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This weekend I was a panelist at the American Academy of Religion conference at UNLV on “History of Mystery: Pagans in Las Vegas,” organized by Prof. Candace Kant. The panel included representatives from various pagan traditions. I represented Asatru.

My fellow panelists included BJ Rogers of the ADF (Druid) Larrea Tridentata Grove, Edmond Costello of Sanctuary of Solace (an all-inclusive Goddess community,) Abbi McBride of Vegas Vortex, and Rev. Areeya Marie Sharpe of Desert Moon Circle and Temple of Goddess Spirituality (Sekhmet Temple.) Marissa d’Aradia of Sin City Witches was slated to be on the panel but couldn’t make it. I had met most of the other panelists before, either at Pagan Pride Day events or at Sin City Witches events.

A few times a month I get an e-mail from an on-line vanity company that tracks names mentioned in academic periodicals. For a mere $95 a month, I too could get specifics every time Steven Posch is mentioned in a scholarly paper.

Well, gee, thanks, I think I'll give it a pass. Still, it's nice to know that academics are noticing. (If you're reading this, Hi!) I happen to think that at least some of what I say is worth paying attention to, and it's gratifying to know that at least some other (presumably thoughtful) people feel the same.

Of course, one can't assume that every Steven Posch mentioned in every academic paper is me. There's more than one Steven Posch out there, for certain: Steven Posch the tennis pro, for example. One wonders what Steven Posch, tennis pro, thinks of his pagan double, assuming he knows he exists. Hey, I've got as much gay narcissism as the next guy.

Even so, I was pretty mystified to find out last week that, in a recent publication, “a member of the Mechanical Engineering department at Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Piraeus mentions the name 'Steven Posch.'”

Mechanical Engineering? Technological Institute? Piraeus? (Presumably, the one in Greece, yes?) I rather doubt that the Steven Posch mentioned in this particular paper is either Steven Posch the tennis pro or Steven Posch the pagan storyteller.

In this world of doubles it would, admittedly, be amusing to know what the others out there are up to these days.

This month, I'm taking a break from my introductory series of posts (Gael Ùr, Cànan, Sgeul and Creideamh) to offer a transcript of the guest lecture I delivered this week at St. Francis Xavier University entitled An Introduction to Neo-Paganism for Non-Pagans. You can find a printable transcript and audio download of the lecture at http://csmaccath.com/itnp. As members of my community of faith, I invite your thoughts on the material. What would you have added? Subtracted? Where would your focus have been different? What are your thoughts on the areas of need I identified for the Neo-Pagan community?

As always, tapadh leibh airson a' leughadh, 's beannachd leibh,
(Thank you for reading, and bless you,)