Pagan Community Notes: Week of September 12, 2024


 

Covenant of the GoddessALBUQUERQUE – Ardantane announced receiving a generous gift from Covenant of the Goddess.

Ardantane is a Pagan learning center located in New Mexico, dedicated to providing education on Pagan, Wiccan, and Earth-centered spiritual traditions. The center offers workshops, retreats, and training on topics such as witchcraft, Druidry, magickal practices, personal development, and nature-based spirituality. It aims to foster a sense of community and spiritual growth through a connection to the Earth and various Pagan traditions.

Ardantane also has a strong focus on teaching ethical and responsible magickal practices, spiritual leadership, and personal empowerment, drawing students and teachers from across the Pagan community. The courses are often held both online and in person, making them accessible to a wide audience.

Ardantane wrote in a press release ” The Covenant of the Goddess (COG), the largest existing network of Wiccans and other Witches, held its Grand Council in August and approved Ardantane’s request for a grant… In the amount of $10,000!”

They said that the “generous funding will allow us to finish the interior of the Common Room: floor, interior walls, furniture, and kitchen appliances.”

Information is available about Ardantane on their website is a full schedule of forthcoming events beginning this weekend.



 

Cherry Hill Seminary has released a survey and they wrote: Will you Help Cherry Hill Seminary Plan For The Future?

We appreciate your taking 10 minutes to complete this survey. Your answers will remain anonymous and the information shared will only be used to provide a better experience for the CHS community.

The survey is available here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CR9CVF5

Cherry Hill also requests sending the link to contacts.



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Happening this weekend!

Fellowship of Isis 31st Annual Goddess Festival to Occur in Chicago, Illinois

September 13th-15th will mark the 31st Annual Autumn Goddess Festival held by the Fellowship of Isis’ Chicago Lyceum. The Fellowship of Isis, a global organization dedicated to honoring the Divine Feminine, has maintained an annual Autumn festival honoring goddesses from around the world since 1993. The mission of the FOI is to honor the Divine Feminine in all forms from many cultures.

This year will honor the goddess Anahita, a Zoroastrian deity who has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years by devotees in Iran, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. 

The dominant spiritual elements of this liturgy are from Zoroastrian and other cultures of Armenia, pre-Islamic Iran and Afghanistan. A program full of astronomical, astrological, cultural, musical, and spiritual presentations is planned. 

The Goddess Festival is a spiritual and cultural event featuring talks, meditations, authors, artists, and vendors from the Chicago area and beyond. Festivities open on the evening of Friday, 9/13 with a Roses, Pomegranates, & Chocolates Reception celebrating the fruitful, nourishing, and sensuous nature of the Divine Feminine.

On Saturday, September 14th, a full day of programming will include talks on “Who Patriarchy Hurts” and “Goddess as Birthgiver vs. God as Toolmaker,” and a book signing by Pagan theologian Catherine Carr before the evening culminates in liturgy and ritual from the Fellowship of Isis’ canon, “Psyche, Magical Journeys of the Goddess” and “Draco. Ray VII. Oracle of the Goddess Anahita.”

On Sunday, September 15th, morning and afternoon talks and rituals will focus on Nature and healing, including workshops on Consent and Boundaries in Magic and a closing ceremonies ritual.

Prices, payment and donation information, and contact information can be found on the Festival’s Facebook Event or in the flier attached here. Organizers do ask that attendees pre-register through Facebook or by contacting hail_isis@yahoo.com to allow event planners to keep tabs on expected attendance.

You can find coverage of 2023’s 30th Annual Goddess Festival which honored the goddess Inanna with ritual, performance, and talks about the history of the goddess and the underappreciated role of women’s labor in religious ritual here.



Join us this Sunday, September 15th, 1 pm to 6 pm, for an Autumn Equinox celebration and Sacred Land event!

(Email openhouse@earthspirit.com for directions, before the day-of the event please!)
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Autumn Equinox begins the Celtic time of water and the fullness of the Earth’s harvest. Also at the equinox, we honor the sacred grove and ALL trees. We will tend the trees, sing, dance, make offerings, and share a finger food picnic feast.
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Please attend the Sacred Land Walk if you have not before (at 1pm, before the 3pm ritual.) It is a short and simple way to learn a lot about the EarthSpirit Community, each other, the Land, and the sacred sites. Even if you are an old hand, you will learn and experience the Land in a new way.

The Sacred Land Walk takes about 90 minutes and goes up and down a couple of hills. Please wear sturdy shoes for walking on the uneven, sometimes wet ground in the woods and meadows. The path for the Sacred Land walk is rough and steep in parts, and will not be accessible for all mobility levels.
Comfortable clothes and layers for the weather and sun are needed. Remember, it is often cooler up in the hills!

MORE: Basic info about all Sacred Land events is at www.earthspirit.com.
For directions and questions, email openhouse@earthspirit.com

What to bring:

  • *Participation is free, but donations of $3-5 or $10 per family are happily accepted to help cover expenses. Look for the donation basket.
  • *Food to share for the “finger food feast” – easily shared, hearty fare is wonderful!
    (We carry everything to the site and back out. Food that can be passed around works well. Help is available for carrying!).
  • plate or bowl, drinking vessel and eating utensils (there will be some for you to share if you need them)

All rituals are outside. We will cancel if the weather looks horrible or dangerous, so please check in here or the google calendar entry.
Please stay home if you are sick, and feel free to mask if you would like.
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Kids are welcome! (Sturdy shoes are especially important for children.)

Portable toilet facilities are available; please respect the privacy of the residences.

 



 

Heathen Fall Equinox celebration on September 21st, 3 PM

Bay Area Fire & Ice is happy to invite members of the public to our inclusive Heathen Fall Equinox celebration on September 21st, 3PM at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists.

As the seasons change and the light begins to fade, let us gather together to celebrate in ritual, storytelling, and meditation. We are facing truly momentous occasions this fall. In a time of profound injustice and uncertainty as we prepare for an election and the increased inflammation that always accompanies it, this is a chance for us all to draw comfort and strength from one another, as well as prepare ourselves for whatever storms lay ahead.
Further information and a signup sheet for the potluck can be found on the Facebook event.   We are looking forward to having you join us!

 



Other Events

 

Pagan Pride Day with the Grove in South Florida (September 21st, 2024)

Courtesy [Broward County Parks and Recreation Division

 Abelina’s Grove will once again be hosting Pagan Pride Day for the South Florida area.The event will take place at Markham Park, Pavilion 2, 16001 W. State Rd. 84, Sunrise, FL,  Saturday, September 21st starting at Noon.  The event is Family-friendly with a Pot Luck Feast and Music & Games.Look for the Grove Banner and Abelina flying above (you won’t be able to miss it!)

  • Noon – Meet & Greet
  • 1 pm – Games & Kites
  • 2 pm – Workshop​ – Occultism as Queer
  • 3 pm – Concert w/Aerik Arkadian
  • 4 pm – Ritual – Building Community
  • 5 pm – Pot Luck Feast & Raffle
  • 6 pm – Clean Up

We will be collecting Scrap metal, Plarn and Bags, Pet Supplies, and books for prison (as long as they are pagan-themed, gently used, have no writing or markings, and contain no nudity) at Pagan Pride Day this year. Time to declutter!

 



Western Mass Pagan Pride Day (September 28, 2024)

Since 2000, Western MA Pagan Pride Day is one of many Pagan Pride Day events that take place worldwide. As a nonprofit organization, we strive to establish awareness of earth-centered spiritual traditions in our local communities. People of all faiths (or none) and walks of life are invited to join us on Saturday, September 28, 2024, from 10:00 am through 6:00 pm.  There is no admission fee to the event; however, we ask that you bring a cash donation for our charity drive. We will be collecting cash donations for our favorite charity the Northampton Survival Center.

You can come expecting to find information about paganism in many of its forms, experience an open harvest ritual, musical entertainment, workshops (classes), and many vendors for a fun, family-friendly, community-driven event. There are several restaurants and cafes in the area so plan to come and stay a while! Check out our website for more info on workshops, performers, and ongoing events.

This year we will be in downtown Northampton in the plaza at Kirkland Ave where the Tuesday Farmers Market takes place. This is between the Parking Garage and the back of Thorne’s Marketplace. There are new parking rules for the City of Northampton. Please see here for updates.

Note that the Armory Street lot which faces the plaza no longer has a 3-hour limit Mon-Sat. You can also park in the garage that overlooks our site; the cost is only .75/hour and the first hour is always free.

More info on Facebook and Instagram.

 



Twilight Covening  (October 11-14, 2024)

The Earthspirit Community announced the Twilight Covening event last month and that they  “have already filled more than half of the available spaces!  Thank you. It feels good to know that so many want to attend again this year.”

They said “Again, we are prioritizing Clan assignments by week so that everyone has a reasonable chance of getting into one of their top choices. The first week filled up one Clan already, but there is space in many others – and frankly, all of the Clans that are on offer will provide something special to those who attend.”

The Earth Spirit Community wrote,

Twilight Covening is a continuous  3-day ritual that holds and shapes an intensive learning experience of Earth spirituality and a time to develop our collective wisdom in a shared sacred space as we move into the dark time of the year.

Each year since 1986, members of the EarthSpirit Community gather deep into ourselves and into communion with this time of year and with all of Nature. We explore the depths of a range of spiritual practices, learn new skills together and experience the joy and power of a living community ritual. We invite you to join us.

Twilight Covening is held in the autumn during the strong natural transition taking place all around us from light into dark, summer into winter, and outward focus to inward contemplation. During the gathering, we use this current of change, along with our focused practices, to find inspiration and insight that can feed us in the dark months to come and motivate us to make changes that we can use to deepen our own spiritual practice.

The intensive work of Twilight Covening takes place in practice-specific Clans of 10-15 people and in full-community rituals that flow together through the weekend.

More information is available on the EarthSpirit website.



Tarot of the Week by Star Bustamonte

Deck: Caticorn Tarot, curated by Pamela Chen, artwork by Delphine Dion, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Card: Major arcana VI (6), The Lovers

The week ahead is likely to place an emphasis on relationships, especially the recognition of the ones that are healthy and balanced which help to provide clear reminders of being one’s authentic self. Clear communication and its importance in creating and maintaining lasting relationships is also liable to be emphasized.

Conversely, there is the potential for relationships that may be out of balance to be highlighted and possibly require some reflection and re-evaluation. Sorting out and resolving issues now are likely to be key in avoiding future challenges and issues.


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