Introduction: (start music) We're here to create our square for the Freedom Quilt. (Review the Covenant of the Sacred Moon's purpose for the quilt.) The issue is bigger, really. It's not just that we have a foolish president who sees everything in simplified terms, including the free practice of religion. It is that he sees everything in simplified terms and from the point of view of "big business." EarthSpirit is committed to reversing the environmental trends that threaten the healthy, happy lives of every living, breathing creature on this planet. In fact, we had a meeting a few minutes ago about our more active role in a "responsible living" campaign this Fall. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney don't take those issues or our religion seriously. In fact, the Vice President describes "living responsibly" as "living in deprivation." This quilt, with our energy sewn in, is a first step toward opening their eyes. There is another, closely tied issue, and that is of the social and economic injustices in Cincinnati. Can this city unravel herself from the pattern that has been woven for her for all these many years? Are there enough people who will care enough for LONG enough? After yesterday's March, I have to believe there is a way. But I know it won't be easy. Cast the circle: (music continues) Smudge around while I read QUILTING LORE aloud: The colors need to dance with each other in a new and exciting way to bring out the deep secret desire in each of us to also dance. --- Ruth Spencer, Powell, WY A childhood friend, our families were so close we called each other "outlaws," lay dying in a hospital in Monterey. She was on vacation when struck with an aneurysm in the brain. She was 51. The family grapevine got to work and I was notified. I hadn't seen Janie in 20 years and except for Christmas cards had lost touch. My memories of her were of a child and teenager, not an adult, much less a 50 year old one. I went to Monterey, taking a brown, peach and gold colored log cabin quilt made a few years ago. I chose that one to take because it fit with the room she had as a youngster. Her sister was at the bedside, as well as old friends who had come from Michigan, where we all grew up. They had been there three weeks, taking turns sitting by the bed, holding Jane's hand. Jane was not expected to live and the doctors said that if she did she would be a vegetable. She was full of tubes and wires and respirators keeping her breathing. We laid the quilt over her, explaining to her and the nurses that the quilt was for healing. This was given in the sense that healing does not necessarily mean "cure" but means the best possible outcome under the circumstances. The Michigan people went home and I stayed with Jane and her sister, and we took turns holding hands and talking. Words and memories flowed from me, things that I had not thought of for decades, memories childhood, common experiences, the good times. I'm not a wordy person, so was amazed at my monologues. After five days the decision was made to disconnect Jane from all support. The next morning she came out of her coma, her first moments of lucidity since being struck down. Now, two years later, after much therapy, Jane just got her driver's license back and lives alone. Her memory comes and goes, but gets better all the time. I don't think for a minute that the quilt cured her, but I do think that as a representation of the love and care that people felt for Jane, it served a purpose. --- Nancy Pagani, El Cerrito , CA It all begins with a story to tell, a notion to share, a wish to communicate. The needles, thread, fabric, etc....are all tools just like the magicians wand or the witches spell recipe.… The magic also resides in the flair with which the spell is conjured: Sometimes plainly, sometimes abstractly, sometimes softly like the wind caressing the back of your head or sometimes loudly and in your face like the best rap songs. But always it's magic when the viewer gets what the maker sought to communicate; either consciously or subliminally, if the message is received. POOF... MAGIC! --- Claudia Comay, Oakland, CA So, let's begin with our "story to tell!" This invocation of the four directions is Ralph Metzner's 4 elements medicine wheel invocation. His North invocation is like our typical East, and his East is like our South (you'll see!) but I left it his way to honor the Native American roots from where this comes. Metzner is president and co-founder of the Green Earth Foundation. Cast the circle using pieces from Earth Prayers. Body: (music continues) Short meditation before we begin sewing: Let us create our square and sew into it the energy we raise tonight. As we sew, and dance, and drum, and chant, let's focus on our group, EarthSpirit, and the impact we can have: A little at first, but as time goes on, if we gather more energy and become more widely known for our Works, we can influence change … if we choose to. However much or little we are able to do, we know that any amount makes a difference. So we start tonight with our quilt square. We sew into it the energy we raise. Energy to gently introduce the President and his advisers to the concept of our religion. But more than just acknowledging Paganism, we send energy to awaken their thinking about the way Americans use resources -- and use other human beings -- to be able to use resources cheaply. When people are taken advantage of and treated unfairly so that others can live easier, the Earth's energy is unbalanced. Let us poor energy into the fair treatment of ALL human beings, the Earth, and all living creatures. This energy can help Cincinnati mend her deep, life-threatening wounds. Scars caused by the years of unfair treatment of one "class" of people by another can fade, just as the Earth's scars can grow fainter when we learn to live responsibly upon her. (Turn music off.) Begin sewing while others drum, chant, whatever. (This took several hours!) Thank the directions. Close the circle.