CUUPS-TwinCities
Membership Information

D'Arcy Matson created this wonderful banner for our chapter. 
She's one of the people at CUUPS-TwinCities who makes the magick happen!

Questions You May Have
about Membership

Q. What IS CUUPS-TwinCities?

A:  "CUUPS" stands for Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. There are many Pagan organizations currently active in the Twin Cities; each is different, each meeting a different set of needs.  CUUPS is unique, being both Pagan and Unitarian Universalist.

CUUPS was born in 1985 as a way to bridge these two communities which had values in common but radically different histories and styles of worship. As one of the co-founders, Christa Landon sought to find for Paganism a new, more Aquarian model of religious community and the skills required to sustain it. 

CUUPS' form of Paganism is shaped by Aquarian ideals of participatory democracy, the use of reason, and mutual empowerment in the context of congregational life. The chapter belongs to its members; chapter members vote and shape the development of our local chapter. 

Unitarian Universalism has also been shaped by the presence of CUUPS, especially through the UU General Assemblies, at which CUUPS has presented programming about Paganism each year since 1987. CUUPS was also instrumental in the UUA's adoption of the "Sixth Source" of UUism: "Spiritual Teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature."  Four years ago, a survey conducted by the UUA's Commission on Appraisal revealed that 19% of UUs identified "Nature/Earth-centered spirituality" as their PRIMARY theological orientation.

CUUPS-TwinCities serves NOT ONLY our own members but also the UU congregations and the Pagan community in the Twin Cities by providing opportunities for education, networking, and dialog, referral, consulting, and programs.

Q: Do you have to be a member of CUUPS-TwinCities to attend the 8 Seasonal Rituals, New Moons or to be on the ritual team?

A: No, any Pagan or UU or seeker who reads our e-zine or attends our events is a part of the CUUPS Community, and we invite you to share in what we do by participating at whatever level you desire, short of serving on the board and voting. The only exception is that Full Moons are now limited to members only, so we can do the more personal sharing and magickal workings then.

Q: So what is membership?

A: A member is one who is ready to be MORE than a consumer of services, one who wants to take a share of the responsibility for the mission of the chapter and have a voice in making decisions which will shape the future of CUUPS-TwinCities. Members pay annual dues and receive a membership card. We are united in covenant with one another in mutual support to achieve the 
Purposes of CUUPS.  Working together in the service of what we love makes us close.

Q: What's in it for ME?

A: The greatest benefit of membership is participating in a partnership to change our culture, among ourselves, in the larger Pagan and UU communities of Minnesota and beyond.  Working together, we are exploring the  implications of Paganism for sustainable community life. Our commitment makes it possible to give body to our dreams, to bring them into visible, institutional manifestation. 

In religion and magick -- as in other endeavors -- the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Membership makes you a player, rather than a spectator or casual participant.  Working together with others who share your values creates a close community as nothing else can.

Membership entitles you to vote to set directions and policy for Twin Cities CUUPS at membership meetings and to vote for officers and members of the Steering Committee who manage the chapter's affairs between meetings of the membership.  At membership meetings the members elect a board, set goals, and establish bylaws. (Non-members may observe but not participate in membership meetings.)

In addition, members may attend board meetings and share a new list-serve for discussing the chapter's affairs (See below).

Last year we focused on serving the broader Pagan community and we'll continue all those programs. But we also need to nurture our members. In 2003-2004, we're looking to create some special programs and services for members; we're looking for suggestions. Our Full Moon rituals are MEMBERS ONLY events, which allow us to work at a deeper level, sharing personal concerns.  Other possibilities under consideration now include members retreats and other programs to nurture our membership. Members will choose among the possibilities in a Dreaming session to be held in conjunction with the January membership meeting.

Q: How do I become a member? 

A: Any adult (or minor age 14-17 with written parental consent) may become a member by paying dues if s/he "substantially supports" the Purposes of CUUPS and the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism.

Currently, dues are set at $30/year with the year ending June 30. Families memberships are $45/year. Full time students and others on low incomes may become chapter members for $20/year. To become a member, send your check or money order (made out to CUUPS-TwinCities) to CUUPS-TC, PO BOX 580138,  Minneapolis, Mn 55458-0138. 

Why Become a Member?
By Christa Landon

Many Pagans are reluctant to join ANY organization, and as a result, our movement has been hampered in achieving our goals. In the 60's and 70's most Pagans were taught in small, secret groups, primarily by oral tradition. The old rules of secrecy from the Book of Shadows kept groups tiny and generally isolated. Few Pagan newsletters with a circulation over 100 ran more than a few issues. Beginning in the late 70's  regional festivals arose to link members of our community and books gave access to solitaries who were not initiated into a lineage or tradition. Since the Internet has become available to the general public, it has become the most powerful institution for our movement. And our numbers are growing rapidly.

The second generation of American Pagans wants and needs resources which individual Pagans have not the power to provide.

In the XXI century, the longing for face-to-face, Pagan community institutions is becoming increasingly urgent as our numbers grow and repressive groups are ever more organized and successful in using governmental power to curtail our civil liberties. 

Seventeen centuries ago, Pagans lost our civil liberties primarily because we were overwhelmed by better organization, culminating in the use of force. 

The Piscean Age began when the small city-states collapsed into Empires. The Piscean values of self-sacrifice, submission to authority, passivity, surrender, martyrdom, withdrawal from conflict, secrecy, and escapism shaped the past two millennia. These values were realized in a hierarchical social structure perfected first as the military command structure and then the Feudal system in which every person in society is assigned a place in a hierarchy of dominance. Hierarchical organization was adopted by the early Christian church, resulting in centuries of heresy trials, inquisitions, witch hunts and crusades, not to mention the Dark Ages when Pagan learning was banned. Even in American "classless" society, the Piscean Age paradigm continues in corporate structures and in commercial culture in which who you are is your job title and your value is reduced to your "net worth."

The Piscean Age demanded blind faith and obedience. But even an Aeon comes to an end.

Once again, the dominant Western paradigm is challenged by culture shock. Again, the sense of meaning and safety one once drew from rootedness in a face-to-face community has been obliterated by the need to follow jobs and urban sprawl. Once more, the middle class shrinks as economic power is centralized in the hands of ever fewer people. Again, the chilling effect of new police powers justified by an unendable war is causing many to withdraw from active citizenship into private cocoons. Political hysteria in the name of patriotism is polarizing a normally liberal and tolerant society, and further corrupting the dominant religion in the process. Religion is becoming increasingly an escape into fantasy, disembodied, disempowered, and disconnected from this world.

All this happened before, and a new religion emerged. Some believe it will be warring forms of Fundamentalism. But perhaps the stars will be with us, if we are faithful to them.

We are now at a nexus of possible realities -- what we do will affect generations after us. But we need an organizational model and skills if the Pagan revival endure as more than a footnote in some dissertation on "Religion and the Hippie Movement."

There are many Pagan groups around the country which are trying to establish basic Pagan institutions, beyond the occult shop and the Internet. These include: cooperative libraries, congregations, community centers, anti-defamation and legal support groups, adult education programs, retreat centers, and more.  

In the face of change, Nature multiplies mutations; some will survive and carry life successfully into new conditions. The Pagan community needs MANY experiments, and each group BENEFITS from the success of the others; that's why CUUPS spends so much energy informing the Twin Cities Pagan community about public Pagan events of OTHER Pagan groups. 

Witch Wars are grounded in the old dualistic world view, a zero-sum game which the Fundamentalists can have all for themselves, as far as I am concerned.  Pagan leaders -- and most of us should be leaders in some way -- we have too much work to do to waste our energies in competition.

The critical thing is that Pagans find ways to collaborate to create institutions grounded in Aquarian Age values: democracy, diversity, voluntary association, humanitarianism, and faithful obedience to truth rather than to authority.

James Luther Adams wrote,

"...anything that exists effectively in history must have form. And the creation of a form requires power. It requires not only the power of thought but also the power of organization and the organization of power....The decisive forms of goodness in society are institutional forms. (Being Human Religiously, p. 18).

In the Piscean Age, power usually meant something unholy to mystics. 

But there are three kinds of power: 

POWER WITHIN is the capacity each individual has to make changes happen, based on skill, strength, effort, intelligence, passion, and wisdom. Power Within is mostly an individual accomplishment, depending mostly on individual efforts. While the focus is private, the more Power Within everyone experiences, the richer and happier the whole world is. You might say that Power Within is an additive sum game.

Generally, modern Paganism has focused on developing power within and has thus supported very few institutions other than publishing houses, book stores, astrologers, tarot readers, and other individual service providers. 

POWER OVER OTHERS is a zero sum game; one cannot win without someone else losing. This is the dominant paradigm of unenlightened culture and results in ranking everyone into a pecking order or hierarchical pyramid of dominance. 

Power Over others can take many forms: