Earth Spirituality Summer News
Did you know UCV has had a “Pagan Committee” for over 20 years?
When Louise Bunn, creator of the Unitarian curriculum Paganism 101, asked about how to form an ongoing group for pagan (aka earth spirituality) gatherings, she was told that the only organizational structure we had was committees. So a committee it was! Since then there have been times when a pagan group was very active, sometimes organizing rituals for 40 or 50 people; and other times when interest waned and then… somehow like the rhythms of nature mentioned in the 6th Unitarian source, a new group would spring up.
Over covid times, the most active part of what we’ve recently been calling the “earth spirit” group has been our 40-member email group where members sometimes post reminders about the seasons or the phases of the moon, informational links and an invitation to an occasional zoom event. We (mainly Mairy Beam!) coordinated several gatherings in the past year: two outdoors and five over zoom.
Now, with restrictions lifting and the weather grand, we’re encouraging people to gather on the beautiful grounds of UCV: come on your own–or invite a few friends–and walk the labyrinth; pick some herbs, or even help tend the new earth spirit herb garden or participate in a circle dance or ritual. Plans are still being considered, but we hope there will be a Lammas ritual in late July or early August. I, for one, want to dance around that tree again for World Circle Dance on Sunday, July 11th.
While summer is often a slow time for events, it’s also when a lot of planning happens for the fall start up. As we rest, travel, walk, read, ideas incubate – and so we’d like to invite you to fill out a survey if you’re interested in “earth spirit/pagan” activities at UCV. https://forms.gle/1eLgGe2t9LPpFXEb8
It looks long, but as it’s multiple choice and you can skip any questions that aren’t relevant, it only takes a couple of minutes. And you get to see what others say.
Would you like to learn more about pagan practices? Make your own wand or broom? Meet with others to socialize and ritualize? We might just be able to put you together with others who have the same interests!
Meanwhile, Louise has led or co-led the Paganism 101 program about 8 times since the first one in 1999 and would love to see it offered again, with a team that she could support, but not lead herself. If you’d like to be part of a team like that, please contact Louise at [email protected]
Bright blessings,
Mary Bennett for the UCV Earth Spirit group