Pagan Pride Day-Madison Wisconsin 2011 October 1st.
Today started out sunny and cool, not a cloud in the sky…It warmed up during the day and everyone was in a good mood. It was just a good early autumn day in Wisconsin.
Sweetwood Temenos had its booth set up with its fliers, nothing fancy but nice. I bought our Sweetwood banner, “Pentacle”, stang and goblet. I explained the pentacle to several folk who asked its meaning. It was a good symbol to discuss the 7 directions and the 5 values. So was the stang as it gave me a chance to explain its significance of a staff/wand that is forked as being a divining rod only used to divine the heavenly waters. Thus the stang is the scepter/wand of the sky-gazing holy ones (clergy) of the ancient pagan religions.
I also presented a talk to good folk who showed up on Aquarian neo-paganism. I pour in invocation with the Sweetwood goblet, symbolic of the Aquarian waters being poured forth and analogous to the Aquarian water barer pouring forth the Aquarian waters from his/her water jar.
There were other presentations and the whole of Pagan Pride Day was definitely had a picnic in the park feel. It was a day of friendly faces, conversations and meeting up with old acquaintances and make of new acquaintances. There were venders, all were good. The Pagan Pride folk provided very good music by local pagan musicians! We were next to a fabulous wood worker….his wooden bowls were very nice. We were gift two handmade clay fired plates, which had words written on them … one saying “So mote it be” and the other saying “Merry Meet, Merry Part and Merry Meet Again”. These will be used ritually in our Sweetwood Sabbaths.
The opening ritual was done by the “Northern Lakes Temple and Earth Traditions and closing ritual by a Norse group, “the Kettlewald Kindred”. In the opening ritual I brought the Sweetwood goblet and water and poured a libation for the gathering using the United States of America motto “From Many One”, invoked the Goddess Columbus (whose statue sits on top of our national capitol) and democracy, which promotes the pagan value of pluralism. The closing ritual was particularly beautiful as I was facing west (thus on the east side of the circle), sun shining in my face, the wind had become clam and the temperature was mild by late afternoon. A basket of apples were passed around and the good folk gave thanks for what they were thankful for and the colors of early autumn blessed us all. It was such an archetypal autumn pagan ritual that goodness of the day filled the hearts of all who attended it. When the Mystery comes to us in the form of the human community and Nature then one sees magic!
Blessed Be and Never Thirst
Iacchus
Today started out sunny and cool, not a cloud in the sky…It warmed up during the day and everyone was in a good mood. It was just a good early autumn day in Wisconsin.
Sweetwood Temenos had its booth set up with its fliers, nothing fancy but nice. I bought our Sweetwood banner, “Pentacle”, stang and goblet. I explained the pentacle to several folk who asked its meaning. It was a good symbol to discuss the 7 directions and the 5 values. So was the stang as it gave me a chance to explain its significance of a staff/wand that is forked as being a divining rod only used to divine the heavenly waters. Thus the stang is the scepter/wand of the sky-gazing holy ones (clergy) of the ancient pagan religions.
I also presented a talk to good folk who showed up on Aquarian neo-paganism. I pour in invocation with the Sweetwood goblet, symbolic of the Aquarian waters being poured forth and analogous to the Aquarian water barer pouring forth the Aquarian waters from his/her water jar.
There were other presentations and the whole of Pagan Pride Day was definitely had a picnic in the park feel. It was a day of friendly faces, conversations and meeting up with old acquaintances and make of new acquaintances. There were venders, all were good. The Pagan Pride folk provided very good music by local pagan musicians! We were next to a fabulous wood worker….his wooden bowls were very nice. We were gift two handmade clay fired plates, which had words written on them … one saying “So mote it be” and the other saying “Merry Meet, Merry Part and Merry Meet Again”. These will be used ritually in our Sweetwood Sabbaths.
The opening ritual was done by the “Northern Lakes Temple and Earth Traditions and closing ritual by a Norse group, “the Kettlewald Kindred”. In the opening ritual I brought the Sweetwood goblet and water and poured a libation for the gathering using the United States of America motto “From Many One”, invoked the Goddess Columbus (whose statue sits on top of our national capitol) and democracy, which promotes the pagan value of pluralism. The closing ritual was particularly beautiful as I was facing west (thus on the east side of the circle), sun shining in my face, the wind had become clam and the temperature was mild by late afternoon. A basket of apples were passed around and the good folk gave thanks for what they were thankful for and the colors of early autumn blessed us all. It was such an archetypal autumn pagan ritual that goodness of the day filled the hearts of all who attended it. When the Mystery comes to us in the form of the human community and Nature then one sees magic!
Blessed Be and Never Thirst
Iacchus
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