I have posted the following on Facebook – please feel free to share it as well.
Once Upon A Silver Moon is collecting donations of ritual tools and books to go to pagans who have lost theirs. Those in need of these things should also contact us.
This is not a need likely to be addressed by the Red Cross or any church. Pagans use things like bells, candles, incense, chalices, drums, altar cloths, statuary, crystals/tumbled stones, and other items in their worship ceremonies.
Our physical address is 3124 N Classen Blvd OKC
Our mailing addy is 3102 N Classen No 123 OKC 73118
We are open 11-7 Tuesday through Sunday.
One man commented that unlike other religions, pagans do not have a church in the area, so they will be mostly left out of the spiritual recovery process. Christians will be given new bibles, and Catholics will get new rosaries, but this group is pretty much alone. So community support will be especially important to them. Of course their homes and cars and jobs are very important, but this is a specific need that we can help fill, so we are doing what we can to help.
A gentleman posted:
For someone who doesn’t necessarily use such things, how much might someone such as myself consider donating via your store to allow someone more informed (such as yourself) to help a customer receive a “basic package” that they could take home to get “back in the groove”?
This is a very generous question. I cannot put a dollar amount on the feeling a pagan would have when they learned that someone had cared enough to contribute something to support their spiritual path. Additionally, I encourage people to donate their money to the Red Cross, not to me. Destash your book, candle, and incense collection my way, and give the funds to organizations set up to take them. My accountant will pull my hair if I take monetary donations. Also, I do not want to look like I’m trying to profit by this – that is absolutely not my intent at all. I am not going to keep or sell any of this. Moore is an easy drive, so there will be no postage costs. I currently have space for this and can keep it separate from my inventory so that’s what I am going to do.
So then, what makes a good in-kind donation?
Pagans read a LOT. Since there aren’t any pagan churches in the area, most of the local pagans are independent, also known as Solitary. They therefore rely on books and the internet to learn and study more about what they are pursuing. The value of any given pagan’s book collection (especially those out of print) is likely to range in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Most of the books will be unreplaceable unless they are available on Kindle.
I have no specific suggestions but you might look around on Amazon. Some of the basics can be had pretty inexpensively, as can past years’ Witches’ Almanacks by Llewellyn. Look at “people who bought this also bought that” for suggestions. Please consider using our Amazon affiliate link to purchase things – and you may have them sent to us if you like. Please include a gift note that we can put on the healing altar we’ll have at the shop.
The term “pagan” itself is very general, encompassing Wiccans, Asatru, Druids, and persons with no particular affiliation other than Earth-centric worshippers.They are not usually “new agers”, so self-help books like “I’m OK You’re OK” are not really the sort they’d read. Books on tarot, astrology, palmistry, numerology, herbs, spells, oils, kitchen witchery, magical crafting, history of witchcraft, teen witch, Norse mythology, sacred geometry, etc.
Jewellery for such folks is usually extremey important and might or might not include pentagrams, Thor’s hammers, suns, moons, stars, crystals… one’s magickal talismans and amulets can be anything. Most pagans have one or two very special pendants or rings they like to wear all the time, and some other items that might be used occasionally, such as a sigil or protective stone.
Many pagans make some of their tools, such as a wand or staff. They may also make pagan prayer beads. They value handmade items, such as bags for their tarot cards, pendulums, or runes. Most of them appreciate tumbled stones and crystals of all varieties.
Basic pagan altar tools are a holder for incense (stick, or a dish with sand for loose incense burned on charcoal), candles and candle holders, small dishes for things like salt and water. Practices vary but many earth-centric worshippers use some representation of each element, such as salt (earth), incense (air), candles (fire), and water.
They will also usually have some symbol of “the God”, which can be anything from a Green Man to a statue of the particular deity with whom they attune. Likewise with “the Goddess”, generally a mother figure or woman shape, sometimes with a spiral on her tummy, or a specific goddess. This is something that is really unique to each person but if you happen to have something you feel drawn to donating, the deity probably has someone already in mind to receive it.
Other items on a pagan altar might include an altar cloth. I’ve mostly seen spaces about the size of a tea tray, so they’re not usually a full size table cloth. Scarves and those hippie tapestries are what I have seen most often, but not everyone uses them. Celestial patterns are very common (sun, moon, stars) as are specific holiday prints (summer, winter, fall, spring, Yule (like Christmas trees), Halloween) or themes (money, love, health, healing).
There is a ceremony called “cakes and ale” which some pagans do – it’s a lot like communion in a Christian church, and can be anything from wine or punch to milk (especially on a full moon), the cakes being cupcake sized snacks. So a wine goblet and small desert plate is what many of them use. Something smallish to fit on the altar.
I understand that many pagans do not keep their altar set up all the time, so they often have a special box to store their goods in. This is sometimes a wood box they can paint or decorate with decoupage or wood burning tools. A box would probably be a little larger than a shoebox.
Pagans also use incense, dried herbs, parchment style paper, writing quills and liquid ink (think Harry Potter style), sage/smudge bundles, and bells or rattles (for space clearing). A favorite activity is drum circles, so hand drums such as djembes, bongos, or doumbeks would be greatly valued. Rock and roll style Trapp kits would probably not find a home.
Meditation music like Tangerine Dream, Buddha Lounge, middle eastern or Egyptian pop, and bellydance music CDs would probably be appreciated.
Ritual knives are used by a few but I would not really know how to describe them. Decorative daggers, not pocket knives. “Athame” is the term, if you search for pictures you’ll kind of see what that is. These are usually very personal, highly sentimental tools. They are never used to cut anything other than the air (a doorway).
I’m sure there are many other things various practices embrace, but this is a general list. A lot of it can be gotten as treasures from thrift stores. I am not going to be offended if someone brings in a box full of candles from WalMart or Hobby Lobby instead of buying them from me. Do what you can to help others. I am not well stocked enough right now (we’ve been open only 8 months) to make a big dent in the needs that I think we’ll have; supplies are going to have to come from someplace that is not my shop. This is not an ego trip for me. I am just a pass-through facilitator on this one.
Here’s a link to another article about how to prepare for a natural disaster.
