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The two that are one
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This past weekend was Lammas holiday, the first harvest -- and it was also a rare historic event for Paganistan.
Minnesota Church of the Wicca (MCoW) was legally recognized in 1976; it was the first federally recognized legal Pagan church in Minnesota, anf the fifth in the nation. Founders Burtrand and Aura taught and mentored many of the members of the Twin Cities community in magic, ritual practice, and Wiccan worldview, and MCoW had created innovative methods and traditions. One of these was the yearly May Day lottery that selected the May Queen and Green Man, which are both sacred and governing offices in the church.
In the mid-1980s, among some foment around state legal protection and by-law disagreements, some members of MCoW decided to recraft the charter and by-laws of MCoW. The ensuing conflict resulted in the schism of the church and the legal formation of the Wiccan Church of Minnesota (WicCoM).
For members of both churches, the schism was a very difficult and emotional time; in some cases, members of one church would not speak with or engage the other. Interestingly, WicCoM never completely turned its back on on its lineage -- to this day, WicCoM maintains the May Day lottery, and the selection of the May Couple, now with the addition of the office of the Fool, who works alongside the May Couple in both official and ceremonial responsibilities.
In an interview I did with them a few years ago, now published by Cambridge University Press, both the founders of MCoW and WicCoM acknowledged that tensions were easing some as the years passed, enough that church members in both camps were interacting at social functions again. The churches were still separate organizations -- MCoW had been keeping a lower profile and maintaining some of its coven-style operations, while WicCoM became more of an umbrella organization and legal affiliation for Pagans of all types. There was an acknowledgement on both sides that the churches were not competing -- infact their definitions of community, and service to community, had simply been different, and both were pursuing their respective missions in their own way.
This past December, MCoW founder Burtrand passed away; his death was the catalyst for MCoW to start being an active presence in Paganistan again. It was just a few weeks back that both WicCoM and MCoW were having their business meetings at the Sacred Paths Center in St. Paul, both planning their Lammas celebrations, when it occurred to WicCoM members that it was a good idea to ask if MCoW was interested in putting on a joint public ritual. WicCoM's Green Man and May Queen, Soaric and Aurora, knocked on MCoW's meeting room door and simply asked -- and MCoW simply said yes.
The Lammas celebration at the Sacred Paths Center, jointly performed by WicCoM and MCoW, was a joyous affair, attended by over fifty people. The liturgy made poetic use of the phrase "the two who are one", referring theologically to the Wiccan God and Goddess as two forces that form the Soul of Nature, but was also a nod to the two churches coming together. The officiants -- Soaric of WicCoM and Grace of MCoW -- made a symbolic exchange of gifts, of community-made friendship bread and fermenting fruit compote, to be shared with the community at a later date. The officiants embraced to thundering applause and dancing among attendees. And, naturally, this being Paganistan, there was a potluck afterwards.
Grace, the ritual's high priestess, spoke to the crowd about the historic nature of the day. She turned to MCoW's co-founder, Aura, who was in attendance, how long it had been since WicCoM and MCoW had done anything together. Aura paused thoughtfully and replied -- over twenty years.
The churches (and two journalists) shared food, honored the first harvest, and shared the story of the Sun God willingly preparing to sacrifice himself for the community, planning his rebirth on the Winter Solstice. They also celebrated the rebirth of a new era where the churches, for the purpose of celebrating community, recalled their shared lineage, and for the day, became one.
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