Tag: pagan

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 →

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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Community Gamelan – Gift from White Deer and Violette Rose

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At this years Sacred Harvest Festival, guests White Deer and Violette offered much. Following each day from a series of six workshops for drummers by White Deer, Violette offered workshops in Improvisational Belly dance for bonfires. Members from the drumming class stayed on to provide live drumming for the dance classes.

Violet Dance Workshop

Both men and women participated in Violet's improvisational dance workshps, often 10-15 people

Drawing from their backgrounds in formal music and years of performing at national Pagan Festivals and reinvigorated from a recent trip to Bangalore, India, they masterfully offered this exceedingly ambitious series for drummers and dancers….. but that’s just the start of it. Continue reading →

Cherie Sampson – International Artist at SHF

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Cherie Sampson is a visual artist working in environmental sculpture, performance and video, exhibiting her work in the US and abroad.  She currently resides

Cherie Sampson

in Columbia, Missouri and is an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Missouri where she coordinates the Foundations program and teaches Foundations and Video Art. She contributed as a national guest at Sacred Harvest Festival and offered a series of workshops on “Embodying Sacred Space”, and a Thursday night performance piece multimedia premier, entitled “One of Many Limbs”. This interview is in its entirety, but somewhat edited for flow. You can listen to the whole interview here.

What was your experience like this year, coming to Sacred Harvest Festival and presenting to a bunch of Pagans camping out?

It has been really good, really great, and I haven’t been to this festival. This is the first time.  I am familiar with many people who have been really close for a long time, Alvin and Lila, and I’ve known you for probably twenty years. I still remember many of the songs from the ritual you did years ago, so I feel certainly a part of this community, although there are many people I don’t know.

Set Created for Cherie's performance

Set Created for Cherie's performance photo: jtouchette

Well, when Judy emailed me in February, I just felt really honored to be asked to come as guest artist.  I have been kind of reflecting on how in some ways in my work, career, especially in an academic environment at a research university, there are certain expectations to be showing your work, and doing your research. It becomes very externalized, the work becomes part of this career chase. I knew this would give an opportunity to connect with a community that understands the deeper spiritual dimensions of my work. Also for me to reconnect with those dimensions as well, which are always present. When I am seeking the gallery venues and that art world sort of channel,  it (spiritual dimensions) becomes quieter. Continue reading →

Community Notes; August 23-29

  • Isaac Bonewits passed from this plane on August 12. His influence will live on.

 

  • This year’s wonderful Sacred Harvest Fest had an attendance of 299 people, including 42 who came in Saturday for Ken Ra’s Grandfathering ritual (a truly moving experience for someone who deserves to be honored). Next year’s festival will be August 6-14, 2011, and the theme will be “Dreaming the Fae”.

 

  • You can read more about the Sacred Harvest festival and other local Pagan stories of interest at the Minnesota Bureau of the Pagan Newswire Collective. You can subscribe and have new stories sent to your inbox. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

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