An open letter to the Pagan Community

Embracing change...

Back in 1996, a group of Pagans of varied backgrounds came together and formed The Path of the Moon Collective. It was and always remained an open group, accepting of all paths and offered a safe space to learn and practice. Over the years, the leadership worked hard to meet the needs of the local Pagan community. Friendships were formed, lessons were learned and experiments were undertaken along the way. It was quite the journey. And as with any journey you end up with memories, souvenirs, lots of baggage and probably some dirty laundry – you know, all the things that make the journey worth taking. But journeys come to an end. You come to a point where it's time to unpack, reorganize and decide on the next trip to take and destination to head toward.

After 25 years it's come to that point for the Path of the Moon Collective. We look back fondly with memories that will last forever. But we're also looking forward, ready to set out on a new journey with all the thrills and challenges that come with it.

So, Path of the Moon is now becoming The New Moon Collective. We, the current organizers, have chosen this name to signify the way things change as time passes on. The community has evolved. The people involved have changed. We've met challenges with leadership changes and the loss of a permanent venue. The Moon moves through her phases, showing us different faces while still remaining the beautiful night Goddess we have always loved. It's time for us to move into a new phase as well, while still remaining the pagan-centric, accepting, diverse Collective we have always been at the core.

Over the last 18 months I think we've all realized the importance of community. Real, in-person, face to face, energy to energy, community. It's not just about the social aspects of being with other people. Its the imperative need for local communities, circles on the ground, that we can build, strengthen and depend on in our lives. A dear Witch I know calls these The Tower Times and urges all of us to come together locally as these life altering changes happen around us.

So where do we head next in this journey?

First, we want and need people to get excited and active again. Let's start learning from one another again and sharing our Spiritual and personal experiences and knowledge. To that end we're looking at the idea of restarting our monthly meet ups, but making every other month a peer-led discussion on some aspect of Paganism, magical work, or metaphysics. We would hope for those of you in the community to submit ideas and volunteer to lead these discussions. The other months would be a casual, friendly meetup for socializing and networking.

Secondly, we are planning to hold a public ritual twice a year. At this time we're looking at Ostara and Lammas in 2022 for these rituals. Of course, more information will be available as we get closer to those dates.

Eventually more events may be added as people step forward who are willing to host and lead them. It can't be just 2 or 3 people doing all the work. It's going to take the village to raise this new “child”.

(Note : For all our gatherings, whether they be meetups, discussion groups, picnics or rituals, the health and safety of all participants will remain a priority. We will be following all local, state and CDC recommendations and guidelines as it pertains to masks, social distancing, etc. The guidelines we adopt will be published on all of our social media sites (Facebook, Tik-Tok, Website, etc). )

Speaking of websites, the old POTMC site will be going away and a new, fresh site is being developed. We will be including a calendar of events to keep you informed of Pagan happenings across the area and state, including those of other groups. We also hope to have a blog page filled with community contributions, and an area where we will offer donated crafts and other items for sale, with all proceeds going to fund our public events. (We would love to have your ideas and donations, so please contact us!)

To kick things off we have set a date for a Pagan Picnic to be held on Sunday, October 17th at Horizons Park. All the details will be forthcoming, but mark your calendars now! To make a fresh start for all of us in this new Collective, we are inviting each and every one of you to join us at the picnic for a “burn your baggage” ritual. We'll provide the paper and a fire, and you come prepared to symbolically burn all those things best left in the past, all the things that are holding you back from moving ahead into a new and better phase of your Spiritual life and Community Engagement. We'll also be sharing a meal together and spending time getting reacquainted and making new connections.

We look forward to taking these first step on this new journey with all of you! So stay tuned for all the new phases of the New Moon Collective.

Sincerely,

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Sandra Dupree

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