christopher d
11 Jan 2006, 01:58 PM
The Spiral Scouts are an alternative "scouts" group, based on Pagan principles, but open to children and families from all paths. Paganism generally gets its 15 minutes in the MSM during "Pagan Pride" festivals in the summer, or right around Samhain (Halloween), and these articles usually focus on a few more outlandish folks, and end with a smart-assed "but they're just folks like you and me" at the end. This article is refreshingly not like that.
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=8709
Excerpts:
It’s a little before noon on a Saturday, and seven children are gathered around a table in a cozy Troy home, scribbling with markers. Many are dressed in uniform, sporting neatly pressed khakis and crisp green polo shirts. The boys and girls, ages 3 to 10, are busily decorating a box they’ll later fill with dry goods. It’s part of their latest community service initiative, and will be donated to Compassion Pregnancy Centers (an organization that works with pregnant women in high-risk situations) in Clinton Township.
While the kids color, five moms, two dads and two scout leaders look on. The scent of home-cooked comfort food wafts in from the kitchen.
It’s a scene so wholesome that you’d never imagine most of the parents prefer their families’ names not be printed in this article. Why? They’re afraid someone will accuse them of being satanists.
From its grassroots beginnings, the organization has now spread to 20 states, Canada and Europe. Chapters exist as far away as Switzerland and also thrive, according to Callahan, “in places you wouldn’t expect, like Arkansas and Oklahoma.” To date, 127 different groups have been chartered, and Callahan estimates that around 60 are currently active, involving about 600 people — ranging in age from preschoolers to teenagers to parents. Groups can be structured in two ways: as a “hearth,” which is composed of a single family, or as a “circle,” which has a wider membership. Seven circles currently operate in Michigan, including the Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Portage and Ann Arbor areas, and there’s a statewide Web site, michiganspiralscouts.org.
James O’Connell, 14, of Plymouth is a member of the Oaken Grove Circle, which operates in Washtenaw and western Wayne counties. He has been participating in Spiral Scouts for about five years, “practically since it started.” O’Connell, who also has two younger brothers in the program, says his favorite part of Spiral Scouts is his circle’s yearly summer camping trip to Sleepy Hollow State Park. “We camp out, walk around the woods, look at things, and just try to figure out what the world’s like.”
When asked about the most important lesson he has learned from Spiral Scouts, O’Connell responds, “Respect the earth. Don’t trash it, because if you do, it will bite you later.”
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=8709
Excerpts:
It’s a little before noon on a Saturday, and seven children are gathered around a table in a cozy Troy home, scribbling with markers. Many are dressed in uniform, sporting neatly pressed khakis and crisp green polo shirts. The boys and girls, ages 3 to 10, are busily decorating a box they’ll later fill with dry goods. It’s part of their latest community service initiative, and will be donated to Compassion Pregnancy Centers (an organization that works with pregnant women in high-risk situations) in Clinton Township.
While the kids color, five moms, two dads and two scout leaders look on. The scent of home-cooked comfort food wafts in from the kitchen.
It’s a scene so wholesome that you’d never imagine most of the parents prefer their families’ names not be printed in this article. Why? They’re afraid someone will accuse them of being satanists.
From its grassroots beginnings, the organization has now spread to 20 states, Canada and Europe. Chapters exist as far away as Switzerland and also thrive, according to Callahan, “in places you wouldn’t expect, like Arkansas and Oklahoma.” To date, 127 different groups have been chartered, and Callahan estimates that around 60 are currently active, involving about 600 people — ranging in age from preschoolers to teenagers to parents. Groups can be structured in two ways: as a “hearth,” which is composed of a single family, or as a “circle,” which has a wider membership. Seven circles currently operate in Michigan, including the Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Portage and Ann Arbor areas, and there’s a statewide Web site, michiganspiralscouts.org.
James O’Connell, 14, of Plymouth is a member of the Oaken Grove Circle, which operates in Washtenaw and western Wayne counties. He has been participating in Spiral Scouts for about five years, “practically since it started.” O’Connell, who also has two younger brothers in the program, says his favorite part of Spiral Scouts is his circle’s yearly summer camping trip to Sleepy Hollow State Park. “We camp out, walk around the woods, look at things, and just try to figure out what the world’s like.”
When asked about the most important lesson he has learned from Spiral Scouts, O’Connell responds, “Respect the earth. Don’t trash it, because if you do, it will bite you later.”