During this time of year many Pagans, both new and old, feel a call towards community. As we all know, True Tribe is not so easy to find. The best place to find events in your area is, and always has been, The Witches Voice. Go to your area's page, and look under events for open rituals, circles and ceremonies in your area. As always, practice caution and show common sense when meeting new people for the first time.
...and by the way, if you use or read The Witches Voice, maybe you should help support it, as well, yes? Think about what you spend on a CD, dinner or a movie on a regular basis, and send them that.
California Dreaming:
A reminder to my readers in California: The Full Circle Earthwise Community Calendar has a large listing of events in your area. This is a free service we offer to the community.
(My regards to our old friends out there. We love it here, but we miss you, as well. Know that you are in our hearts and our thoughts).
Looking Good and Doing Good:
This year, we are asking our readers to make Samhain donations to the various animal and human rescue groups that are helping people after the California wildfires. Whenever we find a coven or circle holding a charity or community fund raiser, we always like to highlight that in yellow at the top of the calendar. I strongly believe that Pagan groups should be about more than prancing around looking "witchy". I hope you do, too. If you know of a Pagan group that does good work in their community, write and tell us about it. You can reach us as info(at)fullcircleevents.org. (Change the word "at" to an at sign, and the email will go through)
Following the Fae
Our friend Pixie just sent us this link to her recent photos from FairyCon in Phillidelphia, which takes place in mid-October. Much fun was clearly had.
Our own FCE calendar lists the wonderful Labyrinth of Jared ball, which takes place in Los Angeles in summer.
You can view some of the pictures from the 2001 Witches Ball here. The theme that year was Fairies and we used the work of Brian Froud as our inspiration. We had a large, 3 level dance floor with seating all around, and a huge vendor room next door. Over 600 volunteers, and guests attended that year. It remains my favorite of all our balls.
All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go?
As our regular readers know, we have not offered a Full Circle Witches' Ball for some years now, not since so many of our senior staff (your humble servant included) left California. However there are some excellent, smaller Witches' Balls (1) that go on throughout California and elsewhere, along with some lovely Spiral Dances (2). Check them out. It a nice way to meet people, without committing to an unknown circle or a long series of courses.
One of my favorite events in California is put on by our friends at PEERS. It is called the Les Ball Des Vampires and was recently the focus of an article at the San Francisco Chronicle.
I have a soft spot for the good folks at PEERS. They have put on amazing, varied events, every single month for many years now, and they always still found the time to work with us, as well. The two groups were able to share information and help promote each other's events. As a result, we have their wonderful folks at our Witches' Ball, and many of our people went to their various balls. That, ladies and gentleman, is how it's done. When I see two good Pagan groups in the same town competing jealously, instead of helping one another, I feel so frustrated. When I see Pagans put their noses up, and refuse to work with "mundanes" (like the good folks at PEERS, who are anything but), I just want to curse (pun intended). It's such a waste of energy and time.
We can do better, folks. We really can.
Blessed Samhain and a Happy Halloween to all here,
Sia
(1) Our ball was a charity fundraiser. It served as both an interfaith and Pagan Pride event, and it attracted both Pagans and nonPagans alike to a very fun, life affirming, and positive event, which is something I am very proud of to this day. It also took nine months to organize, required a great deal of seed money and needed many talented, reliable, hard working volunteers to pull off. Check out this page to see the various web sites we built for each ball, along with photos and notes about that year's award winner.
(2) Between us, I prefer the smaller, homegrown Spiral Dances. The large, self important, political dances bore me to tears.
Photo: This is an altar built by Fritz Jung and Wren Walker, the founders of The Witches Voice. It features their black cat, Dixie.
Related Articles: Building an Altar
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