With Thanksgiving nearly here we thought that we should let you know in advance what that weeks hours will be.

During the week of November 23rd-November 28th office hours will be shorter.

Monday-Tuesday: 10-3
Wednesday-Friday: CLOSED
Weekend: CLOSED

Please allow time for corrections and communications to get to you. If you need information on anything relating to assignments make sure that you send to the appropriate email address.

Please mark clearly in the subject line something like Lipofuze info needed for the staff to know which emails are the most urgent to answer during this short time period!

        

Tis the time to start thinking about giving back to others. This is a great way to show support to those at  Ft. Hood and others of our troops.

For those of you that need help remembering mark this on your calendar and contact this organization! No, you do not need to expand your computer memory to do this only your own memory!!!



Rev. Paula Johnson, Coordinator, Operation Circle Care, sponsored by Circle
Sanctuary
phone: 954-471-1435
email: paula@circlesanctuary.org
http://tiny.cc/operationcirclecare

Operation Circle Care Responds to Foot Hood Tragedy by Expanding Drive for
Yule Care Packages for Pagan Troops

OPERATION CIRCLE CARE GETS READY FOR YULE

Operation Circle Care is currently gearing up to collect and send gift
packages for Yule for Pagan troops for the third year in a row. This year,
we will be including in our program gifts for over 150 Pagan and Wiccan
soldiers and their families at Fort Hood, Texas in addition to deployed
soldiers serving in warzones.

You can request care packages by writing to program coordinator, Paula
Johnson at paula@circlesanctuary.org.  Family members can also request
packages for a loved one or friend deployed in a war zone or at Fort Hood as
well but they must include an accurate APO address.

We need donations of gift items that are small and easy to mail. Pagan music
CD's are in big demand.  We receive frequent requests for incense as well.
Pentacles are always welcome.  Witches Calendars would be great.  Altar
cloths for the Sabbat's and Moons are easy to mail and appreciated.

One of the MOST important things Pagans can do to support Operation Circle
Care is to sponsor the postage needed to send care packages.  Postage is our
largest expense.  One care package (APO/FPO large flat rate box by US mail)
costs $11.95 to ship.  We need the community to sponsor soldiers by paying
the mailing expense to send a care package.

Operation Circle Care was a huge success the last two years year because of
community support across the USA.  Requests for packages for this Yule have
already started to come in and it is our hope to honor and remember each and
every Pagan soldier we can with a special personalized gift for Yule just as
we did last year.

Anyone who would like to donate money for postage can do so on-line or by
telephone.  If you have gift items to contribute, contact Paula:
paula@circlesanctuary.org

How to Help!

(1) SEND ITEMS: Photos of care packages sent in 2007 and 2008 along with a
list of suggested items to donate can be found at:
http://tiny.cc/operationcirclecare

(2) DONATE FUNDS: In addition to contributions of items, funds are needed to
help us cover postage and shipping of the donated materials. It costs us
$11.95 per package to ship by priority air mail. We seek to send a package
to every Wiccan/Pagan soldier deployed to war zones who requests one.

Donate On-line: to our Circle Charities with a credit card at our secured
on-line site: http://www.circlesanctuary.org/donate or call (608) 924-2216.
Be sure to go to the Operation Circle Care shopping cart to designate your
donation towards Operation Circle Care.

Donate By Postal Mail: Send a check or money order, payable to Circle
Sanctuary - OCC to: Operation Circle Care, Circle Sanctuary, PO Box 9,
Barneveld, WI 53507.

(3) TELL OTHERS:  Please let others know about this program -- forward this
email to lists, blogs, websites, others.

        

PAGAN SPIRITUAL COUNSELING Available for Pagans stressed by the Fort Hood Tragedy

A team of Pagan spiritual counselors has been formed by Circle Sanctuary to provide free telephone counseling support this month for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, Pantheists, and other Nature religion practitioners distressed by the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas this past Thursday.

Fort Hood is the largest US military installation in the nation.  On Thursday afternoon, November 5, an Army psychiatrist stationed at Fort Hood went on a shooting rampage, killing 13 and wounding 30 at the base.  This tragedy has shaken and stressed those at Fort Hood and in neighboring areas as well as across the country and at US military installations around the world.

More than 150 Pagans of many paths live in and around Fort Hood.  Many are part of the Fort Hood Open Circle, which is sponsored by the Sacred Well Congregation.  Some are connected with other groups, and some are solitary practitioners.

Circle Sanctuary formed this Pagan counseling support team as part of its services to Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, and other Pagans in the US Military.  This special response team consists of sixteen Pagan leaders from across the nation who are among those doing various forms of Pagan ministry through Circle Sanctuary.  The team is collaborating with other Pagan leaders in the Fort Hood area in providing help.  Circle Sanctuary is offering free Pagan oriented counseling by telephone to supplement grief counseling resources at Fort Hood.

Circle Sanctuary's Fort Hood Tragedy response counseling services are for Pagans in and around Fort Hood as well as for Pagans at other US military installations and elsewhere who have been adversely impacted by the Fort Hood shootings.  The counseling work being offered is specific to distress resulting from the Fort Hood shootings and will be offered throughout the month on November.

NEED HELP? CONTACT: counselingsupport@circlesanctuary.org

Please include your name, email address, phone number(s) and best days & times to call, and a brief description of how the Fort Hood shootings have stressed you.  Information you share will be kept confidential by those assisting you.

TELL OTHERS:  please post this notice to blogs, websites, e-lists, elsewhere to help get the word out to those in need of this support.

MORE INFO;

Info about the Fort Hood rampage & healing process:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ihGepAkECGoDagETVBMpPb3w7Y3gD9BQODMG0
http://www.circlesanctuary.org/healing/fort_hood.htm

Info about Circle Sanctuary Military Ministries
http://www.circlesanctuary.org/ministries/military/

        

It is already November! Imagine that. Holidays will soon be upon us. What does that mean for the students and school?

One thing it does mean is that the office will have its normal holiday schedules which will be posted in plenty of time for all to know. Since we are a family of friends and associates, spending time with our children and other loved ones is something that we promote at all times. Not just the holiday season but all year round.

We give staff and students the time to have fun during the holidays!  Treasuring all much like certified diamonds as that is what they are to us

Starting in a week or so we shall begin showing you the new office schedules. Doing this numerous times so everyone will see it!

        

We hope that everyone that participated in some type of Samhain celebration had a wonderful time and will obtain the results that they were hoping for.

Mine was very low key but none the less amazing. Utilizing the Full Moon was an extra punch that was so great!!! It was better than taking off for one of the orlando vacations that a couple of the staff personnel went to. Lucky dogs!

In between the full moon power and the night being Samhain you could just feel the electricity in the air.

We hope that one and all will have a very bright and prosperous New Year!

        

In the past week or so we have had approximately 100 new students enroll in the school. We got to thinking if this is a new sign of the times or just simply new thoughts.

Either way we looked at the ages and did a quick calculation and averaged this out. Why do this? Pure boredom. Oh, I mean information, yes that is what it was

After gathering all the info that we need we took a look at the receipt printer for a little more help. Surprised that it actually did help!

The average ages of the new students is 45.8. This could be many reasons that this age group has decided to branch out and finally come into the world that they feel they belong to. But I doubt if we will ever really know.

If you would like to send in your reason,  if you are in this age bracket, please do so. We would love to publish the results!

        

Samhain will be here before we know it. Looking in the stores, of course, it has been here since September. All the ghostly and ghastly decorations that will adorn so many homes!
I must admit that I am guilty of purchasing those trinkets. I love this event, actually it is a holiday in our family. We celebrate this as most celebrate Christmas. With decorations, lights and thoughts of the past loved ones deceased, we celebrate with great love and a lot of fun.

Each year I receive the traditional witch from my children. This year I was blessed with two. My daughter Sabriena bought the first, which is a funky looking bird with feathers all over it. The bird is actually a writing pen. Bright orange and wearing a witch hat. My other daughter, Shaina purchased three table decorations which were: a punk rocker vampire, a skater frankenstein and a trailer trash witch. So, that started the celebration month off. The decorating bug bit me. Slowly but surely by Halloween night this home will have every possible decoration hung up and in view. I am like a child during this time.

I have to say that I am a "winter" child so this month begins the time of year when I have the most energy. I savor the start of my "New Year". Each night I light the candles for the deceased that have gone before us and think of the wonderful times that we had. After all this is their month as well as mine.

I will as years passed set the table with the plates for the spirits and have the chairs ready for their comfort. I practice the "Old Ways" of ours in paying homage. It is a wonderful month that starts the holiday season off on the right foot.

Warming our home with candles in the evening leaves all with a welcoming sense of "home". There is one candle that is burning during the day and night to guide those departed to our home. This is a very old practice in our family and hopefully one of my children will keep it going long after I am gone. I would like to add that when I am away from the home, for safety reasons, I use a light that is designed for Samhain. Upon returning the candles are lit.

This is the start of the New Year for us. May this holiday bring all the love, hope and happiness that you, fair reader deserves.

Now, that I have sent my greeting to you all, I have to hang a skeleton over the entry way door.

From the staff and myself, have a safe and Happy Samhain!

Hopefully Jazz wont need the help from her Pleasanton motorcycle accident attorney this year

Mistress Ravenfyre

        

The other day we were all sitting around talking about winter since it will be here before we know it. The conversation drifted to what is the one thing that we can not do with out.

I was the first to rally with that article. Actually there were two, but only one was being asked for. My favorite thing in the winter is my heated blanket ! My second (sorry I feel compelled to tell this) is my mattress warmer. I would be totally lost without them both. On those snowy, ice filled days and nights those two things have been a life saver!

Not to mention they save energy as well. Most today can be machine washed so they clean up really well.

What is your winter article that you cannot do without?

        

One thing that we do not wish to think about and that is home robberies. Even if it has not happened to you it strikes a note of fear in every reasonable persons mind.

In California I had numerous friends and associates that were literally saved by having a security alarm system installed either in their homes or businesses.  With police nearly always responding in time before anything happened that could be disastrous.  A few were actually home and they had to hit the intruder button or whatever it was called and boy did it save them!

In my dads store he had a small business security alarm system set up as where his store was you really had to have one or you knew you would have someone break in. There were more than a time or two he would be notified nearly immediately of something that had jarred the alarm to ring off. Response times were wonderful and there was only one time that there was a small theft that happened while the alarm was going off. It paid for its self time and time again.

Whether for home or business the cost is small considering what a huge break in may cost you. Thinking further it might even cost you your life without one.

        

Have you planned your costumes yet? That is one thing that has been haunting me this year, what my youngest son wants to wear this year.

I have been after him for weeks to think of what it is so the outfit can be made. So far it has gone from a ghost to wearing only equestrian apparel you know a cowboy!  Although the ghost was a good idea as I do have one last white sheet that would easily be transformed into a make shift ghost costume!

Only a couple more weeks to go and sad to say no idea has been firmed up. What  costumes are in the workings for your children?