September 2023 Newsletter
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Samhain
Oct 27-29, 2023 YMCA Camp
West Mar Sabillasville, MD |
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We welcome you to a spooktacular Samhain with us at Camp West Mar! Our spooky season’s happenings will include traditional activities and classes. Our camp amenities will include Flush Toilets, Hot Water, and Heated Cabins. Come in your most splendid masks and costumes to our dance party. Or hunt for candies and prizes during our pumpkin themed scavenger hunt! A meal plan will be provided. Please enjoy a fall filled weekend and have some extra cozy fun! Registration coming soon. |
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Eclipse Magic Weekend
April 6 - 9, 2024 Grand Valley, PA
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Join Stone Circle Council for a magical weekend of watching the total Solar Eclipse. Geographical viewing areas are limited, so we will be traveling north towards Lake Erie. It will be *cold* with probable overnight lows in the 30s and daily highs likely not more than 55. Our venue, therefore, will be hotel-style!
The weekend will include outdoor viewing of almost 2 full minutes (1m52s) of totality. We will be including beverages, meals, and snacks for the weekend in registration!
The weekend will lead to ample opportunities to connect, relax, do magic, learn some things, and witness something that won't be back in the states for the next 20 years! That's the basics!
RSVP now so we can make sure we've got the right-sized venue!! Formal registration will open later this summer!
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Community Articles & Updates:
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Call for Officer Nominations |
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It's that time of year again when we nominate our awesome friends and family to help run our organization as members of the Officer's Council. We have two positions up for election this fall: Projects Officer and the newly created Technology Officer. You can learn more about each of these positions and nominate some folks at the link below.
Nominate your best picks! Nominate you! Nominate your friend! Nominate your pet (we need a mascot)! NOMINATE EVERYONE!! But do it before nominations close on 9/xx!
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Council members are able to fully participate in our elections! They are able to nominate other members or themselves to be considered for election to Officer Council positions. They are also able to vote in those and other democratic elections. And becoming a Council Member is easy! Members pay yearly dues of $50, or can choose to pay with an auto-pay monthly membership of $5/month. If you are not currently a council member, we'd also like you to consider upgrading your membership so that you can fully participate in our democratic process!
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Strategic Planning Committee SCC needs you! What will SCC look like in a year? Five years? Ten? Only you can decide that—so contact Liz at lharman@stonecirclecouncil.org to join the Strategic Planning Committee and bring your vision for our future to the community. Our first meeting will be in August. Thank you to everyone who has already let us know of your interest in helping. Its not too late to volunteer! Let Liz know by Lugh and she will make sure you get the meeting details. |
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A Stones Family Gathering Retrospective from a first time attendee. |
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First time SFG attendee, Giordana wrote some daily wrap-ups during her stay with us. Below we are sharing part of her overall thoughts, and some images with her permission. This is a wonderful reminder of why we do what we do. |
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This weekend, I loved seen that people—who would be bullied, marginalized, and expected to one day face hell, flames and a loving god’s terrible judgment—could simply be. They appeared to feel safe from all those loving religious people who would hurt them in the name of their credo. It was a breath of air. I felt I did not need to be an advocate, an ally. I could simply relax. No one needed protection. I simply could exist completely accepted as a human being wout having to declare my gender or sexual orientation which were not assumed, and without having to protect others. Amen to that.
People wore their hair however they wanted. They wore whatever they wanted, and they were simply accepted.
People were not divided in sinners and the ones who, by chance, simply happened to be born in the right group. If anything at all was preached, it was not what one should eat and not eat, which rituals make food eatable in the first place, and on which days not to eat what. No one gave rules on how to dress and what constitutes modesty or lack of it. No one defined male and female and their roles. No one gave a target to hate. No one pointed out the importance of staying close and marrying in a particular group. No one told anything about who should sleep w whom or love whom as long as it was consensual and age appropriate. |
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We were reminded of the playfulness of nature, of our own strengths, of never forgetting others, of taking care of ourselves. I felt cared for, safe and pampered. People seemed truly genuine and authentic. I felt safe in my room and safe turning my back.
I saw the beauty of accepted diversity and kindness and love for nature. Spirituality was palpable, however one understood it, wout any imposition onto others. It included connection to past, present and future life and continuation of the world.
I liked that not only priests and pastors and rabbis and imams got to wear funny dresses and hats. Anyone who wanted was welcome to do so. And no books used to justify crusades, slavery, injustices, women and children subjugation were used, even w the suggestions that things, in recent times, have changed. Nope, simply no such thing.
It was for me—as an advocate, ally, and therapists of people traumatized and hurt by religions—a breath of air. |
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Stoneside Chat with the Officers 4th Sunday at 6:30 PM ET - The Workshop |
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Introducing "Stoneside Chat with the Officers" |
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At the June officers meeting, we discussed what to do with any excess revenue from our events. Beginning with TriFire 2023, up to 20% of any excess revenue will go to the indigenous communities where the event occurred and up to 20% will be transferred to Sunshine Funds!
We have also created an incident report form. If you cannot speak to an officer, this is a method you can use to report incidents ranging from accidents to security concerns to code of conduct and community standards concerns. The link is on our "About" page or accessed directly here.
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The Officers love hearing from you! Drop us a line on Facebook, Discord, or email us personally:
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Executive: Coriander Woodruff, John Nunemaker
Communications: Liz Harman
Financial: Chris "Tinder" McGrath
Projects: Jon "Argon" Noll
Advising: Jessie Taylor, Rhiannon Linfeld
Yours in Service, Liz Harman, Communications Officer |
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Where we gather, we are home. Where we go, we will raise Stones.
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THE STONE CIRCLE COUNCIL
