whether or not they are doing the right thing. I am given a Lydia M. Crabtree was detained and released form and I am thanking my stars that in the very last seminar I went to at PantheaCon I meet a CA Lawyer.

I make the plane and call Kristine L. Mollenkopf. She looks up some penal codes and discovers that any item or blade that can be used as a weapon may be considered a dagger. Daggers are illegal in the state of California. Kristine would ascertain later that it was illegal for them to have confiscated my athame and not arrest me. (Thanks Kristine!)

I eventually would get a hold of San Manteo detective who listened to my explanations and then informed me that someone in the department was of an earth based religion and my athame would be sent back to me. He also asked questions about Wicca and we had a very pleasant conversation. My athame is in transit somewhere between CA and GA. I will post when it is back in my possession.

What this situation has demonstrated to me is how much education still needs to be done. I was treated like a criminal. My athame was tested for blood on the blade with a black light. My spiritual practices were detained, examined and tried right there in the SFO airport. The only protection I had was my business cards which note me as clergy and founder of FWTI and my wits. I can remember saying calmly that freedom of religion was absolute in the United States. That I had made a mistake, not committed a crime. I made a conscious effort to stay relaxed and calm especially in front of the officers. In the end, I believe
this is why they released me. The longer we spoke the more nervous they became.

This incident highlights a failing of pagan clergy (me included) to serve our greater community. We should contact police departments and offer to give talks on the practices and ways of minority religions, including earth based practices. There is an opportunity for us to be a bridge between the community of magic and the community outside of magic. It is certainly something I will be pursuing in my home town.

PantheaCon

PantheaCon got started on a Friday in San Jose. The theme was Gaia & The Spirit of activism. I had the honor and pleasure of sitting in on the opening ceremony and listening to an invocation of activism by Patrick McCollum who had just returned from testifying in Washington, DC. The invocation brought me to tears and set up my experience at PantheaCon.

After the opening ceremony, I went to Vicki Solomon's class on Geomantic Divination: 16 figures and the Shield Chart. Later I would pick up a book on geomancy
by John Michael Greer (The Geomancer's Handbook) which is available at Renaissance Astrology.com. I went to the class originally looking for some connection between geomancy and sacred geometry. There was no relationship that I could immediately ascertain; however, this class and it's alleged links to sacred geometry set up a theme for my trip.

Later we all went to the Pamba Gira Masked Fete! sponsored by the American Magic Umbanda House. It was a fusion of dance, drum and chant like I had never experienced before. The energy was incredible and the experience truly magical. I went to sleep that night to the strains of Go to sleep little baby, Go to sleep little baby, Pamba Gira's come and gone and now there ain't nothin' left but the baby.....the closing song of the ritual.

I slept in and missed Hautha Yoga which I had every intention of attending and skipped right to seeing Anna Korn,
Rev. Crystal
Blanton, Jutta Barrion, Sabrina Miller and

Don Frew talk about Pagan Clergy: Mandating Reporting. I think it was a fabulous presentation. There was a discussion of whether or not clergy had the right of penitent: Where things confessed to neo-pagan clergy were protected by the law and ministers can not be compelled to discuss those things. The long and short of it is that neo-pagan clergy are not protected and must report and can be compelled to discuss things that happen during a "pastoral counseling" setting.

At 1:30, I attended a workshop called Positively Poly: Negotiating Poly Dynamics and Safer Sex presented by
Joi Wolfwomyn, Gwen Templeton and Amelia Hogan. Joi Wolfwomyn was unable to attend due to illness and I have not heard yet if she has recovered. Gwen and Amelia gave a lively discussion about safer sex practices, polyamorous relationships and a rousing song entitled Hot Lesbian Sex. I went to get some education...and educated I got!

At 7:00 PM I went with some friends to hear
Christopher Penczak speak. I have the Inner and Outer Temples of Witchcraft books and CDs; however, I wasn't so sure about his new book Ascension Magick. I ended up purchasing the book because Sacred Geometry came up during his talk. I am only on the second chapter; however, I am relatively pleased with the work. Penczak has gone back to some sources that I have studied and it is nice to have his perspective on that body of work.

Sunday Morning, I went to my Candy Ritual and left to applause. More importantly children and adults celebrated ritual together with great joy and abandonment. It was highly
satisfying. Then at 1:30 I found myself in Kindling Ancestral Hearths with Caitlin Matthews. This truly magical experience put me back in touch with my calling and allowed me to experience ancestors I had not dealt with in the past. I found Caitlin to be warm, genuine and knowledgeable. I would urge anyone to take any of her events whenever possible. After spending time with Caitlin, I went to hear John Michael Greer speak on an Introduction to Renaissance Magic. This talk including a touch of geomancy; however, more importantly to me, it tied sacred geometry in with some of the other studies I had done and laid the ground work for me to understand why modern astrology is beyond my grasp.

Evidently modern astrology dates back to the early twentieth century and took work that was done before the 1700s and reinvented it. Modern astrology relies upon a more psychological approach to astrology. Greer suggested a website that I have come home and looked over called Renaissance Astrology.com.
The site is run by Christopher Warnock. I called Christopher looking for the Geomancy Yahoo Group. I got much more than I bargained for. I found information and a spiritual connection I was relieved to find. He describe for me my struggles with modern astrology when he said, "Modern astrology is like a fog. The closer you get to it, the denser the fog becomes and there is no hope of seeing through it."

I nearly flipped out. That is exactly how I have experienced modern astrology. I went to an astrology class at ConVocation and left feeling inadequate. It felt as if I had sat through a
foreign language course without a translator. Christopher assured me that I was not alone in this predicament. I look forward to future talks and visits with both John and Christopher. My hope is their influence might allow some of the experience they have aquired to come my direction.

The only other notable thing that happened at PantheaCon was that I ran into Jessica, her new baby Ariana, and her partner. Jessica brought Ariana to the Candy Ritual which I hope she enjoyed. My best wishes for that Family Coven. Jessica presented on Monday and unfortunately I was traveling to ConVocation and missed it.

The Days and Nights Before PantheaCon
When I last left the story of my many journeys, I had just visited Kelli's Broom Closet and Sacred Well. On Monday, Crystal Blanton, Ariana and Kathryn took me to Muir Woods where I confronted the breadth of time a Red Wood has encompassed. It was cool under the eaves of these living giants and we found ourselves buoyant from the energy and life force that surrounded us. I found myself in the company of family, long lost sisters who had some how escape the south and a physical connection to me. Now that it was found, we fell into caring for each other, loving each other and accepting each other.

Eventually time began to wane and we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge. There I was faced with a magnitude of human making. I had seen pictures. I had heard stories and yet being there was something different. The people milling about to gawk. The smell of polluted water and in the background, the floating fortress that is Alcatraz Island. The wind blew friecely around us and we were eventually driven inside the relative safety of the car. Our navigator took us down Lombard street with its insane zigs and zags flanked by the equally insane real estate.

Soon, I had arrived at the ultimate destination, China Town। I went largely for Tree Bear. I bought him gifts and shirts and things that I thought he might appreciate. We had sushi as an extended family and then we turned toward home where the rest of my extended family waited with a casserole to feed us. Crystal's Mom - also known as Mom - took time with me to crochet, we sat and shared our knowledge. I played video games with Robbie, a new little brother whom I feel instantly in love with. I talked with John, Crystal's husband about his work with the homeless and eventually fell asleep.

The next day, Crystal received her Third Degree through FWTI and then we turned around and degreed Ariana and Kat with a 2nd Degree in FWTI। These sacred rites are not open fodder for a blog; however, I will say that I am humble by the presence of these women in my life and honored to bare witness to their devotion to themselves, their path, their gods and goddesses and FWTI.

The next day we went to Berkley, CA। It reminded me of Athens, GA, home of the University of Georgia. We walked among the street vendors and small shops looking at the things for sale while in the background the synergy that was the Black Panther Movement, that was the greenhouse for the hippy movement, that was the place of riots and demands for change seethed. I knew how far I had traveled as I past two homeless students. I read their sign contemplating how much I might offer them and then changed my mind as Crystal cackled behind me.

Need Money for Weed the sign read. "Bet you don't see that in Georgia," Crystal teased. I laughed along and didn't donate to the cause. That would not have been very southern of me.

Thursday, Sabrina was back with her mother to load up Crystal and I and carry us to San Jose। Soon we were checking into the hotel and I was dressing to make an important business meeting (I know I keep hinting and I know I don't explain...and that isn't changing in this blog.) My meeting went very well and I met two lovely ladies and found a connection I hadn't expected. I also learned a lot about Hungarian Folk Magic and it's impact upon neo-paganism, which was also unexpected.

After a stress induced blow out on Thursday night, I fell to sleep feeling overwhelmed. My life's view was changing, even if my purpose is not and things were coming in and out of focus.

Day 1 California
Today I flew from GA to CA. There was no meal and no movie but at least the ear phones were free. I made a bonnet for Sushi while I was in the air and listened to the passengers next to me flirt with one another until they determined they didn't really like each other and the girl got up and moved. I have no clue what caused that to happen.

I was nervous, bad. Imagine years of talking and knowing someone and then finally getting to meet them in the flesh. I came down the gangway and saw them standing there. Arianna dressed like a left over from the days of the hippy Berkley era, her blonde hair flowing around her petite round face, her lithe body moving like a willow tree, grossly out of place in the San Francisco airport. Kat was there too, her brown hair cut close to her shoulders and her confident swagger breaking every once in a while to reveal her fear that I wouldn't like her after I saw her in flesh.

There was Crystal। Her energy was grounded and her focus intense as she gathered herself to meet me. I fell into her arms and there it was, that bond between us that has been stretch thin and long because of our physical distance and now, for the first time was powerfully close: I felt home. I felt sisterhood. I experienced the Goddess. Her brown hair perfectly brushed, her outfit carefully selected and her words silent. She allowed the energy to speak for her as did I.

I was tired and hungry. We gathered my checked baggage and headed out. I listened to this well oiled threesome tease each other. Gently at first they teased me, testing the waters of my personal humor by sticking a toe or finger in to break my surface. I teased back.

We went home to Crystal's by way of an In and Out Burger joint। Crystal got a bed out and set me up in a room of my own. I meet her mother a shorter version of herself and her husband whose energy reminded me of Stone and her son, who reminded me of Tree Bear at five. I laid down my body to rest.

Here I was with my extended family, at last.

Day 2 California - Sacred Well and Keli’s Broom Closet
Day 2 California - Sacred Well and Keli’s Broom Closet
The nervousness of the trip has increased today. I am off to present at Keli's Broom Closet and Sacred Well. I got carefully dressed, reviewed my material and headed over to Keli's with Crystal as my chauffer. We stopped to have lunch with Sabrina and Jeff. They were both going to go to PantheaCon and Crystal thought I'd like to meet them.

The gentle teasing of the girls yesterday was in stark contrast to Jeff's intense teasing of anything that was not an inanimate object (of course even some of those fell under the scope of his raucous eye). They made a great couple who obviously did magical working together. I listened as they talked about PantheaCon, events that would happen there and remised about the Elysian mysteries they had all three attended.

I was given the sacred story of the bear ears by Jeff and Sabrina that I keep safe for Crystal, one of the greater mysteries only to be revealed during drink and fire light, or in Mexican restaurants.

The party breaks up and soon I am in a new shop filled with familiar smells and sights. Keli has a back room for teaching, set with a small altar. She has a selection of statues and some jewelry, ritual tools and wands. Her wall of herbs was meticulously labeled and she had made herbal potions I had always wanted to make; however, couldn't find all the ingredients for. I bought some.

I meet Matt from Las Vegas who is a rat owning poker dealer who does astrology. We talked about his two rescued rats who had been used as test subjects and about astrology while we waited for the event to start.

Eventually a small group gathered and I talked about Family Coven, introducing the idea of family coven and proving its exsistence through the Laws of Magic.

When I was done, I passed out feedback forms and received the following assessments:
I liked the fact that this class focuses on spirituality in general! I think more people at your class would have been great! THEY lost out on this experience!

I loved the Family Light Ritual. Thank you for a very cool experience. I didn't realize our (her partner and herself together) energy was so strong and I have never felt that with him. THANK YOU!

After Keli's we hung out with Jeff, Sabrina, Ariana and others until it was time to travel to Sacred Well. There I met Rabbit, one of the proprietors of the store. Rabbit's store reminded me of the Northshore in Chattanooga. A collection of well kept shops, stocked with exotic clothing, jewelry and smells that you can only find in special and unique places. The jewelry was fabulous and I would eventually have a citrine ring on my finger as a reminder of my time there.

The class was Pagan Parenting: Turning Monsters into Gods and Goddesses. It was a fun and active class with several women of various backgrounds. Some had children, others had none. Some were married to men, some were in polyamorous relationships and some were lesbian. I forgot to hand out the feedback forms however one of the woman told me:

I like that this was about spirituality. I learned things I am going to take to my partner and talk to her about implementing. I didn't expect that.

I was thrilled. My writing and view is different than anything that is out there right now and it was gratifying to have that recognized. Soon we were off again and visiting Dolphin Dreams.

There we shopped and Crystal found a Yemaya necklace for her third degree ritual. I bought a long chain. We spoke with the proprietor and he talked about his event at PantheaCon. His shopped reminded me of Stone Henge a sacred store in Chattanooga run by a long lost friend of mine.

Crystal and I ran off for dinner and then home where I फेल into bed exhausted, relieved and ready for the next day of fun.