Details/agenda:

Some ideas for possible discussion: Polytheism and/or pantheism, old paganism vs. new paganism, magic vs. religion, and more.

Also feel free to bring any books or tarot cards or any other topic of interest you would like to discuss.

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How our meetings generally go:

We start with some free-form chatting until most people have arrived, then we have a brief introduction from each person on what our interests are and how we came to this path. That usually opens up a number of topics of interest, and it pretty much goes from there.

It's mostly casual and free-form, sometimes we will focus on a specific topic but even then it will touch on many other things too. We have members with all levels of experience, from twenty or thirty years on a pagan or magical path, to people who just started learning about it this week. Everyone is welcome to talk and share their views, and the people who would rather mostly just listen than talk are welcome too.

Inevitably there will be a wide diversity of viewpoints on almost anything, but as pagans and magical folks we generally welcome that diversity, even if it means that we "agree to disagree" at times. We respect the right of each individual to find or create a spiritual path that is right for them, no matter how different it is from anyone else's. Come and make some new friends, contribute your ideas, or just have some coffee, listen in and relax. It's all good.

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PS: A few other things to note:

1. It's okay to arrive late and/or leave early. (Indeed, because of "Pagan Standard Time" the meetup sometimes gets started 10 or 20 minutes late. But the cafe is a great place to wait, if you bring a book to read.) If you arrive too late you might miss out on the introductions, so it is good to arrive not too long after we get started. If you need to leave early, no problem; we usually go until around 10pm, but some folks need to leave around 9pm, we can understand that.

2. We might be anywhere at the coffeehouse: indoors, outdoors, front patio, back patio, main room, side rooms, etc. -- just look around for the Meetup sign. If you still can't find us, then ask at the front counter; you can just say that you're looking for "the meetup" so you don't need to specify which kind of meetup it is.

3. Our conversation wanders all over the place, but one contentious topic we usually try to avoid is politics. The meetup is about spirituality, magic and pagan religions -- not about a political stance. There are pagans and magical folks all over the political spectrum, and even off the spectrum entirely. And they are entitled to their views. So discussing partisan politics at a pagan or magical meetup is off-topic and generally unfruitful. That doesn't mean that we can't discuss social or legal issues relevant to pagans, such as the environment or civil liberties, etc. It just means that we try to avoid partisan or party politics, such as supporting and/or bashing specific politicians or the parties. It does seem to be on people's minds a lot, especially with this being a big election year; but experience has shown that political discussions are likely to lead pagan groups off-topic and engender unnecessary conflict and controversy. So we don't usually go there, especially given all the other fascinating things we can be talking about.

4. The Meetup is not a practicing ritual group or coven; rather, it's a social networking group where you can meet other pagans and magical people. If you're looking for a group to join, this can be one way to find people who are in a coven or other group, and get information about their group. Likewise, if you have a pagan or magical group that is open to new members, the meetup is a good place to let people know that. It's all about making connections.

5. If you have some service or event or other information that is relevant to pagan spirituality and/or magic, and if you would like to share that with our Meetup group, please feel free to bring flyers or pamphlets or posters to the meetup. You can also post them on our Meetup group message board -- provided that they are relevant to pagan spirituality and magic, and provided that you are an active member of our Meetups who actually shows up in person at the coffeehouse. If you're not interested in actually attending a Meetup, then this is probably not the group for you. It's not just an online discussion group, it's all about meeting people in person.

6. The Meetups are free, but we do encourage people to buy a cup of coffee or something, to support the coffeehouse where we meet. That gives them an incentive to be hospitable to our group, when we need to reserve rooms, etc. But if you're short on cash or if you just don't feel like ordering anything, that's okay too.

Well, that's all for now -- we hope you can show up soon, and meet some new friends!

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