Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance

Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.Midwest Pagan Alliance, Minnesota pagan community organization for veteran's rights, education, service, and sacred experience.

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Pagan Soldier Support Packages is a project to aid our community in collecting personal and magical supplies for Pagan soldiers in the Iraq war zone.


The Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance is sponsoring a drive to ship supplies to Pagan soldiers in Iraq. You can either do this completely on your own, or drop off items to be assembled into aid boxes containing each a wide variety of items. We will also include information about UMPA and our pagan community.


The Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box is $12.95 for any weight, and for any U.S. destination. (includes any APO military address). We have found we can ship on average nine pounds of supplies in each box!


We collect individual items at any UMPA meeting or event, and at many regional events. Please if you wish to participate, and can donate the cost of shipping a box this is preferred. If you can just donate a few items, we welcome that as well. We do reserve the right to donate locally any items we find unsuitable for this project!

Drop Boxes located at:
  • Keys Of Paradise, 713 Minnehaha Ave E, Ste 109 & 111, Saint Paul, MN 55106
  • Magus Books, 1309 1/2 4th Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Eye of Horus, 3012 Lyndale Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55408
  • Sacred Paths Center, 777 Raymond Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55114
Area stores will aid you in picking out herbs, stones, amulets, books and and other items that will be helpful in protection magic to purchase for donation. USED Pagan books and items can also be valuable donation items, we all have items that are probably better passed on to soldiers in need!
0r... Contact UMPA for Metro drop off locations nearest you!

Keys Of Paradise is a new sponsor
of the Pagan Soldier Support Packages project!
*NOTE: Any items collected that are not suitable for overseas shipping will be donated to area charities if suitable.
Many groups simply need basic ritual supplies, ITEMS MOST REQUESTED:
HERBS:

Mugwart , Angelica, Bone Set, HoreHound, Holy Thistle, Roots of Mandrake, Juniper,  Aloe,
Pepper, Musk, Vervain, Saffron, five finger grass , heather , rue , high john root , sea salt

Basic pagan books :

Candle magic
spell and charm books Basic Wicca
Norse Path
Moon magic
Pagan magazines


Basic Ritual or Altar:

Black, White Altar cloths
Small Wands

Small travel chalices

Small God and Goddess statues
Stones : small for weight!
~ any type quartz crystal ~ obsidian points ~ hematite

Candles :

pillars
in jars
tapers wrapped
tea lites
In magical colors

Incense and oils:

dragons blood , frankincense , myrrh , red sandlewood , high john, sage, white sage , sweet grass, cedar , patchouli , elemental or directional oils

Pagan Spiritual Medallions:

Pentacles , Ankhs , Awen symbols, Thor's Hammers, Sun symbols , Moon symbols , Goddess and/or God symbols , Green Man/Woman symbols , Wheel of the Year symbols

Other items

Pagan Music, Meditation:
CDs & DVDs
Gift cards that ship international



PERSONAL ITEMS:
Toothpaste
Blank greeting cards
Prepaid phone cards
Lip balm
Instant coffee
Gum
Breakfast bars
Instant soup mixes
Sunglasses


Great information from Lou/MomHen:
Things to keep in mind:
  • They have extremely limited space for personal belongings; small is good, except food-to-share, where big is ok within limits.
  • For combat troops on the move, they'd need to be mobile; lightweight is good
  • They're gonna get bounced around a lot in any combat zone; durable is good
  • Perishables (things with freshness dates) need to be moderately long-lived and able to tolerate heat.
  • Some herbs (and some foods) have restrictions on shipping, and sage smells amazingly like cannabis.
Please note that postage for these packages will be increasing in one week. Nothing we can do about it - just plan on paying more.

On the mundane side of the coin -- these sites have good tips and suggestions, whether or not they are trying to sell the pre-made packages:

opgratitude.com
A_Soldiers_Blog_Care_Packages
operationshoebox.com
thefuntimesguide.com
care4troops.com
anysoldier.com
is another site (and a huge one were you can actualy connect with soldiers and they can tell you what they need) that helps you send care packages to soldiers. They have good tips, and many manufactorers offer discounts on thier goods and will ship them for you to a soldier.

What NOT To Send in a Care Package.
From equipped.org
  • * Anything that melts (if you just must send chocolate, send M&Ms)
  • * Waterless Hand Cleaner/Sanitizer - generally makes mud, wipes are preferred
  • * Flashlights - Everybody has one and never gets to use it due to visible light discipline restrictions.
  • * Compass - Everybody SHOULD already have one attached to their Load Bearing Vest/Harness
  • * Sun Screen - already issued in mass quantities, drowning in the stuff
  • * Liquor of any sort
  • * Pornography of any sort. This includes "soft porn" such as Playboy magazines.


For those who will be shipping:
equipped.org
And remember, there are troops deployed in other combat zones. Per the IRS:
newsroom