The Great Flood, or How Climate Change Came to CHS in 2015

Rain, oh, it rained for what seemed to be 40 days and 40 nights here last weekend. At first we soaked up the deluge gratefully, the grass turning green again, the trees perking up from their dry wilt. Then we heard on the news that Isis' tears were going to swell the rivers for an unprecedented inundation. By Saturday night I wondered if Hapy was angry with us, and by Monday I was simply weary. On Tuesday my city's (Columbia) water reservoir breached and most of the water has drained away, rushing downriver now towards the Lowcountry and Charleston, that city itself still recovering from the trauma of the summer's violence.

The South Carolina Great Flood of 2015 was a fresh reminder of how we humans rely on our perceived control of the natural world to maintain the life we have built. We've been through Hugo, we can handle things, right?

But when the rains and floods came, and despite years of emergency planning, we were still challenged to evacuate people in wheelchairs or hospitals or nursing homes, to keep inmates safe without escaping, to transport emergency workers on roads which had been washed away (one woman drowned on her way to work, driving into floodwaters just outside the county hospital). More than 200 roads and bridges are washed out. We face, not weeks, but months of repairs and recovery.

Ironically, as the rains fell and the waters rose, we at CHS were just finishing up the exciting new Insights course, "Voices of Gaia." At the beginning of the course, fires raged out of control on the other side of the continent.

Even in a time when many Americans argue that climate change is a fiction, Gaia will do what she will. We are wise to make our peace with the knowledge that we are not in control.

The ranks of our students also swell and fall and swell again. Some people are with us for a season, some linger, having become a permanent part of our CHS family. They know that they were transformed in our classrooms, know that Cherry Hill Seminary simply must be there for future generations.

Will you be one of them?

Thank you for doing your part to keep the lantern bright.

Holli Emore, Executive Director

Resources

Did you know you can email a references request to our CHS Librarian, Christine Grewcock? When you log into Moodle, look for a heading that says Library, Tutorial, Student Counseling, and in there you will find "How to Email a Reference Services Request."

While you are at it, you will notice that we do have a CHS Chaplains Office. If you find yourself in need of temporary pastoral care, go the Chaplains Office to request support from one of our clergy-faculty.

How will you observe Pastoral Care Week, October 25-31? More info and ideas here.

Important Dates

For Students

Nov 16 Insights 3 classes begin
Dec 13 Insights 3 classes end
Dec 20 All fall classes end
Jan 18 Spring classes start
Jan 25 Insights 1 classes begin
Jan 29

Drop/Add deadline
Feb 21 Insights 1 classes end
Feb 29 Insights 2 classes begin
Mar 27 Insights 2 classes end
Apr 4 Insights 3 classes begin
May 1 All Spring classes end
May 23 Summer classes begin

May 30 Insights 1 classes begin
Jun 3 Drop/Add deadline

Full calendar

For Faculty

Oct 17 Insights 1 grades due
Nov 22 Insights 2 grades due
Dec 27 Insights 3 grades due
Jan 3 All Fall grades due
Feb 1 Summer course proposals due
Mar 7 Insights 1 grades due
Apr 11 Insights 2 grades due
May 15 All Spring grades due

Cherry Hill Seminary is the leading provider of education and practical training in leadership, ministry, and personal growth in Pagan and Nature-Based spiritualities.

For more information, visit www.cherryhillseminary.org, or contact CHS@cherryhillseminary.org.

Enter the drawing for a free January Insights course!

Get one of your friends to give to the Fall Scholarship Drive (your own gift counts, too) and we will put your name in the hat.

Click to give now through Nov 1

Scholarships will be awarded for Spring 2016 Semester classes. Details to come on how to apply.

CHS Peeps In The News

Hospital chaplain Marcella Fox, currently pursuing an MDiv at Cherry Hill Seminary, was part of the trauma team that cared for some of the patients from the October 1st shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. Marcella has been involved in ministry to Pagans since 1988. As a healthcare chaplain, she provides spiritual care to people of any religion and of no religion.

United Nations Messengers of Peace Jane Goodall and Yoyo Ma, performed a special blessing on Patrick McCollum's World Peace Violin on the 70th anniversary of the United Nations on the International Day of Peace at the UN in New York. Patrick says, "I want to thank Jane and Yoyo for their gracious support, and also all of the wonderful peacemakers who came to celebrate peace on this auspicious day . . . there is plenty of work ahead for me in my quest to create a more peaceful world."

Congratulations to student Claire Schwartz on publication of Putting Out the Fire; Nurturing Mind, Body & Spirit in the First Week of Loss and Beyond." It is the only book that addresses the first hours and days after a loss, when you are feeling a thousand emotions at once, and yet are completely numb in the exact same moment. And this is right when you have to make 50 important decisions immediately.... how do you manage? What do you do first? How do you manage what people say that is hurtful?"

Fall Insights Classes

Insights 4-week Courses

Session 3 - Nov 16 - Dec 13:

Becoming Women: First Bloods Rituals for Girls Wednesdays 9PM ET.A girl's transition into womanhood is experienced and acknowledged by her family and community in diverse ways. Messages about womanhood are conveyed through how this passage is treated and/or ritualized. A girl will internalize attitudes or beliefs about themselves, their bodies, and sexuality, based on how others respond (or don't respond) to this life cycle experience. These attitudes may influence her future, affecting her behavior, actions, expectations, and choices.

Magickal Thinking Doesn't Mean You're Crazy Fridays 7PM ET. An introduction to the scientific evidence supporting the view that magickal techniques are effective and valid methods for achieving real-world goals.

Mindfulness & Contemplative Practice for Pagans Tuesdays 8PM ET. Practicing mindfulness and emanating compassion - related contemplative paths - are key teachings at the heart of all the world's great wisdom traditions. They are also keys to greater interconnection and oneness with Nature and our fellow beings. Contemplative practice includes meditation and guided visualization. This class provides an introduction to mindfulness, to sitting meditation and also offers opportunities for guided visualization. Students will be led in creating a meditation practice and will keep a journal/diary.

Heard in the CHS Classroom

"This course has been delightful so far because it is weaving a web of re-enchantment with the earth."

"I feel delightfully energized by Voices of Gaia. I had thought I would squeeze the four week of class into my schedule, and now I find myself wishing it would go on all 14 weeks of a semester. I feel refreshed, intellectually stimulated, emotionally-charged, hopeful, and empowered to make a difference. Who knew?"

"Perhaps it is more important to call a religion a "home" in the sense that Robert Frost defined home: 'when you have to go there, they have to take you in.' In my opinion no human being is devoid of compassion. Perhaps this is because of the 'fourth trimester:' Without direct experience of someone else's compassion, we couldn't survive. We exist above ground because someone else took care of us. At some level every one of us knows how to care for another human being. Group compassion is a short step from religion."