Newfoundland pagan society;

This is aimed at pagans and newagers who are from Newfoundland and 
Labrador or are descended from someone from Newfoundland and Labrador
(and people away, and such descendants, probably outnumber those 
in the province by a factor of 4 by now) or who know someone
who is and can pass this on to him or her, or I guess may
be interested in visiting the province and want contacts.   Those 
now on the Avalon could probably make the meeting mentioned below
and others might want to join the very low traffic yahoo
mailing lists mentioned below, for this umbrella group.

----------------------------

The MUN Pagan Society (also known as the Newfoundland
Pagan society since about a third of members are non-MUN
people and more are welcome) will meet at 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday Oct. 14 (and again Oct. 28) in the MUNSU Council
Chambers on the second floor of the Smallwood University
Centre at MUN, so just show up if you are interested
or e-mail me at  n06drd AT mun DOT ca  if you like, for
more info (I just check the address in the header on
Saturdays, more SPAM goes there).   Or e-mail the
executive at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  .

I would say that while the majority of current members
are neopagans, that (this is just me speaking) anyone
who is neopagan, traditional pagan, heathen (Asatru),
of a traditional aboriginal religion, of a shamanistic
religion, of a tribal religion, newage, pantheist, atheist
environmentalist, Hindu, Shinto, humanist, or individual/eclectic
would be welcome (though many of those categories
might not want to be called pagan, due to past
derogatory associations of the word, which has been
reclaimed by some though, but may still be
of a polytheistic and/or nature-based spirituality).
Also I think that even interested others not in
these categories might be welcome, e.g. folklore
students, religious studies students studying paganism,
anyone interested in magickal/shamanistic/divination
practices (e.g., tarot, astral projection, etc.) or
herb lore/alternative medicine practices, or even
chakras/kundalini/tantra/reiki/qigong/crystals/etc., 
or just interested in finding more out about paganism
and discussing stuff with a broad group of people
in (locally at least) alternative religions.  (One
Buddhist comes to our potlucks sometimes.)

Things that will be discussed at the meeting will be 
introductions, executive elections, an upcoming Oct. 31 
Hallowe'en joint (with LBGT-MUN) mixer in those same 
council chambers, costumes optional, from 5 to 8 p.m.,
and an upcoming Nov. 2 Samhain potluck and informal
ritual honouring ancestors followed later by
a more formal "dumb supper" ritual for the few
who might be interested, and maybe an upcoming
joint social with the MUN Christian Fellowship,
and maybe future fundraising (with some going to
charity, perhaps an environmental one).   

Then after this business is concluded there will be
an informal discussion beginning at around 7:30
p.m., this time on paganism and music so people
can bring CDs or tapes (or sing themselves if
they want).  (Past other topics have included
healing, astral projection, Simpsons or Harry
Potter tarot deck creation, discussion with
Jennifer Porter of Religious studies, dealing
with the media by Peter Narvaez, and a long
while ago herbs with Dianne of Herbs and 
Garden Things who we may invite back soon).

Then at 8 p.m. the official meeting concludes
and then those over 18 often go to the Breezeway
for informal discussion (we might go to Bitters
but one member is partially disabled and it
is a bit inconvenient for her, plus The Breezeway
is just down the stairs from the meeting).

There are two very low traffic mailing lists for the
group as well, one just for announcements,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nf_pagan_society/
and one for discussion
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nf_pagan_society/_discussion  .

There is also a third invitation only mailing list for
the ritual subgroup, which is sort of educational, and
meets on Thursdays in weeks when there is no main
meeting, and in the 6th floor clubs small boardroom,
from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.  If you are interested in
joining this group and very low traffic mailing list
e-mail folklore Ph.D. student Anne Lafferty at 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  .   Local Pagan Pride festival organizer
Mandy Moon, a Religious Studies Master's student, is also
a member, and usually only about five or so show up to
these meetings as opposed to maybe 15 or so at the main
meetings.

Pass this on to others, including non-MUN people,
who you know who might be interested.   (The
age range in the group is from about 14 to about
40 right now, but those under 16 need a consent
form signed by a parent, and certainly more
older people and off-campus people are welcome.)

Some may also be interested in the Unitarian
Universalism group that meets Sundays at
10:30 a.m. at The Anna Templeton Centre on
Duckword Street, e-mail Terry Rielly at
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for more details (an international
UU web site said that they originated as a
very liberal Christian denomination years ago
and are now a multi-faith group, and now the largest 
group in them internationally is Humanists
but that 1 in 5 internationally are neopagans/pagans 
but there are also still some Christians).

David
http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (NF music, etc.)