Circle Sanctuary

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Circle Sanctuary is a non-profit organization and legally recognized Wiccan Church[1] based in southwestern Wisconsin, USA, with approximately 15,000 subscribers[2]. It aims to encourage community celebrations, spiritual healing, research, networking and education. It was founded in 1974 by Selena Fox and sponsors gatherings and encourages nature conservation, nature meditations and workshops at a range of locations. These include a 200 acre site near Mount Horeb, Wisconsin[1] set in forested hills[3].

The organization has been prominent in the campaign to permit the pentacle to be displayed on the gravestones of Wiccan members of U.S. forces, and Selena Fox was one of the plaintiffs in the successful action to obtain this permission [4]. Three of the newly approved gravestones are displayed at the Sanctuary's base at Barneveld, Wisconsin, about 25 miles west of Madison[5].

Contents

[edit] Overview

Since its creation in 1974, Circle Sanctuary has been concerned with providing support to Neopagans in several ways, chiefly as a networking resource. For many years, Circle was the only national networking resource available to most Neopagans, especially those who were not located in major cities with large Pagan or Neopagan populations (such as New York City, Chicago, Illinois, and San Francisco, California). Circle Network News, originally a newspaper-like quarterly and now a quarterly magazine, provided a method for Pagans in less populated areas to find others of like mind. Networking support remains one of Circle's core functions.

Circle has sponsored many gatherings, perhaps the best-known of which is the Pagan Spirit Gathering, held annually at Litha (Midsummer). Other smaller gatherings, classes and celebrations are held year-round.


[edit] History

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Founded in 1974 by Selena Fox and Jim Alan, Circle's first public event was a Yule ritual hosted at the couple's home in Madison, Wisconsin. The following year, Circle moved to a farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (just outside Madison). In 1976, a favorable article written by Jacqueline Mitchard appeared in The Capital Times, which marked the beginning of Circle's public outreach. The same year, Fox and Alan began hosting a weekly half-hour radio program on WORT in Madison; the program ran for four years.

1978 was a pivotal year for Circle. Incorporated as a Wiccan Church in Wisconsin, the official name was changed to "Church of Circle Wicca", and the coven structure was abandoned for a church structure which included a board of directors and ordained ministers. Fox and Alan released a tape entitled Circle Magick Music, one of the first Neopagan music collections to be widely distributed. A weekly, hour-long cable television show was added on Cable 4 of Madison. The following year, Circle was featured in Time magazine on the Religion page, in an article about a handfasting the couple performed at Pan Pagan Festival.

In 1979 Jim Alan and Selena Fox began working with the Chameleon Club, a Cleveland, Ohio-based group. They hosted several appearances at Case Western Reserve University and other Cleveland venues, and on the ABC television talk shows Morning Exchange and Live on Five. Circle helped launch the first Starwood Festival in 1981; just one month after the first official Pagan Spirit Gathering.

In 1980, Circle received federal recognition as a church. They moved to another rented farm, this time in Black Earth, Wisconsin. Fundraising had already begun with an aim of purchasing land, but it was 1983 before that purchase was made. The first Litha gathering was held, a precursor for the Pagan Spirit Gathering that made its debut in 1981.

During 1984, Circle Sanctuary (the name was finalized to this when the land purchase was made) assisted in updating the United States Army Chaplains Handbook. By that time, Circle Network had existed for several years, bringing Neopagans of many paths together. Circle was also involved in legal battles during the mid- to late-80's, as local governments attempted to use zoning laws to prevent Circle from establishing the sanctuary land as church land. This effort failed as Circle won key decisions that culminated in the same local government granting Circle the nation's first official recognition as a church of Witchcraft in 1988.

The 1990s were a period of increasing growth for Circle. Both of its executive directors, Selena Fox and Dennis Carpenter, received advanced degrees (Counseling and Psychology, respectively) by tying their fields of study into their Neopagan experience. Circle was a sponsor for the Parliament of World Religions in 1993, bringing Circle enough notoriety to increase the attention of fundamentalist Christian activists such as Pat Robertson, who described Circle Sanctuary on his television program The 700 Club and in his book The New World Order as "a 1,000 acre [4 km²] sanctuary for witches", over-exaggerating the Sanctuary's land area five-fold. (Robertson had been aware of Circle since at least 1985 when both he and they had been negatively featured in the book Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow by Constance Cumbey.) Robertson also facilitated musician evangelist Jeff Fenholt's planned invasion of Circle's land to force a confrontation with Selena Fox. Having advance notification of Fenholt's arrival, Fox got a restraining order from the local county court prohibiting not only his trespass onto Circle Sanctuary private property but actually specifying that he stay a particular distance from the property line.

(With his announced confrontation not having occurred, Fenholt later mis-characterized Circle's prevention of his trespass as a denial of his free speech rights.)

Circle also participated in the Nature Religion Today conference sponsored by Lancaster University, United Kingdom in 1996. In 1997, PSG moved to Wisteria Event Campground in southern Ohio, having been held in southwestern Wisconsin previously. In 1998, Circle Magazine debuted, replacing Circle Network News which had been published as a newsletter/newspaper since 1978.

[edit] Activities

[edit] Networking

Circle Network was founded in 1977 for the purpose of assisting Pagans of all paths to "connect with each other and share information, ideas, and energy". There is no cost to affiliate, and membership is open to any Pagan whose path espouses a reverence for nature, and holds an ethical structure consistent with the Wiccan Rede.

[edit] Gatherings and celebrations

Circle Sanctuary sponsors gatherings year-round, but its largest festival is the Pagan Spirit Gathering (PSG), held annually to coincide with the Summer Solstice. The event is held on private land, a 620-acre rural site located in southeastern Ohio called Wisteria[2].

[edit] Legal support

Circle Sanctuary founded the Lady Liberty League in 1985. The LLL is the "religious freedom support service" of Circle, providing information and networking for those who are working with religious freedom issues relevant to Wicca and/or Nature spirituality. In addition, the LLL has been proactive in countering negative stereotypes of Neopagans, and has assisted others in furthering Wicca's acceptance. A recent example is the struggle to win approval from the United States Military to place pentacles[6] on the memorial markers for Wiccan soldiers killed in the line of duty.

[edit] Environmental work

Circle Sanctuary is located on a 200 acre private nature preserve. Privately owned and founded as a preserve in 1983 and zoned as "sacred land" in 1988, the Preserve is dedicated not only to support and maintain the local biodiversity, but to allow people to study interactions on the land from both a scientific and a spiritual basis.

[edit] Access to the sanctuary

The Preserve is not open to drop-in visitors, a point that has not met with universal agreement or approval within the Pagan community, as the land was largely bought with donations from Neopagans who were led to believe the land they helped buy would be open to them without restriction. Many years of fundraising through Circle Network News were part of this process, and fundraising appeals routinely stated or implied that the land, once purchased, would be used as a permanent site for PSG. However, PSG has never been held on the land and those who gave money or donated labor to the project have turned up expecting to use the land for personal retreats and been turned away. As the land is now privately owned by Fox and Carpenter, this restriction is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. For now, only a very few individuals (Fox, Carpenter, and the Circle Staff) may enter the grounds on an ongoing basis. Others may enter the site only by prior appointment or at one of the on-site festivals, rituals or classes that Circle sponsors. The visitation policy, and the restrictive nature of same, can be viewed on Circle's website.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Adherents.com website, accessed 30 May 2007
  2. ^ Berger, Helen A. A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States (1999). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, p.110.
  3. ^ Hopman, Ellen Evert & Bond, Lawrence. Circle Sanctuary, People of the Earth: The New Pagans Speak Out. (1996). Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 236-244. ISBN 0-89281-559-0
  4. ^ International Herald Tribune. Wiccans symbols allowed on grave markers in government cemeteries 23 April 2007. Accessed 30 May 2007.
  5. ^ CNN. Wiccan pentacle will finally mark fallen soldiers' graves 27 May 2007. Accessed 30 May 2007.
  6. ^ The symbol was referred to as a pentacle in the legal case. See also the article on the pentagram for further discussion of the symbol.

[edit] External links