I'm on the road at the moment, writing this from Whispering Pines in lovely coastal North Carolina. In the past two weeks I've had the pleasure of performing and presenting at Ecumenicon, and then at Ramblewood Beltane.

It seems the issues of Pantheacon 2012 have surfaced again, this time around the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. It seems that several trans-gendered people are calling for a boycott of the festival by its performers due to the event's long standing policy of only letting women-born-women attend. Here is an internet article on the call for boycott:

http://www.afterellen.com/2013/04/fight-about-mich-fest

My friend and musical peer Ruth Barrett composed this letter in response:

This year will be a little different for me than past years: Usually I tour from June through September. This year, instead, I'll drive out for late April and half of May, fly out for a week in June, then drive out for July and August. I'm excited to change my routine a bit.

So let's talk about the festivals I'll attend in the spring, and their charms and attractions.

First I'll be in Maryland for Ecumenicon. This is a long running interfaith conference held in a hotel (the Comfort Inn in Beltsville this year) that brings together people of various alternative religions, including Pagans, mystic Christians and Jews, and others. The conference has been doing a Tarot card as their theme each year, and this year the card is the Devil, so the theme of the conference is "The Question Of Good And Evil." Their presenters include well known Wiccans, Unitarians, Yogas, Christian ministers and diviners.

Here are a few of my photos from last Sunday's Mardi Gras Indians celebration here in New Orleans. For complete coverage of the event, see my other Blog here. Also see Lauren's Witches & Pagans blog post on the Indians, in A Pyrate's Perspective.

Mardi Gras Indians are a New Orleans tradition in the African American community. The tradition combines elements of American Indian culture, Afro-Cuban drumming, Mardi Gras celebration and African American culture, posturing and sensibilities.

Above: fire show at the North Stage of Brushwood during Summer Fest, 2012.

Pagan festival season draws even closer, and by now many people with "real jobs" are making decisions about whether to attend Pagan festivals this year, and which to attend. I am continuing my series on Pagan festivals with the above misleading title: really I am going to look at reasons I've heard people cite to say they do not want to attend a Pagan festival, and why I think those reasons do not stand up to scrutiny.

Oestara, the spring equinox, is fast approaching, and for those who practice the old traditions, it's time to paint eggs!

Painted eggs? you ask. Isn't that what our Christian neighbors do for Easter? Well sure. Where do you think they got it?

The custom of painting eggs is an ancient Pagan tradition that occurrs throughout Europe. Russia and Ukraine are famous for their traditions of painted eggs. Eastern Europe most likely had a tradition like that of England (which we'll speak of in a moment, have some patience). Here are some typically elaborate Ukrainian eggs:

I just came home from a pretty amazing weekend at PantheaCon, in San Jose, California. PantheaCon is a long running Pagan convention held around the same time each year, in mid-February, and is put on by Ancient Ways bookshop (who have also sponsored a summer gathering for decades, which is also called Ancient Ways).

PantheaCon is a who's who of Pagan authors and presenters. Just a very few of the presenters this year were Starhawk, Margot Adler, Oberon Zell, Jason Pitzl-Waters, Jason Mankey, Donald Michael Kraig, Chris Penczak, Amber K, Selena Fox, Peter Paddon, Devin Hunter and Orion Foxwood. Musicians who played concerts included Wendy Rule, Ruth Barrett, Holly Tannen and of course li'l ol' me. There is really nowhere else I know of where you can find all of these Pagan authors, thinkers, artists and presenters under one roof.

Here in New Orleans, yesterday was Mardi Gras, the final day of a four week celebration of Pagan Gods and Catholic partying. I spend most of the day in the Marigny and the French Quarter, photographing the people and happenings there. I thought I'd post a few photos of Pagan/spiritual interest from my Mardi Gras wanderings. For full blog coverage of this year's Mardi Gras, please see my other blog, Kenny Klein Explains It All.

Celebrating the sun...

This is a quick post to announce the release of a book I wrote for Spero Press, A Teen's Eye View Of Mens Spirituality. Spero is currently publishing an entire series of books on spirituality for teens and for children; mine is the first book in the series aimed at teen boys.

Find the book here.

Anyone who reads my general blog, Kenny Klein Explains It All, knows that at this time of year I blog manically about Mardi Gras here in New Orleans. But on a day when there are no parades, parties or street orgies, like today, I thought I'd take a moment to talk about Mardi Gras and its Pagan history.

The Paganism behind Mardi Gras is evident in the names of the krewes, which are the societies that put on our parades: The Krewe Of Oshun; The Krewe Of Cleopatra; The Krewe Of Sparta; The Mystic Knights Of Adonis; The Krewe Of Thor; The Krewe Of Atlas; The Mystic Krewe Of Druids; The Mystic Krewe Of Nix; The Krewe Of Muses; The Knights Of Hermes; The Krewe Of Isis; The Krewe Of Zeus; The Krewe Of Hera; and of course The Krewe Of Bacchus. It is no coincidence that most of the nearly seventy parades of Mardi Gras are named for Pagan deities and cultures. 

Lauren and I once went to a party dressed as Mods. We looked like this...

Now I know what you're thinking...if, like me, you know anything about the history of fashion, you're thinking "Mod?? Kenny Klein you moron...that's John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney, and they're DISCO!! That was a movie about DISCO"

If you are active in the Pagan blogosphere, you're probably aware of Star Foster's proclamation that she is no longer Pagan. You may also have read Jason Mankey's response.  I thought I'd chime in. And yes, this is going to be a words-have-meaning-and-magic kind of post. I promise next week I'll write something about bunnies and happy fairies (OK, really, I'll write about Mardi Gras).

Yuletide is upon us. Time for wassail, the Yule log, and of course, hunting the wren!

The Wren is a small brown bird, common throughout Britain, Europe and North America. But the wren is a very sacred bird, and holds a place in British myth and in Yule lore. Called The King Of The Birds, the Wren is a symbol of the Old God, or Holly King, and of the death of winter. This smallest of birds is known in story, myth and folk song, often simply as The King. Here is an excerpt from my book The Flowering Rod:

(Lauren DeVoe recently wrote a blog post about the purpose of secrecy and initiation in the Craft. Of course, she sleeps next to me, so when she gets talking about a subject, I end up having my own thoughts on it. So I decided to write a post about initiation...)

Many of my music fans know that I've spent the last few years allowing my songwriting to move into uniquely American styles, namely Jugband, Swing, and Blues. These styles have been with me since my early teens, and they have always been an influence on my writing, singing and playing. After a couple of decades exploring British, Celtic and European sources as a songwriter, I have moved into an American arena in my work.

It's easy to find Pagan roots in British and other European music. While references to the ancient Gods were driven out of European music long ago, traditional songs like Wild Mountain Thyme and various Morris Dance ditties plainly reference Pagan rites still performed today, while mainstream artists like Fairport Convention and Loreena McKennitt use the style to write contemporary songs steeped in Pagan lore.

But is it hard to find the Pagan magic in traditional Blues and Jazz? I feel it's not. Not if you know where to look...

It's the morning of October 31st, and I've had several people text me this morning wishing me a happy (or merry) Samhain. And I really appreciate the thought. I love hearing from friends and fans. But while I am really looking forward to doing ritual tonight, and later running off in costume to Frenchmen Street, I have one thought for my well wishers: Samhain is actually tomorrow.

What Kenny Klein? What are you talking about? You're nuts. I'm sorry I texted you and wished you happy Samhain, you jerk...

I was doing a photo session recently for Lauren's Blog, in which we were portraying the archetypes seen in fairy tales, and experimenting with how they function magically. The shoot, and Lauren's blog, got me thinking about the same subject, something I have written about many times.

In other posts, I have written about how and why our spoken language and the act of speaking magically are of the utmost importance to us as Pagans. In essence, why words are magical.

 I have been around the Pagan scene for three decades now (yeesh!). Many people know me as a Pagan musician or as a Llewellyn author. I thought I'd write a little memoir about my career as a Pagan musician: how I got started, what being a Pagan musician is like, and where I see Pagan music going. (Yes, I'm going back to writing about Pagan music for a while...).

There are several acts I run into on the Pagan scene who set out from the beginning to be Pagan performers. I did not start out to be a Pagan musician: while I love being a Pagan musician, and I love my Pagan audiences, my identity as a Pagan performer was something that just ended up happening.

I'd known I wanted to be a professional musician since the age of thirteen or so. I'd been playing a nylon string guitar for a few years, and by thirteen had written my first few songs, mostly about my then-love interest, Cheryl Binder (she was not much of a muse, I'm afraid, and the songs were awful. Then again, I was thirteen). By the age of fourteen I had a girlfriend who was a Joan Baez loving folkie, and who proved to be a real muse (in fact, with one notable exception, I've pretty much stuck to curvey strawberry-blonds since Audrey; they seem to inspire me). I actually wrote a song or two that I look back upon fondly.

 Jesus Christ!

What I mean is: I just read the Blog “I Reject Jesus Christ” on Patheos,  a good, well-written response to the multitude of Pagan bloggers writing about their vigorous love of Jesus in a “Pagan” context. (Also Jason Mankey's response).