Largest Upper Midwest Pagan Festival opens in 10 days! – Interview

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Sacred Harvest Festival (SHF), located in southern Minnesota near Albert Lea, opens Saturday, August 6th, The last day to register online  and before gate rates is Sunday, July 31st.  I had the chance to interview Bress Nicneven, festival site director and board member of Harmony Tribe , the event’s sponsor.

Why do people continue to return to Sacred Harvest Festival?

SHF has gained a national reputation for quality and timely speakers and musicians. Celia’s video for the song ‘ Symbol’ was filmed at SHF, before the Pentacle Quest  became a household Pagan word. It is known for having a defined theme each year, and presenting profound rituals and speakers that all build on that theme for a complete experience. One of the few festivals that does this each year. In stressful financial times, this festival offers the cheapest per day rates of any festival in the country for the quality of the programming and activities.

It is a really reasonable family vacation for Pagans. It is an upper Midwest tradition, going on 14 years. SHF is really a place for everybody. There is a Kid’s cauldron, operated by parents and volunteers, that keeps kids happy all week. Families get the time and space to worship together as a family. They get time together and also adults have time for individual experiences. It is really strengthening for both families, individuals, and our community relationships. We have a great location in a shady oak grove with easy access from Des Moines, Madison, and the Twin Cities.

What is this year’s theme about?

Forest Family, Roots and Branches Intertwined  is our theme this year. It encompasses the roots of the Tribe itself, the thousands of people who have grown this festival over the years. We come each year to celebrate at this magical grove, and this year we specifically want to connect with the marvelous shady and protective trees there. Trees are an appropriate symbol of how we are also all connected, and essentially like the forest that we camp under. Like the burr oaks, we are still growing, and changing, and each season together we reach out within the festival and our home communities to integrate our spiritual experience back into our foundation, our roots. Continue reading →

Pagan Leadership, The Transformative Model

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Editorial by Peter Dybing, First Officer of Covenant of the Goddess

With the rapid rate of growth in the broader Pagan community change is inevitable. This requires a new model of Pagan leadership. That being said, what qualities will these transformative leaders possess? It seems it becomes necessary to define the qualities of a transformative Pagan leader and establish the dynamic of organizational change a leader must manage, in terms of Pagan culture, structure and the community of individuals that make up an organization.

Today’s Pagan organizations need leaders who are transformative in assisting organizations to develop new goals, establish support and actionable by-in from community members. These leaders will need to possess the ability to take established organizations and manifest something new and positive. Transformative leaders, by their example, rather than authority, bring about change in organizations basic cultural and political systems.

All to often-Pagan organizations seek out leaders who are focused on maintaining the status quo. These leaders engage in perpetuation of the current leadership dynamic and power structure. Nor are they focused on the need for their organization to grow and evolve in order to be meaningful to successive generations of Pagans.

Continue reading →

Sacred Fire Circle in Paradise 2011 – Editorial

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A while ago on a quest to the vision realm I found myself back at the Sacred Fire Circle. It seemed natural to be there. Sacred Fire Circle in Paradise is more a part of the vision realm then it is of normal reality.

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We are surrounded by darkness in a place of light which we created as a contained sacred space. We enter intentionally. We work intentionally. We spend night after night with focus in a ritual environment.

Rangoli Pattern for First Night

The sacred circle takes place from midnight until dawn for three nights. Every night, many people experienced divine possession, especially whilst dancing, but also whilst drumming, singing, healing, meditating, or other activities. The place just lends itself to it. Every religious path has some tradition of ecstatic connection to the divine and SFCiP is a place to experience it.

It is deeply experiential. Even without the connection to the divine, the experience is still powerful. The combination of all things, the drumming, the dancing, the holding of space, the singing, the mindful intention, all of it creates an environment which is conducive to profound experiences.

Tamara, one of this year’s participants described it,

“The ‘experiential’ can take you places that you cannot think your way to and fire circle is very experiential. The hugest part of ourselves is within … in those non-analytical places. Fire circle is a journey into that place. We do use our intellect to sort out our deeper selves, but, we are not, at our center, primarily intellectual creatures. We are emotional, spiritual creatures capable of thinking and reasoning. But, it isn’t our intellect that is the primary ‘can opener’ to the soul and to other realms. It is our deeper selves. Fire circle is a ritual experience that (I would describe as almost shamanic in nature) that assists in setting aside the intellect and, with the help of dance, song, chant trust, fellowship and more, can help people to transcend normal barriers and live, move, resolve and heal while walking through the ‘soul stuff’ within and between worlds.”

Tamara also described, “There are so many types of experiences that one can have at Pagan retreats! Some are focused on fellowship and connection, some workshops and information, some on ritual, some on a blending of all. I believe fire circle is rich in all those areas but has a deep and meaningful focus on immersion in a deep, penetrating, and powerful ritual experience that is built over days.” Continue reading →

Christian Group Directs “Spiritual Warfare” Against Pagan Goddess

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The New Apostolic Reformation, a neo-Pentecostal Christian movement with strong ties to GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry, plans to “lay siege” for 40 days on Washington D.C. to change the District of Columbia into the District of Christ and eliminate compromise in our government. Events to take place in each state in turn, Minnesota’s date is October 21st. Pagans organizing to counter the malefic magic.

The Reformation Prayer Network, led by Cindy Jacobs, and the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, headed by John Benefiel, have joined together to produce a nation-wide event called “DC40.″ Jacobs and Benefiel are national endorsers for GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Perry’s The Response. The goal of DC40 is to effect “eternal change in our nation’s capitol so our elected officials can govern from a new position of uncompromising light and understanding as we change the spiritual atmosphere over Washington DC forever.”  This effort is variously named DC40, Forty Days of Light Over D.C., and 51 Days of Reformation Intercession.


Video by DC40

The change DC40 hopes to make is electing leaders who fear the Christian God and “find that compromise is not the way” as it is impossible to “compromise with unrighteousness.”  The “uncompromising light” refers to a statement released by Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, which says God’s word should be the legal authority in the United States and Christians should acknowledge no other,  “no power to purpose or accept any compromise of the promises of God, and we declare illegal in the earth any action or any people, Nation or nations that undertake what is contradictory to the Word of God.”

Continue reading →

Community Notes; July 25-31

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Dr. Murphy Pizza, our local Pagan anthropologist, has been offered a contract from Ashgate Publishing to turn her dissertation into a book. So once again she’ll be collecting data on the local community. Please, if you see her, either help her or run and hide.

Sacred Paths Center spokesperson CJ Stone was interviewed on Pagans Tonight. You can listen here.

No matter where you are, you can still donate to the Sacred Paths Center to keep them open:

Next Saturday, July 30, Shadow Lights Minnesota in Prior Lake will be having a bake sale from 11-2 to raise money for the Sacred Paths Center.

This weekend, Eye of Horus had a sale to benefit the Sacred Paths Center.

Next Friday at the SPC, there will be A Very Potter Birthday Party celebration:

The Earth House Project of MN donated $978.62 to the SPC

Rev. Jack Green wrote about his experiences at the Earth House Midsummer gather

Sacred Harvest Festival’s early sign-up rate ends August 1. So if you want to go and don’t want to spend $30 extra at the gate, sign up here

Also on that site, the songs from the recent Northern Dawn CoG Lammas ritual are available.

The Eye of Horus will be bringing John Michael Greer back to town, January 27-29, 2012

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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/

Community Notes is reprinted courtesy of Twin City Pagans