Heart Of The Beast, May Day Parade!

If you have never heard of the parade, first read about it. If you missed one of their donation buckets, you can also donate ! I asked some of the Free Speech Sections participants what group they were with, and why they were here?

Photos: M Bardon

Eric Angell – Our World in Depth, ” I’m here to be festive with friends and neighbors in Minneapolis.”

Erick Boustead – Line Break Media, ” I’m ‘shooting the parade,’ and to soak in the awesome mix of the art and theater. ”

Gary Lingen –  Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance, ” Over the 29 years I have lived here, I have only missed one May Day! I missed last year because of surgery, but I always come here in any type of weather to be part of the celebration today.

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Local Pagans React to Bin Laden’s Death

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The news spread like lightening last night, across social media and leaked by the news, before the President could make his official announcement: “Osama Bin Laden is dead.”

Bin Laden had been hiding out not in a cave in the wilds of Afghanistan, but in a specially built mansion in the heart of an affluent suburb of the capital of Pakistan.  In a neighborhood that houses mostly retired Pakistani military and intelligence officers.  The President green-lighted a military strike force to capture Bin Laden early Sunday morning and by Sunday evening the President was informed that Bin Laden was dead.  As Bin Laden had said previously, he would not be taken alive.  During the firefight he was shot in the head and then buried at sea after identification.

The man hunt for Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks that killed 3,000 people, spanned 10 years and frustrated 2 Presidents.  When news of Bin Laden’s dead came out, Washington DC residents surrounded the White House cheering and singing.  Social Media like facebook and Twitter exploded.  Impromptu parties broke out and few employers announced that Monday would be a paid day off.

How did Pagans react to the news?  Phaedra Bonewits said on facebook, “So conflicted to be glad for a death. Mourning our lost service members.”  Lori Dake wrote a short post on Warriors & Kin “I’m sure I can come up with something a little more poetic, but right now, I am of few words. THANK YOU to our Troops. You deserve nothing short of our thanks and praise. I, for one, do not care one iota who officially gets the kudos; I’m just happy this mass murderer is dead. As a news reporter just stated, it is not natural to celebrate a death, but in this case – yeah, I’ll pour another drink! ”

Diana Rajchel

Local Pagans also had mixed reactions to the news.  Diana Rajchel said, “I believe that there are yet more consequences for the US action ahead. From an ethical perspective, it’s messy – I do think that Bin Laden’s actions both upon the US and upon the Afghani people required him to be put down. From my light and shadow style Wiccan perspective, there are extraordinarily rare times when killing is necessary, and Bin Laden was definitely an example of that extremely rare instance.”

Tasha Rose

Tasha Rose began the evening with slightly positive view of Bin Laden’s death but quickly became disgusted by the reaction of other people.  “Those of you who are praising this death, shame on you. No death should ever be celebrated, not even that of someone like bin Laden. Wake up folks and remember that we all belong to one another and what we do to our hand ripples to our eye, and from our knee, to our foot. Hurt a part of the body, hurt the entire thing.”

As for me, I spent the evening toasting our dead with the best vintage I had in the house, and it was a very fine Le Cave Pinotage.   I didn’t feel joy at Bin Laden’s death, but I did feel a great sense of relief. Hekate’s host of unavenged dead just lost about 3000 spirits. Less spirits for me to feed when I set out Hekate’s Deipnon meal tonight.  Nemesis has balanced the scales. Both are dread Goddesses, but I honor them as much as laughing Aphrodite and sweet Hestia. I hope those poor souls lost on 9/11 and in the two wars since can finally find peace.

Gypsy Nilsen

ADDENDUM: Gypsy Nilsen  provides and interesting view on Bin Laden’s death and Pagan rights, ” Being Druid, I feel spirit resides in all things. That being said, if a bear is attacking me or my family, threatening our safety, I would not hesitate to shoot it. That does not mean I would celebrate it. Osama bin Laden was a threat, in many ways, to not only the US, but worldwide.  For me I will offer prayers of thanks to the Gods for this chapter ending and I will pray for the lives of those who have been killed and I will pray for those who are left devastated by this man.

One issue I am having difficulty resolving is that, according to new reports, his body was handled in accordance with Islamic beliefs. That is good, but I have to ask why good men and women who willingly gave their lives in the hunt for that man, were not allowed to have a pentacle on their headstones until pagans united and made it happen?”

Community Notes; May 2-8

Even though it was very cold, Heart of the Beast May Day celebration in Powderhorn Park was still a wonderfully Pagan event. Of course, that’s what you’d expect in the heart of Paganistan.

The parade told a story, but also included certain ritual elements, such as the first person in the parade carrying a branch from a tree to sweep away the negativity in the route and cleanse the way for all which is to follow. There were also two Pagan groups in the parade.

Harmony Tribe was the first of the two, promoting the 14th Sacred Harvest Festival, August 6-14. The log for this year says, “Roots and Branches Intertwined”. In talking to Harmony Tribe people, it really does seem like this year they are really exploring both their roots, and the different places to which the festival has branched. SHF is always a wonderful festival precisely because of the degree to which they explore the depths of their theme, and this year promises to continue that tradition. Learn more and register at http://harmonytribe.org/shf2011/

Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance followed. UMPA adopted a stretch of highway several years ago and will be gathering May 21 to clean it up. In most places in the US, Pagans struggle to get enough people together for even occasional volunteer projects. Here, Pagans are able to organize consistently, year after year well enough to maintain an adopted stretch of highway. This is a significant piece of proof that Paganistan really is one of the greatest Pagan communities. Learn more about the highway cleanup at http://umpaganalliance.com/schedule.shtml

Earth House Project had an informational table set up in the park where they told many people about their midsummer gather, June 19-26. This festival is in a luxurious campsite with many amenities that you just don’t find at any other Pagan camping event in the region. In all my travels, I’ve never been to any other festival with electricity at every site, water at every site, and a miniature golf course. Learn more at http://www.earthhousemn.org/gather.htm

Before and after the event there were parties hosted by Pagans and attended by many people from Northern Dawn CoG who always present beautiful rituals and will be having a Beltaine ritual next Saturday in Mounds Park (10 Mounds Blvd, St. Paul, MN) at 3pm. It is one of the most beautiful and sacred sites in Paganistan. Learn more at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=210035432359367
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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/

PSG – New Home, Same Spirit

The Pagan Spirit Gathering, one of the largest and oldest Pagan camping festivals, has changed location this year. The former site, Camp Zoe near Salem, Missouri, has come under federal investigation. This prompted Circle Sanctuary, hosts of Pagan Spirit Gathering, to move the festival to Stonehouse Park near Earlville, Illinois.  It is a venue change that many past attendees are applauding.

Pagan Spirit Gathering
Summer Solstice, June 19-26
Stonehouse Park near Earlville, Illinois
Registration closes June 4th

“I love going to PSG, but it was so hot and humid at Camp Zoe that I wasn’t going to attend this year.  All I did was lay in the creek and I missed most of the workshops because it was so hot.  But now that it has moved to the much cooler and less humid Illinois, I’m going!” said past attendee Eisling, “Just think, it should be nice enough we can even have camp fires at night.”

PNC-Minnesota talked with Ghetto Shaman Billy Crow Staver about the move to Stonehouse Park and what PSG will be like this year.  The Ghetto Shamans are a camping group that attends PSG each year and helps Circle Sanctuary with marketing the event.

“The PSG experience is something really special.  It’s a place where people can come together and let their guard down.  Magically things happen there.  It’s where I met my wife, I met her at PSG.  I’ve met some of my best friends through PSG,” Mr. Staver said of his years of attendance.  ” The people who attend PSG seek new connections to the Divine and form a new tribe.  It’s an experience that is hard to explain and shouldn’t be missed.”

Organizers say Stonehouse Park offers many more amenities than they have had at other PSG camps.  “There are more electrical hook ups throughout the camp.   There’s a larger shower house and a community store.  People will be able to keep their camp site cleaner since they have community sinks available for dishes and washing your clothes,” says Mr. Staver.  He notes the best change will be in how the camp feels to attendees, ” We’ll be able to camp closer together and be able to see one another and this creates more of a family community type feeling and that’s one of the biggest benefits to camping at Stonehouse park this year, we’ll get that feeling of a close family again.  We kind of lost that at Camp Zoe.”

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Pagans in Prison – Editorial

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We have had an explosion of incarceration in the United States in the last 30 years.  Minority races, the poor, and least educated continue to be way over represented as inmates statistically. Addiction, and our society’s inability to cope with the plague it represents, contributes to arrests and recidivism, and drug offenses fuel incarceration rates. Young males dominate the populations of our prisons, while female rates explode proportionately but in smaller overall numbers. One in 28 US kids has a parent in prison, and that tells much of the story of where the males are that might be a role model.

The religious civil rights of Pagans, or any inmate, are now well established in law. Whether the implementation of that law takes place seems to depend on individual states, institutions, and the staff and chaplains who work within them. Officials and inmates can work together to find reasonable accommodation to individual spiritual practice, and equity of accommodation among the many spiritual paths in prison, or we can all bear the cost of resolving these issues through the courts.

Inmates pay for their crimes through the loss of their freedom. To expect them to lose the rights our Constitution considers basic human rights is more for our satisfaction and as ‘punishment’ for those who may have caused us pain or harm.

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