So Cadea and I came up with a great  idea out at Shilo Glynn a few months back.  And if all goes well, we’re going to implement it at PPD this year.   We’re thinking it would be totally awesome to break up into four teams and have an ‘elemental potato sack’ race.  The inspiration for this came from the the elemental sashes that the ritual participants were putting on for ritual that day… as they were getting into them, it kind of looked like they were pulling potato sacks over their heads.  In fact we’re thinking about doing a whole bunch of games and seeing which element rules the day.

Good idea, bad idea?  Leave a comment and let us know what you think.   and for all of you who incorrectly thought the fifth element was spirit… well now you know, so update your books of shadows accordingly…

-justin

Author and Santeria initiate Ochani Lele will be returning to Volusia Pagan Pride for 2010 to present a reading from his new book, Teachings of the Santeria Gods: The Spirit of the Odu.

For the first time, one hundred of the ancient African stories known as patakí have been made available in English. It was a gargantuan labor of love for the author. The patakí are part of an oral tradition of divination and teaching and they are at the heart of the faith of the Yoruba people of ancient Africa and their descendants in the New World. Each story is tied to one or more of the sixteen odu or principal creative forces of Santeria. Comparable to the parables of the Bible, the myths of ancient Greece and Rome, or the teachings of the Torah, the I Ching and the Vedas, they are part of an oral tradition of spirituality that can only be understood when experienced. The author has given us a record of them, however, with a very thorough explanation of how they were created and how they are used. The good news for your customers is that the stories stand alone as small gems of adventure and insight. One doesn’t have to understand the bigger picture to derive pleasure from reading them.  – Anna Jedrziewski;  New Age Retailer

Not only will he be reading from the book and leading a discussion of the stories, he’ll also be selling copies at PPD. You can also pre-order your copy from amazon and save a bit of money. To pre-order, click here.

Teachings of the Santeria Gods (ISBN: 1594773327) will be available July 7th, 2010 and is published by Destiny Books.

- To download the promotional flyer for Ochani Lele’s new book Teachings of the Santeria Gods,  click on the cover photo (3MB PDF).  You can also see the author at one of his upcoming book signings:

8/28 – at Sacred Space in Holly Hill, FL
9/04 – at Books-A-Million in Casselberry, FL.

But make sure you check him out at PPD, too!

-justin

You may not know this, but florida has a number of ppd events all over the place.  Many of us like to take road-trips to the various PPD’s, and some of us even help coordinate out-of-area events.  Our sister event is held in St Johns county (for all the St Augustine and surrounding area folk) at the Harris rec center.  This year the St Johns PPD is being held October 2nd, 2010.  I’m an assistant organizer for that event, so i’ll definitely be attending.  If your interested in it and need any other info, let me know and if I can’t answer you i’ll know where to get the info.  Another popular one is Jacksonville PPD.  Dru Ann usually vends at this one, and I go to hang out with all my jax buddies.  I like going to jax ppd because I get to ‘play’ since I’m not helping coordinate it – and i love getting to take part in other folks’ rituals.

Last year was the first annual Orlando PPD.  I haven’t heard much about date/time for 2010, but when I do, I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted.  It conflicted with jax last year so I couldn’t get to go, but i’m hoping to make it out to this year’s event.  heck, we’re practically neighbors.  And just for the sake of completeness, the Ft Lauderdale PPD is the same day as Volusia… but we figured that would be okay since we’re so geographically separated that there isn’t much crossover.

You can find links to the sites of any other Florida PPD over in the sidebar.  And, as always, if you have any comments about other PPD events, well, leave a comment!

-justin