Category: Human Interest

Karina Besnett Graduating Le Cordon Bleu Saturday

Karina Besnett

Karina Besnett is graduating from the baking and patisserie program at Le Cordon Bleu on November 3rd.  She has grown up in our Pagan community, has worked security at Sacred Harvest Festival, and played the maiden Goddess for a COG Beltane.  She was awarded two scholarships during her time at Le Cordon Bleu.  One was a cooking competition where she took first place.  The other was a merit scholarship awarded on the recommendation of former employers and teachers.  She currently works as a waitress at Fat Lorenzo’s in Minneapolis and is the lead baker at Brasa in St. Paul.

Free Chronic Illness Management Workshop – Friday 7pm, Oct 12th

 

Sherry L.M. Merriam, a Pagan and a therapist serving the Twin Cities Pagan Community at Franklin Family Services is offering a FREE workshop:    Take Back Your Health:  Power Tools for People with Chronic Illness, Their Caregivers, and Health Care Providers.

When: Friday, October 12, 2012, 7 PM to 8:30 PM

Location: Adler Graduate School – 1550 East 78th Street, Richfield, MN 55423

 People with chronic illness and their care providers frequently feel dis-empowered – even helpless – when facing an ongoing medical condition or pain.  This workshop will provide participants with empowerment through encouragement and practical tools to manage any health condition. Please register for free online .

Sherry Merriam has offered presentations of interest to Pagans at Paganicon, MARScon, CONvergence, and Minicon.

Eye of Horus joins MNUnited.org

On Wednesday, September 26, the Eye of Horus Metaphysical shop announced through its Facebook page:

“Eye of Horus, as an organization, has officially joined the coalition of Minnesotans United for All Families. Owned by life-partners Thraicie Hawkner and Jane Hansen, they felt the Eye should take a stand for the spirituality and freedom of all.”

Jane shares her thoughts

We know there may be some of you who disagree or who think we shouldn’t “get involved with politics,” but we don’t think of this as a political issue. It is about human rights. At Eye of Horus, we have sought, since our inception, to create a safe place for people of alternative religious views or spiritual paths. It’s our welcoming “vibe” that people like so much.

We consider ourselves privileged and blessed to live in a state and in a city which allows us to support alternative beliefs, create rituals, and sacred spaces like our labyrinth to honor the earth and spirits of this land without hindrance. We don’t tell people what to believe, but we do hold the space which allows for the full expression of Spirit.

In fact, Thraicie and I held our hand-fasting/marriage ceremony in the 2nd floor gallery of the old Eye of Horus location over seven years ago. Our union was blessed by a Priest and Priestess of our faith, and witnessed and celebrated by our birth-families. Although we still don’t have access to the same rights as a legally married couple, it was not unconstitutional, and we can continue to hope that the laws will expand to provide us with the full rights and responsibilities of other couples.

In this time of year, so close to Samhain, I think of the ancestors who have lived here before, whose bones rest in Minnesota, including the Native Two-spirit people and my 2nd generation Norwegian father who gave his blessing to my marriage with Thraicie. It is an affront to them and to the land they have become a part of to insult them by changing the state constitution.

I’m voting NO on the Constitutional Amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples. By doing so, I hold the space known as Minnesota as sacred space for ALL peoples and their families.

~Jane Hansen

CEO/Creative Director

Eye of Horus, Inc.

We’ve joined over 650 coalition partners

 

Nels Linde

Schulz co-chair on Johnson/Gray 2012 Minnesota presidential campaign

Life Cycle Announcement:

Cara Schulz* has accepted a role as the co-chair in the Minnesota Gary Johnson presidential campaign for 2012. Schulz has actively supported Johnson’s candidacy after initially covering him for PNC-MN, organizing two campaign events, going door to door collecting petition signatures necessary for Johnson to appear on the Minnesota ballot, and soliciting reporters to cover the campaign whenever possible.

Says Schulz of her hopes for the Johnson campaign and her own involvement, “It’s an honor, but a daunting and unpaid one. Governor Johnson is polling at 6% nationally and 5% in Minnesota.” She adds that after a radio campaign that started last week, Johnson ranks in Ohio polls at 11%.

Schulz states that even if Johnson is not elected to the office of President of the United States, his campaign can accomplish a win for those who vote for him. “Johnson, and voters, can still win even if he doesn’t win the election. If Johnson achieves even 5% of the vote, the Libertarian Party can receive millions in federal funding and is treated as major party. This could help break the two party stranglehold we are suffering under. Johnson is also raising important issues like gay marriage being protected under the constitution, the failed drug war, our eroding civil rights, our increasing debt and suspect monetary policy. ”

Johnson runs on a platform of fiscal conservatism and socially liberal views that Schulz states she supports.

He made national news last week for filing suit over his exclusion from the presidential debates, citing violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

*Disclosure: Schulz is an editor for the PNC-Minnesota bureau.

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Shedding the Past, A Rite of Passage – Interview

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Marla with Dreadlocks

I had the honor to attend and drum for a Moribayassa (see explanation of this rite of passage below) for Marla, a participant at the Sacred Fire Circle at Circle Sanctuary last week. One of the unique benefits of participating in a Pagan community is the opportunity to share in rites of passage, and have a community of support and celebration for your own rites.  Pagans are as creative with the rituals that define and celebrate life’s transitions, as they are diverse in their beliefs.  This ritual was to celebrate the cutting of the dreadlocks from Marla’s head. For her it was the symbol of many changes in her life, setting aside the past, and an ending of a personal commitment the dreadlocks represented for her.  It was a powerful and joyous rite.

Listen to an excerpt of Moribayassa from this ritual

I asked Laurie, a Madison, WI.  hand drummer who helped organize the ritual, what is a traditional  Moribayassa  like?  

Laurie:  Moribayassa is a rhythm and a dance that comes from Guinea, West Africa. It is performed by a woman just once in her lifetime. She does this dance as a way to celebrate having overcome some kind of adversity in her lifetime. She will announce she will do the dance sometimes years in advance, and drummers and singers gather when the time approaches to help her. The woman will dress in rags, which is a big deal because Africans are very concerned about their appearance. She dances in the rags and dances like she is ‘crazy’.  She dances several times throughout the village, and when she is done she takes off the rags and buries them, usually under a tree. She is then dressed in new clothing symbolizing that now she is a new person. She has overcome the difficulty, it is in the past now, and behind her.  It was quite an honor to play this rhythm for Marla in the context that it was meant for.    You can read more, and learn the rhythm in   “ A Life for the Djembe” by Mamady Keita.

I talked to Marla the day after her ritual.  She was still overwhelmed from the ritual.

When did you start dreading your hair?
Marla: In the spring of 2008.  My ex-husband’s sister was dieing of cancer. I hadn’t had contact with them for 15 years. His wife told him I should  be told, so he called me. His sister was a hairstylist, age forty. They called just as she was put on oxygen, and a week later she was gone.  After that, I just quit combing my hair because it just wasn’t important to me anymore.  It was compounded by the fact I hit forty and still hadn’t had children. That’s were it started, because I felt I was wasting time, and to honor her life.  My niece initially twisted my hair, and then they all came back out. I tried again back-combing it into dreadlocks and then super gluing beads in them so they couldn’t untangle any more.  Finally they started to “dread” on their own.

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