Our  Doings

MayFaire CANCELLEDMay 19, 2007
Full Moons
CUUPS Message Board
Candles of Joy and Concern
The Charge of Commitment
How We Record Hurts: A Soul Tale
The New Broom
Living Peace:   5  Rules of Thumb
Tao te Ching
Joys and Concerns Page
Welcome New Members
Ritual Committee Developments
Camp
CUUPS Message Board
Welcome New Members  
New Member Orientation Classes Developed         
Ritual Team                                                               
Tech Team News              

MayFaire 2007 was cancelled by unanimous action of the board because of a shortage of volunteers. I

If you want YuleFaire on December 1, 2007, we NEED a dozen volunteers -- confirmed -- for that day;

advance help is also welcome.

If you're interested in being on the MayFaire 2007 committee,

Long-time member, Shanna, Secretary and Volunteer Coordinator, has left her job at the Casino and will be working for Lifetime Fitness. Early hours there will mean that she'll have better hours for her private practice -- she is professionally trained in therapeutic massage -- oh, my Goddess, is she good! 

AND now she'll be able to attend our Sunday events.

Over the next several months, Shanna will be taking on administrative tasks needed to make all the activities CUUPS-TC more effective and satisfying. 
 

Welcome New Members at Membering Ritual February 4

CUUPS-TwinCities welcomes Karen to our circle. She's a community organizer specializing in environmental issues.

CUUPS-TwinCities Screens Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth
On Saturday, January 20, at 7 pm CUUPS-TwinCities provided 4 dozen members of Paganistan with a free screening of An Inconvenient Truth.  Two professional barristas from Blue Star tradition volunteered and the cash espresso and dessert bar covered expenses.

Sunday,    June 3   
Waning  Full Moon,
Board elections
Picnic at 5 pm      

                                
Sunday,    July 1    
Full Moon
 

The Moon is perfectly full when it is 180 degrees from the Sun. (This angle is called an opposition.) It is presumed Full for 36 hours before and after this opposition. Thus, unless the Full Moon occurs within 36 hours of our Sunday ritual time, we will celebrate it as a waning or waxing Gibbous Moon.

Waxing (Gibbous) Full Moon work includes blessings and celebrations, works of gratitude, joy and worship,  weddings, and healing.

The Waning (Gibbous) Full Moon work consolidates psychic, psychological and lunar work, empowers completion of short-term projects, facilitates healing after conflict or injury, and is a powerful opportunity for worship experiences. 
   
You'll find exact astronomical dates, real time displays, and more on Pagan  Institute Report's Lunar information page .                                                                                       

Call it Yuletide Magick, call it entropy, but in spite of all our apparently too low expectations, we were
drafted -- possessed? -- by the spirit of Santa and managed to provide Yule gifts for 15 kids!  Just
imagine what we could have done if we had begun planning in early fall?

From a sister chapter
By "Aisling" <aisling@technoharp.com>

Last year for the local Gay Pride Interfaith service, where I represented CUUPs, I created the following using the 7 Principles and the Charge of the Goddess:
 

The Charge of Commitment

Listen to the words of the Great Mother of All Living, She who is the Mother of Mysteries:
I who am the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon among the stars,
and the mysteries of the waters,
I call upon your soul to arise and come unto me.
For I am the soul of Nature that gives Life unto the Universe.
We affirm our mutual respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold - all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.
We affirm our mutual acceptance of one another, and encourage individual spiritual growth in our diverse congregations. We affirm that all life-affirming paths of Spirit are useful and valid to those who practice them, and that all seek One Source, that Highest Good that lies at the end of every search for Truth.
Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you.
       We affirm our determination to work together for justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, with a goal of world community and peace, liberty, and justice for all.
And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not unless you know the mystery; for if that which you seek you find not within yourself, you will never find it without.
       We affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and the universal right to pursue a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
For behold, I have been with you from the beginning; and I am that Wisdom and Love and Peace which is attained at the end of the Journey.
       We affirm that there is Love in the Universe.  We affirm our commitment to expressing and developing ourselves as representations of that Love.
We affirm  to our Deities, and to one another, our Commitments Of The Heart.

Amen, Ashe, and Blessed Be

Please feel free to use or adapt this as you wish for your own purposes.

Maureen Duffy-Boose
CRF CUUPs Board, SVUUS
265-0887
 

How we record our hurts:
A Soul Tale

Two friends were on a long journey through the desert together. The frustrations and fatigue and their own limitations led to a conflict, which escalated until one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but instead of continuing the argument, silently wrote in the sand:

"Today my best friend slapped me in the face."

They both reflected silently on what had happened as they kept on walking.  The disagreement faded from prominence in their minds as they both reflected on how important their relationship continued to be.

Eventually, they found an oasis, where they decided to bathe. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started to drown, but his friend saved him. After recovered from the near drowning, he etched on a stone:

"Today my best friend saved my life."

The one who had first slapped and then saved his best friend, asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can wear it away, but when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessings in stone.

----- An old soul tale retold by Christa Landon.

Tao te Ching, chapter #67 
Translated by Ted Tollefson 

...Three treasures
have been entrusted to our care:
first a nurturing heart (= tzu)*,
second frugality,
third humility.

From a nurturing heart comes courage---
freedom from fear;
from frugality comes generosity---
freedom from want;
from humility comes leaders who serve---
freedom from self-importance...

Kindness and mercy bring victory in battle
and security in times of peace.
Heaven shelters those
who live with an open heart&mind .
____________________________
*tzu=  heart below, growing plants above: nurturing heart, motherly love, loving kindness

You've heard it said that "a new broom sweeps clean."  You might also know that, according to Wiccan tradition, witches concealed their magickal wands in brooms, and that the wand embodies the True Will of an individual.

As we begin the next phase of CUUPS-TwinCities life, we will be engaging in revisiting all the activities, structures, and processes which shape our lives together, reconstructing wherever we can find better ways, discarding what doesn't work for us, reaffirming what we value, and prioritizing our projects.

To do this, we plan to focus our 2007 membership events on articulating our Mission and Covenant.


A MISSION     is the group's articulation and lived commitment of:
                           who we are;
                           why we exist as a group;
                           whom our group exists to serve.
    

Our mission statement will help us to do four things:
                           1. to be conscious of ourselves and make intentional choices;
                           2. to evoke deeper commitment among members;
                           3. to unites us; and
                           4. to invites others who share similar aspirations.

          
Our mission statement will clarify our shared identity and purpose. It is our Covenant which will address HOW we will be together.


A COVENANT
is a sacred promise articulating the commitment of individuals to one another. Like the magickal circle, the covenant is the sacred boundary which defines the community, holds us, focuses our energy on our highest aspirations, and protects us.

A covenant is not merely a two party contract, which may be voided if one party fails.  Rather, a covenant has a Transcendent partner, which may be seen as the Divine,  the World Soul, or the larger community which is also affected by our relationship.  A covenant is a commitment to shared aspirations, and when the promise is broken, it invites recommitment because caring and those shared aspirations endure.


COVENANTING
As Rebecca Parker put it, a covenant "is not a verbal agreement but a practice."

As we consider the elements of the covenant which we want to share with each other, we begin to live it.  Over time, we will return again and again to our covenant and ourselves what the words imply in specific situations.

As the group grows wiser with experience, we will revisit our Covenant, perhaps changing it.

This is why we call ourselves "COVENANT of UU Pagans."

If you are interested in participating in our Mission and Covenant process, please contact Kate or Melinda.

In hope and service,
       Kate Madson, Treasurer
       Tom Landon, Webmaster
       Christa Landon, Adult Education, Communications

Ritual Committee Developments

The Ritual Committee now meets two times plus the rehearsal to create each festival.  Drummers and musicians can practice on their own, but are expected to attend the rehearsal.

We're looking for more members to help make the magick happen.

No experience?  We all start out that way! If you're a new ritualist, we welcome you to start by helping to produce our new moon rituals, allowing the main ritual team to focus on Full Moons and Festivals.

If you have good speaking or singing voice, a flair for the dramatic, or neither of those, but just a reverent heart and a desire to serve in helping to create beautiful, meaningful, and participatory worship, we can find a role for you!  

If meetings aren't your thing, but you are "a hostest with the mostest," and would like to make our Feasts memorable by creating the atmosphere for the meal and directing the set-up, there's an apron, crown, and sceptor awaiting you!  Tear-down/clean-up folks are also welcome. 

Sheet music and training CDs are being distributed to those folks preparing the next festival. The ritual team has a new "secret clubhouse" on line for ritual planning, as well as our ritual team listserv. 

All that's missing is YOU! 

Details are at MayFaire.  We are now accepting vendors, presenters, and additional volunteers for the MayFaire committee.  We're also looking for ideas for more food, fun, music, workshops, roundtables, and vendors selling fabulous finds!

We're looking NOW for folks to commit to assisting on any of the following tasks:

Creating and/or soliciting items for silent auction and door prizes
Soliciting vendors, presenters, community organizations
Distributing Flyers
Creating indoor and outdoor "Art Faire" signage
Setting up outdoor signage 3 days in advance
Set up Friday evening
Baking at your home; we can freeze it as early as 6 days in advance.
Food planning
Grocery shopping week prior
Cooking Saturday a.m.
Cooking Saturday afternoon
Facilitating Roundtables
Admissions
Tabling for CUUPS on Saturday
Selling Food
Tear down Saturday May 19 from 6-8 pm

If you would like to become a member, we'll offer the  program every couple months or whenever there are 4 who are interested, whichever comes first.  We'll offer them at different times if needed to accommodate shift workers. As always, there is no charge for the orientation program and anyone may attend with an RSVP. 

Spread the word!  

CUUPS-TwinCities brochures are accessible online for distribution to UU congregations, Pagan stores, and anywhere else appropriate.  Copies will be available at all events, but you can also print them up yourself on paper of your choice, because they are yours here in .pdf format. PLEASE SPREAD THESE AROUND:

        "What is Paganism?"                                                 "Merry Meet! We are CUUPS-TwinCities"

for folks too smart to re-invent the wheel:

UU Resources for Shared Leadership

Just click on the image:                                

Chartering Our Chapter:  Progress Report
Chapter Sponsorship: 

The last requirement for our CUUPS chapter being chartered is to be sponsored by a UU congregation. Because we serve members of many UU congregations in the Metro, we could apply for sponsorship at any congregation which has several of us in its membership. There are presently 5 members of CUUPS-TC who are members at FUS: Sue, Kate, Melinda, Tom and Christa.

Because UU congregations are democratically run, our request for sponsorship would be considered by the board of the congregation involved. The key to sustainable relationship is, as always, reciprocity and shared purposes.

First Unitarian Society has asked CUUPS to help tear down and set up between some weekend events, when they do not have a custodian on duty.  If you are available to stay 15 minutes after an event, please check with Tom or Christa Landon about whether we are needed for that.

PLEASE, if you value the vision and programs CUUPS Twin Cities offers, visit a UU congregation.  If you have been attending a UU congregation, please consider joining them and becoming a member of the chapter as well.  If you aren't familiar with the different cultures of the dozen UU congregations in the Metro, pick up a map brochure with a brief description of each congregation at any CUUPS event or visit the website www.unitarian.org and check out each congregation's page. 

As you know, we have been especially blessed with the generosity and trust shown to us by First Unitarian Society which has been donating the space we have used for the past year. We had hoped to be ready to request sponsorship from First Unitarian Society by now. However, before we can make such a request, we need to have a few more MEMBERS OF CUUPS TWIN CITIES who are also members of First Unitarian Society (FUS). The next FUS membership program is scheduled for May 2005, but members can join at anytime. If you are serious about building bridges between these communities, this is a great way to do it.  Questions? Ask Christa at 763-493-3634.

And if you're a non-joiner, there are other ways to "give back" to the congregation which shelters us.