Community Notes; April 4-10

Birth announcement: Kiera Rhiannon was born at 11:49pm last Sunday after her mother’s water broke at Paganicon. Congratulations and welcome to the newest member of our community.

If you’ve talked with anyone who attended Paganicon, you’ve probably heard about what a great event it was. A quick overview of comments from attendees: stellar programming with great variety, astounding guest of honor, the food events were scrumptious, it was like a leadership conference with such richness of experts, the music was fabulous, everything just flowed with no major problems, the hotel was very accommodating, it ran so well that it did not seem like a first year event.

Less than a week after Paganicon, the organizers have a page up on their website about the 2011 experience. There’s even a copy of the keynote address posted. http://tcpaganpride.org/paganicon/paganicon-2011

Spring is in the air, which means we’re getting closer to fire spinning season. If you’d like to stay updated about poi spinning classes, there are often classes offered through Mystix Toys. Their next round of classes starts up April 14. You can sign up for their mailing list at their website and stay updated: http://www.mystiktoyz.com/

Registration is up for three of the big local Pagan summer camping events:
Earth House Midsummer Gather – June 19-26, 2011; http://www.earthhousemn.org/
Sacred Fire Circle In Paradise – July 14-17, 2011; http://sacredfirecircle.hawkdancing.com/
Sacred Harvest Festival – August 6-14th, 2011; http://harmonytribe.org/

There’s a Witch Sisters’ Night Out this Friday! Those are always a hoot and a half.

Meet Kellee Maize – a Rapper for Us

3 Comments

Last week I took part in a live interview on the Pagan Centered Podcast with Pagan-friendly musician Kellee Maize.  She doesn’t play folk, there is no Celtic vibe, and she isn’t going to be asked to perform at a Ren Fair anytime soon.  Kellee is a rapper and hip hop artist out of Pittsburgh and she is one of the hottest female rappers on the East coast, ready to break into the big time.  Her youtube videos have over two million views and her latest album, Aligned Archetypes, has over 400,000 downloads.  As the Pagan Centered Podcast is a partner of PNC, I am able to share some clips from that interview with you.

Kellee Maize

Although rapper Kellee Maize doesn’t claim the label Pagan, she describes her spirituality as earthy and alternative.  It’s not that she rejects Paganism, she feels labels are too restrictive and she dislikes being placed in neat little boxes.  I hate to let her in on the secret, but that’s a sure sign you are talking to a Pagan.  Listening to her lyrics, it’s hard to see how she can avoid the ‘P’ word for much longer.

The lyrics in Something Sacred delve into protective spirits, pushing back against patriarchy and valuing strong feminine leadership, and caring for Mother Earth.  This song, with it’s eco-feminism Goddess spirituality themes, reads as if it was written by Starhawk.

Earth Mother she is fiendin’
For a break in the season
Discontent no one pleasin’
Called a cunt that is bleedin’ – Something Sacred from the Album Aligned Archetypes

To hear and read the full lyrics for the song and Kellee’s explanation of them, you can check them out on her website.  Something Sacred veers more towards hip hop than straight rap and is probably why it’s one of my favorite cuts from the album.  Big Plans, another favorite, is infectious, fun, and full of chakras.

I say this in spite of the fact that I’m no fan of rap music, but after talking with her for just under two hours, I am a big fan of Kellee.  She is an accomplished business woman (in addition to performing she owns an all female owned and operated marketing and events organization firm, Naktrunal),  socially conscious, and seeking after an ethical spirituality that she is not shy about expressing.  In talking with her about spirituality, music, and community involvement, she was so open and raw and caring that it would be hard not to like her.

In this clip Kellee talks about family and fan reaction to her spirituality, her desire to perform at a Pagan festival, and she holds her own with the Pagan Centered Podcast folks when they take issue with her portrayal of Isis in the song Third Eye.

.

You can get a sneak peek at her new CD Integration by downloading two free singles from it here.

The Pagan Centered Podcast, where the interview took place, has been broadcasting for six years and between 1000 and 1700 people download their podcast each week.  The regular hosts are Dave, Amber, and Scurvy Dog (Joe) with Sam, Saturn, Barrett, Amanda, Miles Batty, Star Foster, and Peter Dybing as frequent guest hosts.  The full unedited interview is available now, here, and the edited podcast will be available for download in about 4 weeks.   PCP can be heard live each Wednesday night at 8pm Eastern, tonight’s topic is “What happens when your kids become Christian.”

TV Docu-Reality Looking For Pregnant Pagans

1 Comment

“I’m Pregnant And…” features expectant mothers facing medical challenges or part of unique lifestyles.

Sirens Media is producing a new season of the TV docu-reality series, “I’m Pregnant And…” which airs on the Discovery Fit & Health network. Topics covered in the series vary from medical conditions to alternative lifestyles or unique circumstances.  The reality show, in its second season, is a six-part series, and each 30-minute episode follows an expectant mom through her day-to-day routine while dealing with the ups and downs of pregnancy. For an upcoming episode, Sirens Media is looking for Pagan women who are currently 6-8 months pregnant.

Continue reading →

Community Notes; March 28-April 3

2 Comments

Now that spring is officially here, it’s a wonderful time to look ahead to midsummer. The Earth House Midsummer Gather is gearing up to be bigger than ever. People keep describing the wonderful event and wonderful campground. This year, a lot of people are checking it out. http://www.earthhousemn.org/

Christine Schroeder is one of the most sought after local psychics in our community, and will be doing a special Meet The Psychic event with Keys of Paradise, on April 2nd from 11am to 4pm. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133297253409773

This Friday morning there will be a unique alignment of atmospheric forces which will actually allow people to hear the crack of dawn. At some point between the beginning of twilight (6:25 am) and sunrise (6:54 am) if you are outside and listening, you should be able to hear the crack of dawn.

SPC is a promotional partner for an evening with Deepak Chopra, Monday April 11 http://www.bethelsynagogue.org/vip-deepak

Paganicon did not feel like the first year of an event. There were no major issues. The programming was top notch. The attendance was great. It was a fabulously successful event. It was a great first year. It would have been a great third year.

People from both coasts attended Paganicon. In talking to the organizers, I get the impression that, as great as this year was, it was just a learning experience to really make Paganicon truly amazing in the future. I am really looking forward to next year’s Paganicon.

Normally we think of the Midwest being about five years behind the coasts. That isn’t the case with the local Pagan community. Many of the innovations which are just the way we do things, are the things which eventually show up on the coasts that they see as cutting edge. Many of the topics discussed at Paganicon are so new and innovative that they are not yet in books. Looking around, there were many major players who are shaping the future of Paganism. One person commented that Paganicon was almost like a Pagan leadership conference.

The president of the organization’s water broke on the last day of the event. It’s too early for reports of babies conceived at Paganicon, but we know of one who’s birth began at Paganicon. Congratulations.

Final Push for Pagan/Japan Relief Effort

2 Comments

The fundraising effort by the Pagan community for the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan heads into its final push this weekend.  The goal is set at $30,000 and as of press time, $28,631 has been raised since the effort began on the 14th of March.

Peter Dybing

Peter Dybing, First Officer of Covenant of the Goddess, has set up a fundraising page to gather donations from Pagans to send to Doctors Without Borders to aid survivors in Japan. This organization has teams on the ground in Japan and is setting up medical treatment centers.

Not only is giving to a charity such as Doctors Without Borders in line with Pagan ethics, it’s a way for Pagans to donate as Pagans and be recognized as such. Several well known Pagans have joined Dybing in this effort and echo this sentiment.

Ivo Dominguez Jr, author and owner of Bell, Book, and Candle says this type of public initiative is important for the people receiving the aid and for the Pagan community, “It is needed because many of us have given much and lead lives of service but I often hear us described as uncharitable by people of other faiths.”

Circle Sanctuary Community created a Healing for Japan altar.

Selena Fox, Senior Minister of Circle Sanctuary, agrees with Ivo, “It is important for there to be some Pagan charities that are visibly part of the charity realm.  This gives Pagans an opportunity to work together, and it lets those of other faiths, philosophies and spiritualities know that Pagan charities exist, which in turn, can aid in interfaith understanding and lay the groundwork for future interfaith collaboration.”

Continue reading →