Wiccan church honors dead in eco-friendly cemetery

[rug]

Believers say natural burial shows reverence for the land as well as the departed

Dawn Turner Trice
October 31, 2011

Amid graves that have been cleared of leaves and adorned with wreathes of thyme and mint, members of the Wisconsin-based Wiccan church Circle Sanctuary on Monday will celebrate the last day of a pagan festival that rings in the new year and honors the dead.

Church members, several of whom come from the Chicago area, gather annually at the 200-acre Barneveld, Wis., site to mark Samhain (pronounced SOW-un), which culminates with members placing plates of food and chalices of beverages on an altar in the cemetery while reflecting on loved ones who have passed on.

For nearly 30 years, part of the celebration has taken place in a stone circle and on a nearby 1-acre ridge top, which in 1995 became an eco-friendly cemetery that holds cremated remains, or cremains, of humans and beloved pets.

But this year, the festivities will also take place in a new section of the cemetery that has been expanded to include environmentally friendly full-body human burials.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-trice-greencemetery-1031-20111031,0,7101907.column?track=rss

Merry Sanhain and a good year to all.

[AnnieBW]

1. This is a great idea

I'm very happy that Circle Sanctuary was able to do this. If I don't get my ashes made into a reef ball, or shot up into space, I want to be buried there.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Thank you for sharing this. :) n/t

[joneschick]

3. sounds like the way to go. so to speak.

there's a bolt of unbleached muslin in the sewing room. it's under the serger. just wrap me in that. :hi:

[immoderate]

4. This really makes a lot of sense.

A salutatory crash of the cymbal for my Wiccan friends, I play in the drum circle that accompanies the rituals at the pagan church. Very enjoyable, and good food, which is my minimum requirement for attending any religious observance.

It makes sense, they make sense in coming to terms with this issue of how to manage the planet.

I don't think the dead, I mean the truly dead, will complain about how they've been treated.

--imm

[white_wolf]

5. This is awesome. I have a few Wiccan and other pagan friends...

and I've always found them a lot more tolerant than the Christians I know. I do have one question, why does the article use the term church? Church is clearly a Christian term.

[lbrtbell]

6. Typical media ignorance

Circle isn't a "church". :)

[white_wolf]

7. Yeah, I was getting confused. I saw them mention Circle a few times, and I know that is the proper

term,but then they kept saying church. I don't know why they couldn't have just used circle the whole article. The author is a journalist, he should know how to research. Hell, I get it drilled into my head every week when I go to my journalism classes, and I'm pretty sure it isn't a new innovation in the field. Though I have o say our current mass media, is really making me rethink my career choice. I'm disgusted at how the mainstream media is portraying the OWS movement and things that are "different" in general such as this Wiccan circle.

[roody]

8. Natural burial is an opportunity for entrepreneurs.