2023 Mabon Public Ritual
Bringing in the harvest, sharing the bounty, saving the seeds… just as our ancestors taught us.
We will be outside, and start after sunset.
Dress for the weather.
When
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Gather in starting at 6:00 p.m., ritual at 7:00 p.m.
Where
The fire pit at Richardson Nature Center
Hyland Lake Park Preserve
10145 E Bush Lake Rd
Bloomington, MN 55438
https://www.threeriversparks.org/location/richardson-nature-center
What to bring
- Picnic-type food to share, if you can do so without difficulty
- Your own silverware, cup, and plate suitable for a picnic if you can (we will have some disposables if you can’t do this)
What to LEAVE AT HOME
- Alcohol and other intoxicants
- Knives except what’s needed to cut food
Amenities available
- Air-conditioned restrooms and water fountains (including one to fill water bottles) in the Nature Center building vestibule
- Picnic tables near the fire pit
- Seating around the fire pit
“Now I walk in beauty…
…Beauty is before me. Beauty is around me, above and below me.”
How have you honored the elements today?
At one level, you’ve honored all the elements simply by being alive. You can bring it into focus with a thought of gratitude while you’re doing mundane things.
Thank you, Earth, for bearing my weight. For growing all the things that keep me alive. For being my beautiful Mother Earth.
Thank you, Air, for filling my lungs. For bringing delightful scents to me. For carrying the birds and their songs.
Thank you, Fire, for cooking my food. For keeping me comfortable. For manifesting as the life-giving Sun.
Thank you, Water, for blessing my hands. For purifying my body. For cleansing my home.
Thank you, Spirit, for showing me the sacredness all around me.
Blessed be.
Sun magic
Simple, ordinary acts are magickal, if you do them with magickal intent.
The sun’s still in Leo for a few more days and the sunflowers are blooming. It’s almost time for the state fair. It’s a good time for Sun-magic, to save a bit of the Sun’s energy to give you a magic moment when it’s cold and dark.
Here’s a practical working that will bring a touch of summer into the cold times: If you have a place to hang laundry outside to dry, wash some of your winter things (such as bedsheets) and hang them to dry in the sun. Ask the water to bless and purify your things as you put them in the washing machine. Ask the Sun and the wind and the fragrant green Earth to bless and purify them when you hang them up to dry. And when everything’s completely dry, speak a prayer of gratitude to the Sun as you fold it all up and put it away. When you get your things out on some cold grey morning, they will still have the scent of the outdoors. You’ll get a sudden breath of summer.
Help with local research:
“A feminist survey and analysis of syncretic goddess worship amongst Neopagan women in the Twin Cities”.
A student at Hamline University is doing research and is asking for volunteers to either complete a survey and/or participate in an interview. If you are interested in helping with either, please follow the appropriate QR code below (not there are two separate QR codes)
Interview:
Survey
Lughnasad: Celebrating the time of abundance
Join us in the Sun for a celebration of the Sun’s blessings, while it’s in the middle of Leo!
When
Saturday, August 5, 2023
Gather in starting at 6:00 p.m., ritual at 7:00 p.m.
Where
The fire pit at Richardson Nature Center
Hyland Lake Park Preserve
10145 E Bush Lake Rd
Bloomington, MN 55438
https://www.threeriversparks.org/location/hyland-lake-park-reserve
What to bring
- Picnic-type food to share, if you can do so without difficulty
- Your own silverware, cup, and plate suitable for a picnic if you can (we will have some disposables if you can’t do this)
What to LEAVE AT HOME
- Alcohol and other intoxicants
- Knives except what’s needed to cut food
Amenities available
- Air-conditioned restrooms and water fountains (including one to fill water bottles) in the Nature Center building vestibule
- Picnic tables near the fire pit
- Seating around the fire pit
Look up!
There was a ring around the sun the other day. Did you see it?
When I was a child, my father taught me to look up often, and pay attention to the ever-changing sky. To notice what phase the Moon is in, which constellations are in the night sky, where the sun rises and sets on the horizon each day, the clouds, the color of the sky. I only learned a few constellations, but that’s enough to be helpful.
Looking up taught me when to water the vegetable garden and when to wait for rain. When to expect bad weather and when to just enjoy the soft light of a cloudy day. When to look for a rainbow or a ring around the sun. How to find my way on a clear night. Looking up showed me that a great blue heron roosts in my neighbor’s tree, and that there are pileated woodpeckers here.
There’s a lot of good information about meteorology, astronomy, and birds on the internet. It can help you understand and appreciate what you see – but look up, too, so you see what you read about.
Stay connected to the sky. Let Mother Nature show you magical things.
Litha/Midsumer – Public Ritual (Now July 1st)
PUBLIC Litha/Midsummer RITUAL
Come join the Wiccan Church of Minnesota in celebrating the greening of the Earth. Our ritual will be focused on creativity and fertility. All are welcome
The ritual will be facilitated by Dan. There will be an opportunity for participation and a potluck feast afterwards. As this ritual will be outside, there will be no kitchen, so please prepare all food in advance.
Please bring your own cup and silverware, if that’s practical for you. We would like to move away from using disposables.
| Where: | The Fire Pit The Richardson Nature Center Hyland Park Preserve 8737 E Bush Lake Rd, Bloomington, MN 55438 Google Map |
| When: | Saturday, July 1, 2023 Social time starts 6:00 Ritual 7:00 |
We hope to see you there!
RESCHEDULING 2023 Litha/Midsummer Public Ritual
RESCHEDULING – PUBLIC Litha/Midsummer RITUAL
RESCHEDULING – PUBLIC Litha/Midsummer RITUAL
Folks – the weather service is predicting thunderstorms all afternoon. We will be looking for another venue and another date.
Apologies for the late notice.
The Flip Side
There’s always a flip side.
A friend made me a piece of magickal jewelry: a spiral of jewelry wire. Wear it one way, it spirals sunwise. Flip it over, it spirals widdershins. In our north-centric way of looking at things, east to south to west to north is sunwise… but go to the southern hemisphere and you’ll see the Sun rise in the east and bear to the north before it sets in the west. We’d say it goes widdershins (as my little spiral does when you look at it from one orientation) but it’s the Sun, so by definition it goes sunwise. In the southern hemisphere, you see it from the flip side.
I had teacher who would not start anything new during a waning Moon. But waning-Moon energy is as powerful as waxing-Moon energy! Some things need to be diminished and dispelled.
Whatever you need to do, it’s got a flip side.
If you can’t wait until the Moon is in the phase you’d like it to be in, find the flip side of your intent. Improve my health = banish what’s harming me. Improve my finances = banish my debt. Tidy my living space = banish untidiness. Work with the energy that’s available.
How do you choose?
There’s no single right way to choose your magickal name, but there might be a less-right way.
One of my friends says that taking a phrase that encapsulates your fantasy of who you want to be (and maybe sticking “Lady” or “Lord” in front of it) gives you a great cosplay name, but can put your ego in the way of your spiritual growth.
I don’t know. It’s worth pondering.
When I chose the Wiccan path, my name was revealed to me in a dream. When that name no longer seemed right, I asked my friends for a new name. One of them named me, but I could never remember it – because the name wasn’t about me; it encapsulated his fantasy of me. Eventually I went into the woods and prayed for a name. Nature responded instantly. I have carried that revealed name for decades now.
For things magickal, I’m a huge fan of letting the Universe decide, because that’s what works for me. Your way may involve divination, meditation, numerology, astrological calculations, or any number of other methods, which are all equally valid because each of them works beautifully for someone.
Maybe the most important choice we make is choosing how to choose.
Welcome!
Welcome to the Wiccan Church of Minnesota!
The Wiccan Church of Minnesota is a Twin Cities based 501 (c) (3) religious organization that celebrates both Goddess and God. Our church was founded more than 35 years ago.
WiCoM sponsors group rituals for the Wiccan sabbats, as well as for other special occasions. Many of these rituals are open to the public or invited guests who are not members.
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