Gnosticon, sometimes called the Gnostica Aquarian Convention, was a magic

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

al and Neopagan event sponsored by Carl L. Weschcke

Carl L. Weschcke

Carl Llewellyn Weschcke is a businessman and president/owner of Llewellyn Worldwide since 1961. He received nationwide media attention when he bought the supposedly haunted Summit Avenue Mansion in St...

 and Llewellyn Publications from 1971 through 1976, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, one of the first such to be held in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

In 1970 Weschcke opened the Gnostica Bookstore in Minneapolis together with the Gnostica School for Self-Development.
The first of several festivals was staged the following year, called the "First American Aquarian Festival of Astrology

Astrology

Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...

 and the Occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

 Sciences". The festival attracted many of the best-known Witches, Wicca

Wicca

Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...

ns, Magicians and Neopagans of the time from all around the world, including Jonn Mumford, Selena Fox

Selena Fox

Selena Fox is a Wiccan priestess and activist, psychotherapist, self-published author and lecturer in the fields of Neopaganism, Wicca, New Age and comparative religion.- Circle :Rev...

 and Jim Alan (founders of Circle Sanctuary

Circle Sanctuary

Circle Sanctuary is a non-profit organization and legally recognized Wiccan Church based in southwestern Wisconsin, USA. Circle is the publisher of Circle Magazine, which has approximately 15,000 subscribers...

), Isaac Bonewits

Isaac Bonewits

Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits was an influential American Druid who published a number of books on the subject of Neopaganism and magic. He was also a liturgist, singer and songwriter, and founded the Druidic organisation Ár nDraíocht Féin, as well as the Neopagan civil rights group, the Aquarian...

 (founder of Ar nDraiocht Fein

Ár nDraíocht Féin

Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, Inc. is a non-profit religious organization dedicated to the study and further development of modern, Neo-druidism practice....

), and Gavin Frost

Gavin Frost

Gavin Frost , B.Sc., PhD, D.D., born in Aldridge, Staffordshire, England, is an occult author, a Wiccan Priest, a doctor of Physics and Mathematics, and a prominent member of the American Wiccan community...

 and Yvonne Frost

Yvonne Frost

Yvonne Frost is a Wiccan author, lecturer, and practitioner from Los Angeles. Together with her husband Gavin Frost, she founded the Church and School of Wicca in 1968. She has co-written many books with him, and appeared on the Phil Donahue Show, PM Magazine, and Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show...

 (founders of the Church and School of Wicca

Church and School of Wicca

The Church and School of Wicca was founded by Gavin Frost and Yvonne Frost in 1968. It was the first federally recognized Church of the religion known as Wicca in the United States. It is well known for its correspondence courses on the Frosts' unique interpretation of Wicca...

. Witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 rituals were conducted, and Weschcke led meditations for peace and the healing of the earth. Later festivals were re-named and became known as 'Gnosticon'.

Importance to the Neopagan Movement

One of the events at Gnosticon was the First Psychic

Psychic

A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...

 Tournament in 1975 which featured around 40 self-styled psychics, such as Noel Tyl

Noel Jan Tyl

Noel Jan Tyl is an American humanistic astrologer and writer of many books on the subject. In the 1960s and 70s he was a bass-baritone opera singer who was particularly noted for his Wagnerian roles.-Life and career:...

, Jean Dixon

Jean Dixon

Jean Dixon was an American actress.-Career:Born Jean Jacques, she was educated in France. While there, she studied dramatics under Sarah Bernhardt. She was on the Broadway stage a number of years before making her screen debut. Her style of "brittle comedy" was seen in plays like June Moon by...

, Sybil Leek

Sybil Leek

Sybil Leek was an English witch, astrologer, psychic, and occult author. She wrote more than sixty books on occult and esoteric subjects...

, James Hurtak

James Hurtak

James Hurtak is an American social scientist, comparative religionist, scholar, author, and founder and president of The Academy for Future Science...

, Isaac Bonewits, and Richard Alan Miller

Richard Alan Miller

Richard Alan MIller is a solid-state physicist and bio physicist, particularly known for his contributions to the holographic paradigm, and co-author of "A Holographic Concept of Reality". He was a colleague of Dr. Stanley Krippner...

 (author of The Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs), who won the competition. The book The Essence of Tantric Sexuality by Mark Michaels (Swami Umeshanand Saraswati) and Patricia Johnson (Devi Veenanand) was based on Jonn Mumford's lectures at Gnosticon. In 1974 Playboy Magazine sent reporter Mordecai Richler

Mordecai Richler

Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...

 (author of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz) to cover that year's Gnosticon, a particularly high-profile coverage of a Neopagan event for that time. Church of All Worlds

Church of All Worlds

The Church of All Worlds is a neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that provides a context and stimulus for reawakening Gaia and reuniting her children through tribal community dedicated to responsible stewardship and...

 founder Oberon Zell-Ravenheart

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart is a co-founder of the Church of All Worlds, as well as a writer and speaker on the subject of Neopaganism. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri in 1965...

 (then Tim Zell) met his soon-to-be wife Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart

Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart

Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart is a Neopagan poet, author, lecturer, and priestess. She is of Irish and Choctaw Indian ancestry.-Early Life:...

at one of the Gnosticons.