2008 KALEIDOSCOPE GATHERING
BIOGRAPHIES (as of July 23, 8:00 am)
Staff Note: This first Section is for staff who are also presenting or running a ritual or event. Full Staff bios will be listed in the program.
Auz “the Viking” is a blonde-haired Anglo-Saxon-Dane Heathen
s.n.a.g. who practices swordplay and loves dusty old books about Vikings. He
lives with his wonderful Celtic-Skraeling wife, MA, their maiden valkryie, Kaj,
and a male albino ankle-biter, Joven Wolf, two dogs, a cat and a happy house
Nisse. Auz and MA met in a Magic,
Witchcraft & Religion class. (Staff Note: A match made in Ásgarðr/The
Happy Hunting Grounds/Tír na
nÓg.) Auz has an undergraduate degree
in History and Anthropology and Master’s degrees in Anthropology. Over the last
few years he has been deepening his troth with the Northern Tradition. For the past 7 years, Auz and MA have been
responsible for the Program at KG and this is the second year for both
programming/scheduling. They cannot agree if they are Programming Fairies or
Nissen (Danish gnomes) so Auz, at least, is a Programming Nisse.
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Bernie is the true International Métis Man of Mystery and Intrigue. The infamous
Area 51 Founder and the Master of the Pogos! He is the devoted husband of Joh
and is father of two sprightly children and one spirited teen at Fest whom he
will be keeping a keen eye on. He is the host of the Mead Making Competition, a
position he regards with the utmost pride and dignity.
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Helmut of Helmut’s Forge is a traditionally trained
blacksmith of some 39years experience; it has been his spiritual path
for 22 years. He has been a vender in
the Pagan community for 26 years! He is a follower of the smith's path which is a separate belief system
centred around the metal smithing trade. For the past 27 years, Helmut has been making
ritual tools for the Pagan community, not always out of metal. His research and
experience in metal magic has allowed him to formulate that magic follows a
predictable pattern of behaviour in metal linked to their physical state. www.helmutsforge.com
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Joh has been a mischievous
fairy at Fest for over 10 years. Her passion for sewing has lead her to
Jordan Phoenix is a former Stag King. Surprisingly, this
is his real name, not a craft name. He is enormous; seriously huge; KG’s very
own Hagrid the half-giant. He used to work in the movie business, but is now
pursuing his calling to the library sciences. (Staff Note: We warn you that Conan the Librarian jokes are not
appreciated or original). He has many weapons ranging from clubs to trebuchets
(see front field).
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Lady Pamilla. Pamela Fletcher (a.k.a. Lady Pamilla, Queen of the Universe
and She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, but only at KG). Lady Pamilla has been a
practicing Pagan for 19 years; she is an Eclectic Pagan, with her roots in
Wicca (basically she is a rebel with commitment issues). She has been reading and teaching tarot cards
for 21 years. Lady Pamilla is the organizer of KG, and can be counted on to
remain calm in a crisis, calamity or weirdness, and then to have a great laugh
about it later on; good qualities to have in a Pagan festival organizer! She is also consort to the magnificent
Carpenar.
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Carpenar is a skilled wood-worker and timber-framer
in the mundane world, as well as being Lady Pamilla’s consort. Among festival
goers, you may know him as the inventor of such (in)famous creations such as
the Rolfe-o-matic designed for cooking entire beasties; a big hit at Men’s
Week-ends. He is also instrumental in the creation/destruction projects at
staff weekends such as the potato canon and trebuchet, and for last years’
Vikings theme built a 45 foot longship dock! Lady Pamilla and Carpenar live in
the country with son Derek and dog Freya. They are also the parents of
Cassandra and Bronwyn, who have flown the nest upon finishing highschool.
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Laurie Waller Benson
(a.k.a. “Herb Walker”, a.k.a. Laurie 2 of Kids’ Programming) is a veteran
Festival-goer and has led herb walks and talks from Starwood to Kaleidoscope,
after being inspired by the Wic-Can Fest walks in the ‘eighties. She has
studied with Susun Weed and worked for Faunus Herbs, as well as continuing to
study and teach Art, Music, Drama and Yoga. She worked as a professional
actress in
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Shane Hultquist. It has been 2 years since his presence has
been felt among the trees of Whispering Pines, but after a triumphant sacking
of
Sacrificial Victim
Patrick Naughton is
Stag King! Our king is an eight year volunteer firefighter from
Ren: Anat. Anat has many titles: Het Set, Het Eset, Scribe in the service of Maat, mother, wife, dancer, student, priestess and servant in the House of Eset and Set, chantress, and drummer. Anat is a “keeper of the old ways”. She tries to live her life today as an Ancient Egyptian might have. She observes the festival dates and applies what she can to her modern life. Anat discovered this path in 2000 and believe that her journey in the Ancient Egyptian faith has just begun. She has danced all her life and started her studies in Middle Eastern dance in 2003 at Arabesque. Her love and faith in Ancient Egypt has also revealed to her ancient dance, the way the ancestors may have danced thousands of years ago. www.esetsethet.com/priesthood.html
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Alana Boltwood
gets too obsessive about organizing the huge kitchen at the Obstacle
Enclave. She has convinced her fellow campers to eat Japanese, Ethiopian,
Thai, Moroccan and Persian meals.
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Andrew "Tarpnar, the Moist"
Johnson has no real
qualifications to teach. He is no more intelligent, no wiser, nor more educated
than you are. What education he has comes from being blessed with many
failures. His only wisdom has come from accepting those failures. All his
intelligence comes from his wife, Chantal "the Cookie Lady" Clement.
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Andy Biggers is a Viking.
Do not let the dark hair fool you.
Being Heathen is a state of mind and a place of spirit, and Andy has
it. By Freyr’s Goat-Rank Beard, he does! He knows all of the technical stuff about
Vikings that everybody else forgets. (Staff Note: So feel free to ask him the
most tediously difficult question about clog almanacs. He will know it.) Andy is a steersperson of
the American Vineland Association (www.freyasfolk.org/) and was an elder of the
Ring of Troth.
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Castalia has been part of the Pagan Community in
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Conrad Aldarus has been doing ‘live steel’ sword fighting for the past 9 years in a medieval club. He has been a knight in that club for 4 years and was in the Canadian armed forces for 13 years. He presently works in the security industry. Conrad has been Pagan for close to 11 years and has identified as Asatru for the last four years. His favourite book is ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tsu. (Staff Note: Congratulate Conrad! He is getting married to Sigrun, just before Fest.)
Donn (Harry) Roberts has musical roots going back to when he was in short pants (or someone was in short pants), as he was a professional at the age of 8. He has walked the paths of many musical genres, including welsh folk, and Pictish chants, modern folk, blues and jazz. He traces his heritage in the old ways back seventeen generations. Donn was a Blood born Druid and Bear the name of Druidic Lines of Harry. In their multifaceted union, which includes music Donn and Mary Anderson have created a unique sound blending traditional Celtic folk with traditional folk, and blues. Join Donn and Mary Friday evening during the Costume & Cocktail Party.
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Gladys Gray is a really cool elder and deserves a much better bio then this pitiful line. (When we write the program we will have to mention that she is the very first person up to dance at any event, is grandmother to the pagan descendants of Garret and Evelyn, and mother to April, that she knows many things about different spiritual paths – Aboriginal, Eastern and Earth-based, that she walks naked on Atlantic beaches, that she … This is going to be a long bio!)
Greg Wiebe, an
active member of the Pagan community, is a practitioner of Native American and
Teutonic shamanism, he has also been apprenticing under Christin Dennis,
running past sweat lodges at Wic-Can
Fest. Currently studying Energy Systems Engineering at St. Lawrence College
in
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Gregory Smith
bills himself as
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Glenn Brochu (a.k.a 'the Silver Minstrel') to his pagan peers has been both a closet musician and a closet pagan most of his wayward life. Both of these worlds … shall we say "climaxed" at his first 'Kaleidoscope Gathering' seven fateful years ago when he met some wonderliscious pagan friends like Jason of 'Triskalia,' Ja Sonier, Rick Dhur (who taught us 'Grounding and Shielding’) and Diamond Jim ('The Guru') who shares the love of music. Then the muse brought him together with Lynne and Laszlo as they feverishly drummed around the fire. They soon introduced him to Rockin' Ricky Fry and the rest, as they say is a wonderful history. For together they are now naked i.
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Hobbes is from
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Ja is a musician
and performer based in
Ja has put in some time at
He is currently plays with the Heather Dale Band, Pangur
Banda, the Devin Johnstone Band, Streetlight Constellations and the Grasshoppa Dance
Exchange (the music and contemporary dance collective). He’s also working on
solo projects such as summersolstice, sublingua and stargazer stargazing. He
has done accompaniment (percussion) at the
Do not harm his instruments … a true artiste, he faints easily and no one wants that, presumably not even loud men in kilts. Backrubs and massages, though, are more than welcome, though not necessarily from loud men in kilts. He is fully aware and appreciative of the often-stated fact that he is not Jock MacGregor. Oh, and if he has a tin whistle, take it from him for his own good (Lady Pamelia has forbidden him to play it near her!)
Jason Perrault has been Pagan for many years, but unlike those who “came home” when they found Paganism, Jason needed us to come to his home! Yes indeed, Jason has been a member of the Pagan community since KG came to him, literally! (He is from Curran!) As a result of his closeness to the site (or was it to be closer to Brendan Roche?), he has helped rebuild the cookhouse. He is engaged to Sophie and is apparently very trusting, as he let the Programming Fairies write his bio.
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Laura Jackson has
been a pagan since birth and a practicing Wiccan for 12 years. She lives
in
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Lorayne Katz is the Breakfast Wrangler for the Obstacle Enclave. She is skilled with the paintbrush, the tarot card and the spatula. (Staff Note: Thus, she can tell your future with a spatula, paint with tarot cards and make scrambled tofu with a paintbrush. ?!)
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Lynne and Laszlo got together at Kaleidoscope 1996 and were married a year later. They quickly realized their love for life and each other was not to be contained so they tailored their marriage to fit their lifestyle instead of the other way around. Much of their philosophy is reflected in the music of naked i, which infuses brilliant lyrics with catchy melodies and spans numerous musical styles. Their first CD, “a walk in the moonlight” was released in 2007 to glowing reviews. Be sure to look for it at Gus’ tent in vendor’s row and catch their show on Thursday evening.
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Lucie Marie-Mai DuFresne is trained in dance, theatre, costuming,
anthropology and religious studies, Lucie has always been fascinated by ritual,
drama and the enactment of meaningful action. She has also been bemused by the
forms gender takes on in the service of society. As such, she has explored oriental dance, women’s
erotica, neo-paganism, Wicca and goddess-worship. At the University of Ottawa,
she co-ordinates the Canadian Centre for Research on Women and Religion,
teaches courses on the history of magic, witchcraft and occult traditions;
Native spiritualities and Shamanism; women and religions; and religions and
sexuality(ies).
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naked i – …and then they were four
Lynne Belle-Isle, Laszlo Szijarto, Rick Fry and Glenn
‘The Silver Minstrel’ Brochu, are a middle-aged hippy foursome known as naked i. They all have full time jobs to
support their musical habits. Lynne, Laszlo and Rick have been together since
the turn of the century, and have played at summer festivals, fundraisers, local
gigs, open stages, coat checks and parties. Lynne and Laszlo are percussionists
and have drummed around bonfires, and for many rituals and festive gatherings
since 1996. In 1998, the muse touched Lynne’s life. She started writing songs
and has not looked back.
The muse grabbed
Laszlo shortly thereafter and he was drawn back to his guitar after a 20-year
sabbatical... Many naked i songs were born
from the fortunate mistakes made while he relearned to play. Together, Lynne
and Laszlo wrote and performed their first song, “
Rick was sent to
Lynne and Laszlo by the muse to lure them into hours and hours of magical
musical moments in his in-house studio. Rick “Rockin’ Ricki” Fry, a co-worker
of Lynne’s, has been rockin’ for over 30 years with too many bands to mention.
Rick’s writing style ranges from cheeky punky pop to hurtin' country, bringing
his own funky bend to the threesome.
We, naked i, released our first CD, A Walk in the Moonlight, in April 2007.
The muse was there lurking in the shadows and brought us a Silver Minstrel. We
first met Glenn at many fest bonfires, jamming on the drums behind the gyrating
circle of dancers, or jamming at our campsite for spontaneous musical
frivolities. We invited Glenn to our weekly naked i jams, he played with us at
our CD release gig, and then we proposed to him. He said yes.
We are four, we are
i, we are... naked i. (www.nakedi.ca)
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Mary Anderson (a.k.a. Alex) has had the privilege to listen to her native (Anishanabe) Elders for many decades. In her 30's she was initiated to the 3rd degree in a line of British Traditional Wicca. Mary plays the Neo Irish High Headed Celtic Harp, which is well known for its soul healing qualities. Join Mary and Donn Friday evening during the Costume & Cocktail Party.
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Nicole (a.k.a.
'Hey, You!' and 'The-Tall-One-With-The-Hair') has been in love with Fests since
her first KG, about 10 years ago. She has been studying magic for twenty years,
and Wicca for over ten - the last six following the Odyssean tradition. She's
from
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Raun Dupis. Although
dealing with disabilities since 1985, Raun has been a semi-professional,
unofficially recorded drummer since the age of 15. That was when he
informed his father he was getting a set of drums and starting a band. Now in
his mid 50's, Raun has over 80 drums including 4 kits and a plethora of
different hand drums. Largely self-taught, Raun also gained invaluable
experience with various local bands over the years and as a hand drummer
of over 14 years. Presently, Raun is the
drummer for Common Ground out of the
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Rick Fry has been
playing in pop music bands for many years.
In
Richard James is
one of the founding elders of the Odyssean tradition of Wicca and the
In 1979 they opened The Occult Shop on
People who came to the shop demanded a Church, where they
could worship openly like people of other religions, so they formed the
For almost 30 years, they have watched or been part of every
aspect of the growth of the Ontario Pagan Community. In the last few years, Richard has broadened
the horizons to work for the Canadian National Pagan Conference.
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Shelley Rabinovitch (a.k.a 'Paganauthor' on the OPPG list) is a
Gardnerian Elder, a Yoruba initiate, and a Dianic. She also walks the
Shelley was the
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Stephie Cyr
founded
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Stephane Lebeau is fun-loving, open-minded, and
dedicated to helping others better themselves and find their way, Stephane is
still looking for his own path, while enjoying life's simple pleasures. (Staff Note: We know he has some friends
amongst the Norse gods, too. He knows
how to blót. Oh … and his Mom is really cool, too.)
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Risingphoenix was born in a family where she always had the right decide her own path. At 14 Risingphoenix began her own spiritual journey in Witchcraft with the blessings of her mother; the condition was that she had the right to read what she was reading. After one or two books, however, she saw that there was no reason to keep on checking and she was free to explore. Risingphoenix has studied Taoism, Judaism, Islam, Paganism, Voodoo, Buddhism, and Spiritualism, Occultism through self-teachings, guidance of family, dreams and visions. Risingphoenix has studied the dark arts, as a doctor trying to find vaccine would first learn about the virus, as well as the Craft in all its manifestation. She is the first to tell you that she is a long way from knowing anything.
Risingphoenix is also the organizer of the Party Samhain au Mont-Tremblant. For Samhain 2008, join her from Friday to Sunday at the Le Grand Lodge for a bazaar, Saturday night Ball, rituals on Friday and Saturday night and Sunday morning. You can even rent a table bazaar or a conference room for a workshop (in exchange for gift certificates or presents to be given out at the Ball). Calling all Urganz!!! Be close to Nature in a 4-Star Setting! (www.legrandlodg.com or at Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12860195870).
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Teresa (a.k.a. RedHawk) has been a solitary practitioner of a rather eclectic path, traveling many realms and learning from each always continuing her search for information and enlightenment. Holding strongly to earth based traditions and seeking to root firmly in Mother Nature and the Earth Mother Herself.
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Tracy Thillmann. Walking the druidic path, tree-hugging and
all,
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Utu is from the Niagara Voodoo Shrine. He is one of the Dragon Ritual Drummers. He volunteers at Voodoo Temples across North American and, bad boy that he is, had a guest appearance on the TV show ‘Cops’. (Staff Note: He has been known to sleep in gang controlled cemeteries.) (See www.dragonritualdrummers.com and www.myspace.com/niagaravoodooshrine)