Breaking: Sacred Paths Center Closed “Indefinitely”

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Editor’s note:  there is an update to this story here.

At approximately 3pm today Sacred Paths Center put out the following statement:

As a result of an internal audit during the Change & Grow program, the Sacred Paths Center board has directed the closing of the center and called for a full inventory of the center’s assets and an external audit of the corporation’s finances.

The board has also empowered an internal audit of the corporation’s organizational documents, governance and administrative procedures, and policies.

This affects all operation at the Sacred Paths Center’s current facility. The gift shop, all class rooms and the healing center will all be closed indefinitely. All classes and events are suspended indefinitely.

Normal office hours have been suspended. The staff have been directed to focus on preparing materials necessary for the external audit and will not be available to answer questions about the closure.

Rather than stopping by the center or attempting to reach us by phone, please contact the center at ClosingQuestions@SacredPathsCenter.com if you have any questions or concerns about the audit, and SacredPathsCenter@gmail.com if you have any questions about upcoming classes and availability of healers, readers, teachers and other services.

PNC-Minnesota is seeking further information about the closure, the future of the center, and the status of SPC board members.

As information becomes available, this article will be updated.

Community Center Hits Goal

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Sacred Paths Center, a Pagan community center serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, sent out a message in early July that they were in dire fiscal straits and needed over$12,000 dollars by July 31st if they were to avoid closure.  After a series of fundraisers,  matching funds, and individual donors from across the country CJ Stone announces Sacred Paths Center hit their goal and will remain open.

The board of directors has voted to keep the Sacred Paths Center open and will begin to further cut operating costs and to re-focus our staff and center on our core mission and competencies.

At the next regularly scheduled meeting (Wednesday, August 10, 2011), the board will hear proposals from several committees to improve the level and quality of service we offer our members and the community; to ensure SPC stays strong and has the resources to act; to become a strong advocate in the metro area for our essential mission and promise. – Statement from Sacred Paths Center

The center announced $13,140 had been raised during the past month.

One of the fundraisers held, a Harry Potter Birthday Party, took place at the center on Friday, July 29th.  Attendees were invited to come dressed as a character from the series and enter the costume contest.  Other activities included Potter trivia and wand crafting for kids.


					

		
		
			





			
				



	
	

					
Kari’s Thingtide Travels – Midwest Viking Festival
			


	


				

					

		
				

			
This is the third installment of my vandrestav journey this summer, 2011. The first two events, Trothmoot and Northern Folk Gathering, were specifically designed for practitioners of the spirituality of the Northern European folk tradition.


The Midwest Viking Festival, which took place July 16 – 17, was a celebration of specifically Viking era traditions, attracting Scandinavians looking for deeper root connections as well as public from many other cultures seeking to learn more about their Scandinavian American neighbors. Though not strictly a “Viking re-enactment camp,” education and context for the learning was achieved through historical re-enactment.


For the prior two events, I was invited to teach volva stav, my own contemporary expression of the volva, staff carrier of Northern European spiritual tradition. I performed from my wide repertoire of songs and stories that connect the listener to my own ancestral journey, healing oorlag and honoring disr (female ancestor guides). For the two prior events, my perspective of living in the here and now on this pathway was the source of my involvement in the events.


 Continue reading →

					

		
		
			





			
				



	
	

					
Community Notes; August 1-7
			


	


				

					

		
				

			
Whether or not this first harvest celebration is part of your personal path, may all your harvests be enough.


Twin Cities Pagans now has a Google+ account. Please add us to your circle. You can also find us as Paganistan


The Harry Potter birthday celebration at the Sacred Paths Center was a success. Thank you to those at the SPC who offer such entertaining gatherings.


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For more detailed information (addresses, descriptions, etc.) or further updates, check out the much ballyhooed Twin Cities Pagans Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TwinCitiesPagans/

					

		
		
			





			
				



	
	

					
Happy Birthday PNC-MN! – Editorial
			


	


				

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The Pagan Newswire Collective – Minnesota Bureau is one year old! Evolving from a meeting at PSG with Jason Pitzl-Waters, and consultations with a local group who had also sent a proposal for a Minnesota bureau, this bureau posted “Community Notes”  from TCPagans on July 28th, 2010. How the PNC idea had gotten to this point is another whole story, but for us who formed this bureau; Heather Biedermann, Cara Schulz, and myself, Nels Linde, it was the start of an ambitious project.


What is this bureau?


The vision we acted upon was of a blog based information source for our community. The concept of ‘news’ is a hard one to define. Is it ‘Dog bites Pagan’, “Pagan bites Dog’, ‘What Pagans think about Dogs’, ‘Pagan wins at Dog Show’, ‘Pagan buys Dog’, ‘Dog bites Pagan in Detroit’, or ‘Pagan bites Pagan’? Well, we believe it is all of these topics and more. Our concept is to cover whatever seems to be the demonstrated interest, issues, and news we find in our community, and also to stretch that interest. As volunteers, with limits on our time, resources, and local experience, our content will also reflect our personal interest (I may have not written about Pagans hunting, if I didn’t hunt). As much as we are defining who and what we are, we also realize the idea of a local information source is ‘news’ to you, our readers. We know that your expectations may not match with our vision, and pay scale (we are all volunteers and have funded the costs, and time involved, in our reporting out of our pockets). We expect as we all grow and learn, these inequities in understanding will be resolved. Continue reading →