Many Paths CUUPs

All are invited to join the Winter Solstice Choir! More details are in the original post.

Winter Solstice Choir!

All are invited to join the Winter Solstice Choir, led by Charlie Berggren! With story and song, we’ll celebrate the longest night, the return of the light, and the interconnectedness of all living things.

You must be 16 or older. Previous choral experience helpful but not required.

We'll have a couple rehearsals leading up to the Dress Rehearsal at 6:00pm on Friday, December 18 and the Winter Solstice Celebration at 6:00pm on Saturday, December 19.

Details in comments.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Due to the universally hated meeting time of our regularly scheduled monthly meeting, we have voted, discussed, and decided:

Our monthly meetings are moving to Saturdays!!!

Please join us at 2PM on the second Saturday of the month at the Universalist church of Bloomington, IL.

Our next meeting will be October 10th at 2PM sharp. Or dull. There will likely be people showing up any time between 1:45 and 2:15. But we are so very happy to be able to accommodate more of our members and we welcome you to join us, new or returning, for our October planning for Samhain!

Welcome, witchy ones!

Did everyone get a chance to say hello at the Transgender Resource Fair yesterday?? It was so awesome to see so many people out and ready to support our trans community, thank you all for coming! It's our deepest wish as a coven that the LGBTQ+ members of our Many Paths community can find space to be safe, supported, and welcomed as they explore their spiritual strengths with us.

We proudly affirm the human experience by including q***rness in our rituals, involving three aspects of deity - the masculine God, the feminine Goddess, and the neutral Revealer. People of many identities have represented all three in our rituals, ensuring that our similarities and differences are celebrated in as many ways as we have members.

Please remember, you are worth taking care of. We loved seeing you at the resource fair and would love to see you at our next meeting, which will be on Saturday, October 10th at 2pm. Details to follow!

Official notice from CUUPS Peoria, Keepers of the Great Grove: Mabon time has changed to doors opening at 6:30 PM for those coming for the festivities on September 19. Make sure to support our sister coven with the next of our wheel of the year rituals!

Oh, how gorgeous was our Hestia workshop?? I learned things about her that I absolutely did not anticipate, and was so grateful to be there with such a positive group! What was your favorite part that you learned, Attendees?

We made Witch Bells for this workshop!! I have them pictured below - set up, in progress, and finalized. They all turned out so beautifully! Thank you all for coming, lovely to see returning faces and new ones, too. Hopefully we can meet for our next upcoming events!

Next month's monthly meeting will be on October 14th at 7pm, as we are still finalizing our time-change for the monthly meetings. We will absolutely update you when we do make that change - here, on the discord, over email, everywhere. Keep your eyes peeled for info to come!

Feel like running your own workshop? There are openings for group members next year to present their knowledge and practice as a workshop to everyone here - reach out to us to learn more and talk about when we'd be able to do so!! I will keep you all up to date on when we will be meeting, don't worry.

So beautiful to see your shining faces this weekend. I so look forward to the next time we meet!

Hello, peoples!!

This Sunday the 13th, right after weekly service at the UU Church in Bloomington, we will have an informational booth at the Connections Fair being held in the Fell room. The purpose of this fair is to provide space for different UU groups to gather and give information to interested members within our UU community, so please join us to find out what else the church has to offer!! You'll find movie and craft groups, disability and q***r pride groups, groups focused on activism and helping the local community, as well as many more all being run and maintained by members of the church. Interested in becoming closer to the UU community? Learn ways you can join groups that are already doing the things you love by coming to the Connections Fair this Sunday, being held at 11:30AM.

At the very minimum, you'll get to say hi to Sean Thomas and Marcus while they "person" the booth!! Come on out, we'd love to see ya.

Another workshop has been successfully completed 😎 we learned so much this time from Sean Thomas about British Traditional Wicca, and I actually feel like I came away from the workshop with a whole new perspective on ritual. Everybody got a great introduction to our ritual tools, practices, and how we interact as a coven - everything was given a Why Behind Why on how it's done and for what reason!

It was good to see so many of our regulars here! I hope everyone got a better understanding of our ritual structure, and that the new friends who attended could understand what Samhain is going to look like. Did you feel like you had any questions about why we practice the way we do? Feel free to drop them in the comments - we have a good number of new experts!!

Are you looking forward to planning Samhain with us this year? We'll start cooking something up during our next monthly meeting at 7PM on 9/9. We'd love to hear everyone's ideas!

For the next chapter in our Gods and Deities workshop, we'll be meeting on 9/12 from 4-6PM to discuss Hestia! Look out for more information on this event to be posted here soon. Not sure if these workshops are for you? Anyone interested in the Hellenistic Greek deities and their mythology will find interest in this month's workshop, where we work through Hestia's stories, purveyances, and worship throughout the centuries. There's always a craft at these events, so bring $14 to help cover the cost of materials, please!

As always, it has been lovely to see your faces, whether you've been a member this past year or it was your first meeting. Come out and see us more often, we'll be waiting to welcome you!

WOW, what a FUN Lughnasadh!!!! So many thanks to friends who made it out, whether it was your first time or your fifth. We had a beautiful evening outside where we wrapped up this season with a wholesome, memorable, and entirely pleasant celebration together. From Stag to Salmon, blessed be!!

Our ceremony was diverse this time with lots of new and creative ideas being shared, from druidry to astrology to good old fashioned magical intent on building something beautiful. We spent time playing games like soccer and croquet, sitting and chatting on the swing sets, and embracing the calm communal energy that marks the passing of each season. As always, we finished with a feast where everyone shared the flavors that make summer bright; strawberries, lemonade, and fresh salsa to name a few!

Whether you are already a part of our community or are looking for something new, we welcome you to join us for our next events this upcoming month! As always, our monthly meetings fall on the 2nd Wednesday at 7pm - this month, that will be the 12th. We will also have a workshop breaking down the ritual format we use in this coven, British Traditional Wicca, on August 22nd from 3-5pm, so make sure to mark your calendars!

Again, many thanks to everyone involved in Lughnasadh this year. We made it very special, didn't we? Until our next calendar holiday for Samhain, stay connected through our Discord server or over our monthly email by asking a moderator of this page how to join. Season's blessings upon you all, and we hope to see you soon! 🌞✨

What an incredible turn out we had for the King Paimon workshop!! Lots of new faces, and to them we say welcome! It also seems we have a few workshop regulars... it is always good to see you, friends 😊

What an educational workshop. We learned more about the Ars Goetia and Demonolotry than I anticipated, and even learned a few things about myself and my practice! I'm sure I'm not alone in that, the crowd there seemed really wowed by the work that Will and Alice put into this. Thank you both for being such helpful resources ~

This time, we made prayer beads to be used in our individual practice, as pictured below. Lots of people showed their creativity with this - it was lovely to see everyone's craft! They were blessed for various usage and sent on their merry ways, and I've had mine with me ever since. Yup, that thing is totally a stim toy now. Paimon seems fine with it! 😂

We look forward to seeing everyone at our next gathering, which will be the Lughnasadh ceremony!! Please join us on August 8th from 6-9PM for the ritual and potluck, which, weather permitting, should be outside.

We hope to see everyone soon! Be merry and live well, may this season bless you ✨🌞

We had another beautiful meeting last night! So glad for everyone who could make it, and welcome to our new members! It was an exciting night between making plans for Lughnasadh and doing some seasonal tarot, and people of all levels of experience had much to say about their card pulls. 🃏🔮

For the first time, we filled all our roles for the next ceremony BEFORE the rehearsal date - WOOHOO!! So excited to see everyone who will be taking part in conducting the ceremony for REHEARSAL on 8/1 at 6pm with all our words, vibes, or costumes planned out. If anyone is looking for inspiration, check out the official CUUPS webpage for yearly ritual info, or message our Discord for a chat!

It's been a lovely summer so far, hasn't it? Our next holiday celebration will be all about the fun, the heat, and the food we share when we finally get together. Gifts of rock and fossil goodies were handed out last night, and I'm hoping for more sharing once the ritual comes! We also got to do our planning ahead during this monthly meeting, so pictured is our newly decorated altar. This will stay up through the fall, likely until we redecorate it for Samhain. Drop by the church to take a look!

And don't forget, people! We are hosting another workshop this weekend 👀 interested in the Goetic entities or in working with King Paimon? Meet us at the Bloomington UU Church this Saturday the 11th at 4PM to get familiar!

Lovely seeing you all! If you're new and wanting to join these events, our monthly meetings run on 2nd Wednesdays each month at 7pm in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington's Fell room. We'd love to welcome new members of all levels of experience, practice, or healthy curiosity. Think you know someone who would like attending a pagan group? Send them a link to our page and have them message us, we'll get the ball rolling!

As always, merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again ✨