Category: Community Notes

Pagans in Prison – Religious Volunteer In Wisconsin

Wade Mueller is a religious volunteer for Pagans in seven Wisconsin Correctional Institutions. He is tired, but receives so much from his prison experience, and sees such a need, that he can’t stop if it means letting his people down.

 Do you actively advocate for an inmates religious rights or requests?

 I have to stay away from that as I have absolutely no power as a volunteer aid, and so am in a very precarious position. I tend to be polite and courteous in order to get entry and or anything at all with the inmates. Once inside I act as a priest, a facilitator, they cannot even get together as a group unless I come in. I tell the guys, “What do you want to do with this time?”. Some really want to do in-depth, hard-core rituals. Then I encourage and help them write their own rituals, and then just watch over and maybe help them. I may facilitate discussion, help with meditation. It is different every time depending on who shows up. There are so many different paths and traditions that show up, and there is often conflict.
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Green Burial at Circle Sanctuary

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Spring is the time to celebrate approaching intimacy, and what is more intimate than sharing a loved one’s passing?  The first  ‘green burial’ took place at the cemetery at Circle Sanctuary in Mount Horeb, WI. this past weekend. Selena Fox presided over the ceremony. Many Pagans claim to want a green burial, but what is it like?  I talked with Robert Paxton, a Circle Sanctuary minister, who participated in funeral, as part of a community weekend at Circle Sanctuary.

Describe what the funeral experience was like?

It was very much different from any funeral I had attended. The person who had died was a long-term member of the Madison folk music and dancing scene. The funeral was a genuinely beautiful and touching event. Family and friends, about a dozen, helped with every element from carrying the casket to the gravesite. They sang song and read poetry. They spoke as they were individually moved to about the life of the person who had passed. Typically, the funeral director said, they would lower the casket into the grave, there would be just a few words and the family would step away and head down the hill. Community members were there to help fill in the grave. It didn’t go like that. We placed the casket in the grave, and the family looked over at the pile of dirt and the half-dozen shovels. They picked them up and got to work. The grave was nearly filled when they tired and the community members took over. They were very engaged in the whole process. Once the mound had risen, they took flowers from the earlier memorial service and placed them lovingly on the grave. One of the funeral party, in one of those ‘ah-ha’, deep truth moments, took a night crawler from one of the last shovelfuls of dirt.  He laid it on top of the mound and said, “Here is the first one, get to work!” It was a very loving experience. It was done very clear-eyed, we are committing these remains back to the earth. We will honor her with this last loving and personal act. At the same time they were completely realistic and open about the nature of what had happened. It was the most truthful funeral I had ever experienced.

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Community Notes; April 4-10

Birth announcement: Kiera Rhiannon was born at 11:49pm last Sunday after her mother’s water broke at Paganicon. Congratulations and welcome to the newest member of our community.

If you’ve talked with anyone who attended Paganicon, you’ve probably heard about what a great event it was. A quick overview of comments from attendees: stellar programming with great variety, astounding guest of honor, the food events were scrumptious, it was like a leadership conference with such richness of experts, the music was fabulous, everything just flowed with no major problems, the hotel was very accommodating, it ran so well that it did not seem like a first year event.

Less than a week after Paganicon, the organizers have a page up on their website about the 2011 experience. There’s even a copy of the keynote address posted. http://tcpaganpride.org/paganicon/paganicon-2011

Spring is in the air, which means we’re getting closer to fire spinning season. If you’d like to stay updated about poi spinning classes, there are often classes offered through Mystix Toys. Their next round of classes starts up April 14. You can sign up for their mailing list at their website and stay updated: http://www.mystiktoyz.com/

Registration is up for three of the big local Pagan summer camping events:
Earth House Midsummer Gather – June 19-26, 2011; http://www.earthhousemn.org/
Sacred Fire Circle In Paradise – July 14-17, 2011; http://sacredfirecircle.hawkdancing.com/
Sacred Harvest Festival – August 6-14th, 2011; http://harmonytribe.org/

There’s a Witch Sisters’ Night Out this Friday! Those are always a hoot and a half.

Community Notes; March 28-April 3

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Now that spring is officially here, it’s a wonderful time to look ahead to midsummer. The Earth House Midsummer Gather is gearing up to be bigger than ever. People keep describing the wonderful event and wonderful campground. This year, a lot of people are checking it out. http://www.earthhousemn.org/

Christine Schroeder is one of the most sought after local psychics in our community, and will be doing a special Meet The Psychic event with Keys of Paradise, on April 2nd from 11am to 4pm. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133297253409773

This Friday morning there will be a unique alignment of atmospheric forces which will actually allow people to hear the crack of dawn. At some point between the beginning of twilight (6:25 am) and sunrise (6:54 am) if you are outside and listening, you should be able to hear the crack of dawn.

SPC is a promotional partner for an evening with Deepak Chopra, Monday April 11 http://www.bethelsynagogue.org/vip-deepak

Paganicon did not feel like the first year of an event. There were no major issues. The programming was top notch. The attendance was great. It was a fabulously successful event. It was a great first year. It would have been a great third year.

People from both coasts attended Paganicon. In talking to the organizers, I get the impression that, as great as this year was, it was just a learning experience to really make Paganicon truly amazing in the future. I am really looking forward to next year’s Paganicon.

Normally we think of the Midwest being about five years behind the coasts. That isn’t the case with the local Pagan community. Many of the innovations which are just the way we do things, are the things which eventually show up on the coasts that they see as cutting edge. Many of the topics discussed at Paganicon are so new and innovative that they are not yet in books. Looking around, there were many major players who are shaping the future of Paganism. One person commented that Paganicon was almost like a Pagan leadership conference.

The president of the organization’s water broke on the last day of the event. It’s too early for reports of babies conceived at Paganicon, but we know of one who’s birth began at Paganicon. Congratulations.

Paganistan Weekly; March 7-13

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Someone broke into the Sacred Paths Center. You can read about it here and a follow-up story here.

St Cloud Pagans have created their own Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stcloudpagans/
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** EVENTS THIS WEEK **

MONDAY; March 7

  • ** 3pWalking/Hiking in Mounds Park; http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149510025110615
  • 6pm weekly Community Potluck at the Sacred Paths Center followed at 7pm by Shamanic Journey Practice for those who know how to journey and want a safe place to practice.
  • 7pm Mindful Mondays (meditation) mvanavery@yahoo. com for details

TUESDAY; March 8

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