Support

Once again the days are shortening and the cold is creeping in; the calendar year is coming to an end. Once more we take a moment to look back at what EarthSpirit has accomplished during 2021, and acknowledge the many EarthSpirit members who have contributed toward the organization’s growth and success. Many of you have volunteered dozens of hours teaching, organizing, staffing or planning for EarthSpirit events. Others of you have made generous financial contributions this year, and still more have helped strengthen the community by participating online or attending in person. So many people have contributed in so many ways. Thank you! We feel blessed to share membership in this committed and dedicated community.

This feels like a year of back-and-forth and in-between, and through it all we have seen our community remain flexible and rise to the challenges of our time. We have gathered online and, more recently, have also been able to gather in person outdoors and in places where we have been able to set our own policies. We have maintained strong connections and developed new ones. We have held seasonal rituals for the community, We have performed marriages and funerals, celebrated births, and ritually marked other life passages, such as coming-of-age rituals — sometimes in person with groups large or small, and sometimes online. We continue to find strength in the web of connection that we have built with each other and with all beings of the Earth.

Our recently developed Zoom skills have been put to good use this year, with the continuation of EarthSpirit Saturdays as a vehicle for ongoing seasonal rituals that reach not only across the country, but overseas as well – thanks to volunteer and Board member Sarah Rosehill, and many other volunteers. Our weekly Sunflower Mornings and Evenings get-togethers, hosted by dedicated volunteer Anya Arthen and new Board members Katie and Chris LaFond, have become a consistent presence and a way of caring for and holding each other over distances and time. These connection points throughout the year have kept EarthSpirit at the center of many people’s lives.

EarthSpirit has been visible on the web in other creative ways as well. Our dynamic podcast, EarthSpirit Voices has entered its second season this autumn, continuing to bring forward the voices of EarthSpirit members and teachers through hour-long interviews released on alternate Fridays. The podcast is produced by Sam Arthen-Long of Singing Land Studio and is a gift of many hours of work for each episode. EarthSpirit Visions is our new Instagram presence where members are able to share photographic images of the places where Nature and Spirit meet, curated by a team of member volunteers. New images are posted there daily – a strong reflection and reminder of the way our spirituality has presence in our lives.

The organizational side of EarthSpirit continues to grow stronger. The Board of Directors welcomed two new members, Katie and Chris LaFond, and is now focusing on completing a
5 year plan with special attention on the work of the Membership Committee in addition to Fundraising, Program/Interfaith and Governance. These groups, which are composed of community members in addition to Board members, guide the priorities of the organization as we move forward. Our office team is working to make it possible for more people – including those who aren’t physically close to Glenwood – to support our community by volunteering time and talents. We hope to share some specific areas in which we could use help soon, as well as ways that you can let us know your general volunteering interests. You can also expect to hear directly from the Fundraising Committee in a few days as we roll into our Annual Appeal beginning on “Giving Tuesday”.

Over the year, we have held several large gatherings: A Feast of Lights was online over three days in February, and we offered five full days of Rites of Spring programming online in May. Although most of us would have loved to gather in person for these events, the online versions were able to feature presenters whom we would otherwise not have been able to bring, and we made the most of this special opportunity to renew connections with friends who live at too great a distance to travel to New England every year. Again, the team of volunteers both visible and behind the scenes is what made these possible.

Twilight Covening was finally able to take place in person again this October, and it was wonderful for those of us who attended to feel that we could be together safely. The community was remarkable in its care for the well-being and comfort of others, making room for closeness and distance as needed throughout the weekend. Again, we are immeasurably grateful to our volunteer Clan Leaders, Kitchen crew and Serpent team for making the weekend an amazing and welcoming experience. It was lovely to be outdoors and together again this fall for both an Ancestor Ritual at Glenwood and a Community Samhain Ritual in Northampton, MA. We look forward to an outdoor Yule ritual as well.

EarthSpirit has maintained its connections with other communities this year. Director Andras Corban Arthen continues his work with the European Congress of Ethnic Religions, and Board member Chris LaFond organized the western MA Pagan Pride event where several EarthSpirit members were teachers or ritual leaders. EarthSpirit members also continue to be involved in local interfaith groups and events.

At Glenwood this year, we have begun the process of completely redesigning and refurbishing the EarthSpirit office – replacing desks, cabinets and electronics so that it will function better for all of the volunteers who use it. The Sacred Sites are being maintained by volunteers, and we have been glad to be able to host a couple of small gatherings for other associated groups over the past months. It is good to feel a connection with this land reaching into more people’s lives.

Thank you all for being part of, and supporting, the EarthSpirit Community.
We wish you all a prosperous and healthy year ahead.

Deirdre Pulgram Arthen
EarthSpirit Executive Director

Please remember to follow us on Facebook (The EarthSpirit Community) and Instagram (@EarthSpiritVisions), and to subscribe to the EarthSpirit Voices podcast through your favorite provider.

Thank you for supporting EarthSpirit.  All donations are tax deductible 

2020 is a year that will remain in memory as an extremely challenging time for all of us. The COVID-19 pandemic, the rising visibility and unrest around racial injustice in the US, and the national election have all come together to create great stress for individuals and organizations. For EarthSpirit, despite the struggles, this has been a year of learning about the strength of our community at a time of crisis, and a year of focus and growth despite hardship. We have learned new skills, supported each other in new ways, and moved forward with projects that have been waiting for years. As I sit to write about it all, I feel most grateful to all of you for your confidence in us, and for the generosity and commitment shown by our members and volunteers.

Rites of Spring 2020 stakes in the ground

The organizational side of EarthSpirit grew stronger this year. The Board of Directors focused on furthering the work of three major planning committees: Membership, Program, and Fundraising. You can expect to hear directly from the Fundraising Committee later this month. These groups, which are composed of community members in addition to Board members, will guide the priorities of the organization as it grows into the next 5 years. In February, we welcomed our second ever full-time intern, Kael Alberghini, who has spearheaded many projects that have been on the back burner for years and that could have lingered there for many more without his time, attention, and skills. These include implementing a new database system for EarthSpirit, creating templates for our newsletters, processing trademark applications, and leading the labyrinth restoration project.

We are so grateful for his gift of a year of his time. Donovan Arthen has been Kael’s mentor for the year, and has also developed a new bookkeeping and accounting system this year and transferred all of our old records into it. All of these changes will make a huge difference in how smoothly EarthSpirit functions.

A Feast of Lights was a beautiful event in February, and its memory is even sweeter because it was the last time that we came together as a physical community. As we looked toward the spring, we realized that it would not be possible to hold our Beltaine rituals or Rites of Spring in person, so we began to learn about Zoom and we held a virtual Maypole, then a full five days of Rites of Spring programming, complete with rituals, a Feast, concerts, and a dance party. Our volunteers learned Zoom on the fly and were phenomenal at creating an online event that offered connection and community in the best ways we knew how. The same was true of Twilight Covening this October, our Clan Leaders and Assistants were phenomenal, as were all of the volunteers who staffed Zoom and created ritual or video in advance. What we have found though, as this year has unfolded, is that our success has also depended on the investment and commitment each of you has brought. We create the framework and really excellent programming, but to make the connections real, it has taken every one of you: your participation, your connection to the deep roots we have built together over the last forty years, and your willingness and desire to dream of the many ways we’ll continue to build over the next forty. Together, we have held the pulse of EarthSpirit strong and it has flourished during the most challenging year of its existence.

Our live online programs have expanded. Sacred Land, our monthly event series at Glenwood Farm, morphed into EarthSpirit Saturdays. This bi-monthly Zoom event, organized by ES Board member Sarah Rosehill with a rolling list of volunteers, offers workshops, discussions, and seasonal rituals free of charge to the whole community. Sunflower Mornings, hosted by Anya Arthen, takes place every Wednesday morning and offers a gentle way to begin the day and an opportunity for community connections.

Special events, such as the upcoming Winter Goblin Market (November 28) and the election night multi-community Zoom meet-up, bring opportunities for even more connection and mutual support. We’ll continue these regular programs moving forward, and we look forward to bringing you a special series of online workshops this fall and winter as well as Feast of Lights and Rites of Spring 2021! It has been a delight to connect more often with long-time members who have moved further away, and we look forward to seeing more and more members around the world as we come together from wherever we are.

EarthSpirit has maintained its connections with other communities this year as well. Our EarthWays Initiative, which works to build bridges with Indigenous communities worldwide, brought ES Board members, Andras Corban Arthen and Donovan Arthen, to two international online events hosted by the Grandmothers of the Sacred We. Andras also continued to work with the Parliament of the World’s Religions and Donovan taught at Chicago Pagan Pride this fall as well.

There is nothing like the power of being together in person: holding rituals where we can feel each others’ presence, singing together, being in the intimate company of wise teachers, experiencing rites of passage, and sharing affection and hugs. Of course, we want to be together again as soon as we can. In the meantime though, keep an eye on the website, the Newsletter and the Facebook pages and with your continued support and participation, EarthSpirit will continue to thrive.

Dear friends,

As we move into the winter and toward the end of the tax year, we again invite all of our members to contribute to EarthSpirit’s annual fund to support the work it does all year round.

This year EarthSpirit turned 40 years old! For four decades, EarthSpirit has sustained and nourished a community that supports families and individuals in truly living their spirituality, maintaining and passing along pagan cultures and traditions in a world that does not always share our values. Generous donors, like you, enable us to offer the rituals, classes and gatherings that create meeting places where we can build and deepen meaningful face-to-face connections, network with spiritual people around the world and also provide some financial support to community members who are ill or struggling.

This year has seen some exciting developments. We have a beautiful new website, our first full reconstruction in 20 years! If you have not visited it yet, please travel over to www.earthspirit.com and see what our excellent designer, Moira Ashleigh, of SolsticeSun Design, has created. At Glenwood, we have also just activated our big new solar panel array which will power our offices and Community Center as well as some of the residences there. We are thrilled to be moving toward a lower impact energy footprint.

EarthSpirit’s Board of Directors expanded this year with the addition of three new members and the retirement of one. Board members now include: Andras Corban Arthen, Deirdre Pulgram Arthen, Kaye Hughes Kittredge, Moira Ashleigh, Susan Curewitz Arthen, Sarah Rosehill, Eric Leventhal Arthen, Kate Greenough Richardson and Donovan Arthen. Leona Stonebridge Arthen retired with our thanks for her many years of dedication.

The year has also brought challenges, of course. The political climate remains tense, hate crimes are on the upswing, and we continue to see intolerance and prejudice step boldly into the light as the US moves away from environmental responsibility and closer to war. The most vulnerable among us, those in poverty or in minority groups, are endangered and many EarthSpirit members feel personally afraid. The need for clear information and communication, mutual support, and outreach to the diverse world around us has never been more pressing. EarthSpirit is doing what it can to provide leadership and an anchor in this time of upheaval – offering encouragement to its members and taking action when we can in places where it is needed.

This year we organized delegations to participate in the Washington DC Climate March and the Boston protest against the white-supremacist “free-speech” demonstration. Many of us have represented EarthSpirit at community meetings and spoken or sung at other public events resisting the current wave of climate change denial and neo-fascist aggression.

The interfaith work that EarthSpirit has been committed to for so many years offers us many valuable connections. Our spiritual director, Andras Corban Arthen, continues to serve as Vice-chair of the Board for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. EarthSpirit and its members are well-known to many in that organization and they are supportive of us. In this capacity Andras will be an invited speaker at the UN this January, at a symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs.

Andras was again elected President of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions and his leadership there connects us directly with people still practicing the old indigenous ways in Europe. Our Earthways Initiative reaches out specifically to Indigenous people in the US as well as in other parts of the world. We will continue to join forces with all of these peoples and groups to further our work to protect the Earth and support spiritual communities devoted to it.

Looking to the year ahead, we have already registered a 30-person delegation to attend the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto to represent EarthSpirit and its members, staff an informational and networking booth, and offer a range of programs. Deirdre Pulgram Arthen, EarthSpirit’s Executive Director, is serving on the Women’s Task Force this year, working specifically on coordinating programming involving the arts, ritual and the divine feminine. Andras continues his active work on the Indigenous Task Force and on the Executive Committee of the Board. In order to support those who will travel to Toronto with at least partial subsidies, to fund the booth and to cover costs of printing and product production, we need to raise $25,000 or more – in addition to our usual operating expenses. It is a tall order in one year, but we are optimistic.

As these things move forward, EarthSpirit continues its day-to-day services. In the US this year, we again hosted more than a dozen seasonal rituals in both eastern and western Massachusetts. We reached out to the public at Boston Pride, at academic institutes, Pagan Pride events, environmental actions and at other festivals and interfaith services. We performed handfastings, baby blessings and funerals, counseled members in need, and supported those facing medical and emotional crises. We made improvements to the ritual spaces at Glenwood, our center and sanctuary in western Massachusetts, which we open to the community as part of the Sacred Land program on a monthly basis. We continued working to develop a long-range strategic plan for the organization, and made strides toward improving our infrastructure.

All of this work in so many areas requires a significant amount of funding to sustain it. Outreach and activist efforts which include travel, like participation at recent climate, women’s and anti-racist demonstrations, can add expense. Right now you may be overwhelmed with the many choices of worthy causes to which you can donate money. We hope that you will recognize EarthSpirit as an organization that serves you and those you care about – whether you know them personally or not – as well as one that steps up and acts when that is needed.

Our community has always been generous. We have consistently received contributions large and small which allow us to carry on. We appreciate every single one, as well as all of the volunteer time and expertise that our members contribute throughout the year. We are asking you to please consider increasing your financial donation to EarthSpirit this year to support our work to address the current challenges, attend the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2018, and to continue to move forward with our ongoing projects. We count on all of you to be a part of the web that holds us together on so many levels.

We wish you all a prosperous and healthy year ahead.
Thank you all for being part of and supporting the EarthSpirit Community!

Deirdre Pulgram Arthen
Executive Director

You can find out more about EarthSpirit’s work by liking “The EarthSpirit Community” on Facebook
or by visiting our website: www.earthspirit.com .

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