News from the Blackberry Circle

February 2008 - Blackberry Circle celebrated the one year anniversary of it's very first ritual on Yule of 2007. Can you believe it, one year? On March 20th we will be celebrating our one year anniversary of incorporating and becoming a recognized church within the state of Texas.

During the past year our rituals have grown. The first few rituals we had between 15 and 20 people, which is not too bad considering we were just starting. This past Imbolc ritual we had 39 in the Circle and many more observing outside the Circle. Samhain was the largest group with almost 80 people total. All in all we have had a total of 560 people attend our rituals over the past year.

We also accepted new students beginning at Mabon of 2007 and have a group of wonderfully intelligent and inquisitive folks. We are not accepting new students again until Mabon of 2008 but if you make your wishes known and are willing to work with us as you wait for official acceptance it will be worth your while.

2008 is shaping up to be a great year. This year we plan on developing a permanent Circle that is ringed by blackberries (hence the name) as well as other places of worship, ritual and meditation on the property. Any help from people who have strong backs and weak minds will be greatly appreciated.

And a simple reminder; Blackberry Circle is a church and is run strictly off donations and the kindness of others. The Coven members do a lot of work and spend a lot of their own money to make everything possible, and even though we do not have any problem doing so since that is our calling, any donations of money, equipment, supplies, construction items, et cetera are greatly appreciated.

August 3, 2007 - The Board of Directors are finalizing the wording on the Bylaws of Blackberry Circle and have been working to make Blackberry Circle an integral part of the Pagan community not only for the Houston area but for any group that follows in the future.

There will be a yard sale benefiting Blackberry Circle on September 15th, 2007. If you would like to donate any items for the yard sale please bring them by before September 1st and make sure the items are already priced. All proceeds go to supporting future Blackberry Circle endeavors.

It has been decided that there should be something similar to the Pagan Night Out, Pagan Monthly Social, Witches Meetup, and other social events but are more family oriented and/or intellectually stimulating (not that the other events are not). With that in mind Blackberry Circle is introducing Blackberry Circle Indulgence. This will be a monthly event beginning November 10th where the attendees go to such places as the Renaissance Festival, plays, museums, or other places or events that will be fun. The November 10th Indulgence will be a trip to the Renaissance Festival. Stay tuned for more details.

The Pagan Pride Day is September 29th and the Witch’s Ball is October 13th. We encourage everyone to attend both of these events.

And a friendly reminder, The Lammas ritual will be held on August 11th. From the sounds of it there will be a lot of new people attending, some traveling for several hours to get here. If you have attended our rituals before please help us welcome these newcomers.

March 15, 2007 - We are now an official non-profit corporation in the state of Texas. To make things even better, we are not only an official non-profit corporation but we are now a legitimate and recognized church in the state of Texas with the rights of any church. Actually, we will be official on March 20th, 2007, the day of the Vernal Equinox when night and day are equal.

Februrary 27, 2007 - We are moving ever closer to finalizing our Articles of Incorporation to be a recognized place of worship in Texas. Thanks to all the folks who have been helping prepare the land and give ideas for the future of Blackberry Circle. It appears that Blackberry Circle is filling a niche that was greatly needed in the conroe and North Houston area and with any luck it will continue to grow and fullfil that need.

February 4th, 2007 - The Imbolc 2007 was another success. Not only did we have about 20 fantastic folks attend we even had a special guest. You can read more about it here.

December 17, 2006 - The Yule 2006 ritual was a great success with about 20 people attending this open ritual and a few bringing their children. Ya gotta love that young energy! You can read more about this event here.