Gaia Community

Gaia Community’s year with Freya as patron has a few months left, and we’ve barely mentioned one of the most striking aspects of her lore – where other gods ride horses and boars and leopards and things, Freya gets around the nine worlds in a chariot pulled by cats! If you’ve ever tried to get two or more cats to go in the same direction at once, you’ll appreciate the divine grace needed to pull off such a feat. In honor of Freya and her cats, we’re gathering gifts for Spay and Neuter KC, who provide low-cost and free pet care to families in need.

Between now and the end of July, bring items from SNKC’s wish list to any Gaia event, and we’ll fill our representation of Freya’s chariot with tokens of our thanks and appreciation. We’re mostly focusing on cat-related care items, but if you’re a dog person, they need stuff for dogs too. Not able to bring items in person? SNKC has an Amazon wish list, and gladly accepts items shipped directly. Just let us know if you’d also like to have a token of your gift presented to Freya. Tokens will be offered to Freya in our farewell ritual in August. SNKC items collected at Gaia will be delivered as we collect them.

On behalf of Kansas City’s kitties (and dogs too), thank you for your support!

Thanks to everyone who voted in the first ever patron selection primary election! Our top three candidates, who will go on to the next round of the process in July, are:

• Horus, the falcon-headed Egyptian god of the sky and defender of ma’at;
• Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of compassion who hears the cries of the world; and
• Scáthach, the Irish warrior goddess and mentor to heroes.

The three contenders were chosen from a field of ten by Gaia members and friends using ranked choice voting, a simple way to choose one or more winners from a large pool of candidates. In ranked choice voting, rather than selecting a single favorite candidate, voters rank as many candidates as they like in the order of their preference. Our election worked like this:

Continue reading “Patron Primary Results: It’s Horus, Kuan Yin, and Scáthach!”

This year, we have ten contenders for Gaia Community’s Patron of the Year title. They are, in alphabetical order:

• Athena
• Caffeina
• Columbia
• Ganesha
• The Green Man
• Horus
• Kwan Yin
• Ostara
• Scathách
• Venus

Now, we need to narrow the field to three contenders. We’ll do that by ranked-choice vote. All members of Gaia Community (whether currently active or not) can fill out an online ballot; members and visitors may fill out a paper ballot at any Sunday service. The election ends 4/28, following our Beltane ritual. All ballots must be turned in by that time. Only one ballot per person will count, so please vote in-person or online, but not both. Results will be tallied and announced on 4/28, so stay tuned!

Each year, Gaia Community selects a new patron power to study, honor, and work with for 12 months. We start by taking nominations for potential patrons. You can nominate a power that you think would be good for the community with our handy form, here. Nominations must be received by March 17 to be considered. Final selection of the patron will be in July — stay tuned for more information about the process.

During the first week of December, we celebrate Chalica, a Unitarian Universalist holiday honoring the Seven Principles. Each day, we encourage folks to light a chalice (a candle will do), contemplate one of the principles, and then do some action related to that principle. We’re also asking for folks to take time this week to gather donations of non-perishable food and household items for Harvesters, and warm winter gifts like hats, scarves, socks, and so on to be given to folks in need in our neighborhood. If you’re local to us, you can bring your donations to the service on Sunday, December 9, and we’ll get them out to people who can use them. For more about our Chalica celebrations and the principles in action, join the discussion at our Facebook group!

Friends, due to the weather, we are cancelling today’s forum on practicing gratitude. Please stay safe today and we’ll see you next week!

If you’d still like to talk about your practices of gratitude and appreciation (or anything else), pop on over to our Facebook group,

Want to hang out with Gaians and friends? We now have a hospitality hour each Sunday before ritual. This is a great time to meet people, ask questions, or just have some social time together. Warm beverages and snacks are available starting at 3pm every Sunday at Heart of the Dove.

This Sunday, September 9th, is Kansas City Pagan Pride Day!

We won’t be having our usual Sunday service at Gaia; please join us at Pagan Pride instead. We’ll be at Merriam Marketplace (5740 Merriam Drive, Merriam, KS 66203).

Pagan Pride is a full day of entertainers, presentations, pagan vendors, and kids’ activities to benefit local charitable organizations, raise awareness of Paganism in the community, and give us a chance to have some fun and learn some things. This year’s event will feature a charity auction to raise money for Spay and Neuter KC and a food drive to benefit Harvesters. The main ritual will be provided by Heimdall’s Hearth at 11:30, and our own Voices of Gaia will perform at 2:30. We look forward to seeing you there!

We are saddened to announce the passing of longtime member Jan Wilner. She passed into the world of the Ancestors on August 17, 2018. Jan was a beloved presence at Gaia, and served as a ritualist, board member, and community liaison. She loved music, and sang as part of Voices of Gaia. Her gentle energy and determined compassion will be much missed. Our thoughts are with Jan’s family at this time, especially her daughters Vanessa and Aeriel.

A celebration of her life will be held at the Heart of the Dove, on Saturday, October 20 at 6:30. Please check the event calendar for more details.

Gaia Community welcomes our Patroness for the 2018-2019 year: Freya, Lady of the Vanir! Over the next twelve months, we’ll honor the goddess of beauty and boundaries, fertility and magic. A series of rituals will be held in her honor (check the calendar), and her shrine will be present at each week’s ritual or other service. If you’d like to make an offering at her shrine, Erin tells us that Freya particularly enjoys amber, red jasper, cat representations, falcon representations, jewelry, poetry, magical items, flowers, bacon, chocolate, flowery wines, and rose water.