This newsletter usually looks ahead to upcoming events. This week we’re looking back at the year that was 2011 in Paganistan.

Despite some challenges, groups forged ahead, festivals persisted, and there were no reports of any local Pagan groups or businesses ending. In fact, there were several bright points and lots of growth. Here are several that stand out:

We had the first Paganicon, our very own Pagan conference. By all reports, it was highly successful and is poised to be highly successful again. http://tcpaganpride.org/paganicon/

With a change of leadership, Sacred Harvest Fest dedicated itself to healing and personal growth. http://harmonytribe.org/

The Twin Cities Pagan Pride event was astounding at their new outdoor location near one of this community’s sacred sites. http://tcpaganpride.org/paganpride/

Keys of Paradise opened its own location. Their products are now carried in more stores, they have implemented drop shipping of many products, they have greatly expanded their merchandise lines, and they generally had a great year. http://www.keysofparadise.com/

Eye of Horus launched the world’s largest Pagan eBook store and the first eBook store of its kind. http://eyeofhorusbooks.com/ They also used their new location to bring in many nationally known speakers. http://eyeofhorus.biz/

Northern Dawn CoG continued to produce astounding rituals.

Local Pagan, Nels Linde, made it onto an impressive list of influential Pagans, which you can read about at: http://paganinparadise.blogspot.com/2011/12/walking-talk-10-pagans-who-made.html

There are dinner parties with primarily Pagan guest lists. There are birthday celebrations where most of the attendees are Pagan. People are calling each other, chatting, emailing, and generally being friends. The local Pagan community is as strong as ever. Possibly stronger because all of this continued despite the lack of any big Pagan emergencies to rally around.

2009 & 10 saw lots of big growth with the opening of new businesses and reorganization of established organizations. 2011 saw them all doing the work once the hype was gone. It wasn’t glamorous or entertaining but the work continued. What we saw was that they did the work well and established themselves for a very good 2012.

Yule is this week!

December 25; Meals on Broomsticks: http://umpaganalliance.com/
This might be the most important event to attend. It’s a Pagan outreach into the non-Pagan community. This is a chance for many non-Pagans to see Pagans helping out on a day when many of us aren’t busy anyway.

Kari Tauring, performer, teacher, and author of Runes a Human Journey, has a new podcast on the Eye of Horus website. You can check it out at http://eyeofhorus.biz/podcasts/dnr/episode-1-runes-and-raidho.htm

Paganicon will be here soon! March 16-18. http://tcpaganpride.org/paganicon/

Sacred Harvest Festival has a theme for their August 6-12, 2012 festival, and now they need artwork. The theme will be “Unveiling the Sacred; Immersed in the Luminous Light of Love”, and they will be accepting artwork submissions for that theme until January 15 at SHFArtwork@harmonytribe.org

If you want to be part of defeating the proposed marriage amendment in November 2012, there’s an event for local Pagans, Wiccans, and Folk on January 1 that you might want to check out: http://www.facebook.com/events/262181107173641/

This is a time when many people are exchanging gifts. Just a reminder to please support your local Pagan merchants. For a more complete list, please check: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TwinCitiesPagans/links/Local_Stores_001218489581/

Eye of Horus: 3012 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408; http://eyeofhorus.biz/minneapolis

Keys of Paradise: 713 Minnehaha Ave E, Ste 111, Saint Paul, MN 55106; http://www.keysofparadise.com/

Magus Books & Herbs: 1309 1/2 4th Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414; http://www.magusbooks.com/

Sacred Paths Center: 777 Raymond Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55114; http://www.sacredpathscenter.com/

Shadow Lights MN Candles and Metaphysical Shoppe: 4775 Dakota St. SE, Prior Lake, MN 55372; http://www.shadowlightscandles.com/

Local online stores:

Eye of Horus eBook store; http://eyeofhorusbooks.com/

Hawkdancing Studio; http://hawkdancing.com/

Sprite Creations; http://spritecreations.dnsdojo.com/