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Vermont Wiccan & Pagan Resources
Merry Meet!
The goal of this page is to help networking efforts in Vermont's Pagan community. It is the official homepage of the Burlington UU Circle, Inc., (BUUC), a chapter of the Covenant of UU Pagans (CUUPS). We are an independent group of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, and as of June 21, 2000, are a legally incorporated church. A copy of our Bylaws, Policies & Procedures, and Member Handbook are periodically updated online.
Following the article explaining the philosophy and process of BUUC are links to a calendar of VT and regional events, VT resources, VT contacts, and to other sites' calendar, networking, news, and religious tolerance pages. If you know of any VT info which should be included in this page or the BUUC newsletter, please e-mail me; also let me know if you discover that one of the links or contacts is out of date.
If you're new to UU Paganism, you may want to check out the brief intro by CUUPS' President Joan Van Becelaere.
Blessed Be and Be Well.
(page last updated February 13, 2002)
Special Notice: BUUC officially supports the rights of gay couples to marry, and endorses the efforts of the Vermont Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage. In lieu of that, we also support legal recognition of same-sex partnership/civil union.
Page Contents:
- BUUC Circle Description
- Green Mountain Circle Works newsletter
- BUUC Schedule
- Vermont & Regional Calendar and Resources
-
Links:
- Pan-Pagan listserv
- Vermont On-Line
- events calendars
- networking
- news
-
religious tolerance
c. Rev. Dian Firebearer Mueller, HPs
Co-Founder & Minister-at-Large
(rev. 15 Nov 2001)
The purpose of the Burlington UU Circle CUUPS chapter is to provide a safe place for Pagans in Vermont to create community and to assure through our ritual and other outreach projects that no Green Mountain Pagan is solitary unless they choose to be. Our most important services are providing a place for spiritual community, regular Pagan practice, and finding learning resources.
Input from all interested, committed people helps shape our direction and the content of each Moon's gatherings. We feel free to draw from any and all traditions that feel powerful and carry spiritual truth. The ritual leader's Path determines the nature of a given ceremony, and have been conducted in Wiccan, Asatru, Eygptian Paganism, Faerie, elemental animism, and assorted other traditions.
I have been asked a number of times how Circle "works," so I will briefly elaborate. There are two ways to answer this. Firstly, there are some basic ground rules that may be familiar to anyone who has participated in groups working intimately together. The more open we can be with each other, the deeper our work can be, and so two tenets of Circle work are Perfect Love and Perfect Trust: We call these the Watchwords of Circle. We share out of love, and we trust that we will be supported and the intimate details of our sharing will remain within the group. The love and trust deepen the work, and the depth of the work feeds the love and trust we feel.
We should feel free to experiment and to follow our inner urgings in the Circle, so long as they harm none. The magic within it is fostered by a comfortable and creative environment, and its goal is self-transformation. Magic, as a Wiccan Elder once said, is the ability to bring our dreams and visions into our everyday lives, and this takes the courage that a loving group encourages.
Starhawk has described the teaching, ritual, and tools of a Circle as "metaphors for 'That-Which-Cannot-Be-Told'." She has said that "the mysteries of the absolute can never be explained -- only felt or intuited. Symbols and ritual acts are used to trigger altered states of awareness, in which insights that go beyond words are revealed."
The general technique used to enter this altered or sacred space begins with calling ourselves together and often by bringing to mind certain qualities suggested by the four directions traditional to indigenous American and European ceremony. For instance, enlightenment from the East, will from the South, love from the West, and growth from the North. The fifth mystical direction, the Center, is the place of Spirit, which is brought into conscious awareness by getting in touch with the deepest and highest parts of ourselves, the God/dess within and around us.
The way that we represent these things is influenced by content of the next portion of the Circle -- what I call the work -- which may involve guided imagery, a creative project, improvisation, and so forth. We then often share our experiences of the work, and out of the bonding that has occurred, we offer a time for healing work to help individuals with specific issues they are dealing with in their lives. Only regular members who have signed our code of ethics are permitted to perform hands-on healing in the inner circle.
A big part of any community gathering is often feasting, and within the Circle, the sacramental food has special meaning. We usually share bread as a symbol of our common bonds of the body, and of our proper place among the living and non-living things of the world. When we share wine and/or juice, it is a symbol of our connection of blood from one generation to another, and the tears of joy and struggle we shed on our Paths. After the ritual is brought to a close, a potluck feast and conversation are shared.
People of all ages(+) are welcome to participate in the Circle and CUUPS
community so long as the consensual guidelines developed by the group are
followed, and the CUUPS statement of purpose is supported:
* promoting the practice and understanding of Pagan and Earth-centered
spirituality within the Unitarian Universalist Association,
* enabling networking among Pagan-identified
Unitarian Universalists;
* providing for the outreach of Unitarian Universalism to the broader Pagan
Community;
* providing educational materials on Paganism and Earth-centered spirituality
for Unitarian Universalist congregations and the general public;
* promoting interfaith dialogue,
* encouraging the development of theological and liturgical materials based
on Pagan and Earth-centered religious and spiritual perspectives,
* encouraging greater use of music, dance, visual arts, poetry, story and
creative ritual in Unitarian Universalist worship and celebration,
* providing a place or places for gathering and for worship,
* and fostering healing relationships with the Earth and all the Earth's
children.
(+) Children need to be well-behaved and participate in the Circle insofar as they are able. If they are not, we do have a room which they may go to with their parents. Young children must be accompanied by parents; there are also policies regarding unaccompanied older youth and written permission. Please write to BUUCinc@aol.com for more info.
BUUC publishes a quarterly newsletter containing breaking world news of interest to Pagans, local columns, feature stories, song lyrics, and calendar and resources pages. These are available free of charge at our rituals and potluck fellowship nights. We also offer very limited free delivery in Vermont, mostly in the Burlington area. You can receive a print subscription for an annual (4 issues) $6 donation; an e-mail version for $3. We also offer back issues for $2; an index can be found on the newsletter page. To order, please check out our News Extra! page.
We invite you to join us at our gatherings usually held on the second Saturday of the month at 6 p.m. promptly, at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, 152 Pearl St. (top of Church St.), Burlington, VT. Sabbats are often celebrated if they fall close to the Circle. A potluck feast follows each ritual. Please bring a cushion to sit on, potluck dish, and musical instrument (especially drums). A $2-4 donation is also requested; more if you can, less if you can't. Folks should always feel welcome if they can't afford this. In order to assure that we start on time, participants are encouraged to arrive at 5:30pm. The doors close once we have done introductions. On the information table, we generally provide more information about BUUC, CUUPS, Unitarian Universalism, Vermont resources of interest to Pagans, and copies of PagaNet News. FMI, e-mail us.
Our 2002 Circle schedule:
Mar 9
Apr 13
May 11
Jun 8
Jul 13* (may be held during
SulisCircle)
Aug 10*
Sep 14
Oct 12
Nov 9
Dec 14
* Events in the warm months will held off-site. Please e-mail ahead.
Spirit Drum & Ecstatic Dance Circles:
An ecstatic healing experience for all skill levels on the fourth Monday of every month except December. Bring drums and/or other percussion instruments; limited extra drums available. $2-4 donation when held at the UU Meeting House. 7:30-9pm.
Feb 25
Mar 25
Apr 22
May 27*
Jun 24*
Jul 22*
Aug 26*
Sep 23
Oct 28
Nov 25
* Drum circles in the Summer will be held at "Little Stonehenge" on the
Burlington Waterfront.
Here you will find Vermont and regional events, plus Vermont resources of interest to Pagans.
BUUC manages PanPaganVT listserv for all Vermont Pagans. The purpose is to network, especially for organizing Pan-Pagan events in the state.
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