Western Mystery Conference reflections...
Two days and ten speakers worth of solid and in-depth presentations. From the Vault of the Adepti to alchemical imagery applied to spiritual growth, from the history of secret societies to Lon Milo DuQuette's Rosicrucian Adventure, not a lecture was worth missing. Highlights for me were Tabatha Cicero showing Westcott's Enochian Tablets done in the full four Color Scales and Tommy Westlund's spiritual alchemy lecture.
This was my first speaking engagement, and I decided to so this because I thought my subject had legs. I had discovered a solution to the 10-square blind in the Fama Fraternitatis by applying the Golden Ratio to the Tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz. Having been a life-long introvert, and 20 years ago could have easily passed for the poster child for Social Anxiety Disorder, I was taking a step far outside my comfort zone by speaking in front of a large audience.
My wife luminesce3 was visiting her parents that weekend, but I was going to meet my very good friend x_bluerose_x at the Austin airport, because our flights were arriving 10 minutes apart. Or so it was planned. Turns out the poor dear had her flight delayed and got flat-out stranded at JFK when her connecting flight got cancelled. I called her cell after 2 AM to give her what little support I could, but it wasn't until some time after I hung up that it hit me that I had no emotional support structure in case I bombed on my lecture.
I was flying solo.
Fortunately for me, Chic Cicero led off with a lecture on his Vault, which was going to compliment my lecture well. Next was Joseph Max with basic drama and memory lessons for ceremonial magicians, and his tips and tricks for stage fright helped, because I was next to lecture after lunch.
After a very nice introduction by the organizer and my friend, Jeff Contreras, I stepped behind the podium, and my normal ego self retreated to a safe place in my psyche and the rest of me went into a weird sense of auto-pilot. Fortunately I knew my material, rehearsed once at home, and had good notes for each of my virtual slides. And when I put up the slide showing the arrangement of 10 squares on a 5' x 8' wall, someone (I believe it was Lon Milo DuQuette himself) proclaimed "That's brilliant"! I would take that as a vote of confidence.
In conclusion, my lecture was very well received...which was really great to hear because the time I was up at the podium is still a big blur. I got a lot of compliments afterward...at the after-party, Jeff told me I'd been getting rave reviews...and I've made a couple of contacts for potential future speaking engagements. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here or anything...I guess I'm just astonished. I...don't know this person who is sociable, extroverted and does well in the spotlight.
This event has opened a lot of doors for me...and I have a whole new world to explore...externally and internally.