Tag: community

Mendota Dakota Pow Wow–Good for the Soul

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Photos and Story by Susu Jeffrey

Mendota Dakota Pow Wow

Traditional dancer with fan and shawl

The Mendota Dakota Community celebrated their 11th Annual Welcome Home Traditional Pow Wow over the September 10th weekend in the field of St. Peter’s Church on the Mississippi bluff. The sound was the throbbing heartbeat drum with generators in the background, the ambiance—regalia and fry bread (1st batch ran out before 3:30 Saturday). The weather was perfect. These are 21st century Indian people; they know how to read treaties.

Pow Wows are joyous extended-family, cultural
gatherings with a lot of work and a lot of sitting

Mendota Dakota Pow Wow Eagle

To dance is to pray, to pray is to heal, to heal is to give, to give is to live, to live is to dance. "Why We Dance" by MariJo Moore

around visiting. Once a year-after-year you get to see the kids grow up, see the new babies and absorb hours outdoors with hundreds of dancing spirits.

Mendota Dakota Pow Wow

Fancy shawl, traditional dancers and a little girl in her jingle dress

(Please note: the photographs were taken with respectful permission only during the Saturday 1 PM, Grand Entry.)

Editorial – Pagans and Facebook

Facebook has become the preferred method to keep in touch for millions of people. It has surpassed MySpace and other networking projects and is very popular with Pagans. It has great features for promoting events, and connecting with those of similar beliefs locally and around the country. It is easy to use and appeals to our need to feel community. It is especially great for staying in touch with those people we see only a few times a year and helps us to keep in contact and updated with friends who we may not see as much as we would like. I especially like sharing snippets, little thoughts, quotes, or events that mean something to me, and enjoy when they resonate with my friends.

Facebook users, and the new applications for it, are blossoming everyday. Many of the original problems associated with online activity are still there just with this new “face”. There are now countless building and gaming applications to draw you away from your real life. These new applications are particularly insidious because besides sucking up all your free time, many reward getting your friends involved. They give the illusion you are building something real, including a deeper relationship with your friends and co-players. Continue reading →

Community Notes – September 13-19

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TwinCitiesPagans/

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You can serve your community October 10 as the Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance gathers to clean up an adopted stretch of I-35E. It is so great that drivers along the interstate see that local Pagans are gathering to clean up a bit of nature.

TC Pagan Pride has lots of new information up at their website. You can now check out their programming schedule, vendors list, and more. It should be a great Pagan Pride event at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community September 25 & 26.

For those of you looking for instruction, and an opportunity for a first degree initiation, the Wiccan Church of Minnesota is about to start a series of classes. Contact TeachersRep@wiccanchurchmn.org for more information.

The local Pagan Newswire Collective bureau has been doing a wonderful job of covering events for the local community. If you have not yet subscribed, it’s definitely worth it.

Paganistan Weekly; September 13-19

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TwinCitiesPagans/
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** EVENTS THIS WEEK **

MONDAY; September 13

  • 6pm weekly Community Potluck at the Sacred Paths Center followed by 7pm Reiki Circle at the Sacred Paths Center where good energy is sent to those who need it
  • 7pm Mindful Mondays (meditation) mvanavery@yahoo. com for details
  • 8pm Freyja Study Group; Contact Sara at: kolstad002@yahoo.com for directions
  • 8pm Introduction to Thelema at the Eye of Horus;

TUESDAY; September 14

Sacred Fire Circle – Icing on your Spiritual Cake

I attended the Sacred Fire Circle [SFC] this past Labor day weekend sponsored by Circle Sanctuary. This event takes place near Mount Horeb, just outside of Madison, Wi.  Sacred Fire Circles have developed as individual events, each with it’s own character over the past fifteen years. Mainly building on the creative impulse and vision of Jeff Magnus McBride and Abigail Spinner McBride, these events are emerging all over the country and world. While total participation is relatively small [this event had nearly 60 attend], the impact on those involved is large. Many of your favorite songs and chants likely come from Abby Spinner and were written for use in Sacred Fire Circles. Below are interviews from eight participants.

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