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Egyptian Underworld Initiation – 10/22/2016

SEF Samhain Pic

 

Saturday, October 22 – Marlborough/Hudson UU Church – Doors open at 6pm

The initiation of the deceased to the mysteries of the underworld and the purifications and investment of pharaoh and higher order priests shared a common ritual, rooted in Egypt’s mythic past.   Performed upon the living, these rites are an initiation in every sense of the word.  The physical body is hallowed and the spiritual bodies are vitalized and integrated.  Participants will experience a genuinely Egyptian ritual, reconstructed from the various books of the afterlife and temple texts.  No experience necessary, just an open mind.

Doors open at 6pm, doors will close and the pre-ritual discussion will begin at 7pm.

There will be a potluck supper following the Ritual so please bring a dish to share.  We’ll supply cups, plates, eating utensils, and beverages. (No alcohol please).

All adults are welcome, and no experience is necessary. For families with kids under 14, we suggest the Pagan Family Connection Samhain celebration on October 30 in Grafton.

Click here for direction

admin Sabbats, SEF Events, Tweens & Teens

Tween and Teen Esbat Group – 10/8/2016

Tween and Teen

The Tween and Teen Esbat group will meet for our public ritual on Saturday 8 October at 6pm. $5 suggested donation

A small pot luck will follow ritual. Because we meet at a traditional dinner time, making sure you and your kids have a little snack before you arrive is a good idea. Please no soda, nuts, peanuts, or candy. Bring a cold dish or something in a crock pot.

This public event is open to families with children aged 10 to 18 who are interested in taking part in rituals. Many of the tweens who participate take turns as the high priest or priestess of the evening, working with one of the adults running the group.

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The Experience of Egyptian Religion

This year, at the Lammas Faire and Samhain, the SEF offers a unique opportunity to experience the most commonly practiced religious ceremonies of ancient Egypt.

In antiquity, religious observations and magical practice were patterned after myths. The belief was that repeating mythic patterns symbolically would bring about the same results. Every night, the egyptian sun God would bathe in the waters of creation, don His divine apparel and insignia, then ascend into the sky renewed, bringing light and life to the world.

The daily temple rites, the ceremonial purification and investing of the king, the consecration of statues, the awakening of the mummy prior to internment, and certain magical ceremonies, all were derived from and recreated this myth. All share the same ritual pattern and acts, but with text directed to the work at hand.
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The SEF offers the opportunity to participate in two of these types of ritual. First, the consecration of statuary will be presented at the Lammas Faire. This ceremony was performed at the egyptian new year, around the beginning of August. Images and objects so consecrated were thought to be suitable dwelling places for the spirits of the Gods. Modern use of this ritual allows one to develop a closer relationship with the Powers one serves. Participants are encouraged to bring a statue of their Patron deity to be consecrated.

admin Pagan Family Connection, SEF Events, Tweens & Teens

Pagan Family Annual Apple Picking at Tougas Farm – 9/18/2016

PFC Apple Picking

 

Join the Pagan Families for an afternoon of apple picking and fun at Tougas Farm in Northborough, MA on Sunday 18 September at 1 pm.

This is not a ritual and craft day. This is a time to hang out and pick fruit and go on a tractor ride together. We end our afternoon by watching the kids on the playground and chatting.

We don’t use any signage to indicate who we are, as this is a busy public place. So if this is your first time joining the Pagan Families for an event, please message us here.

Click here for the Tougas Farms Website

 

admin Sabbats, SEF Events, Tweens & Teens

Tween and Teen Esbat – 9/10/2016

Tween and Teen

The Tween and Teen Esbat group will meet for our public ritual on Saturday 10 Sept at 6pm. $5 suggested donation

A small pot luck will follow ritual. Because we meet at a traditional dinner time, making sure you and your kids have a little snack before you arrive is a good idea. Please no soda, nuts, peanuts, or candy. Bring a cold dish or something in a crock pot.

This public event is open to families with children aged 10 to 18 who are interested in taking part in rituals. Many of the tweens who participate take turns as the high priest or priestess of the evening, working with one of the adults running the group.

Morwynna Pagan Family Connection, SEF Events, Tweens & Teens

Annual Lammas Faire for All Ages – 8/7/2016

Sunday August 7,  12 – 5 PM:
Lammas Faire for All Ages

At:     Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson

Fee: $5 – will include $5 worth of raffle or bake-off tickets for you to use or share!

Games! Vendors! Arts & Crafts! Bake-Off!
Opening & Closing Ritual Circles! Bring your own picnic lunch.
(No Alcohol at this venue.)

 

The ritual will be based on an Egyptian New Year’s blessing of temple statuary. So bring a sacred item you’d like blessed as part of the ritual. 

 

Don’t forget – we have indoor space this year. So in case of inclement weather, all games will be inside. All vendors, the bake off and the raffle will also be indoors.

 

If you are interested in being a vendor for the Faire, please contact Kara at: karareneelmt@gmail.com

 

—> Rules for the 2016 Lammas Bake-Off:

1. This year’s Bake Off Theme: Summer Fruits! The refreshing succulent flavor of Summer Fruit must be a main element in your baked goods.

The item can be anything baked. Cookies, bars, cake, muffins, crepes, cobblers, you name it! As long as that seasonal fruit flavor comes through. Use lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon extract . . . you get the idea.

BUT! (you knew there would be a catch, right?) We’re adding a challenge: NO chocolate. Nope, not any. Your luscious treats will stand on their fruit-a-liciousness alone.

2. All entries must be made from scratch.

3. Entrants must bring enough to have about 40 samples
(not full servings, just a taste – think sample tables).

4. All entries must be accompanied by a full list of ingredients.

5. The winner will be announced during the Closing Circle.

Let the baking begin! Judges for the contest will be those attending the Faire; it will cost $1 to sample and vote. If you are interested in baking, or have questions, please email us: SEF@ElderFaiths.org.

Watch this space for more info!

Click here for Directions

 

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Is Your Idol Idle?

[creativeslider id=”3″]

When one hears the word idol (in connection with religion), associations include the Hebrew commandment concerning graven images, Christian writers condemning idol worship, iconoclasts destroyed images of their own faith, and so forth.

Given that cultural background, where does that leave us, as modern neopagans?  We all have an abundance of images, statues, etc sitting around our homes, some on altars.  What do we do with them?  How do we regard them?

On the Shabaka stone, dedicated by the Kushite pharaoh Neferkare (711-697BC), Ptah is said to have:

… made their (the God’s) bodies according to their wishes.
Thus the Gods entered into their bodies,
Of every wood, every stone, every clay,…

Thus, in ancient Egypt, idols were not idle.  Images of the Gods, particularly statues, various symbols and objects, structures, and temples were held to be dwelling places of aspects of the Gods’ Spirits.  As such, an image was regarded as a body of manifestation for a God/dess, an avatar of sorts.  This was particularly true if the image had been consecrated and the God/dess invited to inhabit it.  The indwelling Deity was adored, not the image per se.

When asked how best I could draw closer to the Goddess, Michael, my teacher, advised me to stand in front of an image of Her and invoke for five minutes per day.  After experimentation, this invocation took the form of an offering rite, and later in a reconstruction of Egyptian temple ceremonies.  The result was the same as in ancient times, the growing sense of divine Presence within the image and the joy of intimate communion with that Presence.

It makes sense.  Energy follows thought.  Venerating an image of the Divine opens one’s subtle senses to the Divine and focuses the mind.  Perhaps descendant from ancient belief, the western esoteric tradition teaches that if a thought form is sufficiently well formed, one of the Powers may take interest and ensoul it.

The end result is the same, a sense of Presence, the Gods palpably drawn closer.

The Society of Elder Faiths will be performing the Consecration Ceremony at this year’s Lammas Faire.  If you would like to begin or augment a devotional practice, this is a unique opportunity to forge a link with the divine.  We invite you to bring an image of your chosen God/dess and join us August 7th at the Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Click here for more details!

Morwynna SEF Events

Annual Meeting and Conjure Cinema – 2/27/2016

Saturday February 27
Annual Meeting 5 – 6 PM
Snacks and Chat 6 – 7 PM
Then at 7 PM Conjure Cinema presents:
The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010)
[aka Adèle: The Rise of the Mummy]

At:     Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson

Fee:      Admission is FREE!
Refreshments will be available for sale to help defray costs.
(No potluck :D)  Alcohol is not allowed at the venue.

Our brief, entertaining Annual Meeting is FREE and OPEN to ALL!  It’s a great way to meet and catch up with old and new friends, and find out what the SEF has been up to this year.  Renew your membership, or get information about joining SEF.

From Sarah Rainey’s review of the film in The Telegraph (UK): “If you want a movie that combines the thrills of Tomb Raider with the fashions of La Boheme, then look no further. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec has it all: dinosaurs, Egyptian mummies and a female adventurer with a spectacular collection of hats.

Based on the comic strip by Jacques Tardi, the film traces the journey of madcap novelist Blanc-Sec (Louise Bourgoin) – “dry white, like the wine” – who spends her days travelling to perilous and far-flung corners of the world in search of material for her next book.

We meet her in Egypt, 1911, where she has trekked into the desert to the tomb of Pharaoh Ramses II. The intrepid explorer enlists the help of oddball Professor Espérandieu (Jacky Nercessian), who claims he can raise the pharaoh’s doctor from the dead to cure Blanc-Sec’s dying sister, who was impaled on a hat pin in a freak tennis accident.

Meanwhile, in Paris, the nutty professor has proven his powers by hatching a baby pterodactyl from a 136 million-year-old egg in the natural history museum.

Tasked with ridding the city of the winged beast, Clouseau-like Inspector Caponi (Gilles Lellouche), turns to Blanc-Sec, who has returned to Paris with a shrivelled mummy in tow. Cue much hilarity, glamorous costume changes and a series of close scrapes as she fends off arch-nemesis Dieuleveult (Mathieu Amalric) and the advances of a besotted botanical scientist.”

This film, like our last feature shown (Solomon Kane) is a wonderful, little-known film, which is a shame, as it is a delight for young and old. The second of three films we had originally intended to show for Conjure Cinema’s last season (before it was cut short), we will be showing the uncut European Blu-ray release, with extra footage not seen in the American DVD release. Take a look at the original trailer below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6djPGS3RCA

New to Conjure Cinema?   While our SEF event is just for fun, CC started in 1991 as an event to collect donations for local shelters and other charities, CC has shown all kinds of films dealing with magic and the occult. Some seriously scary, others unintentionally hilarious!
For the full story, see this article by the All-Knowing Film Wizard himself:
How it All Began
Click here for Directions (look for SEF signs)
Morwynna SEF Events

Conjure Cinema: Solomon Kane

Saturday October 3, doors open 7:00  PM:
Conjure Cinema presents Solomon Kane (2009)

At:     Hayes Lodge, Hopkinton YMCA, 45 East Street, Hopkinton MA

Fee:      Admission is FREE!
Refreshments will be available for sale to help defray costs.
(No potluck :D)  Alcohol is not allowed at the YMCA.

New to Conjure Cinema? Started in 1991 as an event to collect donations for local shelters and other charities, CC has shown all kinds of films dealing with magic and the occult. Some seriously scary, others unintentionally hilarious!
For the full story, see this article by the All-Knowing Film Wizard himself: How it All Began

Click here for Directions (look for SEF signs)
Morwynna Board of Directors

Cynthia

Cynthia Menard

Cynthia works as the Director of Education for three Unitarian Universalist Churches in Central MA. She serves these spiritual communities by providing family ministry and pastoral care, developing faith formative programming for all ages, and assisting in the planning and leading of UU programming and worship services.

Cynthia has been a practicing Wiccan for over 30 years and finds her deepest spirituality in the natural world. She joined the SEF in 2007 and was initiated into the Chthonioi Alexandrian tradition in 2013.

As clergy and a board member for the SEF, she has assisted with the creation and coordination of numerous public and private Sabbats and Pagan events for over 7 years. She currently serves as the Pagan Family Coordinator, offering family-accessible programs and rituals focused around the Pagan Sabbats.

 Cynthia is available as Pagan clergy for spiritual events and support. She offers assistance with Pagan and non-denominational services, rituals, and life transitions including Weddings, Handfastings & Civil Unions; Funerals, Memorials & Deathing; Naming Ceremonies; Coming of Age Rituals; Wiccanings; and Custom Rituals.

For more information about clergy services you can contact her at: cynthia@inkwoodtarot.com

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