Witches Ball Makes the News

So the first article was posted before the ball.

http://www.adn.com/2013/11/01/3154175/anchorage-wiccans-throw-witches.html

Then the journalist attended the ball and then followed it up with this story.

http://www.adn.com/2013/11/06/3162169/a-night-out-with-witches.html

So all in all not a bad way to get into the mainstream of things.

Up Coming Events - NOVEMBER

Saturday – November 9^th – HARVEST FESTIVAL PLANNING -  Agora – AcoA

Monday – November 11^th – BREWERS GUILD FIELD TRIP - Arctic Brewing Supply – Anchorage Pagans

Wednesday – November 13^th – BREWERS GUILD – Jennifer’s House – Anchorage Pagans

Thursday – November 14^th – STITCHING WITCHES – Gina’s House – WoA

Saturday – November 16^th – HARVEST FESTIVAL - Agora – AcoA

Thursday – November 21^st – DRUID HIGH TES – Agora – Anchorage Pagans

Saturday – November 23^rd – Wine & Cheese Moot – Gina’s House - WoA

WITCHES BALL!

YEAH - OUR FIRST INAUGURAL 2013 WITCHES BALL IN ANCHORAGE.

Need help getting the word out and selling tickets - need ideas where to post the flyers. If anyone out there has any let me know. Hope everyone can attend.

Upcoming Events - OCTOBER

October 10 (Thursday) – Temple Open House – Agora – Anchorage Pagans

October 12 (Saturday) – Ancient Fires (Ancestors Offering Ritual) – The Land – Anchorage Pagans

October 12 (Saturday) – Wine & Cheese Moot – Private Residence – Wiccans of Alaska

October 15 (Tuesday) – Pumpkin Carving – Private Residence – Anchorage Pagans

October 17 (Thursday) – ToSL Harvest Bread Workshop – Agora – Anchorage Pagans

October 24 (Thursday)  – Planning for Witches Ball – location to come – Wiccans of Alaska

October 26 (Saturday) – Samhain Ritual – Inner Dance yoga Studio – Anchorage Pagans & Wiccans of Alaska

October 26 (Saturday) – Harvest Festival Planning – Agora – AcoA

Community Coming Together

Last Saturday we had a Fundraiser for a fellow community member and that went great. We had tons of food a silent auction and multiple tarot/runes/stones readers. We were able to raise a respectable amount of money – and I want to thank all who participated in this event.

Up Coming Events - AUGUST

August 3 (Saturday) – Wep Ronpet (Egyptian New Year) Picnic – Temple of Bast – Anchorage Pagans

August 3 (Saturday) – Lammas Celebration – Ruth Arcand Park Shelter – Wiccans of Alaska & Anchorage Pagans

August 4 (Sunday) – Wildcrafting (Alaska Plants, Food & Medicine) – Campbell Creek Greenbelt Park – Wiccan of Alaska & Anchorage Pagans

August 7 (Wednesday) – Waxing Witches (New Moon) – Taku Lake Park – Wiccans of Alaska

August 10 (Saturday) – Witch Crafting (Create and Consecrate Witches Wand) – Needs Location – Wiccans of Alaska

August 10 (Saturday) – Board Meeting – Elim Café – AcoA

August 18 (Sunday) – Wiccan Circle/Rite (Blessed is the Familiar) – Needs a Location – Wiccans of Alaska

August 24 (Saturday) – Tea & Tarot Fundraiser – Agora – Anchorage Pagans

Druids & Tea

We had the meetup with the Druids and and Tea last night - it was a blast - talked Earth and Vine and then Squirrel - which lead to some trails - managed to learn quite a bit about Devils Club - who knew. Just general good conversations.

Blogger MIA! - Sorry

OMG! People coming out of the wood work – Love It!

Unfortunately I was on vacation and was unable to post to the blog. However the groups have been very active.

Wiccan of Alaska – had the Waxing Witches Meetup, Labyrinth Workshop and  a Meeting to start the planning for the Lammas Ritual coming up on the 3^rd of August.

Anchorage Pagans – had meetups for the following: Trail Cleanup, American Tribal style Belly Dance Practice, Brewers Guild and Druids & Tea Meetups.

ACoA – had the Dancer’s & Drummer’s Retreat.

All in all a very busy couple of weeks.

More activities to come. :o)

Upcoming Events - July

Well last weekend was a blast - we have plenty of things coming up for July.

JULY

July 6 (Saturday) – Dancer’s and Drummer’s Retreat – The Land in Willow – AcoA

July 8 (Monday) – Waxing Witches – New Moon – Taku Lake Park – Wiccans of Alaska

July 10 (Wednesday) – Lammas Planning – Elim Café – Wiccans of Alaska

July 11 (Thursday) – Druids & Tea – Agora Apartment – Anchorage Pagans

July 14 (Sunday) – Labyrinth Workshop – Location to Follow – Wiccans of Alaska

July 17 (Wednesday) – Adopt-a-Trail Service Outing – Campbell Creek Trail – Wiccans of Alaska

July 20 (Saturday) – Delian Aphrodisia – Private Residence – Anchorage Pagans

July 22 (Monday) – Drummer’s Tribe – Location to Follow – Anchorage Pagans

July 25 (Thursday) – Druids & Tea – Agora Apartment – Anchorage Pagans

July 28 (Saturday) – Trail Cleanup – Location to Follow – Anchorage Pagans

Last Week

OK since the last time I posted the following has happened.

Last Wednesday – Wiccan of Alaska had a meet and greet that was fabulous fun. Quite a good turn out.

Saturday – the 2^nd Land Work Party – had several volunteers and were able to get the land prepped for the Solstice celebration.

Tomorrow – Anchorage Pagans – Druid Tea Party – which looks to be awesome.

The meetups have been kind of light as most people are prepping for the Big Camping trip out at the Land in Willow for Summer Solstice.

Things should pick up again in July.

Busy - Busy - Busy!

Sorry for the delay things have been really busy.

Last Tuesday – Anchorage Pagans had a Druid Study Group – which was awesome. Got to learn something about the Druids which was cool, can’t wait to learn more.

Last Wednesday – a group of us got together to plan a couple of the events for the upcoming Summer Solstice at the Land.

Last Thursday – Wiccans of Alaska – we met up to actually walk the Labyrinth at St Mary’s. Next workshop for that will be building our own labyrinth.

Last Saturday –

Anchorage Pagans – had a cleaning crew party out at the land to starting getting it ready for the Summer Solstice. They still need help and there will be another work party this coming Saturday it is posted on the meet up site.

Wiccans of Alaska – had a meet up for the Waxing Witches New Moon – which was Adopt a Deity – where everyone created a deity and then made a representation of it and brought – then each Deity was adopted by another member. It was fun and I learned that we have a lot of creative people and that I myself can be creative too – who knew.

Last Sunday – Wiccan of Alaska – had their Adopt-A-Trail Cleanup walk – the trail is all filled out now and is quite pretty.

Also the Renaissance Fair finished up this weekend and that was good times all around several members from both Meet up groups were working and had booths at the fair.

All in all – a very busy week.

Renaissance Fair

3 Barons Renaissance Fair – Anchorage, AK

Noon – 8PM This coming weekend June 8-9, 2013
This weekend is the last weekend for the Renaissance Fair it is held in Anchorage at 3400 E Tudor Rd (Tozier Dog Track)
Adult admission price is $6 and children under 12 is $3
This weekend is the fantasy theme – come dressed up – or not.

http://3barons.org/ - you can go to this their web site for $1 OFF Coupons.

 

The fair started last weekend and will be finishing up this weekend.

 

Also on Saturday the Anchorage Pagan's got together and did their trail cleanup more help is needed and we could use more people next time. Sunday June 30th is the next scheduled trail clean up for the Anchorage Pagans.

Druid Study Group

Since I was unable to attend the Druid Study Meetup - I asked Carol if she would write something up for the blog. She kindly stepped up to the challange.

 

"Ice Moon Grove is a local Druid Grove who hosts a Druid study group twice a month. Our study program follows in the footsteps of traditional Druidry, as we study the Oghams, a divination system and their associated Celtic trees. But our program also covers a distinctive Alaska connection as we learn about our local animals and trees/plants – some of which are personal totems to the Grove.

Our recent meeting was this past Tuesday and we had on topic – the Eagle, the Ogham, Tinne and its tree, the Holly. The meetings are purposefully kept as a free-for-all type of meeting with some general topics to keep us talking and learning. We started off the meeting with our usual group of Druids – but we also had the addition of a new person, a Wiccan who has felt the call of Druidry. We started off discussing the elements and a bit of background Druidry for the newer person. The Ogham Tinne came up next –the symbol of challenges, of mastery and defense. Its associating tree, Holly, was a bit of a conundrum for us as we were hard pressed to see the association between tree and Ogham. It was said the Celts made their spears from the Holly tree – perhaps this was the association with Tinne? We weren’t sure. Then came the eagle, each of us connecting in various ways to this majestic bird. Later in the evening we talked about the variety of projects – potential and in the works – which the Grove is involved in.

Our next meeting will be in two weeks – we will be ruminating on the Salmon, Hazel tree and Coll Ogham. All are welcome – Druid or non-Druid or seeker. With the weather here in Anchorage turning nicer and warmer, we will be heading outside more and more. Suggestions are welcome J "

 

The next Druid Study Group is next Tuesday on June 4th. This meetup can be found on the Anchorage Pagan Meetup Group.

ACoA Board Meeting

Last night there was the quarterly board meeting for Arctic Circle of Anchorage. Which is an organization for Pagans that puts on events and is a resource for all pagans. This meeting included changing some of the bylaws and nominations for board position changes.

Fire and Full Moon Magick

We had a couple of activities this weekend – the weather was awesome! If you didn’t attend an activity I hope everyone at least got out and enjoyed the bright sunny days.

Wiccan Esbat for Flower Moon  - Wiccans of Alaska – Last Friday

Full moon ritual - Warrior spell for Personal Power. All participants brought jewelry or other items to be imbued with personal power to keep as charms or talismans to remind us of our personal power.

 

Fireside Fridays Intensives  - Anchorage Pagans – All weekend long at the The Land in Willow
(Basic Fire Magick I-IV) - Fire Tribe AK

Fire Tribe AK led an in depth, hands on work party lecture and discussion over this last Memorial Day  weekend repeating the Basic Fire Magick workshop series I-VI as a complete intensive.

They provided  community service to the PCC in Action (Pagan Community Center of Alaska) by helping with site development of the land sanctuary. 

Topics for Fireside Fridays Intensive Weekend Camp out were:

Large ritual fire building, fire magic, and community service by safely constructing and using the beginning concepts of 'the mountain of fire' as a gate to the Elder Gods and Goddesses of our beliefs. This workshop series will talk about common group intent, large community ritual focus, material & magical components, and the need to safely utilize building techniques to help the greater community and ritual attendees achieve the focus of the rituals during gatherings. We will talk a little bit about the different kinds of fires, and the anchoring aspect of higher magic.

We will be delving deep into practical safety concerns and some building techniques involved in working this type of fire magic as well as how we can begin incorporating magical components into the heart of both personal and large group ritual fires.

Upcoming Events - JUNE

So here are the events that are planned so far for June – things will be added I’m sure – since we are a fly by the seat of our pants kind of group.

JUNE

June 1 (Saturday) – Trail Cleanup – Road by Fred Meyers on Muldoon – Anchorage Pagans

June 6 (Thursday)  – Labyrinth Workshop – Walk an actual Labyrinth – Wiccans of Alaska

June 8 (Saturday) – Waxing Witches – Adopt a Deity – Wiccans of Alaska

June 9 (Sunday) – Adopt-a-Trail Service Outing – Trailing cleaning of Cambell Creek Trail – Wiccans of Alaska

June 14 (Sunday) – Labyrinth Workshop – Build a Labyrinth – Wiccans of Alaska

June 28 (Friday) – Karaoke Family Night – Elim Café - ACoA

June 30 (Sunday) - Trail Cleanup – Road by Fred Meyers on Muldoon – Anchorage Pagans

June 20-23 – 2013 Summer Solstice Weekend Camping Ritual at the Land – Anchorage Pagans

Druidry Study Group

Last night was the continuation of study on Druidry hosted by Ice Moon Grove on the Anchorage Pagans Meetup site. Topics included Ogham – Tinne, Totem Animal – Eagle, Tree – Holly – among other things.

Bast and the Outdoors

Boubastia Festival  - ACoA

Yesterday the ACoA had a spring Boubastia festival held in honor and worship of the Divine Mother Bast. This outdoor celebration featured a rite inspired by the "awakening of the goddess" rituals held in the temples of ancient Egypt, a tribal belly dance performance by a retinue of dancing priestesses, followed by a picnic-style potluck feast. Any monetary offerings were donated to Alaska Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Trail Clean Up – Wiccans of Alaska

Yesterday also saw the first summer trail clean up for the Wiccans of Alaska. The trail that has been adopted is the Cambell Creek Trail the section from the Peanut Farm to the just past the Dowling Road extension. It was a lovely day bright and sunny – and the trail is a activate one that is quite lovely if you just want a place to walk.

Labyrinth – Workshop #3

Last night the Wiccans of Alaska got together for the 3^rd workshop in the Labyrinth series.

We went over the many suggestions as to why one would do a labyrinth. Such as – relaxation, meditation, problem solving, personal growth and change and so on. Then we went through a guided problem solving exercise using our figure labyrinths.

The 4^th workshop in the Labyrinth Series will be held on June 6^th, 2013 at 6:30PM at St. Mary’s (222 E Tudor Rd) – during this workshop we will actually walking the permanent labyrinth they have there.

COMING SOON

What we are about – Magickal – Spirituality – Alternative Health – Metaphysics – Witchcraft – Wicca – Druid – Occult – Goddess – Meditation – Polytheistic - and all forms of Paganism in general.

I will be posting blogs on upcoming events starting in June and will be posting on events after they happen. Stay tuned – this is a work in progress.