![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Untitled.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Both these ladies are wise and warm and gracious, and I was beyond pleased to be able to spend a little time in their company.<\/p>\n
I also took part in two Llewellyn events; a \u201cMeet the Authors\u201d and 110 Year Anniversary celebration (with cake) on Saturday night, and a Publishing Panel on Sunday morning. [I met a great new Llewellyn author, Melanie Maquis, at the Meet the authors event\u2026you are going to want her new book, “Bag of Tricks”, when it comes out in June. I\u2019m reading an advance copy right now, so I can write a blurb for it, and it is fabulous!]<\/p>\n I also led a workshop of my own, called \u201cSpiritual Spring Cleaning.\u201d There were about 80 people attending, and we had a great time. Raised a lot of good spring cleaning energy, too!<\/p>\n Of course, no trip to Pantheacon would be complete without spending time with my wonderful Llewellyn editor, Elysia Gallo. This year, Lisa and I decided to look for a really fun place to go out to dinner that first night, and we ended up at a Moroccan restaurant called, fittingly enough, Moracco\u2019s. We dragged Elysia out with us, along with my step-daughter Jenn and her friend Madeleine. And, oh, man\u2014the food! If you are even in San Jose, you have to track this place down. It was some of the best food any of us had ever had. We got a variety of things and put them in the middle of the table to share, which made it both cheaper and a lot more fun.<\/p>\n The desserts alone made it worth the trip. And the company was as good as it gets. We had a blast.<\/p>\n All in all, it was another great Pantheacon. I got to see old friends, make some new ones, visit with authors I admired, meet a few of my fans in person (some of whom I\u2019d already \u201cmet\u201d on Facebook or Twitter), eat some great food, and even learn a thing or two. It was worth pushing myself outside of my comfort zone to do it, and I recommend it highly to anyone with the slightest interest in Paganism. Bring an open mind, as much energy as you can muster, and a few dollars to spend on goodies in the Vendors room. (Pagan chocolates\u2026that\u2019s all I\u2019m saying.) And if I\u2019m there next year, be sure to come on over and say hi!<\/p>\n About Deborah Blake:<\/strong> Her award-winning short story, \u201cDead and (Mostly) Gone\u201d is included in the “Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction: 13 Prize Winning Tale”s (Llewellyn, 2008). Deborah\u2019s first novel, “Witch Ever Way You Can”, was the winner or finalist in many RWA (Romance Writers of America) contests and received the EMILY \u201cBest of the Best\u201d Award.. Her fiction is primarily Paranormal Romance, although she also writes Fantasy, Mystery and Young Adult. She is represented by agent Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency.<\/p>\n Deborah has been interviewed on television, radio and podcast, and can be found online at Facebook, Twitter, www.deborahblakehps.com<\/a> and http:\/\/deborahblake.blogspot.com<\/a> <\/p>\n When not writing, Deborah runs The Artisans\u2019 Guild, a cooperative shop she founded with a friend in 1999, and also works as a jewelry maker. She lives in a 100 year old farmhouse in rural upstate New York with five cats who supervise all her activities, both magickal and mundane.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Author Deborah Blake gives us her rundown on this year’s Pantheacon, the largest indoor gathering of Pagans\/Witches\/Wiccans and assorted Heathens in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,11,30],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nDeborah Blake is the author of “Circle, Coven and Grove: A Year of Magickal Practice” (Llewellyn 2007), “Everyday Witch A to Z: An Amusing, Inspiring & Informative Guide to the Wonderful World of Witchcraft” (Llewellyn 2008), “The Goddess is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch” (Llewellyn2009), “Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook” (July 2010) and “Witchcraft on a Shoestring” (September 2010). She has published numerous articles in Pagan publications.<\/p>\n