Out of the clay and sand

We rose…

out of the mist and dark

 

With our first breath

We dared…

to sail beyond the Ninth Wave

into your future of mythic tales

 

Upon our sturdy backs

We carved…

in blood and bone

the history of your community

 

As memories and dreams,

We gifted…

Our eternal legacy

to your children’s children

 

In the circle of time,

We are you!

Remember us, we cry!

It was a cold and blustery night 15 years ago. Teisha and Paul (who would go on to be the force behind the Sacred Paths Center) gathered with their first daughter (who was still a toddler at the time) and one other person at Susan's Coffee Shop, next door to Evenstar Bookstore. This was the first gathering of Coffee Cauldron.

Today Coffee Cauldron is the oldest and most popular Pagan gathering in the Twin Cities. On the first and third Wednesday's of every month, an average of 30 to 60 local Pagans gather to hang-out, chat, play games, network, make plans, perform spiritual healings, knit, work on chain-mail, or whatever they feel like doing.

The event defies structure. Early on there were attempts to have themes for the gatherings, but they never worked, attendees preferring to just hang-out. When asked for really good Coffee Cauldron stories, people tended to be at a loss. There were maybe a couple stories, but the event isn't about generating monumental occurrences, but rather about friends coming together and sharing the joys of their lives. New-born children are introduced to the community, as are new partners, new jewelry, new tools, new toys … stories are told at the gathering rather than stories being told about the gathering.

The Time Line of Coffee Cauldron

For Paul and Teisha, the history of Coffee Cauldron is interwoven with the history of their lives together. The dates their children were born are the landmarks to remember the timeline of Coffee Cauldron.

• January 1995 — The gathering started  the same year they were handfasted. The next year their second daughter was born.
• Winter of 1997– there was a fire at Susan's Coffee Shop and Coffee Cauldron moved across the street to Giovanna's artists studio. Attendees had to pitch in to supply the coffee and cookies each month. That was just before the birth of their third daughter.
• July of 1999 — an open mic night, and had a great turnout with lots of poetry read.
• Summer of 2001 — Susan's Coffee Shop reopened as Prairies Star and Coffee Cauldron moved back next door to Evenstar.
• Spring of 2002, there were scheduling problems with Prairie Star and Coffee Cauldron moved across the street to Roasting Stones. That was just a few months before their son was born. 
• Summer of 2004, Roasting Stones closed, and Coffee Cauldron moved to Cupcake, about a mile west on University.
• August of 2004, after 9 years hosting the event (and the birth of four children) Teisha and Paul pass the hosting of Coffee Cauldron over to Earth House.
• Fall of 2005, Coffee Cauldron moved back next door to Evenstar due to arrangements with the new owners of the coffee shop. The coffee shop was renamed The Artists' Grind, was sold and renamed The Edge, but Coffee Cauldron continued.
• As 2008 ended, so did Evenstar, but within a couple months The Sacred Paths Center opened around the corner, and all the while Coffee Cauldron continued.

According to Teisha, "Fifteen years ago when we created Coffee Cauldron, that was pretty much the first step on the path toward creating The Sacred Paths Center." These days participants spend as much time at The Sacred Paths Center as they do at the coffee shop. There was even one night when the person scheduled to work at the coffee shop called in sick and they closed early, and Coffee Cauldron simply met at The Sacred Paths Center and continued without a hitch.

Celebrating 15 Years

To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary, there was a cake. Other than that, it was pretty much a typical Coffee Cauldron. At one point a group stood around in a circle (it was noted that we're Pagan, and we like circles) and reflected on the last fifteen years of Coffee Cauldron.

Paul talked about how as he and Teisha entered the community there was a group which was trying to work toward having a community center which fell apart. Of this, Paul said, "They said the community isn't ready. So we said fine, let's change the community." All these years later we finally have a community center. "We're patient."

Teisha said, "Remember that time we tried the poetry night. Long dark poems. Notice we never did that again."

There were discussions of "gang reiki". Any given Coffee Cauldron, there are at least six reiki practitioners, so if anyone has an ailment, they are able to get a group experience of reiki healing.

This lead to the one memorable Coffee Cauldron Reiki story:

Coffee Cauldron is hosted by Earth House, who also host a midsummer camping festival. One of the regulars at the midsummer gathering is known as Catgut (so called because of her abilities as a fiddle player). She lives way into Wisconsin and far from here. Catgut was hospitalized with an infection and things were not going well. The only thing which made her life tolerable were chemical cooling pads. Catgut's nurse was annoyed by this because the pads were in a different department, which meant time out of her schedule, and walking to get the pads. To activate the pads, they had to be twisted to break open the chemicals, and then the pad would cool where needed. A group of 11 reiki practitioners raised energy at Coffee Cauldron, and then sent it all at once to Catgut as a reiki bomb. Luckily they noted the time that the reiki bomb was sent so that later they could verify that at that exact same moment the not-very-nice nurse was activating a cooling pad which spontaneously exploded all over the room, but mostly all over the nurse. She checked around and no one had ever heard of these pads bursting before. The nurse became much nicer after that, and Catgut quickly recovered.

Like many Coffee Cauldrons, people laughed. New people were welcomed into the circle. People said goodnight. Some went out to eat afterwards.

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).

Happy New Year! This is a time when many people throughout the world consider that which will be and that which has been. So let's begin by looking forward and saying hello to 2010 before looking back and saying goodbye to 2009.

Here are some dates to mark on your new calendars (If you have not yet gotten your new calendar, go to your nearest metaphysical shop and get one right away before they're out of stock):

• Group/Seeker Meet & Greet, Saturday January 16 from 6:30 to 9pm at Sacred Paths Center. This is a great opportunity to connect individuals seeking groups and groups seeking new members.
• Sacred Paths Center First Anniversary Celebration, February 13, 2010 This will be a day of festivities including a Bread & Brew Contest
• Group/Seeker Meet & Greet, Tuesday April 13, 2010 from 6:30 to 9pm at Sacred Paths Center. These only take place every 3 months, so don't wait!
• Heart of the Beast May Day Parade, Sunday May 2, 2010 If we are all a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day, then everyone at this celebration is a little Pagan.
• Eye of Horus Psychic Sunday, May 30 2010 A day full of readers, which is a great thing.
• Witch Hat Tower is open to the public, Friday June 4, 2010, 5 – 8 pm For Emma Bull Fans, this would be a great day for a War for the Oaks tour of the Twin Cities (Who wants to organize it?)
• Earth House Midsummer Gather, June 20-27, 2010 A camping event at Eagle Cave Campground. Come experience the warmth of this close knit community.
• GLBT Pride, June 26-27, 2010 In the U.S. we have the second largest Pagan population, the third largest GLBT population, and a lot of overlap between the two.
• Sacred Fire Circle in Paradise, July 15-18th, 2010 This is a profound opportunity for intense personal working. You've just gotta experience it to understand, and it's a life changing experience.
• Sacred Harvest Fest, August 7-15th, 2010 Camp with 300 of your closest friends at the largest Pagan festival in Minnesota. One of the most family friendly festivals in the U.S.
• Eye of Horus Psychic Sunday, October 3, 2010 You want to go. You know you want to go.
• WiCoM Psychic Faire, Saturday November 6 Readers, vendors, ritual, and a potluck, oh my
• Meals On Broomsticks, December 25, 2010 Serve meals to the needy, and have a heck of a good time doing it.

2009: Looking Back

After looking ahead, it's natural to take a moment to look back. What were the most significant Pagan events of 2009? Here's an attempt to answer that question. These are not ranked in any particular order.

The opening of the Sacred Paths Center. Our own community center! Many Pagan communities dream of having a community center, and we've got one. Paganistan is full of win!

The death of Loui Pieper. Loui founded Evenstar Books (the direct predecessor of the Sacred Paths Center). She was a legendary tarot reader. Beloved wife, mother, and teacher. Whether you know it or not, if you are a part of Paganistan, than there is a degree to which your experience here has been touched by Loui, and therefore her absence touches you as well.

The community coming together for Ken Ra. Ken Ra is also a great teacher who has had an amazing impact on Paganistan. Ken has had health problems which resulted in large debt. This spring a fundraiser was held for Ken at the Sacred Paths Center. The amount raised was less than the amount of the debt, but it was still highly significant because it was the first time that this community came together in mass to support one of its own in such a way. This marked a moment of maturation within our spiritual community, and it also helped a man who truly deserves our help. (donations are still being accepted at http://kenandliz.wordpress.com/)

WiCoM and MCoW reuniting for a ritual. About 20 years ago there was a legendary and somewhat controversial "hiving off" from the Minnesota Church of Wicca which resulted in the creation of the Wiccan Church of Minnesota. This year they both happened to be meeting at the Sacred Paths Center at the same time, and decided to put aside past differences and reunite for a ritual. This moment stands as a perfect example of the exceptional unity this community has experienced this year.

The creation of the Paganistan Weekly newsletter. Even people who are extremely involved in the community often comment that they had no idea that there was so much going on. Pretty much everyone who puts on an event has had people show up because they read about the event in Paganistan Weekly.

And most topical of all: The creation of MNPagan.com

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.

Omega Artworks is owned and operated by Gary and Suzy Zahradka. All work is done by us in our studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. For over 25 years we have been designing unique and original swords, knives and sculpture. We offer a wide range of options for custom designed swords and knives, but also maintain an inventory of items you can purchase today!

Our objective is to combine beauty with functionality — to create a work of art that is beautiful to the eye, thrilling to the hand and inspiring to the imagination. As you look through our website let you imagination go, then contact us and let us know what you are thinking.

We're thankful to see they are working again!

I also have to mention that there is also a Pagan Forge which has been firing up the forge, training up apprentices, and creating ritual tools which you may have seen at various festivals or at Pagan Pride.  Founded and guided by long-time priest and smith Ken Ra, it's called Underhill, and we will be doing a full feature on them in the coming months.

Yes, the person is suing the company, and their official position is not to discriminate, but since it is a court case, they aren't making a statement.  Though I'm sure they would if it were such a clear case of discrimination against someone who was Jewish or Muslim.  But we're fringe and don't have much power.  Or do we? It seems pagans are writing into the company and boycotting the store.  The Wild Hunt talks a bit about the boycott and provides a handy link for contacting the company to state your displeasure.

Why am I writing about this old news?  Well, I think if you are boycotting Bath and Body Works during the gift-giving season, you should tell all your friends and family that you are doing so and do not want gifts originating from them.

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.