Around Circle Sanctuary - Winter 2002

Festivals

Our annual Welcome Fall Festival was held Fall Equinox weekend, September 20-22, at Circle Sanctuary land. On Friday afternoon, Gwyn presented a tasty workshop on Herbal Infusions, and at dusk, I facilitated the opening ritual. In the evening, Gloria and I led a multicultural sweatlodge ritual and members of the Sweatlodge Circle assisted. On Saturday morning, we had Harvest activities, including cider making coordinated by Reed, and honey extraction, with Don and the Bounk family. There was also Harvestide crafting. Holly, Willow, and Julie did spinning demonstrations, and Theresa guided Indian corn necklace and garland making. Colleen led kid's Harvest activities on Saturday morning and afternoon.

After lunch on Saturday, we gathered at the Fairy Shrine for a baby blessing which Shel conducted for Jasper Cole Baumbach, son of Nichole and Kirk. In late afternoon, we had a Harvest Rituals workshop, which included a presentation by me, plus the sharing of personal rites and ancestral folk customs by Community members. After a sumptuous Harvest Feast, we had our Fall Equinox Ritual around a blazing bonfire in Festival Circle. The evening ended with a Community Drum and Dance celebration facilitated by Skywolf.

On Sunday morning, in a ceremony that included drumming, prayers, and meditation, we placed a Medicine Wheel on the land. The Medicine Wheel is 13 feet in diameter and was originally located in Illinois. Created several years ago by a Native American medicine man from Canada, it consists of more than a hundred stones gathered from various places in North America. Land development changes made relocation necessary and we thank Linda ManyStars and her family for donating the Medicine Wheel to Circle Sanctuary. The Medicine Wheel is near Spirit Rock, an ancient Native American site that we continue to use for Nature communion today. After the Medicine Wheel ceremony, our Festival ended at midday with a closing ritual and feast.

Dates for our next year of festivals at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve are listed on the Gatherings page (see page 52) as well as at www.circlesanctuary.org/events.

Rites of Passage

In addition to the baby blessing at Welcome Fall, there have been other passage rites in recent months. I facilitated the handfasting of Shel and Shawn in September and a memorial circle for Pat in October (see page 56-57). Mari conducted a handfasting for Dana and Chip at the end of October.

Resources

This Fall, Gwyn began managing our spiritual resources shop as part of her full time work with us. We distribute books, recordings, jewelry, and other resources by mail and face-to-face at events. Proceeds support the multi-faceted work of our non-profit center. We have begun expanding the types of resources we carry with the addition of some sacred images (see page 59). And, thanks to Michelle's webwork, we now have on-line ordering available. In addition, we just published the 2003 edition of our popular networking sourcebook, the Circle Guide to Pagan Groups.

Buildings & Grounds

Each month, we have a workday at Circle Sanctuary land and volunteers work on a variety of projects. This Fall, Garden Circle members harvested herbs as well as mulched perennials in preparation for the coming Winter. Other work day activities have included road repair, prairie seed collection, firewood gathering, Nature trails upkeep, shrine tending, and more cleaning and reorganizing in the barn and farmhouse. Farmhouse renovation work in recent months has centered on the removal of old carpeting and refurbishing of wood floors. Skywolf, Gwyn, Randy, and others have put in many hours scraping, sanding, and sealing the floors, and have finished the floors in two rooms.

In September, thanks to an anonymous donor, our kitchen got a large, new refrigerator, which has already been a great help to those preparing meals at our events. Thanks to Cat and Mo for the additional lawnmower, to Ranger for books, and to Michele for making possible the donation of two art panels which are now adorning the halls of the lounge in the barn.

Education

At Circle Sanctuary land, I continue to teach at meetings of Craftway Circle, our monthly study group. In September, I presented an Incantations workshop and in October, a workshop on Home Blessings. In October, I presented a course on Wiccan Ways. This Fall, Circle Sanctuary Community members have been sharing ideas for future workshops, classes, and possible other study circles here. I have begun meeting with other teachers in our Community as part of this planning process. More information about upcoming educational activities and presenters will be published in Sanctuary Circles, our eight times yearly events newsletter, as well as on-line at our events website.

This Fall, I have done presentations at other locations. On September 10, I spoke on Nature religions and Paganism at two world religions classes at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. Later in the month, I gave a free public talk on Wiccan spirituality and Fall Equinox at Canterbury Books in Madison. In early October, I presented a Celebrating the Seasons workshop in Williams Bay, Wisconsin as part of the weekend retreat sponsored by Gaia's Womb. On October 25, I gave a campus-wide public talk at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. I spoke on American Paganism, and my talk was part of a week of Pagan educational activities sponsored by the Pagan student group LUPO (Lawrence University Pagan Organization).

Pagan Spirit Gathering

Our biggest annual event, the week long international Pagan Spirit Gathering will be held June 15-22 in 2003. It will again be held at Wisteria in southeastern Ohio. If you are interested in presenting a workshop, ritual, concert, or other program activity, please contact the Circle office as soon as possible. We have already begun accepting program proposals for PSG 2003. 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 Winter.