Saturday, July 31, 2010

Of MIA Pagans, and Viking Ribstones

Happy Lammas, everyone.

Ping! Marco? CQ, CQ? Halloooooooo? I’ve been thinking about the state of the Calgary pagan community again lately.

Perhaps it’s just my perception, but it seems the community has been in a pagan recession for the last couple of years, perhaps due to the closing of the Witchery and losing Mimi’s wonderful capacity for networking. I’m sure the economic downturn has had something to do with it too, as people may be spending more time working and cutting down on their social lives. Also social networking platforms have been changing in the last few years; MSN Groups is defunct, and Yahoo! Groups seems to be increasingly inactive as people move their social networks to Facebook. And several people and groups that were very active a few short years ago have either dried up or gone underground. My “whatever happened to?” list is getting longer.


Ribstones:

As my Facebook friends know, I spent part of the July 1 weekend touring east central Alberta, the area I’m nominally responsible for at work but have never really seen. At the upper extreme of this area is the town of Viking, about 108 km southeast of Edmonton. Some 15 km southeast of Viking, or about 75 km directly east of Camrose on highways 26 and 615, is an ancient native cairn just downhill from a transmission tower. Two of the stones, of white quartzite, have been carved to resemble the spine and ribs of bison, and contain round depressions called “cupules”. Of nine sites in Alberta that contained ribstones, these two are the only ones still in their original location, the rest having been moved, at least some to museums. According to the information sign, the Cree believe this marks the dwelling place of the spirit protector of the bison. They left offerings of tobacco, beads, and meat until the late 1800’s, and the tradition is continued by some combination of natives, pagans, and New Agers. When I was there, there were offerings of tobacco, sweetgrass, cloth, ribbons, and even a painting of a bison on stone. If you visit, please give the site your respect.

August's Birthdays: Cathie M., Moksha, Raine, and probably some of my Facebook friends. Let me know if I’ve missed yours.

August Events:
Note these events are listed for information purposes only. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me.

Jul. 30 – Aug. 2 PanFest XI on a lake in central Alberta. Info: http://www.panfest.ca/
Jul. 30 – Aug. 7: Calgary Fringe Festival. Info: http://www.calgaryfringe.com/
Aug. 2: Civic Holiday. Alberta “Heritage Day” events on Prince’s Island.
Aug. 2-8: Calgary International Blues Festival at Shaw Millennium Park. Info: http://www.calgarybluesfest.com/
Aug. 4: Crossroads Meetup in Edworthy Park. Info: http://www.meetup.com/CALGARY-CROSSROADS/
Aug. 7, 7:30 p.m. sharp: COGCOA Lammas Ritual.
Aug. 8: Marda Gras Street Festival in Marda Loop. Info: http://www.mardaloopbrz.ca/
Aug. 9, 9:08 p.m.: New Moon. Coll (Hazel) lunar month begins.
Aug. 17, 7:30 p.m.: Calgary Witches’ Meetup, hosted by moi , in south Calgary. Info: http://www.meetup.com/Calgary-Witches
Aug. 20-28: Globalfest. Info: http://www.globalfest.ca/
Aug. 20-Sep. 12: Mercury Retrograde.
Aug. 24, 11:05 a.m.: Full (Sturgeon) Moon.
Sep. 4: COGCOA Coffee Cauldron. info (at) cogcoa (dot) ab (dot) ca
Sep. 7: Labour Day: Where did the summer go?

Blessings,
Hergest

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