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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.

The PaganNewsBeagle took off last week (our internet went down!) but we are back in the saddle. In today's Airy Monday segment, we concentrate on academic issues of interest to Pagans and their allies. Magpie Wicca?; degrees of British traditional Wicca; Pagans and the land; Novo Religio (an academic magazine devoted to New Religious Movements); the World Religions and Spirituality Project.

Is Wicca inherently syncretic? Sable Aradia says "yes!" and offers ideas as to the difference Wicca's borrowing of ideas from many paths makes in inter-Pagan relations.

Happy Monday, Beagle fans! Today's Airy Monday post includes news from space -- Hayley's comet, GRACE satellite shows water cycles, building blocks of life in a distant galaxy -- plus an academic Pagan conference calls for papers and a scholarly collection of sources on witchhunting history.

First up: news from SPACE! (How much more Airy can you get?) October's skies will light up with some extra excitement 10 days before Samhain, courtesy of Hayley's Comet. Get the details here.

Welcome to Airy Monday at the Pagan News Beagle. Today we have stories on the autumn night sky, campfire storytelling, quantum physics and miracles, virtual/created constructed beings, and Pagan academics.

The still-warm evenings of autumn make for great star-gazing. This article at Space.com points out what to look for when you look up.