Category: Editorial

PSG Report: Morning meetings not to be missed

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Each day at Pagan Spirit Gathering attendees gather at the main ritual circle for the morning meeting.  Some of what happens is expected.  Notices about workshops changing locations or times are announced, reminders to shut the port-a-potty lids are mentioned, and musicians give attendees a taste of the evening concert.  But on any given day, the unexpected and deeply touching happens.

Pagans who currently serve or have served in the US Armed Forced are honored and given special service ribbons.  There were 30 Pagan veterans stood before a community chanting, “Thank you for your service.”  It wasn’t that long ago those same Pagans would have been looked on negatively for being in the Armed Forces.

Military Veterans and Active Duty members honored at PSG

A woman, recently finding out she has a painful and degenerative illness, asks for help and positive energy from the commuity.  Her voice becomes husky as she makes her request and the community responds instantly.  Tears sprang in the eyes of a woman near me in a demonstration of close empathy.

A mother holds her teen’s hand, explaining that she worked hard all year to earn money to spend at PSG and she has lost her bag containing the money.  A description is given of the bag and, based on past experience, there’s a better than even chance her bag and the money will turn up.

Margot Adler first sings a Solstice duet with Ruth Barrett and then talks about her research into the mythology of vampires.

These are just a few tidbits from this morning’s meeting.  Some of what happens is funny, some touching, or sweet.  Some of what is said is more raw or painful.  But like PSG itself, it is anything but your normal morning meeting.

Dawning of a New Day – Editorial

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My wife,  Judy Olson Linde,  and I  appeared as guests this year at the Heartland Pagan Festival near Kansas City, Mo. I wrote this article for their newsletter, which was also published in their festival guide. It is excerpted below;  The theme of the festival was  “Dawning of a New Day” and I was thinking about what it would take for us, as a Pagan Spiritual community, to achieve that dawn.

Guests at Heartland Pagan Festival 2012 – Judy and Nels Linde at far right
photo: Aaron Smith

The Heartland Theme this year  really attracted us to contribute differently this year, as guests. In recent years most Pagan communities, organizations, festivals, and even small groups have experienced some kind of internal turmoil, and so have we. Our easiest reaction to this is to withdraw to personal isolation. We attribute conflict to, “Just politics, Pagans can’t agree on anything”. We may have just stuck our head up and tried to get involved in a community just in time to get it bit off, so back we go into the safety of isolation. If you persist and stay involved in community work you often see the same destructive processes repeated over and over. Working together to build a community of support, something beyond ourselves, can seem a hopeless task.

Respectful disagreement is a sign of change, and can be a motivator toward moving in new directions. When change can be so beneficial, why does it so often end up being harmful to individuals and communities, instead of an opportunity for growth? Is it an essential truth that Pagans working together is like ‘herding cats’? It doesn’t have to be. Working together doesn’t have anything to do with ‘herding’, and, have you ever seen film of a pride of lions hunt? Differences don’t need to be a source of disruption. Diversity of views in decision-making can be a group’s greatest asset.

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Heartland Spiritual Alliance President – Interview

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I talked to sitting Heartland Spiritual Alliance President Angela Krout at Heartland Pagan Festival near Kansas City, Mo.  She was re-elected in April but has resigned for family reasons, pending the outcome of a special election.

What moved you to take the president’s role?

I’ve been a HSA (Heartland Spiritual Alliance) member for twelve years. I was treasurer last year when our then president stepped down for personal reasons. Myself and a couple others decided to run, and since we had an alternate candidate for treasurer I thought, “Why not me, Why not now?”

Do you have a new vision for the organization?
There is always room for improvement and growth. Some of it can be difficult to deal with, difficult to change. I would like to see HSA be not just a Midwestern voice, but an international voice in the Pagan community. Something that you will see and hear about all over the world.  We are no longer just a local community, we are a global community, and HSA needs to branch out and do that.

Can you share some of the problems you have encountered leading the organization and putting on a festival?
Personal accountability, that needs to start with someone. With me the buck stops with me, my personal accountability and responsibility. I know as Pagans we are supposed to ‘go with the flow’, but there is a certain time when you have to treat it like business, because that is exactly what it is. It can’t be a loose y goose y, very free flowing thing, a festival has to be run like a business. The more accountability we have, the more we will have organizations that run better.

Transparency is huge. From every dollar we take at the gate, to every dollar we disburse, it has been our goal the last few years to become more transparent, to have more layers of protection and accountability.

We have a great PR team this year, and they have been promoting us well. At this point we are still small enough, and even though we get national and international speakers that come in, people still see us as a regional festival, and we are not.  Next year we have Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone as speakers. They actually contacted us and wanted to appear. That blew my mind, so awesome. I am so excited about it.

Several ‘old timers’ here have stepped back and new folks are joining. Is that an obstacle or an asset?
It can be both. Those of us that have been in the trenches for so long can be resistant to change. Personally for me, change is growth and growth is life. A lot of people don’t realize it is the life blood of the organization. We can not have the same people year after year. We become too entrenched, to comfortable with the same set of standards when the rest of the world is growing. It could limit us to stay where we are, and get stagnant.

HSA President Angela Krout

What does the direction of the new leadership look like?
Yet to be determined. I plan to stay with HSA and support whoever is elected. At some point when my personal life is not taking over, I may run for President again.

Nels Linde

Walker Church: A Community Commons

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By Susu Jeffrey

Walker Community United Methodist Church in south Minneapolis was a true “commons” for all kinds of progressive groups. The church built in 1910, at 16th Avenue South and 31st Street East (near Lake and Bloomington), was a “total loss” from Sunday evening’s fire.
(Please see the Star Tribune for a photos)
Either a lightning strike or arson is the probable cause. Five firefighters were hospitalized. Captain Kathrynne Baumtrog remains in the hospital. Bulldozers razed the remaining walls on Monday. Amazingly the altar box survived as did the LGBT flag and ALL ARE WELCOME sign in the front yard.

KFAI Community radio began broadcasting from Walker. I hosted a poetry show in the belfry in the 1980s and remember climbing and climbing up to the hot in summer—cold in winter cramped, cheery studio.

In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre also started out of Walker. HOBT holds (what we think is) the largest Pagan gathering in the U.S. on the first Sunday in May. May Day in the Park is the annual parade down Bloomington Avenue and ceremony in Powderhorn Park with multi-thousands of people celebrating spring.

Walker provided space to progressive groups including Communities United Against Police Brutality, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, the Welfare Rights Committee, and Occupy. A Latin American woman considered “illegal” actually lived at the church for a time. Last year the church approved a statement embracing same-sex marriage.

Countless benefit performances were held in the Walker sanctuary including Stop the Hwy 55 Reroute. In fact their minister provided expert testimony at the trial of 34 people arrested at The Four Trees Spiritual Encampment in December 1999. When asked if springs could be considered “sacred” Pastor Roger Lynn affirmed that concept and told the court, “There are springs all over the Bible.”

Walker Church did not limit its largess to social justice. Beyond Christian faith and values the church welcomed Pagan groups for seasonal rituals. The church was fully insured and the spirit of Walker, with 150 church members and hundreds of thousands of community members survives.

*** Editor’s note:

There will be a funeral for the Walker Community Church Building tonight (Monday June 4th)  at 3104 31st Street East in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Service will begin  at 8:30 PM. Feel free to bring an offering to place upon the ruins. Please join us.

 

NorDCOG Town Hall Meeting Offers Hope For A Future

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A Town Hall meeting took place to discuss the possible closure of Northern Dawn local of the Covenant of the Goddess ( NorDCOG), Saturday at Walker Church.  The  NorDCOG First Officer said the meeting helped the long established group determine what it needs to do to survive and remain viable.

Northern Dawn Local Council of the Covenant of the Goddess  was founded in 1982 by three covens; Minnesota Church of Wicca (MnCoW), Prodea, and Rowan Tree. NorDCOG has been continually hosting public sabbats since Samhain of 1982, and has hosted the COG national gathering (Merry Meet) twice.

In the call for this town hall meeting the problem was stated as, “As a foundational and networking center we can be proud of our contribution to the success of Paganistan. But the success of the community has not been the success of Northern Dawn. With so many options for community involvement, and what may be seen as some barriers to entrance, participation in Northern Dawn’s leadership has dwindled over the years to the point that today its future is uncertain. “

The immediate cause for the meeting was the lack of participation that has become a crisis in functioning as an organization. Several board positions are unfilled, including a ritual officer, so no public rituals have been planned. Meetings have been unable to meet quorum standards, and this has prevented NorDCOG to conduct business or consider active solutions to be considered and enacted, including possible changes to the bylaws. As a local of the national organization, mandates of operation are also in place that may pose a conflict in some considered changes within the organization. Continue reading →