Around Circle Sanctuary - Fall 2002

Festivals

We celebrated the beginning of Summer at our Welcome Summer Festival at Circle Sanctuary land on Saturday, June 8. We made over a thousand Spirit Bags for this year's Pagan Spirit Gathering, held in Ohio at Summer Solstice time, and then blessed them and the gathering in our ritual.

Our annual Green Spirit Festival was held during the weekend of August 2-4. The Festival began on Friday in the Stone Circle with a Placing of the Stones ceremony at midday, followed by a Sacred Energy Dance guided by Diana and Mary Ellen and using Tree of Life imagery. Our Lammas Faire opened on Friday afternoon and lasted all weekend. In late afternoon, Colleen guided partipants in ritual lantern making. The lanterns created adorned the land throughout the festival. We feasted on a delicious dinner created by WillowHawk, MoonFeather, and other Kitchen Witches, and in the evening, I guided our Ritual of Welcome. At twilight was our Bardic Circle, facilitated by Shel, and featuring storytelling by this year's guest Bard, Cecilia Farran, and others, including Jean of Storylore. The Bardic Circle also included performances of songs and poetry by a variety of festival participants, plus stage magic tricks by Ian & Max.

On Saturday morning, Willow guided our annual Mugwort Harvest. This year's harvest was one of our largest ever. On Saturday afternoon, Helen Bond presented a West African Rhythms drumming workshop and shared some of what she learned from her studies in Guinea (see pages 44-45). Throughout the day, Colleen guided children's activities, including a Nature walk and kid's drumming circle. A grand potluck feast was held in late afternoon. In the evening, we held our Lughnassad Ritual, which included invocations, the kindling of the bonfire, healing blessings, and the celebration of the beginning of the harvest. After the ritual, Helen facilitated a Community Drumming & Dancing Circle which lasted into the night.

On Sunday morning, festival participants exchanged herbal recipes, creations, and other information with each other in a sharing circle facilitated by Willow. At midday, our festival concluded with our closing ritual facilitated by Angie and SilverDrake, followed by a farewell lunch.

Staff Update

Gwyn Padden began working full time as a Circle staff member in July. Gwyn lives nearby and has been part of the Circle Sanctuary Community and Craftway Circle for the past year. She has a B.S. in Biology (emphasis in Field Biology, minor in Fine Arts) from UW-Platteville and her background also includes experience with publications, business, herbology, and photography. She has begun helping Theresa with publications, office work and events, and has been assisting me and Dennis on center upkeep and special projects. MoonFeather continues to help in our offices part time and in July expanded the work she is doing with Lady Liberty League. Andrea, one of our volunteer librarians, has done more organizing and cataloguing of materials in the Circle library.

Teaching

Our study group, Craftway Circle, continues to meet at Circle Sanctuary land each month, and this Summer we held our workshops outdoors Places of Power (June), Enchanted Forest (July), and Herbs for Passage Rites (August). In September, I will be giving talks in Madison, and in early October I will be among the presenters at Wheel of the Year weekend sponsored by Gaia's Womb and held in the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin area (see page 54).

Garden Circle

The Garden Circle, which formed in March, has worked on several garden areas this Spring and Summer. Members have been doing gardening and groundskeeping at monthly workdays and other times. The on-going mulching and weeding of the Mugwort Circle garden contributed to the abundance of Mugwort this year. Flowers continue to bloom in the planters at the main entrance to our barn. Garden Circle members renewed the Kuan Yin garden and nearby areas next to the Circle farmhouse. The biggest project in recent months was the creation of the new Community Garden along the East side of the barn. Thanks to all who helped make this a reality ­ Willow, Randy, Holly, Chuck, Carol, Bob, Reed, Julee, Ed, Gwyn, Whitewolf, Autumn Amber, Brian, Don, Theresa, Skywolf, Dennis, and others. In addition to beautifying this area, it is a place for viewing and learning about herbs, flowers, and shrubs as well as a great place to socialize. The timber wall is at a good height for sitting and this place gets shade in the afternoon. Garden Circle members guided a blessing of this place at the start of the Lughnassad ritual at this year's Green Spirit Festival.

Buildings and Grounds

At Community workdays and other times, more renovation work has been done at the farmhouse and barn. Dave has worked on replacing gutters above the back porch of the house, and Skywolf has worked on a variety of projects, including refurbishing some house floors and installing more air conditioning units in the barn and house. Thanks to Angie for her donation of five air conditioners. Thanks also to Bob & Carol for their donations of granite. Bob crafted additional granite benches and set them in place at the Fairy Shrine and elsewhere on the Land. In June, we purchased a lawn sweeper to use with the garden tractor donated earlier this year by Cat and Mo. Thanks to Randy for assembling it, and to all of those who have been using it to help with garden mulching. More woodcutting and hauling has been happening in recent months, as well as trailwork.

Pagan Spirit Gathering

This year's Pagan Spirit Gathering, held during Summer Solstice week, was our largest and among our best ever. We already have begun preparations for next year's gathering which will again be held at Wisteria in southeastern Ohio. PSG 2003 will be held June 15-22. More information about PSG, including articles, photos, and other materials, is on-line: www.circlesanctuary.org/psg. A brochure and registration form for PSG 2003 will be available on-line and in print this coming Winter.

Upcoming Festivals

Upcoming festivals at Circle Sanctuary Nature preserve include Welcome Fall from September 20-22; Samhain from November 1-3; and Yule on Saturday, December 21. This year's Winter Solstice Celebration in Madison will be on Sunday, December 22. More information is on-line: www.circlesanctuary.org/events.