Interfaith solstice ceremony draws attention from Green Egg magazine

Speaker This winter solstice in Eugene, First Christian Church will host a reflective and supportive interfaith ritual honoring the Sun and the Son. The ceremony starts at 5 p.m. and will include both Pagan and Christian rites. Echo Sherman:

Echo Pastor Zane (Ridings) of First Christian Church has opened up their doors on equal ground and said, ‘Hey, come on to our land and do something sacred alongside us.’ And that is not a thing you hear every day as a Pagan. The reason why this is so historic is because it hasn’t happened before, that a church, specific denominations haven’t said, ‘Hey, this is our sacred ground. But you know what? We see you. Come join us.’

Paganism goes all the way back to shamanism. It’s an umbrella term. Much like if you’re a Christian, you can be a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a Catholic, and you have similar beliefs, but different. The core beliefs remain the same in Paganism, but it can include shamanism. It can include witches. It can include Odinists. It can include Voodoo. It can include Santeria.

You know, anything that predates Christianity, that is a nature-based religion, polytheistic, generally speaking, ancestral worship, generally speaking, that nature is sacred, generally speaking. There are different views on where we go after we die, but in general we believe there is an afterlife.

I’ve been a practicing Pagan since I was old enough to make a choice at 18 and I have experienced a lot of negative lashback from being out of the broom closet, so to speak, because I never was shy about it. I was like, if we’re going to move forward, somebody has to be out of the broom closet. And it cost me. It cost me a lot. It cost me my family. It cost me, jobs, respect, reputation, because I was in much more conservative areas.

And I’ve got to say that, you know, this is a step forward to be a part of. It’s a really big honor. It’s historic because the Christians are inviting a Pagan coven in to lead this ceremony—my coven. We’re called Thornkin Coven. We have our high priest, a Eugene native.

And then we have Brooklyn, a lovely trans woman who is an advocate for her people and an advocate for her witchy people. And she’s stepping into her power. She’s going to represent Air in the ceremony.

I am a high priestess, I’ll be representing Spirit. Kevin Kopsco will be stepping in and doing the high priest role, and he will represent Earth. My sister Tiana, who has been in my life for eight years, she’s stepping into the role of Fire, and she’s going to be doing a fire poi dance (with electric poi, not fire).

But there’ll be a candle-lighting ceremony. There’ll be some words spoken about the similarities of our religions and what we have in common versus what we have apart.

And then there’s Sphynx. Sphynx is the youngest member of our coven. The coven really started because she asked me for guidance and I felt she was ready. And so she became my apprentice. We have room for other people, if their vibe fits our tribe and vice versa. They’re welcome to come join. They’re welcome to come see what we do with the church.

Speaker A well-known Pagan publication has been asked to report on the historic solstice event Dec. 21. Echo Sherman:

Echo We’re also going to have a foreword by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart. I don’t know if you guys know who Oberon Zell-Ravenheart is. He is an elder in the Pagan community. He’s written several books. He founded the Grey School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Online, the very first Pagan witch school online. He also founded the Green Egg magazine, which is a very widely known Pagan publication, probably the best-known Pagan publication in the world. which is in Barnes and Nobles everywhere.

He bred unicorns by taking goats and moving their horns to the middle. And they went to the circus with the unicorns. And then they were really sad about that because the unicorns got exploited, but I digress.

He’s one of the most powerful people in the Pagan community because he has done a lot of groundwork. He and his wife came up with the term polyamory, so they’re pretty well known in the community, and he is going to do a foreword because he’s a friend of mine.

He said that in his memory, this has never happened, and so to have his support and his foreword about the historical nature of this event is going to be a really cool moment. He contacted the Green Egg magazine, and they’re going to be running an article on this event. It’s going to kind of document this.

And that’s going to be the Christian ceremony from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and then our ceremony should be about 45 minutes. And then after that we’ll have a break. 6:30 p.m. is when everything ends. So we will take that end at 6:30 p.m. and there will be some beautiful poetry recited. There will be some beautiful music composed specifically for the situation. So that’s exciting. We’re having a lot of fun with this, by the way. It’s really an honor.

Speaker Echo said the Yule Ball is a fundraiser sponsored by the grassroots collective Octopus Inc.

Echo And then we’re going to have that Yule Ball. The Yule Ball is going to have a Victorian Christmas tree where we are getting— we’re doing a gift drive. And the gift drive, the gifts that are left over are going to go up on that Christmas tree for anybody to come and just take down a gift.

There will be calls for donations. It is a $10 suggested donation at the door. Kids get in free. Anyone under 18 is free and we do not turn anyone away for lack of funds. This is really for everybody. Music, hot cocoa and cider, and some snacks—there should be just some really fun events going on. We have some stuff plotted.

Octopus Inc. is a mutual aid, network; it’s a grassroots organization in its fledgling years. We made this model of a program that we believe could be applied, like CAHOOTS could be applied, anywhere. The idea is that there’s a central council which functions like the octopus central brain and individual brains for each project that we take on.

We’re doing the Yule Ball to help Sphynx and South find housing. Sphynx and South are two marginalized queer, neurodivergent youth who have given me permission to speak their story. And I want to thank them for trusting me with that. They’re incredibly resilient, strong youth, but they have no support system. This Yule Ball is to get them a camper. That is all what this is about. Yule Ball is about Octopus Inc. showing that through collaborative events and mutual aid, we can catch people who are falling through the cracks.

Sphinx is a remarkable young woman. She’s the youngest producer at our radio station. And I’m just extraordinarily proud of this young woman who is coming into their own. And they are just really trying to keep their head above water. And South is a trans young woman, so they live in a precarious situation every day because they’re runaway and they’re homeless and they couch surf and, that’s just not safe for them. And I worry about them constantly.

And their mental health has taken a hit from it. And they’ve developed fear of crowds and it’s a really hard thing to be dealing with mental health and physical health and be 17 and be expected to adult immediately in a month’s time when you haven’t had the support system to hold you up to do that.

Octopus Inc. is founded on the principles of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs starts with physiological safety. If you don’t have the food or the air or the place to rest at night, you’re not going to be functional in any area. And that’s what I’m trying to teach people alongside me, that they have skill sets.

We’re a strength-based organization, so we don’t see your weaknesses, just we see your strengths and your weaknesses, and we put you in a position to succeed and to get something in return, either spiritually, mentally, or sometimes physically. Because if you’re putting in ideas that are coming to fruition, this is a mutual aid project. We want you to get something out of it, too.

It is very difficult to exist in this world without a day-to-day paycheck, but it’s even harder to exist without a support system. And we can build a tribe. And I think that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to show that you can build a mutual aid tribe in each city because, you know, maybe you come to our group and you don’t feel comfortable with a bunch of neurodivergent, marginalized folks. That’s fine. Take the model and apply it in your own place, with your own people. Because the model is the point.

The Yule Ball starts at 7 p.m., goes till midnight, and Sphynx itself will be in attendance so you can meet the people you’re helping, face-to-face.

And I would like to perform an act that shows them what faith really does mean in this time and what hope really does mean, and what you can do when you build with a community. And I want to show them how it’s done.

Speaker On Dec. 21, the longest night of the year, a Christian-Pagan interfaith ceremony, followed by the Yule Ball. For more, see the Octopus, Inc. Meetup group.