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Groups: CUUPS at OCUUC

The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) is an organization dedicated to networking Pagan-identified Unitarian Universalists (UUs), educating people about Paganism, promoting interfaith dialogue, developing Pagan liturgies and theologies, and supporting Pagan-identified UU religious professionals.

Our Local Chapter

The Maypole is blessed with our intern minister Dale Osborne.

The Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church's CUUPs group is family-oriented with an emphasis on exploring the many aspects of Neo-Paganism. Discussion topics have included "How Unitarian Universalism and Paganism are Similar" to "Your Favorite Pagan Book Book Review". Guests speakers have spoken on topics such as the Tarot and Honoring Mother Earth through Social Activism. Future events will include discussion on exploring Ritual and Magick in Everyday Life, Psychic Arts Development and drumming. Pagan services are shared with the OCUUC congregation a couple of times a year. Children and youth are included in our meetings and events. For more information on our local chapter, call the church or e-mail CUUPS@OCUUC.org.

Monthly Meeting
Our monthly meetings are held of the fourth Sunday of every month at 12:30 p.m. at OCUUC in Room Gillan 3. Everyone is welcome, meetings are free, snacks will be provided. Meetings are family-friendly and childcare is available on our playground from 12:30–2:30 p.m. For more info please e-mail us at: oc_cuups@sbcglobal.net or visit our website at: www.orangecoastcuups.com.

CUUPS Events
CUUPS has many exciting events planned for the upcoming year! Events will include Guest Authors, Musicians and Artists, Rituals, Craft and Art workshops, Dreamboards, and more. Please click this link to visit our website for more information on our future events: www.orangecoastcuups.com

Articles

(from CUUPs with permission)

What is Paganism?
Paganism is not new or unusual in our modern life. For many people it exists less as an active religion than as parts of our popular culture. Halloween costumes and treats, Christmas trees and mistletoe, Easter bunnies and eggs, maypole dances, harvest festivals and hundreds of other folkways began as Pagan practices. Modern-day Pagans seek to restore the religious context of these practices.

Defining Paganism The origin of the word pagan is from the Latin paganus, meaning a country dweller. When cities were Christianized the people in the country continued to practice the old religions. The word pagan took on the meaning of "those folks out there in the sticks who still do all that old-fashioned stuff." Later it came to mean any member of an indigenous folk or tribal religion or anyone who was not "of the Book" (i.e., the Koran, Bible, Torah). Pagan religions originated in a time when people lived close to the land. Pagan theologies reflect an awareness of nature with its cycles of the seasons, as well as the cycles and seasons of human life. Such awareness is a common thread among Pagans today. Few modern Pagans can fully know or follow how our ancestors worshiped. Instead we invent and reinvent our religious practices, and even our beliefs, as we determine how they resonate with our contemporary lives. Some people prefer to use the word "Neopagan" to describe this form of modern Paganism. We capitalize the words Pagan and Paganism in accordance with standard practices for religious names, e.g., Buddhist and Buddhism, Muslim and Islam. Paganism is a vital, genuine—and growing!—spiritual path.

The participants begin the braiding of the Maypole.

What Pagans Believe
Modern Pagan theology is like a great tapestry with strands originating in many distinct religious traditions. Contemporary Pagans may embrace all or part of the Pagan tapestry. Some Pagans explore their ethnic roots and discover the indigenous practices of their ancestors. Others incorporate indigenous practices that belong to a wide variety of cultures. Still other Pagans follow newly created practices. Common among these Pagans is their tie to nature in a way that resonates with their inner spiritual voice.

Some Pagans believe in the Goddesses and Gods of the old religions and others do not. Many Pagans understand deity as imminent, in everything, and believe revelation is found in nature instead of written in scriptures. Some believe in an afterlife and that their actions in this life will determine their place in the next. Others believe only in this life and that their actions here are all that matters. Still others believe in reincarnation. Some Pagans believe in an active Spirit World while others do not.

Because Paganism is a non-creedal religion such divergent beliefs can exist together under one religious name—just like in Unitarian Universalism! Many modern Pagans find their beliefs are very much in harmony with Unitarian Universalist Principles, especially the reverence for "the interdependent web of which we are a part."

Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church 1259 Victoria Street Costa Mesa, CA  92627 Phone: (949) 646-4652 Directions to OCUUC email: info@ocuuc.org Office hours: Sun-Thu 9:30AM-1PM Jump to just about any page in our site Home Search our site New Visitor Information New Visitor Events Directions to OCUUC Contact OCUUC FAQ Music Programs Members Experiences A short history of OCUUC Our Flaming Chalice symbol Welcoming Congregation What is UUism? Our mission and principles The Reach - Our Newsletter Calendar of Events About Memberhsip Youth Education Adult Programs Activities at OCUUC Our mountain camp retreat About our Choir Goods and Services Auctions Social Action AIDS Team Ministry Groups at OCUUC Covenant Groups Covenant of UU Pagans Our 50th anniversary celebration

OCUUC is a member congregation of the Pacific Southwest District of the Unitarian Universalist Association