Friday

All Afternoon              Spend Time Touring the Witch City & Shopping

2:00 – 7:00 pm           Registration – Entrance Foyer - Go to the right side of the church to the side entrance. 

        The registration team will be ready to greet you!

3:30 – 4:30 pm           Workshop – Cleveland Room

First Church & Paganism in the Witch City with Jerrie Hildebrand - In this workshop you will get a taste of the First Church has 397 years of history in its background. It was organized by the first Puritans in Salem on the lands of the Naumkeag tribes and today is a vibrant progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation. The congregation has been involved in so many aspects of history in the city. It includes the deaths of 20 people during the Salem Witch Trials, to the Revoluntionary War, and was home to illuminaries such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Parker, Nathaniel Bowditch, the Peabody sisters, and so many more. Today, like the city of Salem itself. it welcomes all people with many identities socially, economically, politically, and theologically, including those who celebrate Paganism and Earth-Centered traditions.

4:30 – 6:45 pm            Out on the Town for Dinner on Your Own

It is highly recommended you make reservations ahead of time. Here are restaurants close to the event venue. There are so many places around town. 

• Life Alive - Vegan/Vegetarian
• Bon-Chon - Korean Fried Chicken
• Gulu Gulu - Small bites. coffee, breakfast
• Ba Banh Mi - Vietnamese
• Dire Wolf - Pub Food & Sushi
• Rockafellas - American Cuisine
• Turners - Seafood
• The Neighborhood Tavern - Family friendly
• Blue Fe - Moraccan
• Koto - Asian
• Ginger - Asian/Creole
• Adriatic - Italian
• Odd Meter - Coffee Shop
• Brew Box - Coffee
• Honey Dew - Coffee & breakfat
• Ugly Mug - Breakfast & Lunch
• Front Street Cafe - Coffee, breakfast, lunch
• … and so many more!

7:00 – 8:00 pm            Opening Ritual – Garden or Wilson Hall

8:15 – 9:15 pm            Presenters Round Table – Cleveland Room or Sanctuary

9:15 pm                       Complete the Evening

Saturday
Regarding Meals        There is a $25 fee for a boxed lunch and $40 for the Community Dinner.

         Please see the registration table to order before 10:00 am

8:00 – 8:30 am            Saturday Registration - Go to the right side of the church to the side entrance. 

The registration team will be ready to greet you!

         Fellowshipping

9:00 – 10:00 am          Workshops – Cleveland Room or Sanctuary

The Sacred Marriage with Om Prakash - Through the Sat Yoga Labyrinth, we will explore our journeys into the material world and beyond in accordance with the psychological chakra system.  This discussion and lecture will be followed by and intertwined with an experiential journey using Nada Yoga (Yoga of Sound) Mantras, chants and some movement to connect with the sacred.
In Wilson Hall

Nature Mindfulness, Pagan Practice, and Connectedness with Nature
with Dennis Carpenter -  Pagans tend to view Nature as sacred, to view themselves as part of the interconnected web of life on this planet, and to respect and honor the rest of the natural world. This is consistent with the Unitarian Universalism value of interdependence, the honoring of the web of all existence. Pagan practices include attuning to and celebrating the cycles of the Sun and Moon and the ever-changing environment associated with these cycles. This workshop will explore the concept of Nature Mindfulness and how such practices can enhance practice by deepening our sense of connectedness to the rest of the natural world, as well as increase our respect, care, and action on behalf of our environment. In Cleveland Room

10:30 – 11:30 am        Workshops 

The Sacred Fool: Roles and Responsibilities of a Radicalized Spiritual Practice with Eric Eldritch - The Sacred Fool explores The Fool of the tarot and the daring figure of the Court Jester. The job description of the Fool is speaking truth to power; liberating the oppressed; mediating divergent points of view; shifting paradigms; creating synchronicity in chaos; combining the incompatible; the profound and the profane. This session provides a forum to provide situational assessment, personal devotional alignment, leadership responsibility and social justice action. In Wilson Hall

Complexity of Pagan Landscape Workshops with Manny Tejeda y Moreno - Modern Paganism resists simplicity.  In fact, that resistance is precisely the point. This presentation explores a religious movement in the United States with an estimated 1 to 1.5 million practitioners that rejects central authority, fixed identity, or easy definition. Pagan communities form a living network of covens, groves, circles, and institutions; simultaneously decentralized and organized, countercultural and increasingly visible. Yet the Pagan community is not monolithic, whether socioeconomically or politically. Even as many resist “respectability” and “normalcy” asserting no obligation to conform to dominant societal presumptions, Pagan institutions, scholarship, and advocacy continue to grow. This presentation traces a century of revival and reconstruction while confronting a central tension: how Pagans sustain identity, autonomy, and community amid rising political pressures and dominant religious expectations. 
In the Cleveland Room

12:00 – 12:45 pm        Lunch - Box Lunch is available for a fee

1:00 – 2:00 pm            Workshops

Why We Need the Rage Filled Goddesses with Susan Foster -  If we allow ourselves to explore the shadow side of our psyches, archetypal images of the ancient dark, or fierce, goddesses can emerge. These deities embody a primordial energy capable of destroying systems and paradigms that no longer serve us, while simultaneously holding the power to create new, justice-aligned structures. The dark goddesses demonstrate a sacred rage that can motivate us to take action against injustice. Tapping into this repository of fierce energy will empower people of all genders to collaborate in building a more equitable society. In the Cleveland Room

Pagan Chant Circle with Liz Parker - Casual sing along for all people featuring chants for both the summer solstice and Lammas. Drums also welcome! Bring something to drink and if you think you might have a communical respiratory illness, please wear a mask. Singing is a supper spreader activity. In Wilson Hall

2:30 – 3:30 pm            Keynote Presentation with Marilynn Roach - Cleveland Room 

Salem Witch Trials in a Nutshell - The Salem witch trials, although well remembered and well documented, can be an enigma to later generations, a subject cluttered with inaccuracies and urban legends. “The Salem Witch Trials in a Nutshell” will present the basics of those turbulent months, the cast of characters, the escalation of events, and the aftermath--but not necessarily what you might expect.

4:00 – 5:00 pm            Keynote Presentation with Selena Fox - Cleveland Room 

Liberty Matters: Pagan Religious Freedom with Selena Fox -  Examining successes, challenges, and learnings in working for equal rights for Pagans and Nature Spirituality.  Exploring present concerns and ways to collaborate with Pagans of many paths and others to uphold religious freedom and church-state separation.  Activist work with the ancient Pagan Goddess Libertas and Her form as Freedom Icon, Lady Liberty, in private and public settings.

5:00 – 6:00 pm            Panel on Religious Freedom Concerns & How Do We Manage it Personally! - 
                                    Lady Liberty League Democracy Task Force & Wild Hunt Team - Sanctuary

Lady Liberty League (LLL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to defencing the religious freedom and fighting discrimination against Pagans, Wiccans andother Earth-Centered faith traditions. They were founded in 1985 by Selena Fox abd is headquarted in Wisconsin. They provide education, couseling, referrals, and advocacy for those facing religious prejudice. 

The Wild Hunt is a non-profit online daily news service for Pagans, Heathens, Wiccans, Witches, and Polytheists. The Wild Hunt has been bringing you modern Pagan news and commentary.

This panel will discuss current affairs happening impacting the Pagan, how they manage life on top of other accouontabilities in the world, and how people can help. CUUPS has partnered with both organizations over the years and are thrilled to have them speak on issues of our times. We will end with a short simple ritual to keep ourselves centered in times like these.

6:30 – 7:30 pm            Community Meal – Wilson Hall 

Attendees are invited to bring drinks to share. The meal will include vegetarian, vegan and omnivore offerings.

7:30 – 8:00 pm            Dinner Cleanup - Every One!

8:00 – 9:30 pm            Ritual, Birthday Celebration & Bardic Circle - Wilson Hall

Attendees are invited to bring a song, poem, short story, or chant to share. Please note there may be many who wish to share and we would love to make time to hear from all as best as possible!

9:30 pm                       Complete the day

Sunday

9:00 – 10:00 am           Round Table with the CUUPS Board  – Wilson Hall

10:30 – 11:30 am         Worship Service with Congregation, Speakers & Board – Sanctuary

11:30 am                      Fellowship - Cleveland Room 

12:15 – 12:45 pm         Closing Community Ritual & Farewell – Garden

1:00 pm                        Self-Tour the Witch City, Shopping, or Head Home