Over the past few months PNC-Minnesota has received a few questions about if we publish social announcements such as handfastings, birth or Wiccaning announcements, job changes, graduations, initiations and other life events. The short and full answer is “Yes!”
If you have a social announcement you would like PNC to post, just send us the information on the happy event and a photo (photo is optional). For announcements, please email me directly at schulzcaral (at) gmail (dot) com.
The Summerlands draws up images of death and the afterlife, but organizers of a new area festival hope that Pagans attending the Summerland Spirit Festival remember it as a place to reconnect with nature and refresh their souls before heading back to the stress of daily modern life.
Summerland Spirit Festival
July 9th – 17th
Website and Registration here
Summerlands Spirit Festival (SSF) bills itself as a community retreat with a slower, more relaxed vibe than other festivals Pagans may be used to attending. “You know that almost frantic energy that you feel at other festivals? We wanted to create a festival that has intensity, yet the energy is much more soothing and calm,” says Todd Berntson, President of Summerland Spirit Festival.
Mr. Berntson says there will be workshops, merchants, and musical entertainment similar to other Pagan festivals, but SSF decided to have fewer of these activities so they don’t overlap and place stress on attendees trying to do everything at once. This also encourages attendees to explore and reconnect to the natural world. “You can go up on this hill that is covered with apple trees and watch the sun rise. Or sit on a large boulder placed in the middle of the creek and meditate while the water rushes by. There are trails through the woods and I’ve seen herds of deer there,” says Berntson. “This is a beautiful place.”
That place is a large tract of privately owned land in Wisconsin about 1.5 hours away from the Twin Cities. The owner of the land is pleased to host this festival and is working with the board of SSF to get the land and facilities ready in time. Berntson says the bathhouse and flush toilets are clean and plentiful. The dining hall is a remodeled old stone barn that has a fireplace large enough for bench seats inside it. There are intertubes available to ride down the creek on. Meals are provided if you choose the meal plan. “We wanted to provide the meals so that would be one less thing for people to worry about, one less chore that takes up their time. We want people to come here and relax,” notes Berntson. “This is more of a pampering spiritual retreat where you submerge yourself in nature.”
Beltane 2011: Earth’s Passion: A Rite of Spring
A Journey to the Otherworld
The Procession from Indian Mounds
Earth
LUNA tantalizes EARTH
“Welcome everyone to the Northern Dawn chapter of the Covenant of the Goddess’s celebration of Beltane for this 5th day of Hare Moon, in the year 34,255 Skystone Wiccan Reckon Calendar, that’s May 7th in the Christian year 2011. We all know that Samhain, Halloween is when the ancestors leave the Spirit World and join the living. In symmetry today we will journey to the Otherworld and visit them. We will hear the stories of their lives. We will journey into the woods and meadows of dreams. But first we honor the Ancient Chiefs.”
Hopefully you had a Happy Mother’s Day
The Twin Cities Pagan Pride organization has dates lined up for both of their upcoming events.
Twin Cities Pagan Pride celebration will be Saturday, September 10th, 2011, at Minnehaha Falls Park. This fits much better with the national Pagan Pride plan of having celebrations in public places with walk through traffic where they can serve as educational opportunities for the rest of the community. It’s also a venue with a really great stage for Pagan musicians, so there will be lots of great music.
Paganicon will be March 16-18, 2012. They’ve reserved a better section of the hotel, where all the events can be more conveniently located. They’ve also reserved ten suites for hospitality rooms. So anyone wanting a hospitality room should contact the organizers.
There’s now Paganistan merchandise. So far it’s just a postcard and a refrigerator magnet, but it’s a beginning. If you remember the request for pictures of Witch’s Hat Tower a while back, it was for this. The next merchandise will require a picture of a local Pagan potluck. If you have such a picture, please send it to TwinCitiesPagans@yahoo.com. All money raised will go toward building community.
Sacred Paths Center now has a Wikipedia entry. Please check it out, and improve it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Paths_Center
Lots of local Pagans have blogs. Here’s a few I know of. Please let me know if you’d like yours publicized:
http://web.me.com/iowariver/Walking_in_Beauty
http://roguepriest.net/
http://inthecompanyofstones.blogspot.com/
http://livingthetrothdaytoday.blogspot.com/
http://witchynikki.wordpress.com/
There’s a lot of really cool stuff happening this week. Really, I was just looking at the calendar as I’m preparing this and I am just struck by all the wonderful opportunities that there are for Pagans in this community. This really is the greatest Pagan community. Please take some time to look through the events, and please go to at least one this week, because there’s just such wonderful events to choose from, and this is just a normal week in Paganistan.
Just over 20 Pagans attended the local Pagan Coming Out Day celebration at Sacred Paths Center on Monday, May 2nd. The celebration started with a libation and prayer to Hestia, strengthener of family and community bonds, for those Pagans in our community planning to ‘come out’ to someone they know. Champagne cocktails and desserts then followed with a screening of the documentary American Mystic. “Speaking as someone who was there, and has been semi-closeted for 35 years, this was simply fabulous,” said Karen. The movie, which was signed by director Alex Mar, was donated to the Sacred Paths Center library.
International Pagan Coming Out Day Chair, Cara Schulz, spoke to the group about Pagan Coming Out Day and how it was impacting Pagans around the world. “We have received messages from Pagans in the US, Canada, Russia, France, Columbia, South Africa, and the Philippines to name a few countries. Very positive stories about the events they are holding, about coming out to friends and family, and about how the religious community has supported them,” said Ms. Schulz.
Ms. Schulz estimates that hundreds of Pagans told someone they know they are Pagan on May 2nd and many more indicated they are considering it after hearing about the mostly positive outcomes on the organization’s facebook page. Others simply decided they would stop hiding their religion and would speak the truth when asked. Thousands of more ‘out’ Pagans wore something that identified them as Pagan as they went about their normal business as a low key way to push back against stereotypes and show our numbers. As a sign of how popular the day was, just under 300 t-shirts with the IPCOD logo were purchased in the last 3 months. “I think it was being able to marshal the support of the community that gave the strength, comfort, and encouragement needed for people to take this step. Plus the excellent Guide to Coming Out put together by IPCOD committee member Drake Spaeth, PsyD, gave people tips on how to actually have this conversation, said Ms Schulz. “It’s one thing to say “come on out!” – but it’s another to say this is how you can do it and we’re right here with you to support you.”
Pagan Newswire Collective - Minnesota Bureau 