2024 Imbolc Celebration
Imbolc comes at the time of the year when the sun is definitely getting stronger, though it is the coldest time of the year. This is a time to be indoors, getting ready for the spring which is coming—eventually. This used to take the form of refurbishing the tools for farming and animal husbandry. Now we aren’t agrarian people much anymore, though we do use tools. Nowadays our tools are computers and other modern contrivances.
This year WiCoM, the Wiccan Church of Minnesota will celebrate Imbolc with a blessing of the tools and what they create. We are asking all attendees to bring a symbol of the tools they use for blessing. A memory stick from a computer, a cooking or baking tool, an actual tool for whatever you may make; be creative! Just keep it small please, no lawn mowers or chain saws other large items that cannot sit on a small side table.
Imbolc will be celebrated Saturday evening, February 3rd in the MVUUF fellowship hall, Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 10715 Zenith Ave. South, Bloomington, MN 55431. We will gather at 6:30pm and the ritual starts at 7pm, with explanations beforehand. After the ritual we will have a potluck feast, so please bring something to share, if you can.
See you at Imbolc! Blessed Be
When
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Gather in starting at 6:00 p.m., ritual at 7:00 p.m.
Potluck to follow the ritual
Where
The Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
10715 Zenith Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55431
What to bring
• Potluck food to share, if you can do so without difficulty. Please label your offering (meat, vegetarian, vegan, ingredients).
• Your own silverware, cup, and plate suitable for a picnic if you can (we will have some disposables if you can’t do this)
Samhain ritual
Samhain, when the veil between the worlds is thin…
…And it will be after a lunar eclipse (not visible here) so the energies will be strong and somewhat chaotic. We will gather and celebrate the turning of the wheel. There will be divination, so be prepared to learn something about your life. If you can, dress appropriately. It adds to the atmosphere. Estelle will be the HPS.
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Crystal Community Center, Forest Room (where we celebrated Beltane)
4800 Douglas Dr. N, Crystal, MN
Gather starting at 6:00 p.m., ritual at 7:00 p.m.
All are welcome!
BRING (if it’s convenient)
- Picnic-type food to share, if you can do so without difficulty (there are facilities for a hot pot or similar warmer), and serving utensils.
- Your own silverware, cup, and plate suitable for a picnic if you can (we will have some disposables if you can’t do this)
LEAVE AT HOME
- Alcohol and other intoxicants
- Weapons (a small knife if needed to cut food is OK)
BONUS!
Earlier in the day the Anoka County Gem and mineral club is having their annual show at the same place, 10am -5pm. There are many interesting rock-like things for sale, and worth checking out. The show is also on Sunday, so if you can’t make it Saturday, there is another chance.
Goodbye, sunflowers!
The wheel turns.
Lughnasad’s big, beautiful sunflowers have been picked over by the goldfinches, and now the squirrels have started biting them off and carrying them away. The plants are struggling to keep making flowers, but the wheel of the year keeps turning. Their leaves are dying, one by one, and the squirrels have fully embraced their role as agents of destruction. Even with no ripe sunflower seed-heads left to raid, the squirrels keep launching themselves into the tops of the plants and breaking the stems, determined to find and carry away one more blossom.
I found this infuriating until I stopped seeing it through the eyes of a protective gardener and began seeing it as a lesson in what “creation from destruction” really looks like. It’s just Mother Earth doing what She does; it’s not personal. That’s a surprisingly hard lesson for this gardener.
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.
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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