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One might ask why I use the word "web" when referring to community. Think of the unique patterns and the delicate threads that hold a strength that man has had yet to fully duplicate. The silk is so flexible that if the slightest vibration touches a spider's web it is felt in every thread. It brings to mind how we are affected by the actions, emotions, and energy that we encounter from those we meet on a daily basis experiencing shared joy, laughter, or even pain and sadness. As we live we are constantly moved and changed by our connection to other human beings.
This connection is inherent, however, some find that it is the deeper spiritual connections that are important, and many choose to share it with others. Higher Self Magazine in its first year has worked and is working to facilitate these connections that lead to community. Debuting in the pages of the Raleigh based Innerchange Magazine in April of 2002 Higher Self Magazine grew into its own entity in August of 2002 as Community Spirit Magazine starting with 5000 magazines bi-monthly, its intention not only to inform the public of alternative concepts regarding Body, Mind, and Spirit, but ways to experience these concepts with others in the form of community.
We have seen a great deal of growth in terms of community based organizations and centers in the Charlotte Area. While there are many spiritual communities in Charlotte, I had the pleasure of speaking with owners/clergy of four different community centers/organizations; New Directions Church, the Peaceful Dragon, North Carolina Piedmont Church of Wicca, and Phoenix Rising, each providing a different aspect of spirituality.
New Directions Church, an interfaith church chartered in 1993, came to Charlotte in 1997 starting out like many groups, in Reverend Rebecca Nagy's living room. While sitting in the home of Rev. Rebecca Nagy, minister and founder of New Directions Church, she explained to me how New Directions came to be. "I know as a spiritual teacher and student that only way that we can change the world is from the inside out, and it has to happen through thought…, so New Directions Church really is dedicated to changing the world one thought at a time." She went on to explain that although she did not originally seek to pastor a church, she wanted to do something for the community. What changed her life? "Mystical connection with a higher power," says Rebecca, which has become the focus of the church.
The understanding that with the ushering in of the Aquarian age (the new age of peace and spiritual understanding) that the need to work in service to each other, and work spiritually in groups is what led Rebecca to get New Directions, "out of her living room." As serendipity would have it, upon making this decision, Phoenix Rising, a community center, opened creating an opportunity for space. With the manifestation of space, Reverend Nagy and Reverend Tara O'Neil started full moon meditations and in January 2003 began meditation services the second Sunday of every month. As interest grew, so did the need for services, so the church now meets every Sunday at Phoenix Rising.
New Directions offers a message and meditations in all of their services based on the desire to have a church that is "free flowing" and open to all beliefs. Currently, the church invites guest speakers and teachers of various spiritual paths to show their wish for unity in what Rebecca refers to as the "community of humanity." Reverend Nagy also stated, "I want people to come out of [our services] enthusiastic and empowered, and give them inner tools to allow them to get through the week in a balanced way."
In addition to celebrating spiritual diversity, the church is connected with Sancta Sophia School of Wisdom, a fully accredited mystery school where one can receive training and eventually full credentials as a minister for those who choose it. A few of the classes available from the Charlotte based seminary are science of meditation, spiritual healing, and numerology, and are taught at Phoenix Rising.
Whether your desire is to simply connect in a spiritual way to others, or to deepen your knowledge of spiritual practices, New Directions provides a diverse and loving spiritual family where all are welcome to join. After all, this church "without walls" is about people and what they bring to the community. For more information about services, classes, or speaking visit: http://www.newdirectionsnc.com and http://sanctasophia.org.
My next stop is the Peaceful Dragon, a Chinese cultural center, located at 12610 Steele Creek Rd. This lovely center, founded by Sifu Eric Sbarge and his wife Hu (Deborah) Wan Chic got its start in September of 1997 and is fast approaching its first anniversary since their grand opening for the new Steele Creek location in September of 2002. When visiting the opening, I was personally struck by the building, sitting on several acres in south Charlotte suitable for outdoor classes, resplendent with garden, pond, and waterfalls, giving an air of tranquility. The outdoor patio provides an opportunity to not only enjoy the grounds, but to enjoy a nice pot of one of their high quality teas or one of their scrumptious vegetarian dishes prepared by Chef Geoff Bragg (I suggest at least trying the steamed dumplings.) You can even buy lovely imported gift items, and receive a massage while you are there.
While the Peaceful Dragon takes part in festivals held by various parts of the Asian community, such as the Chinese/American association's Chinese New Year festival, the center's true focus is geared toward opening the average Charlottean to the best of Asian culture. The free lecture series which covers various topics on Asian culture, which serves this purpose, are the first and third Saturdays of every month. Beyond the classes in Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Yoga, Pakua, Chi Kung, and meditation that are offered, the center also offers one day retreats on various topics and a Tai Chi retreat in Black Mountain which are open to the public.
Sifu Eric Sbarge, Sifu meaning "teacher" or "father," shared, "We get a lot of visiting masters, and world renowned masters on various topics from religion to martial arts, but what is important is that we are student run center." This feeling of a family atmosphere amongst the students was apparent to me when taking part in their grand opening. It is the student body that worked together to build the new center, and who volunteer their time and energy to the annual Mind and Body Fitness Festival in March and the annual Tai Chi festival coming in September, which are both free and open to the public. Sifu Sbarge also tells me that, "We wouldn't be here if it were not for the volunteer efforts of all of our students." Sifu went on to explain that, "we try to follow the model of a traditional martial arts school in China, even tracing back to the original Shaolin temple, which in martial arts flourished, the idea is that we teach and train, but part of the learning is contributing something back [to the school.]" This is something that is not required of the students; however, the feeling of extended family is apparently enjoyed by many of the students who do volunteer.
The Peaceful Dragon has been in the process of rebuilding their student base since their move last September; however, energy is not only being put into creating a strong student foundation. "We hope to be more involved with the community," added Sifu who went onto explain that several of the senior students of the Peaceful Dragon are close to completing the ten years of training required to become certified to teach the disciplines that the center offers. The hope is to offer classes to senior citizen homes and corporations, and others who can benefit from the health and meditative arts offered by the center.
Not only have we seen a movement toward interfaith organizations, and the acceptance of Asian culture and spirituality in this country, there has been an ever growing interest in Earth based spiritualities. Besides the resurgence of Shamanic practices, there is a movement referred to as "neo-Paganism." This particular spiritual movement includes, but is not limited to a religion called Wicca, which, "practices rites to attune us with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of moon and cycles of the sun." There is also a strong belief in living in harmony with nature, and a belief in divine immanence in the form of God and Goddess.
Sifu Sbarge tells me that the students are of all religions and added that, "all the things we teach are spiritual in orientation, and are meant to compliment and strengthen ones own beliefs," something that makes Asian cultural arts unique in that they deal with mind, body, and spirit connection. These arts have become more mainstream and are being enjoyed not only by Americans, but those who have come to this country from Asia, where these same cultural arts and disciplines are dieing out. With this in mind, if your interest is to experience the discipline of Chinese martial arts, or even if you prefer to just enjoy a nice cup of tea, and a relaxing atmosphere, the Peaceful Dragon strives to live up to its motto. "To pass on and preserve the best of Asian culture." For more information on classes, and events please contact: phone (704) 504-8866/ e-mail staff@thepeacefuldragon.com or visit The Peaceful Dragon.
The North Carolina Piedmont Church of Wicca based in Shelby, NC serves to educate the public and the individual about Wicca and what it is. High Priest Tony Brown and High Priestess Michelle Whitney serve as clergy for the church and took out the time to tell me some things about the church and their role in the Pagan and mainstream communities.
Starting with five people in November 1999, the church signed its by-laws and constitution. Since then, the church has grown. Tony Brown shared that "this has been a tremendous year for us. This is the fourth year of our Beltane festival (known as the Beltane Brouhaha) in Kings Mountain State Park, and it is our biggest year yet," having counted approximately 200 day trippers to which Tony added, "is a marked improvement from the first year where we had around 30 [people]."
What has been particularly exciting is NCPCOW's involvement in the Charlotte's Pagan community's first public celebration in Freedom Park, where members of the church conducted a ritual for the Summer Solstice. While the chief organizer of the SS '03 celebration (Summer Solstice 2003) was Tom Shope, it was the group effort of volunteers that brought the whole thing together in a remarkably short period of time. It is this community effort that has helped to facilitate NCPCOW's connection with the greater Pagan community in the Charlotte area which has been a goal for the church. Michelle explained that, "the church wants to place more emphasis on unity within the Pagan community." They have been working towards this emphasis by working with other groups including the local CUUPs chapter (Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans), being involved with the Pagan Pride Day event in the Greenville Spartanburg area this past September, the Pagan Leadership Conference for the past two years, and now Shawn Whitney, the chancellor for the Church of Wicca is taking part in organizing the regional Pagan Leadership Conference for the Western Carolina/Tennessee area.
Locally, the church serves the community by holding monthly book study meetings, offers mentoring in the Wiccan religion, and welcomes anyone with peaceful intentions to attend their rituals whether they participate or simply choose observe. The church's clergy are also legally ordained ministers and are able to conduct marriage and funerary rites as well as other Rites of Passage, which are comparable to ceremonies performed within Judeo-Christian traditions.
Other outreach programs include volunteering time to Adopt a Highway, serving meals at the Shelby Homeless Shelter, as well as providing a class designed to teach the public about the Wiccan religion and its principles of belief. NCPCOW has also had the opportunity to take part in an interfaith service at the Great Aunt Stella Center before its closing, and tentatively will be taking part in an interfaith dialogue with Unitarian Universalist this coming Winter Solstice.
In the long run, the church sees itself as, "becoming a stable influence, having credibility with the mainstream community as well as the pagan community. The whole point of the church is to provide spiritual guidance and spiritual fellowship to anyone regardless of their belief as long as live in accordance with the Rede, which is our article of faith." The Rede stated in short form, "these words the Wiccan Rede fulfill; an it harm none, do what you will," meaning that we can choose to live as we wish, but not to harm or effect the free will of others.
For those looking to experience Wicca and different aspects of neo-paganism, from personal experience, I have found the North Carolina Piedmont Church of Wicca to be a warm and loving community that is truly authentic it its willingness to be open to anyone who comes their way. For more information please contact: phone (704) 434-8275/ e-mail info@churchofwicca.org or visit http://www.churchofwicca.org/.
One of the great challenges of creating community is finding space to hold community. Phoenix Rising at 9215 Monroe Rd. is available for that purpose, as well as providing a variety of books on spirituality and holistic health, music, incense, and other products available specifically for and health and healing. This 3000 square foot facility has class space that can comfortably hold 50 to 60 people, and has just celebrated its one year anniversary at the Summer Solstice. Providing classes in everything from yoga and women's empowerment to Oriental dancing and Reiki, the space also serves the whole of the community by providing a home for New Directions Church, Wednesday night Reiki circle, and Connect Charlotte; groups that are all open to the public.
The community center has also co-sponsored Psychic Fairs with Community Spirit, Wellness Fairs, and spiritual retreats with Rebecca Nagy to give the public a taste of what services are available in the community. On an individual level, Horace Bush MSW, CHT, Phoenix Rising's in house Reiki Master is available for Reiki sessions. In my conversation with Mike Love, owner of Phoenix Rising, he shared the center's twofold mission to, "connect the community of practitioners [to each other]," whether their modalities be in healing or in psychic abilities, and "to introduce [the practitioners'] modalities to the public." In response to the rising numbers of energy healers in this area, Phoenix Rising will also be holding an Energy Healing Clinic in early August.
Mike sees Phoenix Rising in the future as, "being a resource for wellness practitioners," by providing wellness products and books or even classes for clients of the practitioners. He also says, that "we are about bringing this resource information into the mainstream and we are trying to demystify this information," and explained about how the center hopes to be of service to those who are taking steps toward wellness on physical, mental, and spiritual levels.
The message that Mike would like to share with other metaphysical retail centers and community churches is, "in building community it is very important to work cooperatively with others who are also providing services to the community." He believes that Phoenix Rising is not trying to compete, but is rather trying to cooperate so that they can best serve the community and stated his intention. "I am going to make more of an effort to reach out to people who are business owners… to develop a cooperative spirit that will best serve the community." For more information about Phoenix Rising please call (704) 849-2021 or visit The Phoenix Rising.
Just as this magazine has grown from 5000 issues to 10000 issues and is expanding to monthly distribution, so has our budding spiritual community grown. It has been blossoming and growing, and those of us with Higher Self Magazine will continue to watch this growth and nurture it in anyway we can by providing as our mission statement states, "alternative concepts concerning the Body, the Mind and the Spirit connection via information, educational, and entertaining articles, columns and reviews."
I look forward to serving you, the community, in the coming year. Namaste!
About Heather
Heather Darnell is an intuitive reader, group facilitator, and Reiki healer. Her experience over the past 16 years includes Tarot reading, meditation and ritual, and Taoist meditation. As the founder of Connect Charlotte, she is working to bring together the greater spiritual community of Charlotte and the surrounding area.
 | To contact Heather: (704) 665-8217 Despoenas_readings@yahoo.com |