Greetings to all Full Circle friends and members,
In this April edition of our newsletter we have:
Heart Craft: All about spiritual things
Here at FCE Newsletter, we’re spring cleaning! Indeed, you may notice some changes in this newsletter—a bit of streamlining, some collective segments that may feel like columns or pullout sections of news dailies (i.e. “The Sporting Green,” “The Pink Section”), a new approach to offering links. Yup, it’s that time of year when we all shake out the linens and dust away the cobwebs, so your publisher (Sia) and Editor (SnakeMoon) decided to take a fresh look at the FCE Newsletter to see if we can make it better serve the needs of our readers. Please bear with us in the next couple of issues as we clean out closets, wash windows, and lay new table linens, all in the service of making this newsletter sparkle.
Snakemoon
Do The Math:
Renting the Hall: $1,200
Professional Dj: $800
Required Insurance: $500
Decorations, & Advertising: $300
Phone, Office supplies: $200
TOTAL EXPENSES FOR THE BELTANE BALL: $3,000
The Beltane Ball (May 8th) is a fundraiser for Full Circle. This allows us to put on the Witches’ Ball, (October 23rd) which raises money every year for the Humane Society.
If 300 people come to the Beltane Ball at $20 each, that gives us $3,000 to pay for the Ball and another $3,000 to host the Witches’ Ball. This leaves us very little seed money for the future.
We could keep the door price at $30.00. Fewer of you will come dance at that price. But we’d still make 6K.
We’d rather have more of you come party with us at a lower price then have fewer of you attend at a higher price. This is for the community, after all. So we’ll try this and see how it works.
BUT! The Witches’ ball will cost AT LEAST $3,000, as well, and this is a charity event for the Humane Society. We’d like to give them at least $1,000 dollars this year and still have seed money left over to put on our events in year 2005. So tickets to the Witches’ Ball will be more expensive.
These tickets prices equal the cost of a few CD’s, a movie and dinner or a night out on the town.
The days when my husband and I and the other Council members could put $8,000 worth of front money on our credit cards to make these events happen are long gone. If our own folks don’t support these events and help us garner seed money, then we can’t afford to offer events in 2005. We are asking for your help to continue serving the community. If you can’t attend an event, please consider contributing to the Humane Society via our Ticket Page. Thank you.
Blessed Be.
Sia
Music, dance, and movement
· 5Rythms: Sweat your prayers and experience the spirit of Gabrielle Roth’s spiritually moving dance techniques with Ecstatic Productions.
· Praises for the World: Jennifer Berezan writes that photographs from this past November's concert are now available to be viewed on her website, Edge of Wonder. Click on the "What's New" page to view the photographs by Vaschelle. Jennifer is also creating a DVD of from the November and March concerts; updates on this are also posted at the website.
·
Inanna
on CD: The
Independent Eye, producers of the West Coast public radio series
"Hitchhiking off the Map," are offering a CD of one of there shows, a
dramatization of the Inanna
myth that combines ancient texts with the present-day story of a woman on
her own underworld journey in a dramatic re-visioning of compelling music,
humor, and erotic imagery. You can
preview and order the CD at the website.
Books, movies, television, and popular culture
· Osama, but not bin Laden: Roger Ebert is not alone in finding “Osama” a harrowing but brave movie about a pre-adolescent girl in Afghanistan that documents a world in which he suggests, “the real weapons of mass destruction are ... men.” (This link was sent to us by Shawn.)
· Passionate: Captain Lightening wonders about the word for popcorn in Aramaic, and other translation questions that come from a viewing of the recent (and oh so controversial) Mel Gibson movie. (Warning: this link contains humor about the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” Those unable to relate should skip this site.)
· The Passion or the Python: As an antidote to all “The Passion of the Christ” hysteria, producer/director Henry Jaglom, head of Rainbow Film distribution company, is re-releasing Monty Python's spoof of Biblical potboilers, “The Life of Brian” in US cinemas next month, with trailers starting to appear on Good Friday. (Ahem … well … yes. Tempting though it is, that’s all I’m going to say here.)
· Joss Wheden watch: Okay, so they cancelled Firefly. (Network suits, what the heck do they know?) But a rabid fan campaign has ensured that Firefly will get a second chance on the big screen.
· More Mad House: Having stirred up a bit of controversy with our article about “Mad, Mad House,” we can add just a bit to the story this week by pointing interested readers to the web site of Ta’Shia Asanti, the Voodoo Priestess who’s currently on the SciFi Channel’s reality series. Also check out her spirited defense of SGL (“same gender loving”) peoples to a fellow Voodoo priest, who appears to define homosexuality as an exclusively white cultural phenomena of Greek origins. (Huh? I thought it was a human phenomena.)
Ta’Shia is not the only African American to go to bat for the gay community. In mid-March, crowd of 60 black activists and religious leaders rallied in Los Angeles to show their support for gay marriage. Rev. Leslie Burke commented that "This issue is not a gay issue, it's a human issue," and pointed out that her slave ancestors, like gays, were forbidden to marry by law and "had to jump the broom," a reference to an ancient handfasting ritual familiar to many in the EarthWise community.
Home, hearth, and feathering your nest
· Hard time: Located in Sebastopol (in the middle of the Sonoma wine country), Ace-in-the-Hole is America's first—and perhaps only—cider pub. The pub flavorfully capitalizes on the area’s long-standing apple-growing industry.
· The alchemy of fermentation: Sandor Elliz Katz’ new book "Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods" explores the symbiotic relationship between humans and microbes foods ranging from beer to bread to cheese to chocolate. Add a little culture to your life indeed!
· Mead and Drink: Also known as honey wine (not to be mistaken for the complaining your significant other offers when you fail to remember an anniversary), traditional mead is enjoying a renaissance. (And a bottle of fresh mead makes one heck of a “make-up” gift to your whining honey!)
Herbs and gardening
· Gardening with the Goddess: Are you surprised to learn that most common presence in Roman garden shrines was Venus? Born in the sea, she is often depicted with statues of dolphins, fish and scallop shells, or actually standing in a scallop-shaped fountain filled water (reminiscent of Botticelli's famous painting, "The Birth of Venus"). This association with water explains part of her allure in gardens: water is essential to plant life, and a vital and sometimes scant resource in the dry Mediterranean climate.
Furry, finny, feathered folk
· Hedgehogs: WARNING—SEVERE CUTENESS ALERT. This site contains photos of baby hedgehogs. (Not for the faint hearted or those inclined to adopt at the drop of a hat.)
· Llamas: Castalia is billed as the place “where llamas and unicorns play!” Offered by Chelle, an EarthWise spirit and llama godmother, this site has lots of information—and photos—for the llamamastically inclined. (Okay, that’s not a word, but it should be …)
· Flight risk: Right now, you (yes, you!) are operating a “largely unrecognized environmental hazard that kills birds in flight.” It’s called a window and it’s second only to habitat destruction in its death rate among avians. Engineer Carr Everbach believes new designs may be able to solve the problem.
· Winged friends: Visit the Bird of the Month page on the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park’s site to learn more about Mississippi kites, black swifts, and rufous hummingbirds, among others.
· Turn right at the gas station …: While pigeons will probably never be a Smithsonian “Bird of the Month,” scientists are beginning to learn their map reading secrets—and apparently, the whole “navigate by the stars” thing is less important than their knowledge of freeways and landmark buildings. (Also valuable is their willingness to stop and ask other birds for directions, a skill many humans have not yet developed.)
· Cross-eyed and cute: Trisha, who has a just the tiniest addiction to Siamese cats, suggests like-minded people visit the Siamese Rescue Society to find a furry friend. Trisha is particularly smitten with a goofy looking snowshoe point named Jinks, who was still awaiting adoption at this writing. (She writes, “Who could stay grumpy in the same room with this face?”)
All about spiritual things
· A monastic retreat: Our Lady of the Rock Monastery is a woman’s monastery located in the beautiful San Juan Islands of Washington state. Set amidst 300 acres of forest and farmland, nuns live out their lives faithful to the traditions of their holy founders, Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica (the patron saint for all of us “A” students). All this, and they have llamas too! (Oh! More llamas!) Sia opines, “Oh that a Pagan retreat like this existed!” (Maybe we can start one …)
· An EarthWise retreat: Perhaps the Earthen Spirituality Project and Sweet Medicine Woman’s Center is an answer to Sia’s wish! A sanctuary that is located “seven river crossings from the nearest road” (in other words, way the heck out there), this center, situated in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest is an ideal place for retreats and workshops. The facilitators are focused on “mindful reconnection with our intuitive sensate bodies and the natural world.”
· Pentagrams made easy: Howard sends us an interesting article on the pentagram (aka, pentacle), which refutes the proposition mentioned by Dan Brown in his bestseller “The DaVinci Code” that the symbol represents the path Venus takes in the night sky every four years. Note that the article is from a Freemason point of view rather then a Pagan one—the Pentagram is also part of the Freemason rituals.
· Waxing and Warning: Starhawk once said candle wax is to Pagans what celibacy is to Catholics. (A thorny and nagging problem, which is what you’ll experience if you’ve ever let a candle burn down onto a treasured piece of furniture.) To learn more about candles and their care, read the Primer for Candle Lovers.
· Auditory journeys: The Foundation for Shamanic Studies offers meditation journey tapes and CDs. The offerings include journeys using drum, didjeridu, Tibetan bowl, rattle, and voice.
Everything else
· Tibetan treasures and trials: The exhibit “Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World” is coming to San Francisco, along with a fair degree of controversy about this show from the Tibetan Community, who object to what they call a distorted portrayal of their history.
· More spring celebrations: For centuries, Iranians have celebrated the last Wednesday of the Iranian year, gathering for a ceremony to mark what is known in Persian culture as Chaharshanbeh-Souri. Bay Area locals got to experience this ancient Zoroastrian tradition in person at the Persian Center in Berkeley on March 18. Marked by children leaping over bonfires, and lots of tasty treats, the festivities include a number of rituals to promote good health and fortune throughout the coming new year
· WE GET LETTERS, and this one, in response to last month’s Pysanky essay, had some lovely things we wanted to share. Mar-garet (her spelling) writes that “The Pysanky article was special to me because I grew up in that tradition. My mother was Russian and Polish. We looked forward to the egg-time every year. My mother, not having the proper tool, improvised by sticking a straight pin into a big wooden matchstick. She heated some wax on the stove [then] when the wax was melted, she would stand over it, egg in hand, and dip the pin into the wax, quickly, over and over, until she had a wonderful design on the egg.”
Margaret also mentions that she found “… other celebrations around this time of year that include eggs! The … feast of Damballah occurs on the same day as the feast of St. Patrick. Damballah is the "papa snake" of the African-American religion of Voudoun. The adherents … honor him on March 17 with eggs, offered on top of a little mound of flour.” She also notes that the feast of Noruz, celebrated mainly in Iran … includes colored eggs!!!”
We have hundreds of events listed on our California Community Calendar.
Here are just a handful:
And there are lots more, with new events are added every day. Click on the Full Circle California Community Calendar to access the list. If you want your event listed, please go to our calendar page and click on the link that says “Submit Event.” The on-line form is simple and very easy to use. Questions? Please contact our Networking Coordinator ScoutGhost at scoutghst@sbcglobal.net
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As I sit writing this, my heart is torn to bits and shredded across the floor, floating on a river of tears and snot. Our dear sweet Skadi cat—really just a kitten—is dead, suddenly and unexpectedly.
It had already been a fairly dreadful day, the kind where you remind yourself to drive the speed limit because you know the Universe is a motorcycle cop hiding in the church parking lot, just itching to give you a ticket. As I walked back to the dentist chair for my teeth cleaning, my son called on my cell. When I picked up he was screaming, “Mom, come home now, Skadi’s having some sort of seizure.”
In this rush hour, it would take me 30 minutes to reach him, and another 10 to the clinic. Swallowing panic, I told my son to go to our neighbor for help and that I’d call Francesca to drive him to the vet, then flew out of the office to my car, chanting “Don’t let her die, don’t let her die” to any gods who might be listening. In the car I dialed Francesca, my friend, my colleague, and my boss. Yes, I am blessed to work for someone to whom I can call and say “Get over to the house, my cat’s in trouble,” and her response is an emphatic “I’m on my way!” She got Max and the kitten to the vet well before I could have, but it was still too late. The heart murmur diagnosed when Skadi was younger, determined at the time to be functional, was apparently not functional enough. When I walked through the door of the treatment room, my son’s anguished face told me everything.
It’s not the first time I’ve lost a furry friend, though most have been “put down,” an odd euphemism that sounds more like the depositing of unwanted baggage then what it is: the painful yet merciful release of a beloved soul. Only once did we witness the unexpected death of a companion animal, when one of our domestic rats suddenly began chocking and gasping and then lay very still. But that time, I was there, frantically performing rodent CPR … this time it was my child, all alone, ushering one of our familiars across the threshold that separates life and death.
Familiars. What an interesting term for the beings who so generously agree to intertwine their lives with ours. Some people call them “pets,” and refer to them as “owned” but how can you own someone who has opinions, preferences, fears, and funny little quirks of behavior and attitude? I prefer “familiar,” which the One Look Dictionary defines as a spirit (usually in animal form) that acts as an assistant to a witch or wizard. That definition resonates in my Pagan heart. All our familiars—the cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and reptiles that live with us on a day to day basis—are, in so many overlooked but ultimately powerful ways, assisting in that most profound of magical works: teaching us how to be alive.
A lone kitten only a few weeks old, Skadi was rescued from a marauding animal by a woman who mistook her for a wounded bird. Yet despite this rough start, she crammed each and every day of her short life with an endless collection of pleasures: darting about after our older cat, attacking (but oh, so gently) feet and hands, pouncing on dust motes, and burrowing under sheets, blankets, and pillows (linen changing day was her idea of a good time had by all). In the September newsletter, I described her as “enthusiasm made flesh,” a bundle of joy with a ready purr. And like my two little hamster gurus before her, Sweetie and Pikachu, Skadi was a moment-by-moment reminder of something we two-footeds so easily forget: LIFE IS DELIGHTFUL.
Truly, there are endless pleasures of the heart, mind, and flesh tugging at our sleeves every day but do we enjoy them? No. Instead, we work too much. We complain about the bills. We fight with our friends. We eat junk. We flip off other drivers. We wallow—but we do not revel. And life is all about reveling.
Of course, by their example our companions also teach us about the brevity of life. Unless you live with a parrot or a tortoise, you’re probably going to see your friend though infancy, childhood, maturity, old age, and death, and for some of our pals—rodents, for example—this whole cycle may be only 2 or 3 years long. Max, himself only 16, keeps saying, “She was so young, so young,” and he’s right. But none of us comes with a money-back guarantee for longevity. Despite the arrogance with which we often look across the lengthy expanse of 70 or 80 years, I can tell you that after 50, it hits you like a brick: LIFE IS SHORT. Damn short—and every beloved animal is a walking, breathing curriculum for the course entitled “Don’t assume you have forever.” What do you want to do? Do it now. What do you need to say? Say it now. Take the time, notice, apologize, whatever—but do it today.
Here’s another one that’s so easy to forget until, like my son, you hold it in your hands and feel its delicate certainty: LIFE IS FRAGILE. It only took minutes for this “little person”—my pet name for her—to go from happy and full of life to limp and inanimate.
And so it is with us all.
One aneurysm, one false move with the steering wheel, one twitch of the finger on the trigger, one drink too many, one snap decision to dive into an unknown pond. We march around with the confidence of the indestructible because it makes the simple fact that we are so very susceptible to damage of every type almost bearable. Yet that very spirit of imperviousness sometimes leads to injury, as we struggle to prove that we’re made of steel instead of tender flesh.
Treat yourself and your loved ones gently, our familiars tutor us. And when you’ve mastered that, treat strangers—and even your enemies—tenderly. Treat people tenderly when you’re full of love for them, and also when you’re full of anger, because every one of us is breakable, both in heart and in body.
When Shakespeare looked in the eyes of a loved on and wanted to immortalize what he saw there forever, he wrote the 18th sonnet, knowing that, even as his beloved faded to dust, the words of the poem would speak of the boy’s impact forever:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
I’m no Shakespeare and I can’t hope to enshrine my family, familiars, or lovers in immortal prose (though I do scribble little “reminders” here and there: a character name, a story arc, even the occasionally essay). Lacking Will’s exceptional skills, how can I honor those wise and wonderful companions for loving lessons taught with their lives? And how do I hold those lessons close, ensuring I don’t forget?
In the temple of my soul, in the heart of my being, I maintain a gallery of dear teachers: cats, dogs, rats, hamsters, and even turtles. Enshrined by face and voice, it is nonetheless by their lessons that I remember them best. In an instant, I can call up Eli snuggling happily on my lap—and remember how easy it is to give love freely and completely. I invoke Toby, my dachshund guardian, and am tutored in how to be courageous even when you’re outweighed by life. I review lessons about connection from a hamster whose middle-of-the-night breakouts were engineered so that he could make a beeline for my room, climb the bed skirt, and sleep curled up in my hair.
Most of all, to honor the memory of those who have taught and gone, I open myself to new instructors, a game student for whatever lesson in fur or feathers comes my way. This is hard, especially so when loss has once again carved a new name on my heart. But that, I remind myself, is the deal with life. No one lives forever, but what is remembered lives.
[I thank Alice Walker for the inspiration for the title and offer much gratitude and love to my collaborators on this essay: Hopsy, Toro, Toby, Charlie, JoJo, Claudius, Herod, Caligula, Eli, Jade, Fluffy, Sweetie, Courage, Caution, Pikachu, and, of course, darling Skadi.]
SnakeMoon
Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present, Create the Future
FCE Newsletter Staff:
Snakemoon is the Editor-in-Chief of the Full Circle Newsletter. She can be reached for comment at snakemoon@comcast.net.
Sia is the Publisher of the Full Circle Newsletter and the Council Leader for Full Circle Events. She can be reached at info@fullcircleevents.org.
Scoutghost is the Networking Coordinator for Full Circle Events. She can be reached at scoutghst@sbcglobal.net.