Over the past four years, members of OBOD have presided over a Druid Ritual with Danse Macabre.  This year, the House of Danu was selected to preside.  Druids perform with Danse Macabre at Renaissance Faires in California, and Dia de Los Muertos in San Francisco, so we call upon our friends to play music for our procession and spiral danse. Our intent was to demonstrate how performing arts can be used Druid ritual.

This year participants prepared props for animal shape shifting.  The grand procession through the vast resort hotel reverberated with animal sounds, as participants channeled their spirit animals.  Original music from the Taliesin moved us through the elements as we created sacred space.  The central working involved a rare public use of sigil magic followed by a wonderful spiral dance to the music of Dance Macabre.

We ended with an enthusiastic rendition of "Merry Meet," that participants repeated over and over, turning it into an ending dance.  Once again, our Order presented a ritual that participants didn't want to end. Many participants commented that this was the most fun they had at Pantheacon.

Our Sunday ritual was preceded by a well-attended hospitality event sponsored by the House of Danu in the Pagan Alliance suite.  John Michael Greer, Archdruid of AODA, attended and it was a wonderful time to interact with Druids of other traditions.

Pantheacon will again be at the Double Tree Hotel next year, February 12-15, 2010.  The hotel is fully booked for the event months in advance, so you are encouraged to make your reservations now for next year.  http://www.pantheacon.com