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The Veterans' Pentacle Rights Ritual
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An article excerpted from the below was printed in Circle Network News:
The Veterans' Pentacle Rights Ritual
~ a personal narrative by Nels Linde
The Pentacle Quest was known of in the Minneapolis - St. Paul area for several years. A few had written letters, or joined support groups, or educated themselves about the issue. The real spark for community involvement was a brief editorial by a local radio personality. The author supported the Veterans' Pentacle Rights issue, but felt that he could steer Wiccans "in the right direction", by pointing out to us that, "Wiccans suffer from extremely poor marketing". Those words became a call to action to our Pagan spiritual community.
We had a vision that as a people who believe in defining our future through direct spiritual action, we needed to create a public ritual, which would have several effects. We wanted to inclusively join our spiritual community together around this cause, to bring this issue to the broader community, and to present a positive face to our beliefs to the public.
An email invitation to meet and plan this event was made to the region’s pagans. Personal contact with pagan groups and leaders were made. Like most pagan communities, many groups had long standing issues or disagreements to overcome, but the desire to work together for this purpose was stronger than old divisions. Before even that first meeting, pledges of physical and financial support were made by area groups and businesses.
The first community meeting to aid in the organization, production, and publicity for this event took place Saturday January 27th. More than 60 people representing over 20 major regional groups attended. The outline for the proposed ritual was presented, and other action options and event timing were discussed. Our community was so enthusiastic about coming together in such unity, that immediately desire was expressed to become a standing organization in support of religious tolerance beyond this one event.
Small group action and organizational groups met that day. We planned a public and press covered ritual on the state capital grounds. It would include a simple circle casting involving sponsoring community groups invoking the elements and spirit in concert with the intent, and in relation to the points of the pentacle. The participants would each ritually charge a symbol of our intent (ribbon) and add them to our community symbol (large pentacle). Through the process of co-creation we added a Veteran color guard as the circle casters. Our local Besom Brigade broom drill team would banish the circle and their besoms would form the lines of the pentacle. These were to be added to the “hoop of community” to create the pentacle sculpture, to be assembled in place during the ritual. This community symbol would be displayed in area stores over time, to extend the working. An aerial photo of a large-scale human pentacle would be attempted after the ritual for press distribution. A pamphlet/program would be distributed at the event, which addresses the issue, gives basic Wicca information, and listed the sponsoring groups/individuals.
Contact with the Lady Liberty League was made early on. Selena updated us on the progress of the Quest, and emphasized the critical period the legal cases were entering into. She pledged her support of our action and stressed the importance of bringing positive and public press coverage to the Quest.
By our second meeting we had settled on Feb 24th as the date for our action, now less than three weeks away. Some wished to wait for fair weather, but the majority felt the timeliness of the impending court cases and new VA rule proposal demanded our action now. We agreed on our organizations new name, the Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance (UMPA). We divided into task groups and rolled up our sleeves. By the first week of February we had a fully functional website, an informational brochure in production, and groups writing their ritual parts.
As the date approached, we developed a dynamic team to reach out to the local press. The planned attendance by Jill Medicine Heart and Selena helped build community and press interest in the event. Selena’s referral of press inquiries was of critical importance to securing local and regional press coverage. By Friday Feb 23rd, Selena was being interviewed on local radio, and print and television press were making inquiries. Also looming was the prediction of the areas most severe winter storm of the season. The first round of ice and freezing rain was to begin that night. Optimistically, a break was predicted mid day on Saturday, with greatly worsening conditions and heavy snowfall the balance of the weekend. We had to consider canceling simply for personal safety.
By morning on Feb. 24th, it was clear Selena was homebound in eight inches of new snow. We had faired better with ice-covered roads, but under an inch of snow. Jill had flown in safely the day before. With stiff winds and biting sleet over 150 people braved a travel advisory to converge on the Minnesota State Capital. Our plans for an aerial image were foiled when our contracted helicopter was grounded. A few local press reporters attended to hear a letter from Selena, and Jill Medicine Heart speak, and then the ritual began.
The circle was filled with bundled and excited pagan activists of all ages. Our circle was banished with the five brooms, blessed by the hoop of community, and then assembled into our symbol. The color guard with flags blown horizontally began its cast in formal cadence. As their colors were presented, and our veterans and families came forward for honoring, emotions were high. The words of area groups and our priest and priestess came forth easily, but it was so cold the words were heard and then immediately frozen in time and memory. Voices were raised in song, and our community’s cry for justice was solidified as individuals charged their ribbon, and then joined them to our pentacle symbol. People danced, and cried, and hugged, and then sang again as the color guard ended our rite. Only a few gathered to watch, but it made no difference because we were there, together, in public and demanding our soldier’s rights.
People milled around afterward, loving, sharing, filled with the palpable energy, and speaking to the press. Still, in the face of impending heavy snow, no one really wanted to leave. We took our memories of strength and union and all ran for the warmth of the hearth. We had nearly a foot of snow that night. It felt like the weather was a test of our commitment, and we had been offered a pause to complete our work. Our ritual intention carried through in the following weeks to active support for the call to add individual comments in opposition to the new VA rules proposed for symbols of belief. The pentacle symbol we created has been displayed in area stores since then, with many others adding their magical intention to it.
We at UMPA have no illusions our experience in support of the Pentacle Quest was crucial, or significant compared to the years of work of the Lady liberty League, Veterans and their families, the legal team, and many, many others. We just happened to come to the Quest at a time when our contribution could be helpful. We were given a gift by participating in the Quest. We received immense support for our action and for the birth of our organization. The true gift was from our veterans, who with their stalwart demand for justice gave us the purpose to experience the joy of a renewed sense of community. A spirit of hope that our pagan culture can really accomplish something when we choose to inclusively join together has grown. Thank you!
Sweet blessings, and
~~~ clear visions ~~~
Nels
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http://umpaganalliance.com
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