Come join us for any or all of these. Text describing our events is below, but we also have a schedule grid and a PDF version of the following information for download.
Our entertainment information (including performer bios) can be found here.
All Weekend
Join Paul Eaves once more in the dance studio in a labyrinth designed especially for Twin Cities Pagan Pride. Take some time from the busy activities of the weekend for deep breaths, flickering lights, and quiet reflection.
The dance studio is in the basement: take the elevator to the B level and follow the red tape signs.
Children’s Events:
This year, our children’s events are all on Sunday, October 4th.
1-3pm:
Earthhouse again sponsors children’s games and activities. Bring your children to enjoy themselves, and try their skills at a range of games.
3-4pm: Children’s ritual.
Wendy and Brent welcome all children (please bring a parent!) to join them in creating a simple ritual to honor the season and our weekend’s celebration.
Saturday
10AM
Room D ( use any programming door)
Opening Ritual – presented by the Twin Cities Pagan Pride Board
We come together during this weekend as people connected to the Twin Cities Pagan community. This year, we think about our roles in the broader community
11AM – 12PM
Room D ( use any programming door)
Pagans in the World – Keynote panel
Join our keynote panel for a discussion of interactions in the broader community – through education, service, and as physical spaces in the Twin Cities metro area. Bring your questions and thoughts about what our next steps might look like.
12 – 1PM – lunch break
Entertainment Space (2nd floor)
Meet the Pagans
Come join us for the 12th annual Meet the Pagans panel. Group leaders and representatives, come share a 1-3 minute announcement about your group or activity. Everyone else, come hear all the fantastic things that are going on in the Twin Cities Pagan communities. (Please feel free to buy your lunch and listen – that’s why we’re down in the entertainment space, where our lunch service is.)
1 – 2PM
Room J (use door C or D)
Daily Charms and Charming – presented by Veronica Cummer
Luck, protection, health, prosperity–there are magickal charms meant to fulfill just about any need. This workshop will include how to build a charm for yourself or someone else and how to lay charm spells on found objects. We will make a basic good luck charm and practice writing charm spells. Veronica Cummer is a witch with over 20 years experience and the author of “Sorgitzak-Old Forest Craft” and “Masks of the Muse.”
Room E (use door A)
Daily Practice – open discussion
Come join a general discussion of different kinds of daily (weekly, or other regular) practices. Find out what others do, and if you wish, share your own. What actions do you take in your religious life? Do you volunteer time or do other things in the broader community as part of a religious commitment? Come share it!
Room F (use door B)
Building a Pagan Community Center – panel discussion
The Earth House Project has worked for ten years to create a pagan Community Center. A couple of the members of our community decided to take EvenStar books and convert it into a Community Center with a Store instead of the other way around. According to Paganistan’s anthropologist, Dr. Pizza, this is a unique occurrence in the Pagan landscape. The workshop will be a panel discussion of the challenges and paradigm shifts necessary for us to have our own community Center. Join our panelists to discuss this phenomena and what it means about a maturing pagan movement in the Cities.
2-4PM
Room D ( use any programming door)
Wiccaning – Ritual presented by Standing Stones
Standing Stones invites the entire community to join them in the Wiccaning of baby Robert.
Room J ( use doors C or D)
Reclaiming Eros – Presented by Dr Todd Bernston
From the primordial darkness, Eros emerged as the divine spark of life out of the union of Chaos (Heavens) and Gaia (Earth). It is this Erotic spark that created our awareness of being alive and moves us to seek union with each other and the divine. In this workshop, you will learn about the historical evolution of Eros, how the suppression of the Erotic occurred as civilizations became larger and more industrialized, how this suppression has contributed to human suffering, and how to reclaim Eros in your life. (Todd is the founder of the Temple of Eros.)
Note that this program will discuss adult topics – not recommended for those under 18.
Room E ( use door A)
How are we growing Pagan families/hearth-holds/homesteads – presented by Donald L. Engstrom-Reese
We have the power to choose to conceive/grow/nurture our own families/hearth-holds/homesteads. How do you imagine your own family/hearth-hold/homestead life continuing to grow, blossom and transform? What is a Pagan family/hearth-hold/homestead? What are the Pagan family values you see currently forming? In what ways are we consciously shaping-with (co-creating) the Pagan bond-groups which will thrive and flourish as partners with the Good Green Earth? What could Pagan families/hearth-holds/homestead look like in the emerging Cultures of Beauty, Balance and Delight?
Room F (use door B)
Introduction to Slavic Heathenry – prersented by Volkhvy
Slavic heathenry is a modern reconstruction of the indigenous cultural and spiritual traditions of the Slavic speaking peoples. The Slavic speaking peoples and their descendants currently number about 280 million wordwide; located mainly in Europe, the Americas, and Australia. We will briefly cover their early history, languages, rituals, mythology, cosmology, and calendar.
4-5 PM
Room J (use doors C or D)
Riding the Stang: An introduction to Old Craft – presented by Steven Posch
BG (before Gardner), there was Old Craft: the indigenous witcheries of northern Europe, rooted in the Land and the ways of the ancestors. If you’ve looking for a wiser and a deeper Craft, come confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with one of the preeminent local Men in Black. Hang onto those broomsticks, folks: it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
Room F (use door B)
Creating with Purpose – presented by Marie Booth
Discussion and examples of various methods to incorporate the spirit and give purpose to ritual/magical garments, art, jewelry, and tools. A small project for each person will be created utilizing three basic methods. All paths welcome. Marie has been a fiber artist and seamstress for most of her life and pagan almost as long.
Sunday
11 – 12PM
Room D ( use any programming door)
Hellenic Full Moon:
Join the temple of Our Lady of Celestial Fire to celebrate the Hellenic Alexandrian Full Moon. This ritual’s focus will be on how the private Roman Virtues build into the public Roman virtues, creating a personal evolution that provides comfort & encourages mindfulness & creativity.
Room J ( use doors C or D)
Got questions? Ask here – open discussion?This space is set aside for people new or curious about the Pagan community to ask questions and (we hope) get some answers. We invite everyone, whatever your level of experience or path, to stop by – you may know the information someone’s searching for!
Room E (use door A)
Dissertation Discussion
Each Sunday, Murphy Pizza (our resident local scholar of the Twin Cities Pagan community) has been reading and discussion chapters of her dissertation (normally at the Sacred Paths Center). This weekend, she’s moved the location to Pagan Pride. Join her to learn about and discuss her research.
12 – 1PM : Lunch break
1-2PM
Room J ( use doors C or D)
What’s gender got to do with my Deities? – presented by Alex Iantaffi & Teri Parsley Starnes + various guest panelists
Many Pagan traditions engender Gods and Goddesses as masculine and feminine, as well as connecting those principles to other facets of our traditions. In the meantime, the gender lines are becoming increasingly blurred, particularly in queer communities, and some pagans are more or less at ease with a binary understanding of gender. The panelists will share their relationships with the Divine, through the lens of gender, from a variety of perspectives and a range of gender identities. There will also be time for questions and a broader discussions with participants.
Room E ( use door A)
Finding a Pagan Group or Teacher in the Twin Cities – presented by Dawn and other panelists from the area.
How easy is it for a seeker to find a group to join in the Twin Cities? Is it harder here than elsewhere in the country? Do we put up artificial barriers or are those barriers necessary? What advice do seasoned pagans have for new seekers about finding a teacher or group?
Room F (use door B)
Crowley for Pagans – presented by Magenta Griffith
Aleister Crowley was perhaps the most influential occultist and magician of the 20th century. Many of the ideas that pervade modern Paganism, Witchcraft, and Ceremonial Magic originated with him, or were inspired by him in some way. The central idea of much of his work was the principle of Thelema: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” which comes from The Book of the Law. Crowley’s idea of will is not the individual’s desires or whims, but the person’s greater purpose. Some people think that this inspired Gardner’s “An it Harm None, Do What Thou Wilt.”
2-4PM
Room D ( use any programming door)
Ritual – presented by the Covenant of the Goddess, Northern Dawn Council
Join the Covenant of the Goddess local council and community members for a ritual celebrating the great community of Paganistan and honoring our ancestors and descendents.
Room J ( use doors C or D)
Ethical Puzzlers to Tickle Your Brain – presented by Rev. Emrys Anu
This workshop features a quick review of Emrys’ previous Pagan Pride offerings on the beauty and complexity of Wiccan ethics. With that under our belts we’ll spend the bulk of the time in provocative (and brain tickling!) conversation around some glaring ethical conundrums overlooked in our basic teachings. And you thought “harm none” was a simple statement! Come and play – it’s candy for your mind.
Room E (use door A)
Divination Discussion – open discussion
This space is set aside for open discussion about divination tools and methods. Bring your favorites, share your uses, and anything else that’s related to divination.
Room F (use door B)
Within the Broader World – open discussion
This space is set aside for a discussion of what it means to be Pagan in the broader community. Share stories of being in or out of the closet about your beliefs at work, in school settings, or in other places in your life, or use this time to talk about what our next steps as a community might look like – the focus of this time is up to the people who come to the discussion!
4-5PM
Room D ( use any programming door)
Closing Ritual – presented by the Minnesota Church of Wicca
MNCoW and Coven Elysium have been active for over 40 years, training “newbies” and bringing people together. Join them for our closing ritual, designed to help strengthen connections within Paganistan.