Mildred Budny
(Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Abstract of Response
presented at the 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies
(Kalamazoo, 2024)

Roundtable on
“Retrospect and Prospect for P.-O.M.o.N.A. . . .
As the Curtain Falls”

Co-Sponsored by P.-O.M.o.N.A.
and the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Organized by Phillip Bernhardt–House (Academic Vagabond)

2024 Congress Program

Abstract:

As Director of the Research Group on Manuscript [and Other] Evidence (RGME), co-sponsor of three Sessions with P.-O.M.o.N.A. since its inception, and as witness to the creation of P.-O.M.o.N.A. as a named organizational entity in a conversation at the 2018 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), I offer some reflections for this Roundtable.  I respond to the Roundtable’s design as a “Retrospect and Prospect” for the organization, whose first official appearance took shape at the 2019 Congress, in a session co-sponsored by the Research Group.

Over time, the several Sessions officially sponsored or co-sponsored by P.-O.M.o.N.A. at the annual Congress have included long-time Associates of the Research Group (including Phillip himself), whilst there has been considerable overlap in terms of P.-O.M.o.N.A.’s interests (and people) with the RGME’s other sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions, such as some co-sponsored with the Societas Magica.

Phillip Bernhardt-House sits in the Board Room alongside the Research Group Posters for the 2019 Congress. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Reflections

With the perspectives and experience as the founder and director of another scholarly organization, celebrating an anniversary this year, I leave a consideration of the subjects of study and exploration for P.-O.M.o.N.A. to other representatives on this Roundtable, starting with Dan Attrell, and propose mainly to focus upon the mission, functions, and life-cycle of its organization as it undertakes and pursues its activities.

Unlike the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, by now in its 35th year as an international scholarly society and its 25th as a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization, with continued Sessions at the Congress through the years, often in co-sponsorship with other organizations (such as the Societas Magica), P.-O.M.o.N.A. was founded specifically to hold sponsored Sessions (and sometimes Invited Lectures) at the Kalamazoo Congress, as a way to gather scholars and practitioners, and to bring attention to interrelated fields of study and approach, for Polytheist-Oriented Medievalists of North America to speak, gather feedback, and gain wider notice as an organization at an international scholarly Congress having annual meetings for medievalists and others.

That purpose was the foundation years ago (1994) of the Societas Magica, which has gained wide membership, with a team of officers and others, and has extended its reach beyond the Congress, with a Newsletter, Website, Journal, Social Media presence, and Conferences of other kinds and at other institutions.  P.-O.M.o.N.A., in contrast, has functioned principally through the efforts of its founder, Phillip Bernhardt–House, and has an informal approach to its structure and organization, by remaining focused on the annual Congress at Kalamazoo, whether in-person or, since the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, online — and, more recently, in hybrid or partly hybrid format with both in-person and online attendance for its Congress Sessions.

Approaching the “Retrospect” for P.-O.M.o.N.A. as an historian, I observe the ebb-and-flow of its sessions, addressing a variety of aspects as people might come forward to speak about them, and recall conversations with Phillip as we prepared plans for the next Congress, year after year, with varying success.  The variations would arise when, for example, the Congress Committee might reject a proposed Session, or people lined up to speak encountered obstacles in their timetables and could not attend, either in person or online.

First Official Session: 2019 Congress

Whilst Phillip notes a “Proto-P.-O.M.o.N.A.” Session in 2018 (Session 525), when its discussions and feedback got the ball rolling for another session as follow-up in the next year, the first official Session sponsored by P.-O.M.o.N.A. at the Congress, and on the 2019 Congress Program (Session 237), was co-sponsored by the Research Group, in line with our co-sponsorships with other organizations, established or new.  Phillip made the proposal, described his aims, and we agreed to co-sponsor.

The Session took place on Friday, 10 May.  It considered “Classical Deities in Medieval Northern European Contexts”.  Phillip organized, and Dan Attrell presided.  For its two Papers, Phillip gave a Response:  “P.-O.M.o.N.A.:  Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?”.

As its wont, the Research Group announced the Session and its Program on our website as part of our Program for that year’s Congress, published there the speakers’ Abstracts for their Papers, and provided a Poster.

• 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program Details
• 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Behind the Scenes Report

Poster for RGME-co-sponsored First P.-O.M.o.N.A. Session at the 2019 ICMS. Poster set in RGME Bembino.

The Poster corresponds with our Style Manifesto — given our principles concerning RGME Publications, we prefer such a statement to a mere “Style Sheet”.  It uses our own copyright multi-lingual digital font Bembino.  It respects our practices for Designing Academic Posters.

The RGME co-sponsorship among our other activities at a given Congress sets this collaboration with P.-O.M.o.N.A. in a larger setting, along with other organizations’ activities similarly co-sponsored and promoted.

RGME and Other Posters at the 2019 Congress.

Next Steps

2020–2021

The next session was planned for the 2020 Congress, to be sponsored by P.-O.M.o.N.A. on its own, but the whole Congress had to be cancelled.  A revival of that session for the 2021 Congress was accepted, but did not materialize.

2022

A second session for P.-O.M.o.N.A. took place in 2022, in virtual/online format, with the title “ ‘Any News?”:  Recent Developments in the Study of Celtic Magical Texts and Traditions”.

2023

In 2023, P.-O.M.o.N.A. held two sessions, both in virtual/online format.

1. On its own, P.-O.M.o.N.A. sponsored “Memorial Musings in Honor of Michael J. “Mick” McCoy”, with Phillip as Presider.  It featured a lecture by Edward P. Butler on “Pagan Platonism in Proclus and Gemistos Plethon”, with a Response by David Porreca.

2. For the other Session, the RGME again co-sponsored.  It took the form of a Roundtable, on the subject of “Words as Agents”.  With Michael Allman Conrad as Presider, it had two Papers by Mildred Budny and Phillip Bernhardt–House, and a Response by Linde. M. Brocato.  Again the RGME provided a Poster and published the Session Program with the Abstracts of the Papers  on its website.

• 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Report
• 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program
• 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Preparations

RGME Poster for 2023 Congress Session on “Words as Agents”

Part of the discussion, with Phillip’s paper on “The Ephesia Grammata as Grammatical Beings”, called upon Phillip’s experience with using, teaching, and making sets of Ephesia Grammata, as he had explained at several earlier Congresses in conversations extending from year to year. In such ways, with such cross-fertilization, the interest in a given subject for P.-O.M.o.N.A. finds reflections and expressions in other fora within the Congress and beyond.

“Curtains” in 2024

(You are Here.)

This year, in keeping with the evolution of the RGME’s approach to its Congress and other Posters, we provide a pair of Posters for P.-O.M.o.N.A.’s co-sponsored Session.  One gives the names of the participants and information about the session, its location, and registration. The other adds more information and offers an emblematic image.   In this case:  Curtains.

Poster 1

2024 ICMS “Retrospect and Prospects” Session: Poster 1

2. Poster 2

2024 ICMS “Retrospect and Prospects” Session: Poster 2

Now, for the purpose of this Roundtable, we consider the achievements of P.-O.M.o.N.A. across the years, its aims, its legacy, and its prospects.  The reflections, observations, and discussion may illuminate the issues, examine the challenges and potential of the subjects as well as an academic-based, or partly academic-based, approach to discourse when academic institutions, insiders, outliers, and outsiders come under increasing pressures both within and without.

We celebrate the accomplishments of this organization and offer best wishes for prospects and for the future.

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A curtained doorway in front of Theodora and her retinue, 547 CE; wall mosaic. Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna. Artwork in the public domain; photograph by Petar Milošević / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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