Once again the days are shortening and the cold is creeping in; the calendar year is coming to an end. It is time to take a moment to look back at what EarthSpirit has accomplished during 2025, and acknowledge the many EarthSpirit members who have contributed toward the organization’s growth and success. Some members have volunteered dozens of hours teaching, organizing, staffing or planning for EarthSpirit events. Others have made generous financial contributions this year, and still more have helped strengthen the community by attending in person or participating online. So many people have contributed in so many ways. We would not be who we are without you. Thank you! We feel blessed to be a part of this committed and dedicated community.
This is an especially challenging time in the US. The policies and practices of the current administration have created a dangerous situation that is leaving many of our members feeling unsafe and threatened. It is our intention that EarthSpirit provide a supportive community for all our members, and that we find ways to gather in small focus groups to plan networks for mutual aid and for action planning. In the summer we re-established #EarthSpiritAction and began to build an email group where members who want to get more involved in political action can share with one another. We hope to participate organizationally in some larger events over the coming year as they take shape.
Looking back at this year, we once again engaged fully in EarthSpirit’s core work of sharing knowledge of Earth-centered spiritual traditions and practices, building community connections, developing a deeper connection with the sacred land, and offering transformative ritual.
We have held seasonal rituals for the community: indoors during cold months, and outdoors with the Sacred Land events at Glenwood which offer the public an opportunity to get to know EarthSpirit’s home and the sacred sites there. We held “community sings” last winter to connect us and raise our spirits, and plans are underway to offer those again this year. Seasonal online rituals have also begun again, to help those who cannot attend in person stay connected. We performed marriages and funerals, celebrated births, ritually celebrated some young people’s Coming of Age and marked other life passages.
This community remains remarkable in its care for the well-being and comfort of each other, making room for closeness and distance as needed when we come together at large gatherings or community rituals. Through a specially designated fund we have been able to offer some support to members who we have heard are struggling financially due to the behavior of the current administration. We continue to find strength in the web of connection that we have built with each other and with all beings of the Earth.
Online, in addition to the seasonal rituals, we continue to host opportunities to come together and maintain these connections through programs like our weekly Sunflower Morning get-togethers, and monthly meetings of our 60+ affinity group. These kinds of online gatherings for members have become a consistent presence and a way of caring for and holding each other over distances and time. Having online connection points throughout the year, along with our in-person events and rituals, has kept EarthSpirit an available resource and the center of many people’s lives.
Our dozens of gathering volunteers — teachers, ritualists, musicians, Clan Leaders, fire-tenders, designers, first-responders, cooks and planners — created beautiful and meaningful in-person events for hundreds of community members in groups large and small. Many thanks to all of those who made these events possible, and especially to the many hard workers behind-the-scenes.
This year several volunteers again spent time facilitating Restorative Justice processes to work to resolve conflicts as they arose. This set of principles and processes which we formally adopted in 2022 and have been put into practice, provide a foundational structure we can use to hold those who may be in conflict within the community, focused on restoring relationships and strengthening our web. It offers a powerful counterpoint to the mainstream cultural narrative of justice through punishment and instead honors the power of truly listening, the possibility of change and growth, and our interconnectedness even through times of conflict. It is challenging work to shift a mindset like this, but we are working on it and we look forward to sharing these principles and deepening our practices together throughout the coming year.
EarthSpirit has continued its connections with other communities too, participating in Western Massachusetts Pagan Pride and maintaining a presence on a local television show, sharing seasonally about pagan traditions and holidays. Connections with pagan leaders and others across the country have grown with 6 months of weekly meetings and online chat groups in response to the pressing need to address the current challenges to religious freedom in the US. EarthSpirit members also continue to be involved in local interfaith groups, with intentions of expanding that into the national arena once again this coming year.
The EarthSpirit Community is built by many hands and dedicated hearts. Whether you participate in programs online or in person, whether you listen to the podcast or read the blog, whether you contribute your time, your friendship or your funds, you are part of what makes it happen. We look forward to seeing you this winter, and if you are able to, we hope that you will also choose to make a donation to EarthSpirit to help us meet our financial obligations in the coming year. We will happily send you a receipt for your tax deduction.
Thank you all for being part of, and supporting, the EarthSpirit Community.
We wish you all a blessed Yule and a prosperous and healthy year ahead.
Deirdre Pulgram-Arthen
EarthSpirit, Executive Director
You can find out more about EarthSpirit’s work through articles in “EarthSpirit Voices” , by liking “The EarthSpirit Community” on Facebook, or by visiting our website: www.earthspirit.com.
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