Featured Favorites Friday: Ecumenicon is almost here

So one of the conferences I have had the pleasure of attending in years past is Ecumenicon. I asked Rosanna Tufts, the conference chair, to share with me the highlights of this year's upcoming event:

Ecumenicon: The Year of Temperance focuses on harmonizing opposites, and finding balance between extremes. Several new teachers join the faculty: Geraldine Amaral, columnist for Pathways magazine and author of Tarot Celebrations, is the keynote speaker, comparing the symbolism of the Temperance card across several different decks. Sheikha Maryam Kabeer Faye shares her personal “Journey through 10,000 Veils,” evolving from Hollywood Jew to Sufi mystic. Monika Butke brings “Shamanic Approaches to Addiction,” and Anita Wagner and Tim Illig grapple with recovery from sex addiction in “The Shadow Side of Eros.” Cathy Roberts guides us toward the “Inner Marriage.” Tom Swiss revisions the men’s movement in “The Well-Tempered Male.” And Pat Althouse from Four Quarters Farm talks about her path as a sacred vintner during our first-ever Wine and Cheese Party!

Among the returning favorites, Duane Bowers brings “Alternative Approaches to Temperance,” Pan Orpheus discusses “Cave Art” and numerous “End-Time Prophecies,” and Lu Ann Day teaches the “History of Temperance” through the women’s suffrage movement, Prohibition, and beyond. Rosanna Tufts teaches an intensive in Vedic astrology, including special treatment of the Moon’s Nodes, crucial to understanding what makes us go to extremes. Rik and Anna-Sara Fire help us attain balance by “Going Raw.” And Barbara Berman returns with her workshop on “Finding your Inner Clown.”

Children’s programming includes a trip to the nearby Patuxent Nature Reserve. Rituals include Ancestor Worship, Honoring Poseidon, and Charles Butler’s ever-popular Tambor, this time focusing upon Inle, a gay Orisha in conflict with his parents.

It’s all happening April 20-22 at the Comfort Inn in Beltsville! Register NOW for $90, at www.ecumenicon.org/conference. For more information, contact the ConChair Rosanna Tufts