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Archive for September, 2014

The Wheel turned and Mabon came upon us. The members of SLPS gathered to celebrate the Fall Equinox on Saturday, September 20, 2014, known as Mabon and Alban Eiler, to honor the Gods, Goddess, and the coming Dark Times, when we all turn inward and study the self, inside mysteries and take time alone as the God dies.

The altar was beautifully decorated with the fruits of the season: peaches, plums, apples and flowers. A seasonal table cloth my by Trustee April Love and a Fall Queer God painting by Kurt Shoopman of Kentucky adorned the table. Lanterns hung in the trees gave an extra witchy and magical feel to the temple area. The new brooms gave the perfect backdrop to the altar.

The Goddess present was Bast, Cat God of Egypt, one who walks between worlds, and Cernunnos, Celtic Lord of Light and Dark.  The ritual included a lighting of the lamp, signaling the light within during the dark, and a Ganesh birthday celebration. Shortbread cookies with jam were offered Ganesh and the song “Ganesh (Sound the Horn)” by MC Yogi on his album Elephant Power was played in his honor.

Mabon 2014, ritual area, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, main altar, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, main altar center, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, Saturday, Goddess Bast on right, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, God Cernunnos, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, God Ganesh, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, equinox lamps, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, Shy Fox, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, Woman Between the Wolves, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, Muad’Dib, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, Mabon lamps at night, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, altar with candles, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014, Piggy (l) and Shy Fox, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon 2014,Shy Fox (l) and Piggy, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

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Craft nights are exciting and bring magic to the world! This Mabon, 2014 the activity was broom or besom making. A good Friday activity, September 19, and easy enough skill, it doesn’t take much to make up a nice besom for ritual, cleansing, and protecting the home. A traditional tool of witches and even some Gods, like Ganesh, the witch’s besom is used to energetically clean an area by sweeping the astral energies out of the room. Most brooms are not built by witches to endure the physical act of sweeping, but are swept slightly off the floor. You can also lean them against a door post or hang about a door frame to protect your home.

Thanks to some pruning last fall, 2013, President Muad’Dib had a supply of staff wood to choose from. Ultimately cherry was the wood of choice. Grass from the garden was magically harvested and used for the bristles. Yarn was use to tie the bundles and secure it to the staff. After only an hour or so, *Boom* there’s a new broom!

Mabon Crafting 2014, Making Besoms, staffs and grass ingredients, Friday, September 19, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon Crafting 2014, tied grass bundles, Friday, September 19, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon Crafting 2014, Muad’Dib with newly made Cherry wood besom (broom), Friday, September 19, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon Crafting 2014 Muad’Dib (l) and Piggy with newly made Cherry wood besoms (brooms) Friday, September 19, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Mabon Crafting 2014, Piggy, Friday, September 19, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

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Everyone enjoyed a sunny morning on Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 9:30 at the City Creek Center. Surprises all around that the event was held there (City Creek being invested by the LDS Church) quickly changed into excitement as the Cheer Salt Lake team pumped everyone up for the 2.5k walk around down town SLC. A few furry friends were even in attendance.

The walk started off at the Food Court and ended at the Harmons on 100 S and State. The fundraising for Utah AIDS programming was the critical component for the walk, to raise awareness about the need for funds and to reach the $60,000 goal set by the Utah AIDS Foundation. Teams from various organizations and companies such as Ebay and American Express, as well as the Royal Court of Utah and SLPS walked along side individuals, couples, and children.

Salt Lake AIDS Walk, Muad’Dib (l) and Piggy, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake AIDS Walk, Cheer Salt Lake dancing, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake AIDS Walk, Cheer Salt Lake, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake AIDS Walk, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake AIDS Walk, City Creek, Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake AIDS Walk, Muad’Dib (r) and BJ Olsen (red bandanna), Saturday, September 20, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

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If you have time this Mabon, come join us in the Salt Lake AIDS Walk tomorrow, Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 9:30 am at the City Creek Center to raise awareness and fund raise for AIDS programs throughout Utah. We will be walking as a team! You can find us on the registration. www.saltlakeaidswalk.org10505523_635316023213315_5536674935988706128_n

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SLPS thanks Lunar Oak Spirit for all the beautiful work he did as Advertising Director in the society. His stay was over a year, from June 2013-September 2014. We will still see him around as a member, but will miss his energy and drive as our official artist.

Lunar Oak Spirit, Rio Grand Restaurant, March 2, 2013, Salt Lake City, UT

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The Wheel has turned and Mabon is upon us. The fall Equinox, Alban Eiler hit’s this Tuesday, September 23, 2014. SLPS will be celebrating the return of the dark times Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 6pm. Only members are allowed to participate in this sacred rite. If you’d like to join, send in your membership application!

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The 13th Annual 2014 Salt Lake City Pagan Pride Day fell on Saturday, September 6, 2014. From 10-6, vendors, groups, and guests enjoyed a sunny day at Murray City Park. SLPS was not in attendance since the members chose to attend the 2nd Annual 2014 Salt Lake Comic Con, happening on the same day. We swung by to check in, grab programs, and see the vendors. President Muad’Dib picked up a very nicely done ouija board by Goats creations.

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2014 Salt Lake Pagan Pride Day, Saturday, September 6, 2014, Murray City Park, UT

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2014 Salt Lake Pagan Pride Day, Saturday, September 6, 2014, Murray City Park, UT

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2014 Salt Lake Pagan Pride Day, Saturday, September 6, 2014, Murray City Park, UT

Muad’Dib’s ouija sugar skull board he picked up at the 2014 Salt Lake City Pagan Pride Day.

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The beloved Pagan and Magick shop of Utah County has decided to close its door. Gypsy Wagon, run by mother and daughter team Penny and Misty Mcinelly will be moving in the direction of festival vending, private psychic readings, and online shopping.

The shop has had a history of ups and downs over the last six years since it opened in Spring of 2009 in the basement of a house in Lindon, UT. President Muad’Dib fondly remembers shopping there when he first became a Pagan. “I was thrilled they were so close, as I was a student in Provo at BYU. I don’t remember how I found them. Most likely their website, as I was new to Paganism and new to Utah as well, so I had to do Google searches and looking at Witchvox.com. I met Misty when I went to the house, which I had to enter through the back through a door. It was very secretive, being in a highly Mormon neighborhood in Lindon, which is basically Orem. Misty and I got along great, and formed a friendship I still maintain till this day. She even participated in some of the early functions of the U of U Pagan Society and traveled with me to visit Utah State University Pagan Alliance (USUPA) in Logan over Beltane 2010.

I made my first purchase, a large one, of magick supplies from her in June of 2009. I also had my first psychic readings from her, which turned me on to divination. I paid for a few readings. We did a playing card reading, threw some herbs in some water in a scrying bowl, and the biggest one which provided the most detail was the coffee ground reading. She provided information about people I would later meet when I started helping out at LGBT pride, and at the LGBT Resource Center at the University of Utah in spring of 2010. She warned me about some, showing me the frowns and horns on some faces next to letters that had come up in the cup. I then purchased The Dragon Tarot by Terry Donaldson, which was my first tarot. Meeting her and having those discussions about my path and the changes I was contemplating at the time (transferring schools to the University of Utah) set me on the path I am on today. Gypsy Wagon was an influential and important part of my history since the very beginning of my journey in Paganism and in Utah.”

The shop moved in 2010 to Pleasant Grove where in the fall they hosted a psychic fair on the front lawn of the house they were using, the same weekend, June 19, 2010, as the City of Fun Carnival which was held at the park a block away. President Muad’Dib read at the fair, doing coral readings along with a few ladies who did tarot and angel cards. Troubles plagued them there, with marginalization from the community and the occasional window breaking from hooligans.  In 2011 the shop moved to a new location in American Fork, in a strip mall on 52 S. Main St where it stayed to date.

The store at one point was closing, but a secret partner stepped up in the spring of 2013 just as the doors were about to shut. So it continued for a while, until September 2014 when the shop made an announcement on its Facebook page that they are changing the structure and closing its door to focus more online, with private sales and festivals in the mix. SLPS wishes them all the blessings of the Goddess on this new journey, may they continue to be the lifeblood of the community in Utah County!

gypsy wagon

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SLPS read the Tarot for Crimson Nights at the University of Utah on Friday, August 29, 2014 from 9pm-Midnight. Crimson Nights, put on by the Union Programming Council (UPC) really enjoyed the SLPS tarot the last time and invited us again to read. Students lined up immediately and the line stayed full the entire night, with several students stating they waited 45 minutes to an hour for a reading (and that’s with three readers!). People continued to line up, even after the sign was taken down. SLPS hopes to do it again at the next Crimson Nights!

Tarot Readings at Crimson Nights at the University of Utah, l to r (with cards)-Muad’Dib, Piggy, and Woman Between the Wolves (hat), Friday, August 29, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Tarot Readings at Crimson Nights at the University of Utah, the line, Friday, August 29, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Tarot Readings at Crimson Nights at the University of Utah, the line is very long, Friday, August 29, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

Tarot Readings at Crimson Nights at the University of Utah, students in line, Friday, August 29, 2014, Salt Lake City, UT

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SLPS read the tarot for about 40 people at the University of Utah’s Plazafest tabling this past week on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 from 11am-2pm. President Muad’Dib and Woman Between the Wolves helped students prepare for the upcoming stress of assignments in the semester.

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