For the past 27 years, one of NordCoG’s major goals has been to serve both our gods and our community by providing incisive public ritual four times a year.

But lately it’s become clear that something has changed. Attendance at rituals is down, and increasingly it feels as though we’ve lost the creative edge we once had.

So this year, we’re trying something new.

Under the overall artistic direction of veteran liturgist Steven Posch, Northern Dawn has invited several of our most gifted local ritualists—Paul Rucker, Stephanie Fox, Robin Grimm, and Magenta Griffith—to create our roster of rites for 2010.

In preparation for each sabbat, one of our guest artists will work with community volunteers to craft and enact the ritual. This should not only provide us with some topnotch ritual, but will give us all an opportunity to work alongside, and learn from, some of our community’s most creative and experienced priests and priestesses.

Lighting up the dark nights of Oimelc 2010 will be visionary artist Paul B. Rucker’s “Welcome, New Fire: The Rite of the Three Bredes” on Saturday, February 6 at Newell Park in St. Paul (http://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/facilities.aspx?search=1&CID=1&pagenum=4&RID=76&Page=detail for more information).

If you’d like to get more involved with the ritual itself, come to the walk-through and rehearsal on Sunday, January 24 (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=248916736543&index=1 for more information).

“I’ve been percolating this ritual for years,” says Rucker. “It takes its inspiration from the first genuine drawing-down that I ever witnessed, at a NordCoG Oimelc in the mid-80s. ‘Three Bredes’ will be primal, experiential, and iconic, accessible to neophytes but with the depth to satisfy the experienced.”

Upcoming events (tentatively) include: the Marriage of Leaf and Horn (Bealtaine), The Passion of the Harvest (Autumn Equinox), and the Rite of the Three Crones (Samhain).

The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions was created to cultivate harmony among the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.

To accomplish this, we invite individuals and communities who are equally invested in attaining this goal.

The other place to check for info about the pagan presence there is a new blog added to our links. It's the Covenant of the Goddess Interfaith Blog.

The first is Tarotpedia: A collaborative development initiated by the Association for Tarot Studies.

The second, is Witchipedia: The Witchipedia is a collaborative informational website dedicated to providing information to new Pagan, Heathen and magical seekers and serving as a reference for more experienced individuals. We welcome the contributions of anyone with wisdom to share.

The third is Pagan Theologies, which doesn't seem as comprehensive of the other two, but still shows some promise.

They join the existing wiki-type site we currently list, Thelemapedia: The Encyclopedia of Thelema & Magick The original open-source encyclopedia of Thelema and Magick, including topics on Qabalah, astrology, yoga, godforms, biographies, and the works of Aleister Crowley.

If you know of any other pagan wiki-type resources which should be added, please comment at the end of this article or simply suggest a link using the form on the bottom of our links page.

Everything indicates it was someone who knew a thing or two about the program, and even that these vines had been marked as particularly promising. My guess it is someone who is hoping to profit from either the sale of the vines, or more likely, planting, growing and harvest the fruits of someone else's labor.  The police are treating it as a theft of intellectual property.  I know it isn't uncommon these days to hear about companies trying to patent or trademark a particular plant variety, but I just find it hard to believe any plant is someone's intellectual property. Those particular vines were, but not their DNA.   I think this is a place where nature and modern science seriously clash, and what do pagans think of it?  Big companies are not only trying to claim ownership of strains that they have created, but some are trying to claim heirloom strains and require royalties for planing and harvesting.

In this case, the theft is clear, but not the way it is framed.   Personally, I think the concept of ownership has gone to far. But I don't know where to draw the line, either. 

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